The late Neil Aspinall (personal assistant to the Beatles and eventually the head of Apple Records) was born in 1941
Marie Osmond (‘Paper Roses‘) is 55
Henry Padovoni (original lead guitarist with The Police) is 62
Rock Factoid: With Padovani on guitar, The Police recorded their first single, ‘Fall Out’ / ‘Nothing Achieving’ in 1977. However Sting was dissatisfied with Padovani’s technical abilities, paving the way for Andy Summers, and for a brief period, The Police performed as a four piece with Padovani and Summers sharing guitar duties. Within two months, it was apparent that Summers’ guitar skills were far more advanced and Padovoni was ousted.
Simon Nichol (guitarist with Fairport Convention – ‘Farewell Farewell’) is 64
John Ford Coley (England Dan & John Ford Coley – ‘I’d Really Love To See You Tonight’) is 66
Peter Spencer (drummer with Smokie – ‘Living Next Door To Alice’) is 66
Sammy Hagar (‘I Can’t Drive 55’ as a solo artist and ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’ with Van Halen) is 67
Rock Factoid: In 2007 Hagar an 80% interest in his Cabo Wabo Tequila to Gruppo Campari, the world’s seventh-largest spirits company, for $80 million. In 2010, he sold the remaining 20% interest for $11 million.
Robert Lamm (keyboardist with Chicago – ’25 Or 6 To 4′) is 70
Rock Factoid: As a side project in the mid 1990s, Lamm formed a trio with America’s Gerry Beckley and The Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson. Their album, ‘Like A Brother’, was released in 2000, two years after Wilson had died from lung cancer.
Paul Simon (‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ with Simon & Garfunkel, and ‘Mother And Child Reunion’ as a solo artist) is 73
Rock Factoid: Simon has been nominated for 17 Grammy Awards (hes won 12, including a Lifetime Achievement Award), and in 1998 he received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for the Simon & Garfunkel album ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’.
Rock Factoid #2: He is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; in 1990 as half of Simon & Garfunkel, and as a solo artist in 2001.
Chris Farlowe (‘Out Of Time’ and the original version of ‘Handbags And Gladrags’) is 74
The Bill Haley film (Don’t Knock The Rock) began production—1956
Rock Factoid: Here’s your quick synopsis: A disc jockey (Alan Freed) tries to prove to teenagers’ parents that rock ‘n’ roll is harmless and won’t turn their kids into juvenile delinquents. And wouldn’t you know? He did!
Rock Factoid #2: The film was an immediate follow-up to the earlier Rock Around the Clock, which had also starred Haley and Freed. Although Haley and the Comets were the top-billed stars of the film, their role in it was relatively minor and the film failed to duplicate the box office success of its predecessor. Today it is mostly remembered for introducing Little Richard to a mass audience.
The Everly Brothers recorded ‘Problems’—1958
Don Everly collapsed during rehearsals on stage at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London on the eve of a 22-date Everly Brothers UK tour. He was flown back to the U.S. for treatment and the tour continued with Phil Everly performing solo—1962
With The Beatles scheduled to appear on the British TV show Sunday Night at The London Palladium, excitable fans were a security concern. Authorities decided the best solution to the problem was to close every street within two blocks of the theater—1963
The Who recorded ‘My Generation’ at Pye Studios in London—1965
Rock Factoid: Guitarist Pete Townshend reportedly wrote the song on a train and is said to have been inspired by the Queen Mother who is alleged to have had Townshend’s 1935 Packard hearse towed off a street in Belgravia because she was offended by the sight of it during her daily drive through the neighborhood.
Rock Factoid #2: The song featured one of the first bass solos in rock history; played by John Entwistle on his Fender Jazz Bass, rather than the Danelectro bass he wanted to use. The Danoelectro he had brought with him had thin strings that kept breaking easily.
The Beatles recorded ‘Drive My Car’—1965
Rock Factoid: The song contained clear sexual overtones, from the first verse’s “You can do something in between” to the suggestive promises of “a better time.”
Rock Factoid #2 ”It was wonderful because the story had a little sting in the tail like ‘Norwegian Wood’ had, which was ‘I actually haven’t got a car, but when I get one you’ll be a terrific chauffeur. ‘Drive my car’ was an old blues euphemism for sex, so in the end all is revealed.’ … Paul McCartney‘
The Beach Boys recorded ‘The Little Girl I Once Knew’—1965
Rock Factoid: The song – which reached #20 on Billboard when it was released as a single in November 1965 – drew comparisons with the work of contemporary Burt Bacharach, a composer Brian Wilson greatly admired.
Rock Factoid #2: In 1995, Wilson said, “It was a fine song, except the intro is the only good part of it, and the rest didn’t sound so good. I thought the song in itself sucked. I didn’t like the harmonies. I thought they were sour and off-key.”
The Kinks released ‘Autumn Almanac’ / ‘Mister Pleasant’ in England—1967
John Lennon recorded ‘Julia’ on his own for The Beatles’ ‘White Album’—1968
Rock Factoid: Containing the finger picking guitar style taught to Lennon by Donovan while in India, it is the only solo Lennon recording in The Beatles’ catalogue.
