The late J.J. Cale (born John W. Cale – ‘Cocaine’) was born in 1938
Rock Factoid: Cale’s name change came about when a nightclub owner tagged him with ‘J.J. ‘ to avoid confusion with John Cale of the Velvet Underground.
Rock Factoid #2: In addition to writing ‘Cocaine’ (a big hit for Eric Clapton), Cale also wrote ‘After Midnight’ (another Clapton hit) and ‘Call Me The Breeze’ (Lynyrd Skynyrd).
Andy Kim (‘Rock Me Gently’) is 62 (although many sources say he is 68)
Jim Messina (bass guitar with Buffalo Springfield – ‘Carefree Country Day’, guitarist with Poco – ‘Calico Lady’ and Loggins & Messina – ‘Your Mama Don’t Dance’) is 67
Chad Mitchell (Chad Mitchell Trio – ‘The John Birch Society’) is 79
Little Richard (born Richard Wayne Penniman – ‘Long Tall Sally’) is 82
Rock Factoid: Little Richard – the self proclaimed “architect of rock and roll” who recorded 28 songs that reached the Billboard Hot 200 – has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Recording Academy and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
Alan Freed’s Rock! Rock! Rock! film (with Connie Francis singing for Tuesday Weld) was released—1956
The Beatles performed in Liverpool for the last time at The Liverpool Empire. There were 40,000 applications for the 5,100 available tickets—1965
The Byrds recorded a cover version of Bob Dylan’s ‘My Back Pages’—1966
Rock Factoid: The song was part of their fourth album, ‘Younger Than Yesterday’, which was itself directly inspired by the song’s refrain of “Ah, but I was so much older then/I’m younger than that now.”
Rock Factoid #2: Lead guitarist and vocalist Jim McGuinn felt that it would make an effective cover version, but bandmate David Crosby felt that covering another Dylan song was a mistake. The Byrds had already released a total of six Dylan covers on their first two albums, and had enjoyed success with their singles ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and ‘All I Really Want To Do’. In spite of Crosby’s objections, ‘My Back Pages’ was recorded by the band and is today regarded as one of The Byrds’ strongest Dylan interpretations.
Graham Nash announced he was quitting The Hollies—1968
The Rolling Stones released the ‘Let It Bleed’ album—1969
‘Amazing Grace’ by Judy Collins entered the UK singles chart for the first of eight times. It spent a total of 67 weeks on the chart but never hit #1—1970
Paul McCartney & Wings released the ‘Band On The Run’ album in the U.S. It was released in the UK two days later—1973
Music weekly NME reviewed the Sex Pistols debut single ‘Anarchy In The UK’ saying, “Johnny Rotten sings flat, the song is laughably naive, and the overall feeling is of a third-rate Who imitation”—1976
Just three days before John Lennon was murdered, he called his Aunt Mimi in Liverpool to say he was homesick and was planning a trip back to England—1980
‘Fat’ Larry James (drummer/vocalist with Fat Larry’s Band – ‘Zoom’) died (heart attack)—1987
Doug Hopkins (original lead guitarist with the Gin Blossoms – ‘Hey Jealousy’) died (self-inflicted gunshot)—1993
David Crosby and Don Henley headlined a benefit concert that raised $300,000 for children of the victims of the 9/11 attacks—2001
Scotty Moore (Elvis’ original guitarist) underwent brain surgery to repair a subdural hematoma—2003
Billy Maybray (drummer with The Jaggerz – ‘The Rapper’) died (cancer)—2004
John Leslie Nuzzo (vocals and harmonica with The Brooklyn Blues Busters – ‘Organ Grinder Blues’ and later a performer – billed as John Leslie – in almost 300 adult films) died (heart attack)—2010
Dave Brubeck (pianist and leader of The Dave Brubeck Quartet – ‘Take Five’) died (heart failure) one day before his 92nd birthday—2012
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2014 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.
You may not, under any circumstances, reproduce, record, publish, republish, post, transmit, publicly display, publicly exhibit or distribute any articles or photographs on RayLemire.com without obtaining the express written consent of the Operator.