Monthly Archive: December 2015

The late Matt Monro (‘My Kind Of Girl’) was born in 1930

The late Lou Rawls (‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine’) was born in 1933

Sam Reid (keyboardist with Glass Tiger – ‘Don’t Forget Me’) is 52

Gilbert O’Sullivan (born Raymond Edward O’Sullivan – ‘Clair’) is 69

Bette Midler (‘Wind Beneath My Wings’) is 70

John Densmore (drummer with The Doors (‘Light My Fire’) is 71

Eric Bloom (guitarist/lead singer with Blue Öyster Cult – (‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’) is 71

Diane Lennon (Lennon Sisters – ‘Tonight You Belong To Me’) is 75

Sandy Nelson (born Sander Nelson – ‘Teen Beat’) is 77
Rock Factoid: As a session drummer, Nelson’s credits include ‘To Know Him, Is To Love Him’ (Teddy Bears) and ‘Alley-Oop’ (Hollywood Argyles).

Billy Paul (‘Me And Mrs. Jones’) is 81

‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ premiered—1956
Rock Factoid:The film starred Jayne Mansfield as an aspiring singer and featured performances by Little Richard (the title song), Eddie Cochran (‘Twenty Flight Rock’), Gene Vincent (‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’) and Fats Domino (‘Blue Monday’).

The Rays (performing ‘Silhouettes’), Buddy Holly & The Crickets (performing ‘That’ll Be The Day’) and Sam Cooke (singing ‘You Send Me’) all made their national TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show—1957

Ricky Nelson became the first rock star to appear on the cover of ‘Life’ magazine—1958

Neil Sedaka signed with RCA Records—1958

Bobby Darin married actress Sandra Dee (it lasted seven years)—1960

The Zombies released ‘Tell Her No’ / ‘Leave Me Be’ in the U.S.—1964
Rock Factoid: The word “No” is mentioned a total of 63 times in the lyrics of the song. Hey, where else are you going to learn this stuff? We call them “rock factoids” for a reason.

The Byrds recorded ‘C.T.A. 102’—1966

Jimmie Rodgers (‘Honeycomb’) suffered traumatic head injuries after the car he was driving was stopped by an off-duty police officer near the San Diego Freeway in Los Angeles—1967
Rock Factoid: In the attack, Rodgers was hit, allegedly by the policeman, with a blunt instrument that caved in the right side of his skull. He underwent three brain surgeries and doctors had to reconstruct his skull.
The policeman’s account was that he stopped Rodgers because his driving was erratic. He claimed Rodgers fell and hit his head when he got out of the car.
Rock Factoid #2: Rodgers filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. In 1972, he settled out of court for $200,000.

Janis Joplin performed with Big Brother & The Holding Company for the final time at a benefit show in San Francisco—1968

The 77th and final edition of The Beatles Book, a monthly British fan magazine, was published—1969

Samuel ‘Magic Sam’ Maghett (blues guitarist/singer – ‘All Your Love’) died (heart attack)—1969

‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ – credited to John & Yoko/The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir – was released in the U.S.—1971

Martha & The Vandellas made their final concert appearance—1972

The Eagles released ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’—1972
Rock Factoid: Jack Tempchin, an aspiring folk-singer at the time, wrote the song during a period in which he was performing at coffee shops around his hometown of San Diego. Glen Frey of the Eagles heard Tempchin sing it at Jackson Browne’s house in Los Angeles and asked if he could develop it further.
Rock Factoid #2: Tempchin went on to co-write several more Eagles’ songs (including ‘Already Gone’) and later co-wrote with Frey (‘True Love’, ‘You Belong To The City’, and ‘Smuggler’s Blues’ during the Eagles’ breakup period.
Rock Factoid #3: He also wrote ‘Swayin’ To The Music (Slow Dancing)’ for Johnny Rivers, and ‘Someone That You Used To Know’ for George Jones.

Wings released ‘Hi, Hi, Hi’ / ‘C Moon’. Although the A-side was banned by the BBC for “suggestive lyrics” and drug references, it still reached #5 in the U.K.—1972

The Sex Pistols made their infamous appearance on the U.K.’s ITV program Today, in which host Bill Grundy prompted a profanity-ridden rant from the band—1976

The Doobie Brothers released their ‘Minute By Minute’ album. It contained ‘What A Fool Believes’, which won Grammy Awards for Song of The Year and Record of The Year—1978
Rock Factoid: Guitarist Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter and co-founding drummer John Hartman both left the band shortly after the album was released.

The Talking Heads kicked off their tour of the U.K. at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. Their opening act was U2—1980

Dan Fogelberg released ‘Same Auld Lang Syne’—1980
Rock Factoid: Fogelberg openly admitted the song was autobiographical, and after his death from prostate cancer in 2007, the woman about whom he wrote the song came forward with the story. Her name is Jill Greulich, and she and Fogelberg dated in high school (Peoria, IL) when she was Jill Anderson. After college, Jill got married and moved to Chicago, and Dan went to Colorado to pursue music.
On December 24, 1975, they were each back in Peoria with their families for Christmas when Jill and Fogelberg had a chance encounter at a convenience store. They bought a six pack of beer and drank it in her car for two hours while they talked. Five years later, Greulich heard ‘Same Old Lang Syne’ on the radio while driving to work, but she kept quiet about it, as Fogelberg had also refused to disclose her identity.

Geffen Records sued Neil Young for $3.3 million because the label said Young’s new music was “not commercial in nature and musically uncharacteristic of his previous albums”—1983
Rock Factoid: Having already created tension with Geffen with the previous year’s ‘Trans’, a poor-selling synth-heavy, electro-rock album, Young offered the label a country album called ‘Old Ways’. Geffen, reeling from the commercial and critical failure of ‘Trans’, rejected the country album and demanded “a rock and roll album.”

Lee Dorsey (‘Working In A Coal Mine’) died (emphysema)—1986

Sylvester (Sly) Stone was sentenced to 55 days in jail for driving under the influence of cocaine—1989

Billy Lyall (keyboardist with the early Bay City Rollers before they recorded anything, and later a co-founder of Pilot – ‘Magic’) died (AIDS-related complications)—1989
Note: Lyall died in December. The actual date of his death is not known, but this date is generally accepted as the date he died.

Ray Gillen (lead singer with Black Sabbath – ‘Eternal Idol’ and Badlands – ‘High Wire’) died (AIDS-related complications)—1993

Songwriter Irving Gordon (wrote many popular standards but is best remembered for writing ‘Unforgettable’ for Nat ‘King’ Cole) died (cancer)—1996

Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris (vocals/guitar/electric violin as part of Don & Dewey – ‘Koko Joe’ and later a member of The Mothers of Invention – ‘Directly From My Heart To You’) died (pulmonary disease)—1999
Rock Factoid: Harris co-wrote several hits for other artists: ‘Justine’ (Righteous Brothers), ‘Big Boy Pete’ (Olympics), ‘I’m Leavin’ It Up To You’ (Dale & Grace) and ‘Farmer John’ (Neil Young).

Dee Harvey (‘Leave Well Enough Alone’) died (prolonged illness)—2012

Richard Coughlan (drummer with Caravan – ‘If I Could Do It All Over Again, I’d Do It All Over You’) died (pneumonia)—2013

Martin Sharp (songwriter/graphic artist) died (emphysema)—2013
Rock Factoid: Sharp co-wrote Cream’s ‘Tales Of Brave Ulysses’ and created the cover art for Cream’s ‘Disraeli Gears’ and ‘Wheels Of Fire’ albums
Rock Factoid #2: His psychedelic posters of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Donovan are considered classics of the genre.

Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2015 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.