January 8th in Rock & Roll History
The late Luther Perkins (guitarist with Johnny Cash’s Tennessee Two – ‘I Walk The Line’) was born in 1928
Rock Factoid: Perkins’ younger brother, Thomas, had a hit song (‘Tragedy’) in 1959 under the name of Thomas Wayne.
Rock Factoid #2: Both of the Perkins brothers died in tragic accidents. Luther died in 1968 at the age of 40 when his house caught on fire after he fell asleep holding a lit cigarette. Thomas died in a car accident in 1971 at the age of 31.
The late Bill Graham (concert promoter – Fillmore East and Fillmore West) was born in 1931
The late Elvis Presley was born in 1935
Rock Factoid: Elvis had 149 songs reach Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Chart in America. Of these, 114 were in the top forty, 40 were in the top ten, and 18 went to #1. He also had over 90 charted albums with ten of them reaching #1. Those figures are only for the pop charts and only in America. It is estimated that 40% of Elvis’ total record sales have been outside the United States.
Rock Factoid #2: Elvis starred in 31 feature films as an actor and two theatrically released concert documentary films. His two most critically acclaimed films, Jailhouse Rock (1957) and King Creole (1958) have become classics of their era. Eleven of his movie soundtrack albums went to the top ten, and of those, four went to number one. The soundtrack for G.I. Blues was #1 on the Billboard Top 100 album chart for 10 weeks and remained on the chart for 111 weeks. The album from Blue Hawaii was #1 for 20 weeks and was on the chart for 79 weeks.
Rock Factoid #3: Presley’s three network television specials – Elvis (1968), Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii, via Satellite (1973), and Elvis in Concert (1977) – stand among the most highly rated specials of their time.
His 1973 special, Elvis – Aloha from Hawaii, via Satellite, was seen in 40 countries by 1 billion to 1.5 billion people and made television history. It was seen on television in more American homes than man’s first walk on the moon.
Rock Factoid #4: During his “concert years” from 1969 to 1977, Elvis gave nearly 1,100 concert performances. Despite his clearly worsening health in the mid-1970s, he maintained a frantic tour schedule. This was due to the fact that in 1973, his manager, Colonel Tom Parker had negotiated a complex deal whereby Presley sold back to RCA the rights to many of his masters in exchange for a lump-sum payment of only $2.8 million. Essentially, after 1973 Parker was earning nearly 50 percent commission (as opposed to the 10 percent industry standard). Worse, however, Presley was not earning any more royalties on songs recorded before 1973, although they continued to sell in the millions year after year.
On top of it all, Presley opposed tax shelters on principle; he naively relied on his father for business advice; and he gave away expensive gifts and cash recklessly. The result, by the mid-Seventies, was near-certain financial disaster.
The late John Petersen (drummer with The Beau Brummels – ‘Laugh Laugh’ and Harpers Bizarre – ’59th Street Bridge Song {Feelin’ Groovy’}) was born in 1942
The late Paul Hester (drummer with Crowded House – ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’) was born in 1959
Mike Reno (born Joseph Michael Rynoski – lead singer with Loverboy – ‘Working For The Weekend’) is 60
Paul King (guitarist with Mungo Jerry – ‘In The Summertime’) is 67
David Bowie (born David Jones – ‘Space Oddity’) is 68
Terry Sylvester (guitarist with The Hollies – ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’) is 68
Robby Krieger (guitarist with The Doors – ‘Light My Fire’) is 69
Rock Factoid: In 1988, Krieger sat in on Blue Öyster Cult’s recording of their ‘Imaginos’ album. He played lead guitar on ‘Magna Of Illusion’ and ‘Blue Öyster Cult’.
Lee Jackson (bass guitarist/vocalist with The Nice – ‘Happy Freuds’) is 72
Jerome ‘Little’ Anthony’ Gourdine (Little Anthony & The Imperials (‘Tears On My Pillow’) is 74.
