Monthly Archive: January 2016

“If you pour some music on whatever’s wrong, it’ll sure help out. The power of music just kinda kills all those ills. It cures everything”
~Levon Helm

1942 – The late Clarence Clemons (saxophonist with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band – ‘Jungleland’) was born.

1961 – Connie Francis released ‘Where The Boys Are’, the title song of a film in which she also appeared.

1963 – The Beatles released ‘Please Please Me’ / ‘Ask Me Why’ in the UK.

1965 – The Beach Boys, with Dennis Wilson on lead vocal, recorded ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ at Gold Star Recorders Studio A, Hollywood, CA.
Rock Factoid: Carl Wilson played lead guitar and Brian Wilson played piano, but the rest of the musicians on the recording came straight from the Wrecking Crew: Larry Knetchel on bass guitar, Leon Russell on Hammond organ, Billy Strange and Tommy Tedesco on mandolin, Steve Douglas and Plas Johnson on saxophone, and Hal Blaine on drums.

1967 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded ‘Purple Haze’ at De Lane Lea Studios in London.
Rock Factoid: According to drummer Mitch Mitchell, he and bassist Noel Redding had never heard the song prior to recording it. “Hendrix came in and kind of hummed us the riff and showed Noel the chords and the changes. I listened to it and we went, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ We got it on the third take as I recall.”

1971 – ‘Pearl’, the second and final solo studio album by Janis Joplin, was released posthumously on Columbia Records.
Rock Factoid: Joplin sang on all tracks except ‘Buried Alive in the Blues’, which remained an instrumental because she died before adding vocals. The recording sessions, starting in early September, ended with Joplin’s untimely death on October 4, 1970. Her final session, which took place on Thursday, October 1 after a break of several days, yielded her a cappella ‘Mercedes Benz’. It was the last song she recorded before her death.

1971 – Chicago released ‘Chicago III’, the band’s third consecutive double album of new studio material in less than two years.

1999 – Barry Pritchard (guitarist and singer with The Fortunes ‘You’ve Got Your Troubles’) died of a heart attack at the age of 54.

2003 – Mickey Finn (percussionist and sideman to Marc Bolan in Tyrannosaurus Rex and later, T.Rex – ‘Bang A Gong {Get It On}’) died of kidney and liver failure at the age of 55.

2005 – Jimmy Griffin (lead guitarist/singer/songwriter with Bread – ‘Too Much Love’ and later The Remingtons – ‘A Long Time Ago’) died of cancer at the age of 61.
Rock Factoid: In 1970, Griffin and fellow Bread member Robb Royer – under the pseudonyms Arthur James and Robb Wilson – wrote the lyrics for Fred Karlin’s music for the song ‘For All We Know’ featured in the film Lovers and Other Strangers. It won the Academy Award for Best Song.

2005 – Spencer Dryden (drummer with Jefferson Airplane – ‘Somebody To Love’ and New Riders of The Purple Sage – ‘Panama Red’) died from colon cancer at the age of 66.
Rock Factoid: Wheeler Dryden, Spencer’s father, was Charlie Chaplin’s half-brother. Spencer kept his background private so he would be known for his work and not as Charlie Chaplin’s nephew. He guarded that secret so closely that it wasn’t until Spencer’s death that Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen learned about it.

2005 – Mick Green (lead guitarist with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates – ‘A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues’ and later with Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas – ‘Trains And Boats And Planes’) died of heart failure at the age of 65.

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