December 9th in Rock & Roll History
The late Shirley Brickley (lead singer with The Orlons – ‘Don’t Hang Up’) was born in 1944
Tré Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright III – drummer with Green Day – ‘Rock And Roll Girlfriend’) is 42
Jakob Dylan (lead singer/guitarist/songwriter with The Wallflowers – ‘One Headlight’ and the son of Bob Dylan) is 45
Nick Seymour (bass guitar with Crowded House – ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’) is 56
Donny Osmond (‘Go Away Little Girl’) is 57
Joan Armatrading (‘Love And Affection’) is 64
George Baker (born Johannes Hans Bouwens) of The George Baker Selection (‘Little Green Bag’) is 70
Neil Innes (lead guitarist/singer with The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band – ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’ and The Rutles – ‘Let’s Be Natural’) is 70
Kenny Vance (Jay & The Americans – ‘Only In America’) is 71
Sammy Strain (The Chips – ‘Rubber Biscuit’ and later a member of Little Anthony & The Imperials – ‘Goin’ Out Of My Head’ and The O’Jays – ‘Used To Be My Girl’) is 74
Frank Sinatra recorded ‘Young At Heart’—1953
The Beatles played at the Palais Ballroom in Aldershot to a “crowd” of just 18 people—1961
Rock Factoid: The date had not been advertised because the local newspaper refused to accept promoter Sam Leach’s check.
Rock Factoid #2: Leach had made arrangements for the engagement to be titled the ‘Battle of The Bands, Liverpool .v. London’, with the Beatles representing Liverpool and doing musical battle with Ivor Jay & The Jaywalkers, representing London.
Unfortunately, Leach – who was from Liverpool – was unaware that Aldershot was nearly 40 miles from London, and the idea of the Battle of the Bands attracting agents and promoters from London backfired.
Bobby Darin was the mystery guest on What’s My Line—1962
It wasn’t a typical evening performance at the Cavern Club— 1962
Rock Factoid: The difference was the presence of Parlophone producer George Martin in the audience. Martin was considering the possibility of recording The Beatles in front of their home crowd and releasing the live recordings as the group’s debut album. One of the reasons he subsequently rejected the idea decision was the fact that the sweaty, hot atmosphere in the club would be unsuitable for EMI’s expensive recording equipment.
The first Supremes album (‘Meet The Supremes’) was released—1963
The Kinks released ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ / ‘I Gotta Move’ in the U.S.—1964
Cream released their debut album, ‘Fresh Cream’. The trio also released a single, ‘I Feel Free / N.S.U.’—1966
Jim Morrison of The Doors was arrested for breach of the peace during a concert in New Haven, Connecticut—1967
The stage version of Tommy opened at London’s Rainbow Theatre. There were contributions from Roger Daltrey, Richie Havens and Steve Winwood, while Pete Townshend narrated the performance—1972
Elton John released ‘Crocodile Rock’—1972
George Harrison released the ‘Dark Horse’ album in the U.S. While the album peaked at #4 on the U.S. Billboard Album chart, it failed to reach the UK Top 50 when it was released in England two weeks later—1974
John Lennon was a guest on Monday Night Football—1974
Rock Factoid: “It was an interesting night, because we also had (Governor) Ronald Reagan. He was standing there with John Lennon behind the broadcast team, and he was trying to explain football to John Lennon. Howard was scheduled to interview Reagan at halftime, and he turned around and immediately saw that John Lennon was also there. He said, ‘Gifford, you take the governor and I’ll take the Beatle.'” … Frank Gifford
The Blues Brothers (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) released ‘Soul Man’—1978
Sonny Til (The Orioles – ‘It’s Too Soon To Know’) died (heart failure)—1981
The Jacksons’ five-month ‘Victory’ tour – Michael Jackson’s last group tour – ended after 55 performances in 19 cities—1984
Guns N’ Roses made their debut at Madison Square Garden in the first of a three night stand. All three concerts were sold out, drawing over 54,000 fans and grossed over $1.3 million—1991
Bill Wyman retired from the Rolling Stones (although his retirement was not made official until the next month)—1992
‘Anthology 1’ from The Beatles established a record when it hit #1 on the album chart—1995
Rock Factoid: The album set a record for the longest time span for a run of #1 albums: 31 years and 10 months between ‘Meet The Beatles’ and ‘Anthology 1’
Patricia J. ‘Patty’ Donahue (lead singer with The Waitresses – ‘I Know What Boys Like’) died (lung cancer)—1996
Mary Hansen (keyboards/guitarist/vocals with Stereolab – ‘Jenny Ondioline’) died (hit by a truck while riding her bicycle)—2002
Mike Botts (drummer with Bread – ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’) died (colon cancer), one day after his 61st birthday—2005
Freddie Marsden (drummer with Gerry & The Pacemakers – ‘Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying’) died (cancer)—2006
Georgia Gibbs (‘While You Danced, Danced, Danced’) died (leukemia)—2006
Jenni Rivera (‘Las Malandinas’) died (plane crash_—2012
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