The late Perez Prado (‘Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White’) was born in 1916
The late Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton (she sang the original version of ‘Hound Dog’) was born in 1926
The late J. Frank Wilson (‘Last Kiss’) was born in 1941
Darryl Jones (bass guitarist who replaced Bill Wyman in The Rolling Stones) is 53
Rock Factoid: Jones is a salaried employee and not a full member of the band. Although he has played on the band’s recordings since 1993, he does not share financial participation in the group’s worldwide publishing, recording and concert touring revenues.
Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna – bass guitar with Mötley Crüe – ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’) is 56
Jermaine Jackson (The Jacksons – ‘I Want You Back’) is 60
Brenda Lee (‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’) is 70
Rock Factoid: Brenda had twenty-seven Top 40 hits before she was 21.
David Gates (lead singer with Bread – ‘Make It With You’ and ‘Goodbye Girl’ as a solo artist) is 74
Rock Factoid: Before he formed Bread, Gates was an established session musician, playing on records by Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin and Pat Boone.
Rock Factoid #2: Gates was also an accomplished songwriter and producer before Bread. He produced several songs by Pat Boone and Glenn Yarbrough’s ‘Baby The Rain Must Fall’. He also wrote ‘Popsicles And Icicles’ for The Murmaids and ‘Saturday’s Child’ for The Monkees.
The Coasters recorded ‘Charlie Brown’—1958
Aretha Franklin made her concert debut at the Village Vanguard in New York City—1960
Sam Cooke (‘You Send Me’) was shot to death by a Los Angeles motel manager—1964
Rock Factoid: According to Bertha Franklin, manager of the Motel Hacienda, Cooke had checked in earlier that evening. She claimed that Cooke later broke into her manager’s office-apartment in a rage, wearing nothing but a shoe and a sports coat, demanding to know the whereabouts of a woman who had accompanied him to the motel.
Franklin said that the woman was not in the office but an enraged Cooke violently grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman’s whereabouts.
According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, with the two of them falling to the floor before she got up and retrieved her gun, firing at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso and, according to Franklin, he exclaimed “Lady, you shot me” before mounting a last charge at her. She beat him over his head with a broomstick before he finally fell, mortally wounded by the gunshot.
Rock Factoid #2: The courts ruled that Cooke was drunk and distressed, and that the manager had killed Cooke in what was later ruled a justifiable homicide. Since that time, the circumstances of his death have been widely questioned.
The Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus was filmed. The Who, Jethro Tull and, of course, The Dirty Mac – a supergroup if ever there was one – were among the performers—1968
Rock Factoid: The “circus” was performed in a replica of a seedy big top on a British sound stage at the Intertel (V.T.R. Services) Studio, Wycombe Road, Wembley
Rock Factoid #2: The program was originally meant to be aired on the BBC, but the Rolling Stones withheld it because they were unhappy with their performance. The Stones contended they had taken the stage early in the morning (of the 12th) and were clearly exhausted. Many others believe that the true reason for not releasing the video was that The Who, fresh off a concert tour, upstaged the Stones. The video was finally released in 2004.
Rock Factoid #3: It was the last public performance of Brian Jones with The Rolling Stones, and for much of the Stones performance he was inaudible, although his slide guitar on ‘No Expectations’ remained clear and proof that he still had ability.
Rock Factoid #4: It was the first time since the formation of The Beatles that John Lennon – who was still in the group – had performed in public without them. The name Dirty Mac, thought of by Lennon, was a play on Fleetwood Mac, who at that time were a very popular band in the UK but not yet a big name in the U.S. The band consisted of Lennon (rhythm guitar), Eric Clapton (lead guitar), Keith Richards (bass) and Mitch Mitchell (drums).
Rock Factoid #5: When asked by a production assistant what type of guitar amp Lennon wanted to use for the performance of ‘Yer Blues’, his answer was “One that plays.”
American promoter Mike Belkin offered the Beatles a minimum of $2.4 million for a 12-day U.S. tour, plus 65 % of the profits, up to a limit of $8.8 million. The Beatles rejected it—1969
John Lennon released his solo debut album (‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’)—1970
Rock Factoid: Inspired by his primal scream therapy with Dr. Arthur Janov, Lennon created a harrowing set of unflinchingly personal songs, laying out all of his fears and angers for everyone to hear. It was a revolutionary record – never before had a record been so explicitly introspective, and very few records made absolutely no concession to the audience’s expectations.
Carly Simon released ‘Anticipation’—1971
John Lennon debuted a new song, ‘John Sinclair’, at the Free John Sinclair Rally in Ann Arbor, MI—1971
Genesis made their U.S. concert debut at Massachusetts’ Brandeis University—1972
During a Kiss concert in Lakeland, FL, Ace Frehley accidentally touched a short-circuited light bulb and was electrocuted. The incident inspired the song ‘Shock Me’ which featured Frehley’s first lead vocal in Kiss—1976
Walter Ward (lead singer with The Olympics – ‘Western Movies’) died (prolonged illness)—2006
Ravi Shankar (sitar maestro – ‘Bangla Dhun’) died (complications following heart valve surgery)—2012
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