Rock Factoid #2: Sections of the song were adapted from lines in Sand And Foam by poet Kahlil Gibran. The opening words of ‘Julia’ were taken from Gibran’s lines, “Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you.”
Rock Factoid #3: Lennon also adapted the lines “When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind” from Gibran’s “When life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind.”
Janis Joplin’s ashes were scattered at sea off the California coast—1970
Ed Sullivan died (cancer) —1974
Rock Factoid: The Beatles were the first of many musical artists Sullivan presented on his program. Some of those included the Rolling Stones, Doors, Beach Boys, Animals, Mamas and Papas, Young Rascals, Supremes, Petula Clark, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Four Seasons, Herman’s Hermits, Byrds and the Dave Clark Five.
The Beach Boys recorded ‘I Wanna Pick You Up’ and ‘Honkin’ Down The Highway’—1976
Shirley Brickley (The Orlons – ‘Don’t Hang Up’) died (shot by an intruder who was never caught)—1977
George Jones won Single of the Year at the Country Music Association awards for ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’, starting a career resurgence for the country legend—1980
Rock Factoid: The song, which also earned Jones the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance, was a tune Jones thought would be a colossal flop when he recorded it.
Rock Factoid #2: “George was hesitant to record the song because by 1980, he had all but destroyed his personal and professional life with substance abuse. He didn’t need to record another sad country song – he was living one. George said it was too long, too sad, too depressing and that nobody would ever play it. He hated the melody and wouldn’t learn it.” … Billy Sherill, producer
Rock Factoid #3:
The narration part of the song consists of four lines Jones speaks rather than sings:
“She came to see him one last time
We all wondered if she would
And it kept running through my mind
This time he’s over her for good.”
“Pretty simple, eh?” Jones later recalled. “I couldn’t get it. I had been able to sing while drunk all of my life. I’d fooled millions of people. But I could never speak without slurring when drunk. What we needed to complete that song was the narration, but Billy could never catch me sober enough to record four simple spoken lines. It took us about 18 months to record a song that was approximately three-minutes long. When it was finally finished, I looked Billy square in the eye and said, ‘Nobody will buy that morbid son of a bitch.’ Then I marched out the studio door.”
Rock Factoid #4: The Academy of Country Music awarded the song Single of The Year and Song of The Year in 1980, and it has consistently been voted as the best country song of all-time throughout the years. Not bad for a “morbid son of a bitch.”
George Harrison released ‘Got My Mind Set On You’—1987
Rock Factoid: Harrison had been the first former Beatle to have a solo #1 single (‘My Sweet Lord in 1970) and with ‘Got My Mind Set On You’, he became the last one to hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also reached #1 in 1973 with ‘Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)’.
Rock Factoid #2: ‘Got My Mind Set On You’ happened to be the #1 single in the U.S. the week immediately preceding the induction of The Beatles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making Harrison one of the few inductees to have an active single on the U.S. record charts at the time of induction.
Bob Dylan performed at the West Point U.S. Military Academy—1990
Rock Factoid: Not intimidated by the location, he performed his scathing anti-war anthem ‘Masters Of War’. The song was met with a cool response from the cadets down front, but he rebounded and managed to talk the audience into a sing-a-long of another protest song, ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’.
Craig ‘Butch’ Atkinson (drummer with The Count Five – ‘Psychotic Reaction’) died (complications following surgery)—1998
Rock Factoid: ‘Psychotic Reaction’ peaked at #5 in the U.S. charts in late 1966. The band enjoyed limited success because they had made the decision to pursue college degrees. (They were all between the ages of 17 and 19).
Rock Factoid #2: After graduating from college, Atkinson became a Naval Aviator and later became a pilot for Delta Air Lines.
The Crossroads Center opened in Antigua. The addiction recovery center was underwritten by Eric Clapton—1998
Bob Dylan released ‘The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The Royal Albert Hall Concert’—1998
Peter Doyle (guitarist/singer with The New Seekers – ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing’) died (cancer)—2001
Rock Factoid: In 1975, Doyle was asked to join the Little River Band as lead singer but he refused the offer.
Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr asked fans to stop sending him letters requesting autographs. In a video message posted on his website, Starr said he had “too much to do”—2008
Rock Factoid: “This is a serious message to everybody watching my update. Peace and love. Peace and love. I want to tell you after the 20th of October please do not send fan mail to any address you have. Nothing will be signed after the 20th of October. If that is the date on the envelope, it’s gonna be tossed. I’m warning you with peace and love I have too much to do. So no more fan mail. Thank you, thank you. And no objects to be signed. Nothing. Anyway, peace and love, peace and love.”
Bob Dylan released his ‘Christmas In The Heart’ album—2009
Al Martino (‘I Love You Because’, ‘Spanish Eyes’ and ‘Mary In The Morning’ and played the role of Johnny Fontaine in The Godfather films) died (natural causes)—2009>
General Norman Johnson (lead singer/songwriter with Chairmen Of The Board – ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’) died (lung cancer)—2010
Rock Factoid: Johnson wrote the Grammy Award winning ‘Patches’ for Clarence Carter, ‘Want Ads’ for Honey Cone, and ‘Bring The Boys Home’ for Freda Payne.
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