Thursday, May 15, 2008

This Date In Music History- May 15

In 1970, The Mothers of Invention performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta. Frank Zappa cues the esteemed conductor with the command, "Hit it, Zuben!"

In 1983, "Let's Dance", featuring Stevie Ray Vaughn on guitar, is David Bowie's first #1 hit in both the US and UK.

Lenny Welch ("Since I Fell For You") is 69.

Trini Lopez ("If I Had A Hammer") turns 71.

Mike Oldfield ("Tubular Bells") is 55.

June Carter Cash ("Jackson" with husband Johnny Cash) died of complications from heart surgery the previous week in 2003.

In 1957, Elvis Presley inhaled the cap from one of his teeth and is taken to a Los Angeles hospital to have it removed from his lung.

Paul McCartney first met Linda Eastman at a Georgie Fame concert in London in 1967 (they marry two years later).

The Rolling Stones signed with Decca Records in London (who had turned down the Beatles the year before), in 1963.

Today in 1976, the song "Boogie Fever" by the Sylvers topped the charts and stayed there for a week.

In 1997, rockers everywhere wince as the Muzak company announced it will turn four Kiss songs into elevator-friendly instrumentals.

Fleetwood Mac debut their new lineup in El Paso, Texas in 1975. It's the first incarnation of the band that includes Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and John and Christine McVie.

In 1970, a Pink Floyd concert at London's Crystal Palace is so loud it kills fish in a nearby lake.

Also in 1970- The Carpenters released their breakthrough album Close to You. The fish survive this.

Eddy Arnold, known as the Tennessee Plowboy, was born in Henderson, Texas in 1918. The guitarist had a staggering 28 No. 1 country singles.

Brian Eno, the great rock experimentalist who was part of Roxy Music and produced U2, was born in Woodbridge, England in 1948.

In 1965, The Byrds debut on the pop charts with their electric cover of Bob Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man.” The single’s success prompts Dylan to go electric.

After cracking the Billboard Top 40 in 1980 with "Angel Say No", the four man Rock group from San Francisco called Tommy Tutone reached #5 in 1982 with a song called "867-5309 / Jenny". Lead singer Tommy Heath said that he really does know a girl named Jenny whose parent's phone number was 867-5309. Many folks with that phone number had it changed to avoid prank calls.

44 year old Barbara Lee Jones of The Chiffons, ("He's So Fine") died of a heart attack on May 15th 1992.

In 1996, Independent Television in Britain broadcast the earliest known footage of the Beatles, shot in February 1961. That was three years before the group became world-famous. The film, which had no soundtrack, was found in a drawer in a house in Liverpool.