Yearly Archive: 2015

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 43

Jakob Dylan (lead singer/guitarist/songwriter with The Wallflowers – ‘One Headlight’ and the son of Bob Dylan) is 46

Nick Seymour (bass guitar with Crowded House – ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’) is 57

Donny Osmond (‘Go Away Little Girl’) is 58

Joan Armatrading (‘Love And Affection’) is 65

George Baker (born Johannes Hans Bouwens) of The George Baker Selection (‘Little Green Bag’) is 71

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 71

Kenny Vance (Jay & The Americans – ‘Only In America’) is 72

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 75
Rock Factoid: Strain is one of the few artists in music history who are a double Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee. He was inducted with the O’Jays in 2005 and The Imperials in 2009.

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.

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 recording equipment.

The first Supremes album (‘Meet The Supremes’) was released—1962

The Kinks released ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ / ‘I Gotta Move’—1964
Rock Factoid: Comparisons between the musical structure of ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ and the Doors’ ‘Hello, I Love You’ have long existed. Although the Doors denied stealing any part of the Kinks’ song, courts in the UK ruled in favor of Kinks’ songwriter Ray Davies and any royalties earned for sales of ‘Hello, I Love You’ in the UK are paid to him.

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

Tommy James & The Shondells released ‘Crimson And Clover’ / ‘I’m Taken’—1968
Rock Factoid: Although the single reached #1 in the U.S., Canada, Germany, New Zealand, South Africa and Switzerland (and #3 in Australia), it never charted at all in the UK.

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 grossing 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 – ‘Everything I Own’) 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

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