This Date In Music History-May 8

Birthdays:

Paul Gadd (Gary Glitter) - (1940)

Paul Samwell-Smith - Yardbirds (1943)

Toni Tennille - Captain and Tennille (1943)

Bill Legend - T Rex (1944)

Rick Derringer - McCoys (1947)

Chris Frantz - Talking Heads (1951)

Philip Bailey - Earth Wind and Fire (1951)

Billy Burnette - Fleetwood Mac (1954)

Alex Van Halen - Van Halen (1955)

Dave Rowntree - Blur (1964)

Eric Brittingham - Cinderella (1960)

Darren Hayes - Savage Garden (1972)

Enrique Iglesias (1975)

Martha Wainwright (1976)

Ana Maria Lombo - Eden's Crush (1978)


They Are Missed:

Born on this day in 1911, Robert Johnson, blues singer, guitarist. Influenced Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Eric Clapton, (Cream covered 'Crossroads) The Rolling Stones, ('Love In Vain'). Johnson died on August 16, 1938.

Born today in 1943, Danny Whitten, guitarist, singer, songwriter. Member of Neil Young's Crazy Horse and writer of "I Don't Wanna Talk About It," covered by Rod Stewart, Rita Coolidge and Everything But The Girl. The Neil Young song "The Needle and the Damage Done" was written about Whitten’s heroin use (before he died of an overdose on Nov 18, 1972).

UK keyboard player Graham Bond committed suicide in 1974 after throwing himself under a London tube train at Finsbury Park station, (age 36). It took police two days to identify his body which was crushed beyond all recognition. Briefly a member of Blues Incorporated, a group led by Alexis Korner, before forming the Graham Bond Quartet, with a lineup of Bond on vocals and organ, Ginger Baker on drums and Jack Bruce on bass.

Neil Bogart died of cancer in 1982 (age 39). Bogart was the founder of Casablanca Records, with Peter Guber, home of Donna Summer, The Village People, Kiss, T.Rex and Joan Jett.

Born on this day in 1940, Ricky Nelson, (1958 #1 "Poor Little Fool" plus over 30 Top 40 hit singles). Played himself on his parent's US TV The Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet.' Nelson died on December 31, 1985.



Born today in 1941, John Fred Gourrier of John Fred and His Playboy Band. He died on April 15, 2005 after a long battle with kidney disease (age 63).

Country artist Eddy Arnold died of natural causes in 2008, one week before his 90th birthday. He sold more than 85 million records and had 147 songs on the US charts, including 28 number one hits on Billboard's Country Singles chart. He was once managed by Colonel Tom Parker (who later managed Elvis Presley).


History:

In 1954, BBC radio in the UK banned the Johnny Ray song "Such a Night" after listeners complain about its 'suggestiveness.' Ray was famous for his emotional stage act, which included beating up his piano, and writhing on the floor.

The Beatles had held the #1 position on the US singles chart for fourteen weeks in 1964 with three #1's in succession. "I Want To Hold Your Hand" for seven weeks, "She Loves You" for two weeks and "Can't Buy Me Love," for five weeks.

Shooting of the promotional film for Bob Dylan’s 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' took place at the side of the Savoy Hotel in London in 1965. Actors in the background were Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth. The cards that Dylan held up to the camera were painted by Alan Price and Joan Baez.



Gerry And The Pacemakers announced they were splitting up in 1967, recognizing they could no longer keep pace with the rapidly changing UK rock scene.

In 1969, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr signed a business management contract with Allen Klein and his company ABKCO, but Paul McCartney refused to sign, continuing to let the Eastmans represent his interests.

The Beatles twelfth and final album, 'Let It Be' was released in 1970, (it was recorded before ‘Abbey Road’ and originally to be called Get Back). The album came in a deluxe-boxed edition with a Get Back book.



In 1972, Billy Preston became the first rock performer to headline at Radio City Music Hall.

Bad Company’s second album, “Straight Shooter” went gold in 1975.

The Steve Miller Band released, “Take The Money and Run” in 1976.

In 1976, BBC Radio 1 DJ Johnny Walker announced he was quitting the station after being told he must pretend to like The Bay City Rollers.

Former lead singer of the Lovin Spoonful John Sebastian went to #1 on the US singles chart in 1976 with "Welcome Back," taken from the US TV show 'Welcome Back Kotter.'

Vangelis went to #1 on the US singles chart in 1982 with "Chariots Of Fire."

Tom Waits won $2.5 million in 1990 when a Los Angeles court ruled that Frito-Lay unlawfully used a Waits sound alike in its Doritos ads.

Aerosmith entered the US album chart in 1993 at #1 with 'Get A Grip.' The album went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide as well as winning the band two Grammy awards.

In 1998, the Beatles were awarded tapes from the “Star Club” era. The group and Yoko Ono had gone to court to stop the release of these live, bootleg recordings.

Ricky Martin went to #1 on the US singles chart in 1999 with "Livin' La Vida Loca." The song spent 5 weeks at the #1 position.

Bruce Springsteen was at #1 on the US album chart in 2005 with 'Devils and Dust' his 13th #1 studio album.

In 2006, the two Australian miners were rescued after spending nearly two weeks trapped more than a half-mile underground. What’s that got to do with Rock History? The miners passed the time listening to the Foo Fighters on their iPods. As a result, lead Foo Fighter David Grohl promised, "there's two tickets to any Foo's show, anywhere, and two cold beers waiting for you."

Also in 2006, Apple Corps, the label owned by the Beatles' members and/or their families, lost a trademark-infringement lawsuit against Apple Computer. A London court ruled that the computer company did not breach a ‘91 contract involving the "Apple" name and logo, because its iPod and iTunes services were involved in selling music rather than creating it.

A two-disc reissue of David Bowie's ‘75 "Young Americans" hit the stores in 2007. It has a remastered version of the original eight-song disc with three bonus recordings, and a DVD that features the CD's 11 tracks in 5.1 Surround Sound and video footage from Bowie's December ‘74 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show.