The late Carlo Little (drummer with Lord Sutch & The Savages – ‘Jack The Ripper’) was born in 1938

The late Eddie Kendricks (‘Keep On Truckin’) and member of The Temptations (‘My Girl’) was born in 1939

The late Paul Butterfield (‘Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’) was born in 1942

The late Dave ‘Dee’ Harman (lead singer with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich – ‘The Legend Of Xanadu’) was born in 1943
Rock Factoid: Prior to his music career, Harmon was a police cadet and was at the scene of the automobile accident that took the life of American rocker Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960. Harmon confiscated Cochran’s guitar from the accident and held it until it could be returned to the singer’s family.

The late Bob Stinson (guitarist with The Replacements – ‘I Will Dare’) was born in 1959

Mike Mills (bass guitar with R.E.M. – ‘Man On The Moon’) is 57

Wanda Hutchinson (The Emotions – ‘Best Of My Lovev) is 64

Paul Rodgers (lead singer with Free – ‘All Right Now’, Bad Company – ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love’, The Firm – ‘Radioactive’ and later with Queen + Paul Rodgers) is 66

Jim Bonfanti (drummer with The Choir – ‘It’s Cold Outside’ and The Raspberries – ‘Go All The Way’) is 67

Art Neville (keyboardist with The Neville Brothers – ‘Whatever It Takes’) is 78

Tommy Steele (lead singer with The Steelmen – ‘The Only Man On The Island’ and ‘Come On, Let’s Go’ as a solo artist) is 79

Tennessee Ernie Ford’s ‘Sixteen Tons’ hit #1 on both the pop and country charts—1955

When The Beatles appeared at the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool. Chas Newby joined the band, replacing Stuart Sutcliffe, who had temporarily remained in Hamburg. It was a position Newby would hold for only two weeks and four performances—1960
Rock Factoid: Chas was on vacation from a university when he had his brief stint with the Beatles,. John Lennon asked him to go with The Beatles to Germany when they were ready to make their second trip there, but he chose to return to the university instead.
“I never wanted to be a professional musician. I had always longed to be a scientist. Anyway, the Beatles were making about one pound each per night. And that is when they had a gig. Maybe 12 pounds per month. I was getting my entire college paid for by an outside firm. You’ve got to understand that the chances of them making it were miniscule. People sometimes don’t believe me when I say I’ve no regrets but I really haven’t. I have enjoyed my life immensely.”
Rock Factoid #2: Newby would go on to develop the windshields used to protect fighter pilots that are still used today. After retirement from chemical engineering, he become a teacher (now retired) at Droitwich Spa High School in Worcestershire, England.

Bob Dylan arrived in England for the first time. He played his first UK date the following night at the Troubadour Club in London—1962

Carroll ‘CJ The DJ’ James, a disc jockey at WWDC in Washington, DC, became the first radio personality in the U.S. to play a Beatles record – with a little help from a teenager—1963
Rock Factoid: In early December 1963, while the Beatles were still unknowns in the States, a Washington D.C. teenager, 15-year-old Marsha Albert, mailed in a request to James after seeing a brief story about them on The CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite. “I wrote that I thought they would be really popular here, and if he (James) could get one of their records, that would really be great.” In response to her request, James obtained a copy of ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, hand-carried from Britain by a flight attendant.
Albert was allowed to announce the record on James’ show: “Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time on the air in the United States, here are the Beatles singing ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand.'”
The overwhelming response that followed forced Capitol Records to take notice. The label decided to press a few thousand early copies for the Washington market but otherwise stick to the scheduled Jan. 13, 1964 release date. But James had made tapes for DJ friends in Chicago and St. Louis, and the song was a hit there, too. Capitol quickly moved the national release up to Dec. 26, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Pink Floyd released ‘Point Me At The Sky’ / ‘Careful With That Axe Eugene’—1968
Rock Factoid: It was the last single they would release in Britain for eleven years. ‘Point Me At The Sky’ wasn’t released in the U.S. and some members of Pink Floyd declared the song to be one of their most embarrassing moments.

The Who played their Christmas party at the Marquee Club, London. Also on the bill was a “great new group” called Yes. Members paid a whopping $1.80 to get in while guests had to scrounge up $2.40—1968

Victoria May ‘Miss Vicki’ Budinger married Tiny Tim on The Tonight Show—1969

The Beach Boys gave a Royal Command Performance for Princess Margaret at London’s Royal Albert Hall—1970

David Bowie released his ‘Hunky Dory’ album—1971

During his appearance on Saturday Night Live, Elvis Costello stopped his performance of ‘Less Than Zero’, saying “there’s no reason to do this” and launched into ‘Radio Radio’, a song he had been told not to perform—1977

Karen Carpenter gave her last singing performance at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, CA. She sang Christmas carols for her godchildren, their classmates who attended the school, and other friends—1982

American Delta blues musician/songwriter Big Joe Williams (wrote ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’) died (prolonged illness)—1977

Singer Wayne Newton won a $19.2 million suit against NBC News. NBC had aired reports claiming a link between Newton and mob figures. The reports were proven to be false—1986

Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora married actress Heather Locklear. The wedded bliss lasted 12 years—1994

Grover Washington, Jr. (saxophonist who scored a Top 40 hit with ‘Just The Two Of Us’ featuring Bill Withers on vocals) died (heart attack)—1999

Rex Allen (singer – ‘Sparrow In The Treetop’ and an actor in several 1950s westerns) died (after his caretaker accidentally ran over him with a car in his driveway)—1999

Keith Richards stole a guitar from a fan outside a party at New York’s Russian Tea Room. The fan never pressed charges, explaining, “It’s Keith, man.”—1999

Lisa Marie Presley sold 85% of the Elvis Presley estate for $100 million … sort of—2004
Rock Factoid: As Lisa Marie explained, “There’s the Elvis Presley Estate, which are the things in the house and all of his stuff, which will never be touched. We sold 85 percent of the licensing and marketing – we still own 15 percent. But everything in Graceland is still ours. It will never be touched.”

Dick Heckstall-Smith (saxophonist with Blues Incorporated – ‘Gotta Move’ and Graham Bond Organisation – ‘Train Time’) died (cancer)—2004

U2 had the top-grossing tour of 2005, according to an end-of-year chart compiled by Billboard. More than three million people watched the band’s sell-out 90-date ‘Vertigo’ tour which grossed $260 million—2005
Rock Factoid: The Eagles took in $117m, Neil Diamond grossed $71m, Kenny Chesney was fourth with $63m, Paul McCartney grossed $60m, Rod Stewart raked in $49m, Elton John with $45m, Dave Matthews Band made $45m, Jimmy Buffett with $41m, and Green Day with $36.5m.

Denis Payton (saxophonist with The Dave Clark Five – ‘Any Way You Want It’) died (cancer)—2006

Joel Dorn (producer who won Grammy Awards for his work on Roberta Flack’s ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ and ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’) died (heart attack)—2007

Captain Beefheart (born Don Van Vliet – singer/songwriter with The Magic Band – ‘Diddy Wah Diddy’) died (complications from multiple sclerosis)—2010

Robin Rogers (‘Need Your Love So Bad’) died (cancer)—2010

Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2015 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.