Today In Rock & Roll History

The late Charlie Byrd (jazz and classical guitar virtuoso) was born in 1925

The late Alan Barton (lead singer with Smokie – ‘Rock Away Your Tear Drops’) was born in 1953

Richard Marx (‘Hold On To The Nights’) is 51

David Bellamy (The Bellamy Brothers – ‘Let Your Love Flow’) is 64

Ron Blair (bass guitar with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – ‘Refugee’) is 66

Kenney Jones (drummer with The Small Faces – ‘Itchycoo Park’ and later with The Who – ‘You Better You Bet’) is 66
Rock Factoid: Outside of music, Jones is a passionate fan of polo. He has become an accomplished polo player and is the owner of Hurtwood Park Polo Club, in Ewhurst, Surrey.

Betty Kelly (Martha & The Vandellas – ‘Jimmy Mack’) is 70

Bernie Calvert (bass guitar with The Hollies – ‘Bus Stop’) is 72

Joe Butler (drummer with The Lovin’ Spoonful – ‘Summer In The City’) is 73

Riley B. ‘B.B.’ King (‘The Thrill Is Gone’) is 89
Rock Factoid: King has won 15 Grammy Awards, and has been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Johnny Burnette recorded ‘You’re Sixteen’—1960

The Beatles released ‘She Loves You’ / ‘I’ll Get You’ in the U.S. on the Swan Label—1963
Rock Factoid: ‘She Loves You’ failed to generate much interest in the U.S. until it was re-released in 1964 on Capitol Records following the success of ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’.

On the same day ‘She Loves You’ was released in the U.S., George Harrison became the first Beatle to visit America when he and his brother Peter visited their sister Louise in Benton, IL—1963

Shindig! premiered with host Jimmy O’Neill presenting Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers, The Righteous Brothers and Bobby Sherman—1964

The Beach Boys recorded ‘Devoted To You’ and ‘There’s No Other (Like My Baby)’ for ‘The Beach Boys Party!’ album. Although presented as a live recording, the individual songs were carefully recorded, with laughter and background chatter mixed in during post-production—1965

The Byrds recorded ‘Set You Free This Time’—1965

After a serious auto accident left him unable to perform, Kinks’ bassist Pete Quaife was temporarily replaced by John Dalton—1966

Tom Drilberg, a Member of Parliament, asked Britain’s House of Commons to officially “deplore” the action of a magistrate who called the Rolling Stones “complete morons who wear filthy clothes.”—1966

The Beatles (minus George Harrison) recorded ‘I Will’ (requiring 67 takes until they were satisfied with the outcome)—1968
Rock Factoid: In between takes, Paul McCartney led the group through a bossa-nova version of ‘Step Inside Love’. The song had been the theme tune to Cilla Black’s BBC TV show, which began in January that year.
Rock Factoid #2: After the song, McCartney announced the fictional group as “Joe Prairies and the Prairie Wallflowers.” John Lennon followed up the comment by saying “Los Paranoias,” perhaps in reference to Trio Los Paraguyas, who often appeared on BBC television shows in the 1950s and 60s.
With Lennon and Ringo Starr on percussion, McCartney then improvised ‘Los Paranoias’. The song – credited to all four Beatles even though George Harrison was absent – lasted 3:48, but was faded out to last less than one minute when it appeared on ‘Anthology 3’.

Jimi Hendrix joined Eric Burdon and War on stage at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London for what would become the guitarist’s last public appearance—1970

Led Zeppelin won ‘Best Group’ in the Melody Maker reader’s poll. It was the first time in eight years that the Beatles failed to win—1970

Peter Frampton made his solo live debut in New York City with his new backing band, Frampton’s Camel. They opened for the J. Geils Band—1972

Marc Bolan (guitarist/lead singer with T. Rex – ‘Bang A Gong’) died (automobile accident)—1977
Rock Factoid: Bolan, who was a passenger, never learned to drive as he feared he would die in a car accident like James Dean.

The Grateful Dead recorded a concert at the pyramids in Egypt—1978

Former Clash drummer Topper Headon was released from jail after serving 10 months of a 15-month sentence on a narcotics charge—1988

Paul McCartney recorded ‘Heaven On A Sunday‘—1996

Sheb Wooley (‘Purple People Eater’) died (leukemia)—2003
Rock Factoid: Wooley wrote the theme song for TV’s Hee Haw.
Rock Factoid #2: Wooley co-starred as Pete Nolan in the TV Western Rawhide.

It was a long time coming. Bob Dylan reached the top of the Billboard 200 album chart for the first time in 30 years with ‘Modern Times’ which spent one week at the top—2006

Norman Whitfield (legendary Motown producer/songwriter – co-writer of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’, ‘Ain’t Too Proud To Beg’, ‘ (I Know) I’m Losing You’, ‘Cloud Nine’, ‘War’ and ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’) died (complications from diabetes)—2008

Mary Travers (legendary folk singer as part of Peter, Paul & Mary – ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, ‘Lemon Tree’, ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’, ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ and many, many others) died (complications arising from chemotherapy treatments for leukemia)—2009

Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith (blues drummer with Muddy Waters Band) died (stroke)—2011

Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2014 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.
You may not, under any circumstances, reproduce, record, publish, republish, post, transmit, publicly display, publicly exhibit or distribute any articles or photographs on RayLemire.com without obtaining the express written consent of the Operator.