April 14th in music history:

Births

1933: Buddy Knox
1935: Loretta Lynn
1942: Tony Burrows (Edison Lighthouse)
1945: Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple)
1946: Patrick Fairley (Marmalade)
1948: Larry Ferguson (Hot Chocolate)
1949: Dennis Bryon (Amen Corner)
1949: June Millington (Fanny)
1949: Sonja Kristina (Curved Air)

Deaths

1990: Thurston Harris
1998: Dorothy Squires
2005: Steve Jablecki (Wadsworth Mansion)
2007: Don Ho

Events

1956: Bobby Helms auditions for Decca Records and is signed on the spot.
 

1960: Inspired by the hysteria surrounding Elvis Presley and his Army stint, the musical Bye Bye Birdie, starring Dick Van Dyke, Dick Gautier, and Paul Lynde opens on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre. It will run for 607 performances.
 

1963: The Beatles visit the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey, England, to see an unsigned band called The Rolling Stones.
 

1965: Elvis Presley's 17th movie, Girl Happy, co-starring Shelley Fabares, opens in US theaters.
 

1967: ABC-TV airs the final episode of their afternoon rock music variety show Where The Action Is, featuring the house band it made famous, Paul Revere and the Raiders.
 

1968: Famed producer Phil Spector takes his first wife, Ronnie Bennett of Ronettes fame. The legendarily unhappy marriage will finally end in 1972.
 

1969: The Monkees' dismal last gasp, the NBC-TV special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee, airs to bad ratings and worse reviews.
 

 In a first for the Academy Awards, the Oscar for Best Actress is a tie: Katherine Hepburn forThe Lion In Winter and Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl.
 

1970: Stephen Stills breaks his wrist while driving into a parked car, forcing the cancellation of CSNY's upcoming American tour.
 

 Creedence Clearwater Revival makes their live UK debut at London's Royal Albert Hall.
 

1974: Pete Townshend of the Who makes his solo concert debut at the Roundhouse in London, backed solely by his own pre-recorded audio tapes.
 

1975: After a long audition process during the recording of their album Black and Blue, and after a slew of rumors about who would fill the position, the Rolling Stones announce former Faces member Ron Wood as their new guitarist, replacing the departed Mick Taylor.
 

1976: Stevie Wonder signs the largest music contract to that time when he resigns with Motown/Tamla for $13 million.
 

 Eric Faulkner of the Bay City Rollers takes too many Seconal and Valium and nearly dies from the overdose, which he claims is accidental and was brought on by sheer exhaustion from the group's touring and recording schedule.
 

1980: New Jersey considers a resolution to make Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run" the new official state anthem, but eventually designate it as merely the Garden State's "rock anthem."
 

 Olivia Newton John's TV special Olivia's Hollywood Nights, also starring Elton John, The Carpenters, and Andy Gibb, airs on ABC.
 

1986: Ironton, OH evangelist Jim Brown famously claims that the Mr. Ed theme is just one of many popular songs that contain Satanic backwards messages.
 

2008: Liverpool's John Moore University names a new Chancellor -- Queen's Brian May.
 

2009: George Harrison is posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 Vine -- not coincidentally in front of the offices of George's old US label, Capitol.

Releases

1955: Fats Domino, "Ain't It A Shame" (a/k/a "Ain't That A Shame")
1967: The Bee Gees, "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones)"

Recording

1966: The Beatles: "Paperback Writer," "Rain"
1969: The Beatles, "The Ballad Of John And Yoko"

Charts

1958: Laurie London's "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" hits #1
1979: The Doobie Brothers' "What A Fool Believes" hits #1

Certifications

1967: Herman's Hermits' "There's A Kind Of Hush" is certified gold

On April 15th in music history:

Births

1894: Bessie Smith
1918: Eddy Arnold
1933: Roy Clark
1937: Bob Luman
1939: Marty Wilde
1940: Clarence Satchell (The Ohio Players)
1942: Allan Clark (The Hollies)
1944: Dave Edmunds
1947: Mike Chapman

Deaths

1989: Nesuhi Ertegun
2005: John Fred Gourrier (John Fred and his Playboy Band)
2007: Don Ho

Events

1956: Mitch Miller and DJ Alan Freed appear, along with two psychiatrists, on Eric Sevareid's television programCBS Sunday News to discuss the "potentially negative effects of Rock 'n' Roll on teenagers."
 

