Monthly Archive: January 2016

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.
~Maya Angelou

1941 – The late Richie Havens (‘Freedom’) was born.

1942 – The late Edwin Starr (‘War’) was born.

1942 – Mac Davis (born Scott Davis – ‘One Hell Of A Woman’) was born. He’s 74 today
Rock Factoid: Davis has written many hits for other artists, including ‘In The Ghetto’, ‘Memories’, ‘A Little Less Conversation’ and ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’ (Elvis Presley), ‘Watching Scotty Grow’ (Bobby Goldsboro) and ‘I Believe In Music’ (Gallery).

1945 – Chris Britton (lead guitarist with The Troggs – ‘Wild Thing’) was born. He’s 71 today.

1950 – Billy Ocean (born Louis Sebastian Charles – ‘Caribbean Queen’) was born.He’s 66 today.

1956 – Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’ became the first rock & roll album to enter the U.S. charts.

1957 – Chuck Berry recorded ‘School Day’.

1957 – Patsy Cline won Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts program, singing ‘Walking After Midnight’.

1957 – Elvis Presley recorded ‘(Let’s Have A) Party’.

1959 – The Coasters released ‘Charlie Brown’.

1963 – The Four Seasons released ‘Walk Like A Man’

1964 – The Dave Clark Five released ‘Bits And Pieces’ / ‘All Of The Time’ in England’.
Rock Factoid: Although ‘Bits And Pieces’ was credited to Dave Clark and Mike Smith, it was Ron Ryan who wrote it. He let Mike Smith take ‘Pieces’ (originally meant to be a country song) and make it his own but after being promised writing royalties and on-label credits by Clark, Ryan received nothing … no credit and no royalties.
“I got treated badly, but the band members were ripped off regally. They were playing tours that were netting huge amounts of money, appearing in films, and doing highly paid TV and radio work and all they were getting was a flat weekly wage. Compared to the average British working man at the time, it was a good wage, but the lion’s share went into Mr. Clark’s coffers. On top of that every song band members wrote had to have ‘Dave Clark’ on it as a “co-writer” or the song would not be recorded.” … Ron Ryan

1966 – George Harrison married Pattie Boyd.

1967 – The Monkees recorded ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’ and ‘She Hangs Out’.
Rock Factoid: Don Kirshner was still supervising Monkees sessions and persuaded Davy Jones to fly to New York and record a solo session with producer Jeff Barry, using session musicians instead of the band. Kirshner chose the two songs for the next Monkees single. He also ordered pressing and distribution of the single; something he was not authorized to do. That would be his downfall. When copies of the single appeared in Canada in March 1967, Kirshner was fired on the grounds that he had issued an unauthorized record.

1968 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded ‘All Along The Watchtower’ at Olympic Studios in London. The trio had some help from Dave Mason (12-string acoustic guitar) of Traffic and Brian Jones (percussion) of the Rolling Stones.

1969 – Elvis Presley recorded ‘In The Ghetto’.

1975 – Olivia Newton-John released ‘Have You Never Been Mellow’.

1975 – Earth, Wind & Fire released ‘Shining Star’. It was the groups first major hit, hitting #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts.

1982 – B.B. King donated his entire record collection, including 7,000 rare blues records to the University of Mississippi’s Center for Study of Southern Culture.

1984 – Jackie Wilson (‘Higher & Higher’, ‘Lonely Teardrops’ and many more) died eight years after a heart attack and subsequent fall left him in a coma with brain damage. He was 49.

1987 – The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, B. B. King, Clyde McPhatter, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson, Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters and Jackie Wilson were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Non-Performers inducted were Leonard Chess, Mike Leiber and Mike Stoller, Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun. Inductees in the Early Influence category were Hank Williams, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.

1989 – Steve Wahrer (drummer/lead singer with The Trashmen (‘Surfin Bird’) died at the age of 47 of throat cancer.

1996 – Francisco ‘Cannibal’ Garcia (Cannibal & The Headhunters – ‘Land Of 1,000 Dances’) died at the age of 49 after a long-term illness.

1996 – Dennis Fuller and Edem Ephraim (British pop duo – ‘London Nights’) were both killed when an inebriated Swiss driver hit their car head-on in the Austrian Alps.

1997 – ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker (Elvis Presley’s manager) died after suffering a stroke. He was 87.

1999 – Charles Brown (‘Please Come Home For Christmas’) died of congestive heart failure at the age of 76.

2002 – Peggy Lee (‘Is That All There Is’) died at the age of 81 from complications of diabetes and heart failure.

2007 – Songwriter Irwin Levine died of kidney failure at the age of 58.
Rock Factoid: He co-wrote ‘I Can’t Quit Her’ (Blood, Sweat & Tears), ‘Black Pearl’ (Sonny Charles), ‘This Diamond Ring’ (Gary Lewis & The Playboys), ‘I Woke Up In Love This Morning’ (Partridge Family), ‘Candida’, ‘Knock Three Times’ and ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree’ (Tony Orlando & Dawn).

2010 – Robert ‘Squirrel’ Lester (The Chi-Lites – ‘Have You Seen Her’) died of liver cancer at the age of 67.

Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2016 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.