Musician Birthdays: Merle Travis (country singer, born in 1917). John Mayall (guitarist/singer for John Mayall and the Blues Breakers, responsible for starting the UK blues movement, born in 1933)

– In 1963: ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ by The Beatles was released in the UK. For the first time ever in the UK advanced orders passed the million mark before it was released.

– In 1969: The Beatles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Come Together / Something’, the group’s 18th US No.1.

– In 1975: German trio Silver Convention started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Fly Robin Fly’, it peaked at No.28 in the UK.

– In 1980: John and Yoko’s ‘Double Fantasy’ album was released. A No.1 in the US & the UK the set featured the No.1 single ‘Just Like Starting Over.’

– In 1986: ‘Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band Live / 1975-85’ started a seven week run at No.1 on the US album chart.

– In 1997: Whitney Houston pulled out of a concert sponsored by the Moonies two hours before she was due on stage after finding out the event was a mass wedding for over 1,000 Moonie couple’s. The religious group said they had no intention of suing providing the singer returned the $1m fee she had received.

– In 1997: ‘Perfect Day’ performed by various artists including Elton John, Bono, Tom Jones & David Bowie went to No.1 on the UK singles chart. Originally written and recorded in 1973 by Lou Reed, this new collaboration of 29 major artists was a fund raiser for the BBC Children In Need charity.

– In 1999: It was reported that Oasis singer Liam Gallagher had gone missing after leaving his house three days earlier. The band were due to fly out to the US at the end of the week to start a tour.

– In 2000: U2’s Larry Mullen came to the rescue of motorcyclist who had been involved in an accident. Larry was driving home when he saw the motorcyclist who had crashed and stopped to call for help on his phone and then waited for the ambulance to arrive.

– In 2001: Former Beatles guitarist George Harrison died in Los Angeles of lung cancer aged 58. Following the breakup of The Beatles Harrison had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys. The youngest member of The Beatles, (aged 16 when he joined), his compositions include ‘Taxman’, ‘Here Comes the Sun’, ‘Something’, and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. Harrison released the acclaimed triple album, All Things Must Pass, in 1970, from which came the worldwide No.1 single ‘My Sweet Lord.’ He was the co-founder of Handmade Films, collaborated with Madonna and the members of Monty Python. An accomplished gardener, Harrison restored the grounds of his 120 roomed English home Friar Park.

– In 2005: Pop Idol creator Simon Fuller dropped his £100m copyright case against the X Factor’s Simon Cowell after Fuller settled the case out of court in a deal which made him a joint partner in the X Factor show. Mr Fuller had claimed Mr Cowell’s ITV talent show X Factor copied his successful Pop Idol format, in a case taken to London’s High Court. As part of the settlement, Mr Cowell agreed to appear in at least five more series of American Idol.

– In 2007: Morrissey was set to sue UK music weekly the NME after it failed to apologise for an article focusing on his views on immigration. The magazine had criticised the 48 year old singer and former Smiths star for allegedly telling a reporter Britain had lost its identity due to high levels of immigration.

– In 2008: Taylor Swift went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Fearless’, the country singers second studio album.

Musician Birthdays: Berry Gordy (founder/owner of Motown Records. Born in 1929). Randy Newman (singer/songwriter/pianist. Born in 1943). Matt Cameron (drummer for Soundgarden, Pearl Jam. Born in 1962)

– In 1960: Elvis Presley started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’, his third US No.1 of 1960. The single included a spoken passage loosely based on Shakespeare.

– In 1962: The Beatles performed two evening shows: the first at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and the second at the 527 Club in Liverpool. The 527 Club show was a dance for the staff of Lewis Department Store in Liverpool, held on the top floor of the store.

– In 1974: John Lennon made his last ever concert appearance when he joined Elton John on stage at Madison Square Gardens in New York City. Lennon performed three songs; ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.’

– In 1976: The Sex Pistols appeared on BBC TV’s ‘Nationwide’ and ITV’s ‘London Weekend Show.’

– In 1987: Taken from the film ‘Dirty Dancing’, the Jennifer Warnes’ duet with Bill Medley ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life’, went to No.1 on the US singles chart.

– In 1987: REM had their first entry in the Top 10 on the US singles chart with ‘The One I Love.’