1958: Buddy Holly has his guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, stolen from the Crickets' station wagon while the group stops to have lunch before a concert in St. Louis, MO.
 

1960: Dick Clark's movie Because They're Young, a friendlier Blackboard Jungle of sorts with appearances by James Darren and Duane Eddy, premieres in New York.
 

1964: After a long day of filming for their first movie, which is still titled Beatlemania!, The Beatles relax as Ringo Starr declares, oddly, that it's been "a hard day's night." John immediately begins writing the song of the same name on the back of an old greeting card; it will eventually become the title track for the film.
 

1966: Buffalo Springfield make their live debut, opening for the Byrds at the Orange County Showgrounds in San Bernardino, CA.
 

1969: Archie Bell of the Drells completes his tour of duty in Vietnam and is discharged from the US Army.
 

1971: The Illinois Crime Commission releases a list of "drug-oriented rock records" that include Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," but also, for some reason, The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "Puff The Magic Dragon," by Peter, Paul and Mary.
 

 At tonight's Oscar ceremonies in Los Angeles, The Beatles are awarded their one and only statuette, in the category of Original Song Score, for the title track to the film Let It Be.
 

1982: While riding his motorcycle in his native Long Island, New York (presumably not in the rain), Billy Joel slams into a moving car, breaking his wrist and requiring a month of hospitalization.
 

1989: Roy Orbison's comeback single, "You Got It," produced by Jeff Lynne, becomes his last big hit as it reaches the US Top Ten four months after his death from a heart attack.
 

1992: Queen reunites for a tribute charity concert dedicated to their fallen former leader, vocalist Freddie Mercury, who'd passed away from AIDS some six months earlier. Robert Plant, David Bowie, Elton John, Guns N' Roses, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Paul Young, Ian Hunter and Roger Daltrey, among others, show up to sing Freddie's and their own hits.
 

1996: The remainder of Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia's ashes are scattered near the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco; a week earlier, a portion had been scattered into India's Ganges river.

Releases

1966: The Rolling Stones, Aftermath

Recording

1966: The Beatles: "Paperback Writer," "Rain"
1968: Aretha Franklin, "Think"
1969: The Beatles, "The Ballad Of John And Yoko"

Charts

1972: Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" hits #1
1972: Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen's "Hot Rod Lincoln" enters the charts

Certifications

1977: Lynyrd Skynyrd's LP One More For The Road is certified gold

On April 16th in music history:

Births

1924: Henry Mancini
1924: Rudy Pompilli (Bill Haley and His Comets)
1929: Ed Townsend
1929: Roy Hamilton
1930: Herbie Mann
1935: Bobby Vinton
1939: Dusty Springfield
1943: Lonesome Dave Peverett (Foghat)
1947: Gerry Rafferty
1963: Jimmy Osmond (The Osmonds)

Deaths

1980: Morris Stoloff
1999: Skip Spence (Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape)

Events

1955: A young Roy Orbison sees Elvis for the first time, performing at the Sportatorium in Dallas, TX.
 

1965: The Hollies make their US stage debut at New York's Paramount Theatre.
 

1969: The Elektra label drops Detroit's MC5 from their roster after an infamous ad in a local music zine, replete with Elektra logo, advised buyers to "Stay alive with the MC5 -- and f*** Hudson's." Hudson's was a Michigan record chain that had refused to stock the band's latest album Kick Out The Jams, due to the lyric "Kick out the jams, m************!"
 

1972: Electric Light Orchestra make their live debut at Croydon, England's Fox and Greyhound pub.
 

