This Date In Music History-January 26

Birthdays:

Huey "Piano" Smith (the original "Rockin' Pneumonia - Boogie Woogie Flu") turns 75.

Jean Knight ("Mr. Big Stuff") (1943)

Paul Pena, a blues musician who wrote Steve Miller's hit "Jet Airliner" and then became a Tuvan throat singer as documented in the film Genghis Blues, was born in Hyannis, Mass in 1950.

Lucinda Williams (1953)

Eddie Van Halen (1957)

Andrew Ridgeley- Wham (1963)

Cinderella -Tom Keifer (1961)


They Are Missed:

The late Marshall Lieb of the Teddy Bears was born in 1939.

In 2007, Tommy Dee, who reached #11 on the Billboard chart in 1959 with "Three Stars,” a song dedicated to Richie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper, died at the age of 70, after a long illness.


History:

Signed to Decca Records in 1956, Buddy Holly headed to Nashville for his first official recording session. Overseen by veteran country producer Owen Bradley, the session yields four tracks, including Holly's debut single ("Blue Days, Black Nights") and a classic cover ("Midnight Shift").

In 1969, in the midst of recording Let It Be at the Apple Studios, the Beatles layed down a series of rock 'n' roll covers, including "Shake Rattle And Roll," "Kansas City," "Miss Ann," "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," "Blue Suede Shoes," "You Really Got A Hold On Me" and "Tracks Of My Tears." They also worked on "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road." Ringo spends the day composing "Octopus's Garden" and the Beatles also hatched the idea to perform on the roof of their headquarters.

John Lennon writes and records “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” in 1970.

In 1964, the British Invasion begins in America, as "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles goes to #1.

The American Breed was signed by ACTA Records when the label president sees them perform while stuck in Chicago during a blizzard in 1967.

In 1962, "The Twist" was banned from the Buffalo Roman Catholic Diocese for being "impure.”

Ringo Starr went to #1 on the Billboard singles chart in 1974 with his version of Johnny Burnette's 1960 #8 hit "Your Sixteen.” The track featured Paul McCartney on kazoo and Harry Nilsson on background vocals.

In 1970, Australia's first rock festival, the Ourimbah Rock Festival was attended by 11,000 people over the weekend.

In 1999, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that John Denver died in a 1997 airplane crash because he took off with too little fuel in one tank, had trouble switching to his backup tank and inadvertently put his plane into a roll while his attention was diverted.

The Four Seasons' "Walk Like A Man" was released in 1963. Five weeks later, it will be Billboard's #1 single.

A trio called The Rooftop Singers took "Walk Right In" to the top of the Billboard chart in 1963. The song had been written in 1930 by Gus Cannon, who had been living in poverty until he started earning royalties from the hit record.

In 1980, three years after signing with Warner Brothers Records, 21 year-old Prince made his US television debut on American Bandstand where he performed his R&B chart topping hit, "I Wanna Be Your Lover.”

The first of a two-part Jimi Hendrix exhibition premiered at Seattle's Experience Music Project in 2008. The first phase of the exhibit, Message To Love, features two iconic Hendrix guitars housed in a gallery with blank walls on which visitors are encouraged to write their thoughts about the guitar great. Part two, Jimi Hendrix: An Evolution of Sound, offers an interactive look at the guitarist's influence on popular music.

Peter Green, one of Fleetwood Mac's founding guitarists, was committed to an English mental institution in 1977. Cause? He fired a pistol at a messenger who was trying to deliver a check for his portion of song royalties