This Date In Music History- June 22

Birthdays:

Jesus Jones vocalist, Mike Edwards, has a birthday (1964).

Happy birthday to a Barenaked Lady, Stephen Page who was born in 1970.

INXS bassist Garry Gary Beers was born in 1957.

Vern Allison, tenor with the Dells, was born in Chicago in 1936.

Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon ("Woman") is 64.

Country outlaw and Rhodes scholar Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas in 1936. Besides acting opposite Barbara Streisand, he wrote the Johnny Cash masterpiece, "Sunday Morning Coming Down" as well as the legendary “Me And Bobby Mcgee.”

Todd Rundgren ("Hello It's Me") is 60.

Howard Kaylan was born in New York in 1947. He became famous as the latter half of Flo & Eddie, the lead singers of the Turtles. That's also him you hear singing backing vocals on Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart."

Jimmy Castor, who recorded such novelty favorites as "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" and "The Bertha Butt Boogie," was also born in New York in 1947.

History:

In Paris France, 32 year old Adolphe Sax, a Belgian musician and musical instrument designer, patents the saxophone in 1846. Sax continued to make instruments throughout his life, however, rival instrument makers challenged the legitimacy of his patents and initiated a campaign of litigation against him and his company, driving him into bankruptcy twice, in 1856 and 1873.

Corinthian "Kripp" Johnson of the Dell-Vikings ("Whispering Bells"), died of prostate cancer in 1990.

Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to murdering John Lennon in December of 1980 and was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison. The most hated man in Rock and Roll history was denied parole at his first hearing in October of 2000 and again in October 2002, October 2004 and October 2006. He is still in New York's Attica state prison. Idiot.

Elvis Presley's "Wild In The Country" movie opened nationally in 1961.

At a recording session in Hamburg in 1961, the Beatles layed down the tracks "Ain't She Sweet," "Cry for a Shadow," "When the Saints Go Marching In," "Why," "Nobody's Child," and "My Bonnie."

In 1963, Little Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips, Part 2" became the first live single to go to No. 1.

Jimi Hendrix's handwritten lyrics to "Room Full of Mirrors" sold for $35,200 at a New York auction in 1991.

Blind Faith's first and only LP was released in 1969.

The Safaris' "Wipe Out" was released in the US in 1963. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 two weeks later and reached #2. The same record would be re-issued in 1966 and climb to #16.

After placing 17 instrumental singles on Billboard's Hot 100, Herb Alpert's initial vocal attempt, "This Guy's In Love With You" became his first number one hit in 1968. The song reached #3 in the UK.

Mason Williams' "Classical Gas" was released in 1968. It entered the Billboard charts three weeks later and reached #2 on the Pop chart and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The record has since received more US radio airplay than any other instrumental in Rock history.

Linkin Park's "Minutes To Midnight" is certified platinum by the RIAA in 2007, the record-industry organization. The album takes less than a month to hit the 1 million-sales mark. The single "What I've Done" tops both the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and the Hot Modern Rock Tracks charts.

Both The Beatles and Grand Funk Railroad played NY’s Shea Stadium (home of the Mets) but Billy Joel is the first Rock performer to appear in concert at Yankee Stadium in 1990.

At New York's Madison Square Garden in 1975, Eric Clapton joined the Rolling Stones onstage to jam on "Sympathy for the Devil."

"Sky Pilot,” by Eric Burdon and the Animals, entered the Top Forty in 1968. It is the Animals’ last Top Forty hit in the U.S. and one of my all-time favorites