A look at the birthdays and events that helped to create the soundtrack of our lives.
BIRTHDAYS
1937 – Don Everly (Everly Brothers – ‘Cathy’s Clown’) was born and is celebrating his 79th birthday today.
1937 – Ray Sawyer (co-lead singer with Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show — ‘Cover Of The Rolling Stone’) was born. He’s 79 today.
Rock Factoid: There never was a ‘Jethro Tull’ in Jethro Tull, never a ‘Marshall Tucker’ in The Marshall Tucker Band, never a ‘Hootie’ in Hootie & The Blowfish, and there was no ‘Dr. Hook’ in Sawyer’s band.
Early in the band’s career (before they actually had a name), a New Jersey club owner offered them a chance to play but told them they needed a name to put on a poster in the window of his establishment. Guitarist George Cummings made a sign: “Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Tonic for the Soul.”
The name was inspired by the traveling medicine shows of the old West. Sawyer was mistakenly considered to be Dr. Hook because of the eypatch he wears as the result of a near-fatal 1967 car accident.
1938 – The late Jimmy Carl Black (drummer with The Mothers of Invention – ‘Plastic People’) was born.
1950 – Mike Campbell (lead guitarist with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – ‘Runnin’ Down A Dream’) was born. He’s 66 today.
1968 – Lisa Marie Presley (‘Lights Out’ as a solo artist and ‘In The Ghetto’ with Elvis Presley) was born. She’s 48 today.
EVENTS
1949 – RCA Victor Records introduced the first 45-rpm, 7-inch single.
1956 – Elvis Presley recorded ‘Lawdy, Miss Clawdy’ and ‘Shake, Rattle And Roll’.
1958 – Elvis Presley recorded ‘Doncha’ Think It’s Time’ and ‘Wear My Ring Around Your Neck’.
1963 – The Squires, performed in concert for the first time at a country club in Winnipeg, Ontario, Canada.
Rock Factoid: I have no idea what happened to the other three guys but the guitarist in the upper left in the photo is 17-year old Neil Young, who was making his first appearance on a stage.
1964 – They had already reached #1 on the Cash Box chart and on this date, The Beatles reached the top of the Billboard chart with ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’.
1965 – James Brown recorded ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’ at Arthur Smith Studios in Charlotte, NC.
1967 – Frank and Nancy Sinatra recorded ‘Somethin’ Stupid’.
1967 – The Beatles began recording the title song for their ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album.
1968 – The Doors announced that Universal Pictures had offered them $500,000 to star in a future film. Other announcements made included a television special, a group humor book and a book of poetry by Jim Morrison. Only Morrison’s poetry book would ever see the light of day.
1969 – Joni Mitchell made her Carnegie Hall debut.
1972 – Wings recorded ‘Give Ireland Back To The Irish’ at Island Studios in London.
Rock Factoid: The song was written by Paul and Linda McCartney in response to the events of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland two days earlier. It was completely banned from media exposure in the United Kingdom, being banned by the BBC, Radio Luxembourg and the Independent Television Authority.
The song still reached #1 in the singles charts not only in the Republic of Ireland but also in Spain, and despite the air-play ban still climbed to #16 in the UK Singles Chart, and #21 in the US Billboard Hot 100.
1981 – Juice Newton released ‘Angel Of The Morning’.
1988 – Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ was re-released.
Rock Factoid: The song had been originally released in late 1967 and was a massive hit in the UK, but a lack of promotion in the U.S. (ABC Records head Larry Newton did not like the song) caused it to stall at #116 on the Billboard charts. When it was featured in the ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’ film in which a DJ (Robin Williams) played it on the radio in 1965 – two years before it was actually recorded, by the way – popular demand called for a re-release, and this time, it hit #32.
1989 – Paul Robi (The Platters – ‘Twilight Time’) died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.
1994 – Green Day released ‘Dookie’, their third studio album. It went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. More than 20 million copies have been sold worldwide.
1995 – Richey Edwards (a/k/a Richey James – songwriter/guitarist with The Manic Street Preachers – ‘She Is Suffering’) disappeared. His abandoned car was found fourteen days later. In 2008, he was declared presumed dead.
2003 – Mongo Santamaria (‘Watermelon Man’) died of natural causes at the age of 85.
2008 – NASA announced that ‘Across The Universe’ by the Beatles would become the first song to be beamed directly into space. Four days later, the song was transmitted through a network of antennas on the 40th anniversary of the song’s recording, and aimed at the North Star (Polaris), 431 light years from Earth.
2012 – Don Cornelius (host of Soul Train) died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 75 and was reportedly suffering from early onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease
2013 – Cecil Womack (singer/songwriter with The Valentines – ‘It’s All Over Now’, later covered by the Rolling Stones) died of natural causes at the age of 65.
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2016 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.