December 2nd in Rock & Roll History
Britney Spears (‘Baby One More Time’) is 33
Nate Mendel (bass guitar with Foo Fighters – ‘Learn To Fly’) is 46
Rick Savage (bass guitar with Def Leppard – ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’) is 54
Ted Bluechel Jr. (drummer with The Association – ‘Never My Love’) is 72
Tom McGuinness (bass guitar with Manfred Mann – ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’) is 73
Gene Autry’s ‘Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer’ made its first appearance on the music charts—1949
Andy Williams recorded ‘Can’t Get Used To Losing You’—1962
Ringo Starr’s tonsils were removed at University College Hospital in London—1964
George Harrison’s Gretsch ‘Country Gentleman’ guitar (he had played it at The Royal Command Performance) was crushed when the instrument fell from the back of The Beatles’ limo, bound for Glasgow for the first stop of the band’s last British tour—1965
The Monkees recorded ‘Magnolia Simms’. Michael Nesmith was the only member of the band to appear on the recording—1967
Jimmie Rodgers (‘Honeycomb’) was found severely beaten in his car just north of Los Angeles—1967
Rock Factoid: In the attack, Rodgers was hit, allegedly by an off-duty policeman, with a blunt instrument that caved in the right side of his skull. He underwent three brain surgeries following the beating. Doctors had to reconstruct his skull. After he recovered, Rodgers filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. Five years later, he settled out of court for $200,000.
The Monkees’ ‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd’ sold over one-million copies within three weeks of its release and became the group’s fourth #1 album, all in the same year—1967
George Harrison’s solo album (‘Wonderwall Music’ soundtrack) was released in the U.S.—1968
Cindy Birdsong of The Supremes was kidnapped but escaped unharmed—1969
George Harrison took a brief part time gig as guitarist with the Delaney & Bonnie and Friends Tour—1969
Blues musician Taj Mahal performed for the inmates on death row at Wilmington State Penitentiary in Delaware—1971
The Who were arrested in Montreal after causing $6,000 worth of damage to their hotel suite. They spent six hours in jail and paid a $2,100 fine in return for hotel management not pressing charges—1973
The Beach Boys recorded ‘Sweet Sunday Kinda Love’—1977
Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge were divorced—1979
David Blue (folk singer/songwriter – wrote ‘Outlaw Man’ which was covered by The Eagles) died (heart attack—1982
MTV premiered Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video—1983
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled The Shirelles, Gene Pitney and B.J. Thomas were owed $1.2 million in unpaid royalties—1991
At a Rolling Stones concert at the Pontiac Silverdome outside of Detroit, 31 year old Eric Zylema fell 23 feet to his death while dancing on a handrail—1997
David Mount (drummer with Mud – ‘Tiger Feet’) died (heart attack after a battle with throat cancer)—2006
Mariska Veres (lead singer with Shocking Blue – ‘Venus’) died (cancer)—2006
Odetta (born Odetta Holmes – ‘Take This Hammer’) died (heart disease)—2008
Eric Woolfson (songwriter/pianist/vocalist with The Alan Parsons Project – ‘Time’) died (kidney cancer)—2009
Howard Tate (singer/songwriter – ‘Ain’t Nobody Home’) died (Multiple myeloma and leukemia)—2011
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2014 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.
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