The late Sammy Davis, Jr. (‘I’ve Gotta Be Me’) was born in 1925

The late Jim Morrison (lead singer with The Doors – ‘Light My Fire’) was born in 1943

The late Mike Botts (drummer with Bread – ‘Make It With You’) was born in 1944

The late Dan Hartman (guitarist with The Edgar Winter Group – ‘Free Ride’ and ‘I Can Dream About You’ as a solo artist) was born in 1950

Ryan Newell (lead guitar with Sister Hazel – ‘All For You’) is 43

Sinead O’ Connor (‘Nothing Compares 2 U’) is 49

Paul Rutherford (harmony vocals with Frankie Goes To Hollywood – ‘Relax’) is 56

Phil Collen (guitarist with Def Leppard – ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’) is 58

Geoff Daking (drummer with Blues Magoos – ‘We Ain’t Go Nothin’ Yet’) is 68

Gregg Allman (‘Midnight Rider’) is 68

Bobby Elliott (drummer with The Hollies – ‘Bus Stop’) is 73

Jerry Butler (‘For Your Precious Love’) is 76

Henry Mancini recorded ‘Moon River’—1960

The Beach Boys released ‘Surfin’ (sort of)—1961
Rock Factoid: ‘Surfin‘ was actually released three times in three months on two different labels; Candix 331 in November 1961, X 301 in December 8, 1961 and Candix 301 in January 1962. The full story is complex, but in simple form, when the owners of Candix went back to the pressing plant to order more of 331, they were told to settle their bills first, so in order to maintain a flow of singles they had another plant press the record, hence the X 301 release (which is far and away the rarest of all). When sufficient cash had been raised for a further repressing on Candix, the number 301 was used.
Idle Thought: Don’t you feel better just knowing this stuff?

DJ and promoter Alan Freed appeared at his payola trial in New York City and admitted he received money from labels to play their records on the air. He was found guilty, fined $300, and given six months probation—1962

Steve Lawrence released ‘Go Away Little Girl’ / ‘If You Love Her, Tell Her So’—1962
Rock Factoid: ‘Go Away Little Girl’ was originally released in March 1962 by Bobby Vee. His version went nowhere but Lawrence’s single went to #1.
Rock Factoid #2: The Happenings covered the song in 1966 – it reached #12 – and Donny Osmond took it to #1 in 1971. That made ‘Go Away Little Girl’ the first song to reach #1 by two different artists.

Frank Sinatra, Jr. was kidnapped (but was returned after his father paid a $240,000 ransom)—1963

The Rolling Stones recorded ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ at RCA Hollywood Studios—1965
Rock Factoid: “Keith said something like, ‘Why don’t you do something at the end with the bass, some kind of a lick that will fill up the space between the vocals and the band?’ I came up with that Bo Diddley thing. I just bounced the string with the top of my finger on the pickup, and ran my finger down the string. That is what created that so-called dive-bombing sound.” … Bill Wyman

The Mamas & The Papas released ‘California Dreamin’—1965
Rock Factoid: The song was written in 1963 while John Phillips and Michelle Phillips were living in New York City. John came up with the melody a few days after the couple had visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which inspired Michelle to write the second verse of the song (“Stopped into a church…”).
Rock Factoid #2: Musicians on the recording – made at United Western Recorders in Los Angeles – were some of the greatest session players of the era: Hal Blaine (drums), Larry Knechtel (keyboards), Joe Osborn (bass) and P.F. Sloan (guitar).

Paul McCartney recorded the lead vocal for The Beatles’ ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’—1966
Rock Factoid: “I wrote it in 1957 or ’58. Back then I wasn’t necessarily looking to be a rock ‘n’ roller. There were records other than rock ‘n’ roll that were important to me. My dad turned 64 in ’66 so I thought it was a good time to record it.” … Paul McCartney

The Byrds recorded ‘The Girl With No Name’—1966
Rock Factoid: ‘Girl’ was married to David Freiberg of the San Francisco band Quicksilver Messenger Service when The Byrds’ Chris Hillman wrote ‘The Girl With No Name’. Her maiden name was Julia Dreyer.
“I was a dyed-in-the-wool hippie. In part they called me girl because in South Africa where I was from, that’s what they called their kids. I ran away to Mexico when I was 16. When I got back they were going to put me in juvenile hall until I was 21. In lieu of that, I got married.” … Julia Dreyer Brigden

The Beatles released ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ as a six-song double EP in the UK—1967

John Mills, Sr. (Mills Brothers – ‘Cab Driver’) died (natural causes)—1967

Traffic released their debut album (‘Mr. Fantasy’). The album reached #16 in the UK but peaked at #88 in the U.S.—1967
Rock Factoid: The first U.S. version of the album was titled ‘Heaven Is in Your Mind’ and had a cover that featured all the members of the group except Dave Mason, who had quit the band prior to the album release. It was quickly changed to the psychedelic version fans remember.

Three days after his departure from The Hollies, Graham Nash announced the formation of supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash—1968
Rock Factoid: The trio was quickly signed by Atlantic Records but there was one slight problem. Graham Nash was still signed to Epic Records through his contract with The Hollies. Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegün worked out a deal with Clive Davis of Epic to essentially trade Nash to Atlantic in exchange for Richie Furay and his new band Poco.