– In 1991: Nirvana recorded a performance for BBC TV music show Top Of The Pops in London. When asked to lip-sync ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ to a pre-recorded tape Kurt Cobain protests by singing in a low-pitched funny voice with the rest of the band not even trying to mime in-time to the track.

– In 1992: Whitney Houston started a record-breaking fourteen-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Will Always Love You’, taken from the ‘Bodyguard’ soundtrack. The song was written by Dolly Parton.

– In 1993: Steppenwolf drummer Jerry Edmonton was killed in a car crash not far from his Santa Barbara, California home, he was 47. Steppenwolf had the 1969 US No.2 & UK No.30 single ‘Born To Be Wild’.

– In 2004: Metallica played the last show on their 137-date ‘Madly in Anger with the World Tour’ at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. It became the fourth-highest grossing tour of 2004, reaping $60,500,000 in ticket sales.

– In 2006: US actress Pamela Anderson filed for divorce from rapper Kid Rock after just four months of marriage. In a statement on her website the 39-year-old confirmed she had split from Rock.

– In 2007: Kanye West and stuntman Evel Knievel settled a copyright dispute over West’s use of the name “Evel Kanyevel” in a music video. The 69-year-old daredevil had claimed his image was tarnished by the video’s “vulgar, sexual nature.” The clip for Touch The Sky, showed the rap star cavorting with Pamela Anderson and trying to jump a rocket-powered motorcycle over a canyon.

Enjoy!

Kev

Musician Birthdays: Jimi Hendrix (guitarist, singer/songwriter, born in 1942).

– In 1962: The Beatles recorded their first BBC radio session at the BBC Paris studio on Regent Street in London. They played ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘P.S. I Love You’, the tracks were aired on the BBC Light Program ‘Talent Spot.’

– In 1964: Mick Jagger was fined £16 for driving offences by a court in Tettenhall, Staffs. His solicitor told the court: “The Duke of Marlborough had longer hair than my client and he won some famous battles. His hair was powdered, I think because of fleas. My client has no fleas.”

– In 1969: During a North American tour The Rolling Stones played the first of four shows at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The group played to 55,000 fans over the four nights grossing over $100,000.

– In 1970: George Harrison released All Things Must Pass. The triple album included a number of songs that were left over from Beatle sessions, the set would go on to be certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA, making it the best selling album by a solo Beatle.

– In 1982: Lionel Richie was No.1 in the US with ‘Truly’. Richie achieved a No.1 each year from 78-86 as a writer, ‘Three Times A Lady’, ‘Still’, ‘Lady (Kenny Rodgers), ‘Endless Love’, (Diana Ross), ‘All Night Long’, ‘Hello’ ‘Say ‘You Say Me and as co-writer of ‘We Are The World’.

Kev

Here’s the This Day In Music for the day. Enjoy.

Kev

Musician Birthdays: Tina Turner (solo artist, singer for Ike & Tina Turner. Born in 1939.), Natasha Bedingfield (singer/songwriter. Born in 1981)

– In 1958: Johnny Cash, made his debut on the US country chart when ’Cry! Cry! Cry!’ made it to number 14. His next seven singles would all make the country top 10, with ‘I Walk the Line’ and ‘There You Go’ both hitting number 1.

– In 1962: The Beatles recorded their second single ‘Please Please Me’ in 18 takes and ‘Ask Me Why’ for the flip side at EMI studio’s London.

– In 1968: Cream played their farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Also on the bill were Yes and Taste.

– In 1976: The Sex Pistols released the single ‘Anarchy In The UK’. It peaked at No.38 on the UK charts.

– In 1990: The inaugural Billboard Music Awards were held in Santa Monica, California. Janet Jackson was the main winner of the night, winning in eight categories, including Top Pop Album, Top R&B Album and Top R&B Artist.

– In 1991: US Country singer Garth Brooks asked fans to bring 10 cans of food to a grocery store in exchange for a lottery envelope, some of which contained tickets to see Garth at a forthcoming show. Over 10,000 cans were donated to charity.

– In 1994: The Eagles started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Hell Freezes Over.’

– In 1995: Alice In Chains were at No.1 on the US album chart with their self-titled album.