Rock & Roll History – January 7th
1930 – The late Jack Greene ‘There Goes My Everything’) was born.
1936 – The late Eldee Young (upright bass with Young/Holt Unlimited – ‘ Soulful Strut’ and The Ramsey Lewis Trio – ‘The In Crowd’) was born.
1938 – The late Paul Revere (born Paul Revere Dick – keyboards with Paul Revere & The Raiders – ‘Kicks’) was born.
1938 – The late Rory Storm (born Alan Caldwell – lead singer with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes {Ringo Starr’s first group} – ‘Only In America’) was born.
1939 – The late Lefty Baker (born Eustace Britchforth – guitarist with Spanky & Our Gang – ‘Like To Get To Know You’) was born.
1942 – The late Danny Williams (‘White On White’) was born.
1954 – Muddy Waters recorded the classic ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’.
1956 – Production began on the Rock Around The Clock movie with Bill Haley.
1958 – Sarah Vaughan recorded ‘Broken-Hearted Melody’.
1961 – Faron Young recorded ‘Hello Walls’.
1962 – Chubby Checker’s ‘The Twist’ returned to #1 on the Billboard chart. It had reached #1 two years earlier.
1963 – Bobby Vee recorded ‘Charms’.
1963 – Gary ‘U.S.’ Bonds sued Chubby Checker, claiming ‘Dancing Party’ sounded too much like his ‘Quarter To Three’. The suit was settled out of court and the two singers became very close friends.
1964 – Cyril Davies (British blues harmonica ace, and a member of Blues Incorporated, which included the likes of Jack Bruce – later with Cream, and Charlie Watts – later with the Rolling Stones) died of leukemia.
1964 – The Beach Boys recorded ‘Don’t Worry Baby’.
1966 – The Dave Clark Five released ‘At The Scene’ / ‘I Miss You’ in the U.S.
1968 – Bob Dylan was elected President of the United States.
Rock Factoid: A ‘grass ballot’ vote for president was held by pioneering underground FM radio station KMPX in San Francisco. Dylan was elected President; Paul Butterfield, Vice-President; George Harrison, Music Ambassador to the United Nations; the members of Jefferson Airplane were all elected Secretaries of Transportation and the members of the Grateful Dead were all elected Attorneys General.
1970 – The Friends of Distinction recorded ‘Love Or Let Me Be Lonely’.
1970 – Max Yasgur, whose property was used for the 1969 Woodstock concert, was sued for $35,000 in property damages by neighboring farmers.
1972 – Rolling Stones Records released ‘Jamming With Edward’, a mix of jam sessions recorded by Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Nicky Hopkins and Ry Cooder during the Stones’ ‘Let It Bleed’ recording sessions.
1976 – Former record executive Kenneth Moss was sentenced to 120 days in the Los Angeles County Jail (and four years probation) for involuntary manslaughter for the 1974 drug induced death of Average White Band drummer Robbie McIntosh.
1980 – Carl White (lead singer with The Rivingtons – ‘Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow’) died of a heart attack.
1980 – Larry Williams (‘Bony Maronie’) died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Rock Factoid: Rumors persisted for years after his death that he was murdered because of his involvement in drugs, crime and prostitution.
Williams – a chauffeur for Lloyd Price before he started his own recording career – was no stranger to trouble with the law. He had been convicted of dealing drugs in 1960 and served a prison term. He also shot at (and narrowly missed) Little Richard in 1977 over a drug debt.
Rock Factoid #2: Several of his compositions were covered by other artists. The Rolling Stones recorded ‘She Said Yeah’ and The Beatles recorded ‘Slow Down’, ‘Bad Boy’ and ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’.
1992 – Eric Clapton released ‘Tears In Heaven’, a song written about the pain and loss Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor in 1991.
Rock Factoid: The song, Clapton’s best-selling single in the United States, was voted Song of The Year and Record of The Year at the 1993 Grammy Awards.
1997 – Two bronze busts worth $70,000 were stolen from a garden at George Harrison’s estate in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Thieves climbed a 10-foot wall and cut the figures of two monks from their stone foundations.
2001 – James Carr (‘The Dark End of The Street’) died of lung cancer.
2003 – The Beatles Book Monthly closed down after 40 years. Author Sean O’Mahony, who set up the magazine in 1963, said there was nothing more to say as the number of things the former Beatles were doing got to be less and less as the years went on.
2011 – Bobby Robinson (produced ‘Kansas City’ by Wilbert Harrison and ‘Ya Ya’ by Lee Dorsey) died of natural causes.
2014 – Maureen Gray (‘Dancing The Strand’) died of bile duct cancer.
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2016 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.