1973: Paul McCartney's first television special, James Paul McCartney, airs on ABC, featuring a few Beatles songs, new Wings tracks, sketches, and a final performance of a song called "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance," originally written for Twiggy.
 

1974: Queen make their US live debut at Regis College in Denver, CO.
 

1976: Boz Scaggs goes to visit friend Bobby "Blue" Bland backstage at the famed Antone's in Austin, TX, and is beaten unconscious by two bouncers.
 

1977: Stevie Wonder becomes the proud father of his second child, son Kieta, by Yolanda Simmons.
 

1990: Neil Young, Natalie Cole, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Tracy Chapman, Simple Minds, and more take part in the concert Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa, an "international reception" for the famed civil-rights leader, who had just been released from a 27-year prison sentence.
 

1995: Bob Seger becomes the proud parent of his second child, daughter Samantha Char, by his second wife, Annette Sinclair.
 

1996: At tonight's Grammy Awards ceremonies in New York, KISS, back again in full makeup, announce their reunion and upcoming tour, the first time all four original members have taken the stage together since 1981.
 

 Judy Collins marries her second husband, designer Louis Nelson.
 

1997: Elton John is awarded an honorary membership to his old alma mater, Britain's Royal Academy of Music.
 

2003: After suffering a stroke in his Manhattan apartment, Luther Vandross is admitted to a local hospital.
 

 Jerry Lee Lewis files for divorce from his sixth wife, former Jerry Lee Lewis fan club president Kerrie McCarver.
 

2008: Barbra Streisand donates $5 million to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for a women's heart education and research program.

Releases

1964: The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones
1964: Fleetwood Mac, "Dreams"

Recording

1964: Dean Martin, "Everybody Loves Somebody"
1964: The Beatles, "A Hard Day's Night"
1966: The Beatles, "Rain"
1969: The Beatles: "Old Brown Shoe," "Something"

Charts

1977: David Soul's "Don't Give Up On Us" hits #1

On April 17th in music history:

Births

1930: Chris Barber
1932: Don Kirshner
1936: Tony Bellus
1940: Billy Fury
1943: Roy Estrada (Frank Zappa)
1944: Bobby Curtola

Deaths

1960: Eddie Cochran
1974: Vinnie Taylor (Sha Na Na)
1983: Felix Pappalardi (Mountain)
1987: Carlton Barrett (Bob Marley and the Wailers)
1998: Linda McCartney
2003: Earl King
2008: Danny Federici (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band)

Events

1964: Having finally decided on a title, thanks to a malapropism from Ringo, the Beatles announce that their first movie, which they are still filming, is to be called A Hard Day's Night. (The working title had been Beatlemania!
 

 An 18-year-old Van Morrison makes his first concert appearance with Them on the stage of the Maritime Hotel in Belfast.
 

 After an extensive investigation of the hit song "Louie Louie," and its supposedly filthy lyrics, the FBI issues a report claiming the words of the Kingsmen's famous version are incomprehensible.
 

1965: The development of the new 8-track tape player is announced by RCA and LearJet.
 

1969: Bob Dylan's former backing group, which has come to be known simply as "The Band," plays its first show alone and under its own name at the Winterland Auditorium in San Francisco.
 

1970: Although its accompanying press release had been issued back on April 9th, today's inclusion with Paul McCartney's first solo album, McCartney, makes it official: The Beatles are no more. The breakup, which the band has known about for months but agreed not to play up, takes the form of a Q and A between Paul and Apple director Peter Brown:
Q: "Are you planning a new album or single with the Beatles?"
A: "No."
...z
Q: "Is your break with the Beatles temporary or permanent, due to personal differences or musical ones?"
A "Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family. Temporary or permanent? I don't really know."
Q: "Do you foresee a time when Lennon-McCartney becomes an active songwriting partnership again?"
A: "No."
The same day, John Lennon spitefully tells a reporter, "Paul hasn't left. I sacked him."
 

