Wednesday, December 31, 2008

This Date In Music History-December 31

Birthdays:

Burton Cummings -Guess Who turns 61.

Donna Summer is 60.

Police guitarist Andy Summers (1942)

Kinks bassist Peter Quaife (1943)

Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton (1951)

Paul Westerberg-Replacements (1960)


They Are Missed:

Odetta Holmes was born in 1930. She is often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.”

The late John Denver was born in 1943.


In 1985, Rick Nelson was killed while en route to a New Year's Eve show in Dallas, Texas. His private DC-3 crashed in a field near DeKalb, Texas. Early press reports erroneously suggested that drug use, namely freebasing, might have played a role in the crash that killed Rick, his band, and his fiancée Helen Blair (the pilot and co-pilot survived). In fact, the National Transportation Safety Board's 1987 report determined that the fire began in a malfunctioning gas heater.

Floyd Cramer died of cancer in 1997.

Brill Building songwriter Bert Berns, who penned "Twist and Shout" and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," died of a heart attack in 1967.


History:

In 1929, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year's Eve song for the first time.

In 1991, Ted Nugent donated 200 pounds of venison to a Salvation Army soup kitchen in Detroit with the message "I kill it, you grill it."

In 1970, Paul McCartney filed suit against John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison as the Beatles Co., effectively ending the band. Lennon told the press that McCartney wanted to dominate the group all along, and reveals that he's [i.e. Lennon] taken drugs since he was 17.

The Beatles broke up in 1971.

In 1974, a document signed by all the Beatles confirmed the dissolution of their partnership.

Elvis Presley performed for 60,000 fans at the Silverdome, in Pontiac, Michigan in 1975. He set a world record for earning $800,000 for a single concert by a single artist.

In 1961, the Pendletons performed their first gig under their new name, the Beach Boys. The gig paid them $300.

1968- For the first time ever, Americans spent more than $1 billion on records. According to Billboard Magazine, album sales were 192 million units and singles sold 187 million units.

The first Cars concert was held, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1976.

Dick Clark's first "Rockin' New Years Eve" aired on ABC-TV in 1972, starring Three Dog Night, Al Green and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

At a New Year's Eve concert at the Fillmore East in New York City in 1969, Jimi Hendrix introduced his new side men, bassist Billy Cox and Buddy Miles. The concert was recorded for the live album, "Band of Gypsys.”

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were invited to join Fleetwood Mac in 1974, marking the band's tenth line-up change since 1967.

The Monkees topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 with the Neil Diamond composition, "I'm A Believer.”

The Grateful Dead performed for the 48th and final time at Bill Graham's Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco in 1978.

On New Years Eve in 1984, Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm after crashing his Corvette while racing another driver on a UK highway. The arm was re-attached, but had to be removed three days later. His right arm was also damaged, but he eventually re-joined the band using a specially adapted drum kit.

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