This Date In Music History - June 13

Birthdays:

Bobby Freeman (1940)

Dennis Locorriere - Dr Hook (1949)

Bo Donaldson is 60

Biography
Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods shot to prominence in 1974 with "Billy, Don't Be a Hero." Sales that topped three million copies brought the group a gold record. The single spent two weeks in the top spot on the charts. The number one single was the band's greatest success, but it didn't mark the first time that the group charted. Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods made a showing on the charts with "Someone Special" in 1972 and "Deeper and Deeper" the following year. The band was ten years old when "Billy, Don't Be a Hero" made such a splash, and it had already performed as the opening act for such artists as Herman's Hermits, the Box Tops, the Osmond Brothers, the Rascals, the Grass Roots, and Paul Revere & the Raiders. The group also performed on American Bandstand. After "Billy, Don't Be a Hero," the band took "Who Do You Think You Are" into the Top 20. "The Heartbreak Kid" followed, reaching the Top 40. The group charted again with "House on Telegraph Hill" and "Our Last Song Together."

Donaldson, whose real name is Robert Walter Donaldson, sang and played keyboard and the trumpet. The group also included lead vocalist James Michael Gibbons on bass and trumpet; lead vocalist Richard Leon Joswick on percussion; Gary James Coveyou on vocals, woodwinds, and reeds; David Alan Krock on vocals, trumpet, and bass; Richard Brunetti on vocals, percussion, and drums; and Earl Baker Scott on vocals and guitar. Danny Loveland, a co-vocalist on the Heywoods' number one single, dropped out in 1975 to pursue a solo career and record "Black Is Black." Originally a drummer, Loveland began singing because the group kept losing its lead singers. When he gave up singing, the Kansas native launched a disco that he named Backstage. He went on to establish a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. ~ Linda Seida, All Music Guide




Howard Lees - Heart (1951)

Rolf Brendel - Nena (1957)

Robbie Merrill - Godsmack (1963)

Paul deLisle - Smash Mouth (1963)

UK singer David Gray (1968)

Deneice Pearson - 5 Star (1968)

Rivers Cuomo - Weezer (1970)


They Are Missed:

Clyde McPhatter, original lead vocalist with The Drifters, died of a heart attack in New York in 1972. Joined Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1950, formed The Drifters in 1953, had several solo hits including 1962 "Lover Please," was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Born on this day in 1934, Uriel Jones, session drummer for Motown Records' in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s. Jones played on many Motown classics including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," by Marvin Gaye, "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations, "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles and "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder. Died on 24th March 2009.


History:

Frank Zappa graduated from Antelope Valley High in Lancaster, CA in 1958.

Ricky Nelson records "It's Up To You" in 1962.

Louis Armstrong started a six week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1964 with 'Hello Dolly!'



The Beatles performed another two shows at Centennial Hall, Adelaide, South Australia in 1964. For the four shows that The Beatles performed in Adelaide there were 12,000 tickets, for which 50,000 requests had been placed. The two shows on this day were drummer’s Jimmy Nicol's last as a "temporary Beatle". Ringo Starr (who had been ill), re-joined The Beatles in Melbourne the next day.

The Rolling Stones appeared on ABC-TV's "Hollywood Palace" in 1964 and are the butt of several jokes by guest host Dean Martin.

The Bee Gees appeared live on the UK TV show 'As You Like It' in 1967. The group were promoting their debut single "New York Mining Disaster 1941."



The Rolling Stones held a photo call in Hyde Park in 1969 to introduce new guitarist Mick Taylor.

The Beatles started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1970 with 'The Long And Winding Road', the group's 20th US #1. The album 'Let It Be' started a four-week run at #1 the US album chart on the same day.

The Allman Brothers Band, Traffic, the Mothers Of Invention and Ike & Tina Turner perform at the Cosmic Carnival at Atlanta Stadium in 1970.

Grand Funk Railroad, supported by Steel Mill, (featuring Bruce Springsteen) appeared at the Ocean Ice Palace in Bricktown, New Jersey, in 1970 (tickets $5.00).

John Lennon made his last ever TV appearance in 1975 when he appeared on 'Salute To Sir Lew Grade', performing "Slippin And Slidin" and "Imagine."

The Deborah Harry/Meat Loaf film, "Roadie", opened in 1980.

The Jacksons' "State of Shock," was released in 1984. Mick Jagger did guest vocals.

Atlantic Starr went to #1 on the US singles chart in 1987 with "Always."

In 1988, the biggest charity Rock concert since Live Aid three years earlier took place at London's Wembley Stadium, to denounce South African apartheid. Among the performers were Sting, Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, George Michael, Whitney Houston and Dire Straits. Half the money raised went towards anti-apartheid activities in Britain, the rest was donated to children's charities in southern Africa.

Billy Ray Cyrus started a 17-week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1992 with 'Some Gave All'.

In 1992, future U.S. President Bill Clinton criticized Sister Souljah for making remarks "filled with hatred" towards whites.

Law enforcement officials in Texas called for a ban on Ice-T's "Cop Killer" album in 1992.

Alanis Morissette released 'Jagged Little Pill' in 1995. The album went on to sell over 30 million copies world-wide making Morissette the first female Canadian to score a US #1 album.

In 2000, 37-year-old Susan E Santodonato collapsed and died of a heart attack outside New York radio station Star 105.7. after a Britney Spears impersonator left the building. A crowd had gathered after a DJ claimed Britney Spears was in the studio.

In 2000, a roadie who worked for The Spice Girls, Oasis, Elton John and Whitney Houston was arrested and charged with smuggling millions of pounds worth of Ecstasy into the UK.

Metallica’s “St. Anger” debuts at #1 in 2003. The album’s release date was moved up to thwart bootleggers.

The Arctic Monkeys made their live debut at The Grapes pub in Sheffield, England in 2003.

In 2005, Michael Jackson was cleared of all charges of child abuse by a jury of eight women and four men at the end of a 16-week hearing in Santa Maria, California. Jackson was found not guilty of all 10 charges including abusing a 13-year-old boy, conspiracy to kidnap and supplying alcohol to a minor to assist with a felony.

A two-disc Billy Joel album, "12 Gardens Live," recorded during a record-breaking 12-night run of sold-out concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden, was issued in 2006.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts issue "Sinner," in 2006, their first new studio album in nearly 12 years. On the album, Jett gets political for the first time. She says, "I've wanted to write about political issues and the state of our country, but how do you do that without coming off being preachy? I think a lot of that fear stopped me from even trying.”

Reissues of the first two Boston albums, ‘76's self-titled effort and ‘78's Don't Look Back, hit stores in 2006. Remastered by Tom Scholz, Boston's lead guitarist and studio wizard, the package features his liner notes. "Boston turned the disco-crazed music industry on its head," claims Scholz.

Also in 2006, Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and Mike Love, Beach Boys founders and survivors, appear together publically for the first time in 10 years to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the classic “Pet Sounds” album.

In 2008, A Chicago jury acquitted R. Kelly of all 14 charges of child pornography against him. The US singer was found not guilty of making an explicit sex video that prosecutors had said showed him having sex with a girl as young as 13. Both Kelly and the alleged victim, now 23, denied they were the people shown on the tape, which the jury saw. The defence argued that the man in the tape did not have a large mole on his back as does Mr Kelly, and that the tape could have been doctored.