 Richard Nixon invites Johnny Cash to perform at the White House, then surprises the singer by requesting Merle Haggard's reactionary "Okie From Muskogee." Cash declines, but does perform "A Boy Named Sue" instead.
 

1972: Keith Richards is the proud parent of his second child, daughter Dandelion, by girlfriend Anita Pallenberg. (She will later be renamed Angela.)
 

1973: Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5 and the band's drummer, Johnny Jackson, are arrested for purchasing what turns out to be a stolen TV and stereo.
 

1975: Elvis Presley purchases the famous Lisa Marie jet, a Convair that had been in service with Delta Airlines. The final cost of was three-quarter of a million dollars, with most of that number coming from extensive renovations: gold bathroom fixtures, a queen-size bed, a full audio-visual system, and Elvis' TCB logo on the tail.
 

1980: Bob Marley receives what he refers to as "the greatest honor of my life" when he headlines the Independence Day celebrations for the country of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia under British rule).
 

1995: Judy Collins marries her second husband, designer Louis Nelson, eighteen years to the day after first meeting him.
 

2000: Gloria Gaynor guest stars as herself on tonight's "I Will Survive" episode of Fox's Ally McBeal.

Releases

1965: The Beach Boys, "Help Me Rhonda"
1966: The Troggs, "Wild Thing"
1970: Paul McCartney, McCartney
1971: The Doors, "Love Her Madly"

Recording

1958: Ricky Nelson, "Poor Little Fool"
1962: Tony Bennett, "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams"
1966: The Beatles, "Doctor Robert"

Charts

1965: Cannibal and the Headhunters' "Land Of 1000 Dances" enters the chart
1971: Three Dog Night's "Joy To The World" hits #1

Certifications

1972: The Stylistics' "Betcha by Golly, Wow" is certified gold
1973: Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon is certified gold

On April 18th in music history:

Births

1918: Tony Mottola
1924: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
1935: Paul Rothchild
1936: Lennie Baker (Sha Na Na)
1938: Hal Galper
1939: Glen Hardin (The Crickets)
1942: Mike Vickers (Manfred Mann)
1946: Hayley Mills

Deaths

1996: Bernard Edwards (Chic)

Events

1957: Buddy Knox is inducted into the Army Reserve, leading his record label to rush him into the studio to record no less than twenty followups to his hit "Party Doll." None make the charts.
 

1963: Backstage at a Royal Albert Hall performance in London for the radio show Swingin' Sound '63, the Beatles' Paul McCartney meets an actress and TV personality named Jane Asher.
 

1969: Lulu marries Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees at St. James' Church, Buckinghamshire, England, a marriage that will last four years. 3,000 fans attend, as do John Lennon's wife, Cynthia, and producer Mickie Most.
 

1970: While on stage with Led Zeppelin in Phoenix, lead singer Robert Plant collapses from "exhaustion."
 

1971: The Diana Ross television musical special Diana, featuring guest stars Jackson 5, Bill Cosby, and Danny Thomas, airs on ABC.
 

1975: The Alice Cooper television special Welcome To My Nightmare airs on ABC.
 

1975: An entire crowd of Bay City Rollers fans attempt to swim across a nearby lake to meet the band at a BBC Radio-sponsored event in Mallory Park racetrack, Leicestershire, England. 39 fans are brought to the hospital, four of whom are admitted.
 

1981: Yes bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White begin rehearsals with the remaining members of Led Zeppelin, leading to rumors of the death of Yes and the beginning of a new band dubbed XYZ (Ex-Yes and Zeppelin). The rumored band never materializes, and Yes reforms under their old name for the hit 1983 album 90125.
 

1985: Liberace breaks his own record at Radio City Music Hall, pulling in two million dollars for his latest engagement.
 

1987: Aretha Franklin scores a #1 US hit with "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me," a duet with George Michael of Wham! Her first Number One in 19 years and ten months, it breaks the record for the longest span between #1 hits.
 

1988: The accused murderer of reggae legend Peter Tosh, Dennis "Leppo" Lobban, goes on trial in Jamaica.
 

