Rock & Roll History – January 14

Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.
~Charlie Parker

1930 – The late Johnny Grande (piano with Bill Haley and His Comets – ‘Rock Around The Clock’) was born.

1948 – The late Tim Harris (drummer with The Foundations – ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’) was born.

alan-freed-st-nicholas-arena
1955 – Alan Freed’s first New York stage show (at Harlem’s Saint Nicholas Arena) included The Clovers, The Drifters and Fats Domino.

flamingo-jazz-club
1963 – Charlie Watts made his debut as the official drummer for The Rolling Stones at the Flamingo Jazz Club in Soho, outside of London.

Bob-Dylan-January-1965
1965 – Bob Dylan recorded ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’, ‘Outlaw Blues’, ‘She Belongs To Me’, and ‘Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream’

1966 – Singer David Jones changed his stage name from Davie Jones to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees.

1966 – Chris Farlowe released the Jagger-Richards written ”Think’.

1967 – In an interview with NME, British pop legend Cliff Richard announced he was retiring from show business to teach religious education in schools. (He never did).

human-be-in
1967 – Twenty thousand attended the ‘Human Be-In’ at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California.

monterey-pop-film
1969 – The Monterey Pop film opened in Los Angeles.

dave-grohl
1969 – Dave Grohl (drummer with Nirvana – ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and guitarist/lead singer with The Foo Fighters – ‘Learn To Fly’) was born. He’s 47 today.

beatles-minus-george-1969
1969 – The Beatles, still minus George Harrison, rehearsed (and recorded) two songs they would never release; ‘Madman’ and ‘Watching Rainbows’ (which featured John Lennon, in an eerily prophetic moment, murmuring “shoot me” several times throughout the song).

The-Supremes-Frontier-Hotel
1969 – The curtain closed for good on Diana Ross & The Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.
Rock Factoid: The farewell concert was the final act in a drawn-out breakup that didn’t become official until November 1969, but became inevitable in July 1967, when Motown Records chief Berry Gordy gave Diana Ross top billing over the Supremes.

1969 – John Lennon’s erotic ‘Bag One’ lithographs went on display in London.

the-tempations
1971 – The Temptations released ‘Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)’.
Rock Factoid: It was the final Temptations single to feature founding members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. During the process of recording and releasing the single, Kendricks left the group to begin a solo career, while the ailing Williams was forced to retire from the act for health reasons.

elvis-aloha-from-hawaii
1973 – Elvis Presley drew the largest audience for a single TV show to that time – an estimated one billion viewers in 40 countries.
Rock Factoid: Elvis – Aloha From Hawaii was beamed live via Globecam Satellite to Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, South Vietnam and other countries, and was seen on a delayed basis in approximately 30 European countries. The first American airing was April 4th on NBC. The show was also released as a two-record album, and became one of Presley’s top-selling albums.

pipes-of-peace
1984 – Paul McCartney reached #1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pipes Of Peace’.
Rock Factoid: It made McCartney the first artist to reach the top of the charts as a member of a quartet (Beatles), a trio (with Wings), a duo (with Stevie Wonder), and as a solo artist.

Jerry-Nolan
1992 –Jerry Nolan (drummer with The New York Dolls – ‘Personality Crisis’) died at the age of 45. While being treated for bacterial meningitis and bacterial pneumonia, he suffered a stroke and went into a coma from which he never recovered).

2000 –Melissa Etheridge revealed to Rolling Stone magazine that David Crosby was the surrogate father of her two children with partner Julie Cypher.

Bobby-Charles
2010 –Bobby Charles (songwriter – ‘Walking To New Orleans’ (Fats Domino), ‘See You Later Alligator’ (Bill Haley and His Comets) and ‘ (I Don’t Know Why) But I Do’ (Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry) died of cancer at the age of 71.

trish-keenan
2011 –Trish Keenan (member of Broadcast – ‘Before We Begin’) died from pneumonia shortly after she contracted swine flu while touring in Australia. She was 42.

robbie-france
2012 –Robbie France (drummer with UFO – ‘Dream The Dream’ and Wishbone Ash – ‘Standing In The Rain’) died of a ruptured aorta. He was 52.

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