Rock Factoid: The Imperials lost out on a chance to be included on the list of artists who recorded themes from the James Bond series of films.
“(Producers) Teddy Randazzo and Don Costa were trying to get us the sound track to the James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice which was in production. We recorded it but Frank Sinatra had more pull than Teddy Randazzo or Don Costa. His daughter, Nancy, had just come off of a hit with ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’ so they gave her the title cut, even though we recorded it first and we had the better version.”
Shirley Bassey (‘Goldfinger’) is 78
Eddie Cochran’s last recording session was held in Hollywood—1960
Rock Factoid: In February 1959, two of Cochran’s friends, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, along with the Big Bopper, were killed in a plane crash while on tour. Ironically, one of the songs Cochran recorded during that final session (‘Three Steps To Heaven’) featured members of The Crickets, Buddy Holly’s former group. Less than four months later, Cochran was dead—1960
Robert Goulet made his national television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show—1961
The Beach Boys recorded ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ and ‘The Warmth Of The Sun’—1964
The Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul’ reached #1, making it the seventh chart topping album in the U.S. for the Fab Four—1966
The Knickerbockers, Jackie DeShannon and Bobby Sherman performed on the final episode of Shindig!—1966
The first hint of trouble on the Beatles’ Get Back/Let It Be film set appeared—1969
Rock Factoid: Things hadn’t been running smoothly to begin with at Twickenham but when George Harrison suggested the group should give his ‘All Things Must Pass‘ a try, Paul and Ringo were, to be kind, unenthusiastic. But John Lennon didn’t stop there. He began mocking George Harrison’s songwriting ability. In particular, Lennon thought ‘All Things Must Pass’ was “dreadful” and flatly rejected it as a potential Beatles song.
The Kinks released ‘Starstruck’ / ‘Picture Book’ in the U.S.—1969
Rock Factoid: At a time when their contemporaries were all turning on, tuning in and dropping out, The Kinks remained resolutely unaffected by any of it. Instead, Ray Davies put together the ‘Village Green Preservation Society’ album, which contained the single, and in part presented a nostalgic vision of a Britain he felt was disappearing.
Rock Factoid #2: That concept may have played well in the UK, but Americans couldn’t identify with it. The album and the single failed to hit either of the respective Hot 200 charts.
Canadian rock band Rush was named the country’s official Ambassadors of Music by the Canadian government—1979
Steve Clark, lead guitarist with Def Leppard (‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’) died (combination of alcohol and drugs)—1991
Rock Factoid: Clark’s autopsy revealed high levels of codeine, Valium and morphine, in addition to a blood alcohol level of .30, three times the British legal driving limit.
The Elvis Presley stamp was issued by the U.S. Postal Service. The previous April, a public vote had been conducted to determine the artwork of the stamp; 1950’s era Elvis or 1970’s era Elvis. The younger Elvis won with more than 75 percent of the vote—1993
Clyde Otis (songwriter and producer) died (natural causes)—2008
Rock Factoid: The list of songs written or co-written by Otis is lengthy but includes ‘It’s Just A Matter Of Time’, ‘Any Way You Want Me’, ‘A Lover’s Question’, ‘The Boll Weevil Song’ and ‘That’s All There Is To That’.
Steve Mancha (born Clyde Wilson – lead singer with 100 Proof Aged In Soul – ‘Somebody’s Been Sleeping’) died (long illness)—2011
Derrick ‘Chow’ Boyes (keyboards with David Bowie’s mid-sixties band The Buzz – ‘London Boys’) died (heart attack)—2011
Tandyn Almer (wrote ‘Along Comes Mary’ for The Association and co-wrote ‘Sail On, Sailor’ and ‘Marcella’ for The Beach Boys) died (congestive heart failure)—2013
Rock Factoid: Almer was no ordinary songwriter. He was a member of Mensa International.
Reather Dixon ‘Dimples’ Turner (The Bobbettes – ‘Mr. Lee’) died (cardiac arrest)—2014
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