The Rolling Stones released ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ in the UK. It was an album three members of the band later dismissed as “nothing special.”—1969
Rock Factoid: “It was a load of crap. Half of it was, ‘let’s give people what we think they want.’ The other half was, ‘let’s get out of here as quickly as possible.'” … Keith Richards
“I don’t think any of the songs are very good.”… Mick Jagger
“Every day at the studio it was a lottery as to who would turn up and what – if any – positive contribution they would make when they did. I hated it!” … Bill Wyman
Rock Factoid #2: As for the cover – criticized for ripping off The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band‘ – Keith said, “Maybe we were doing it a little bit after them. We were always following them through so many scenes.”

Joe South released ‘Walk A Mile In My Shoes’—1969

On trial in Canada on drug possession charges, Jimi Hendrix told a Toronto court that he had only smoked pot four times in his life, snorted cocaine twice and took LSD no more than five times. He also added he had “outgrown” drugs. He was acquitted—1969

Gary Thain (bass guitar with Uriah Heep – ‘The Wizard’) died (heroin overdose)—1975

Neil Sedaka released the single ‘Breaking Up Is Hard to Do’. It was a slower version of his 1962 hit of the same name—1975

A benefit concert (“A Night of The Hurricane”) was held at Madison Square Garden. The last date on Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour, the show featured many non-musical celebrities and raised over $100,000 for the release of wrongly imprisoned boxer “Hurricane” Carter, who took part by calling the stage from jail—1975

John Lennon was murdered outside the Dakota building, his home in New York City—1980
Rock Factoid: On his way to a recording session, Lennon had graciously autographed the killer’s copy of ‘Double Fantasy’ (shown above).
When John returned with Yoko Ono at around 10:50 that night, the killer was waiting for him in the shadows of the entrance archway. Instead of driving straight through this passage into the Dakota’s courtyard, John and Yoko would often have the driver stop by the sidewalk so that they could walk in. On this occasion they did it once too often.
As they stepped from the car, a voice called out “Mr. Lennon!” John, turning to see who was asking for him, was met with a barrage of gunfire as the killer – squatting in a combat stance – pumped four bullets from his Charter Arms .38 Special into John’s back and left arm. A fifth one missed.
John, amazingly, continued to stagger forward and up the steps into the office of the Dakota night man, Jay Hastings, still clutching the tapes from that evening’s studio session. Eyes glazed, and with a look of total shock on his face, he said to Hastings, “I’ve been shot …” before collapsing face-first on the floor, blood pouring from his mouth and chest (some of the bullets had exited through the front of his body, creating seven visible wounds). Lennon died from blood loss en route to Roosevelt Hospital.
Idle Thought: I never type the killer’s name. Never.

‘Big’ Walter Horton (one of the best harmonica players in the history of the blues – ‘Easy’) died (heart failure)—1981

Marty Robbins (‘El Paso’) died (heart failure due to surgical complications)—1982

One time Coasters manager Patrick Cavanaugh was convicted of the first degree murder of group member Buster Wilson whose dismembered body was discovered in Modesto, CA in 1980. Wilson had threatened to notify authorities of Cavanaugh’s intent to buy furniture with stolen checks. Cavanaugh was given the death sentence but that was later commuted to life in prison—1984

Nicholas ‘Razzle’ Dingley (drummer with Hanoi Rocks – ‘Until I Get You’) was killed in an auto accident—1984
Rock Factoid: The driver of the car was Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil. His blood alcohol level was .17, well above the California legal limit of .08 when he lost control of his car and hit an oncoming vehicle. Neil was subsequently sentenced to 30 days in jail, five years probation, $2.6 million in restitution to the victims of the crash (Dingley’s estate and the two occupants of the other car) and 200 hours of community service.

Herbert (Toubo) Rhoad (The Persuasions – ‘Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World’) died (stroke)—1988

Antonio Carlos Jobim (a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova genre; he wrote ‘The Girl from Ipanema’) died (cardiac arrest)—1994

The Grateful Dead officially disbanded, four months after the death of Jerry Garcia—1995

The FBI released nearly 1,300 pages of the secret files it kept on Frank Sinatra, detailing his ties to organized crime, allegations that he was a Communist Party sympathizer, and that he dodged the draft—1998

Speaking at a press conference in Mexico City Carlos Santana said that while he was praying in church, the Virgin of Guadalupe spoke to him—1999
Rock Factoid: Recalling the moment, Santana said, “I started to cry. I’d never cried in my life and she said, ‘Calm down, breathe, I am very proud and happy with you.'”
Rock Factoid #2: He added, “Marijuana is not a drug and if factories are set up here to make clothes, tofu cheese, medicine, and paper from marijuana, we won’t have to chop down so many trees.”

Ozzy Osbourne fractured a collarbone, eight ribs and one of the vertebrae in his neck in an all-terrain vehicle accident on his estate in Buckinghamshire, England—2003
Rock Factoid: “The last thing I remember is I got on the bike and something in my mind went, ‘Bad move. Something really bad is gonna happen.'”

Dimebag Darrell (born Darrell Abbott – lead guitarist with Damageplan – ‘Moment Of Truth’) died (shot to death while onstage; four others were also killed)—2004

Dan ‘Bee’ Spears (bass guitar with Willie Nelson’s Family Band – ‘If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got the Time’) died (exposure, after falling outside his home)—2011

Dick Sims (keyboards with Eric Clapton – ‘I Shot The Sheriff’) died (cancer)—2011

John Wyker (singer/songwriter with Sailcat – ‘Motorcycle Mama’) died (congestive heart failure)—2013

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