 Legendary Motown songwriters Holland/Dozier/Holland are inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Releases

1975: John Lennon, "Stand By Me"

Recording

1936: Gene Autry, "Back In The Saddle Again"
1969: The Beatles: "Old Brown Shoe," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

Charts

1944: Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians' "It’s Love-Love-Love" hits #1

Certifications

1974: James Brown's "The Payback" is certified gold

Dick Clark

November 30, 1929 - April 18, 2012

On April 19th in music history:

Births

1927: Don Barbour (The Four Freshmen)
1928: Alexis Korner
1934: Dickie Goodman
1936: Ruby Johnson
1941: Bobby Russell
1942: Alan Price (The Animals)
1942: Larry Ramos, Jr. (The Association)
1943: Eve Graham (The New Seekers)
1944: Bernie Worrell (Parliament, Funkadelic)
1946: Tim Curry
1947: Mark Volman (The Turtles)

Deaths

1985: Willie Mabon

Events

1924: The first national country radio show in the US, The Chicago Barn Dance, debuts on WLS radio. (Nashville's famed Grand Ole Opry wouldn't hit the airwaves for another year.)
 

1945: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel featuring the soon-to-be-standards "If I Loved You," "June Is Bustin' Out All Over," and "You'll Never Walk Alone," debuts on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre.
 

1956: Drifters singer Clyde McPhatter receives his discharge from the US Army, leading him to immediately leave the group for a solo career.
 

1962: In another big step forward for soul, Jackie Wilson begins a headlining stint at New York's famous Copacabana Club.
 

1965: The epochal T.A.M.I. (Teen-Age Music International) Show has its premiere in the UK under the title Teenage Command Performance.
 

1967: While mixing tracks for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beatles producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick discover that the clucking of the hen at the end of "Good Morning Good Morning" meshes perfectly with George Harrison's opening guitar note on the "Sgt. Pepper" reprise.
 

1968: With Ringo having left much earlier due to the vegetarian diet, and Paul having left to supervise the launch of Apple, John and George are the last two Beatles to leave the Maharishi Maheshi Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India, where they had been studying his practices of meditation and yoga. Lennon in particular believes the stories of band associate Alex Mardas, who claims the Maharishi is only interested in the Beatles' money and, although claiming to be celibate, has been making sexual advances at the group's traveling companion, actress Mia Farrow. When the guru asks why everyone is leaving, John shoots back "You're the cosmic one, you should know." When back in London, he writes a song about the incident, entitled "Maharishi" but later changed to "Sexy Sadie."
 

1980: For the first time, the five spots atop Billboard's country music chart are all female: Crystal Gayle ("It's Like We Never Said Goodbye"), Dottie West ("A Lesson in Leavin'"), Debbie Boone ("Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again"), Emmylou Harris ("Beneath Still Waters"), and Tammy Wynette ("Two Story House," shared with George Jones).
 

1982: Flush from the success of their recent Central Park concert, Simon and Garfunkel mount their first tour since their breakup, a swing through Europe that sadly falls apart before it can get to the US. The split is so dramatic this time around that Simon wipes all of Garfunkel's contributions to the pair's latest album, Hearts And Bones, and releases it as a solo album instead.
 

1988: Sonny Bono is inaugurated as mayor of Palm Springs, CA.
 

1990: Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Gary Moore, Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister and Level 42's Mark King all appear as themselves on tonight's episode of BBC's French & Saunders sketch comedy show, jamming together in a courtroom sketch.
 

 The TV docudrama Summer Dreams: The History Of The Beach Boys, airs on ABC.
 

2003: Alt-rock heroes The White Stripes join Loretta Lynn during a concert in New York to join her on her hits "Fist City," ""Rated X," and "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man."
 

2004: A stage musical of the Elvis movie Jailhouse Rock opens in London.
 

2005: Elvis Presley Enterprises announces that for the first time it will air TV commercials to lure visitors to the refurbished Graceland mansion where he spent his days.
 

2010: Ringo Starr comments on the Vatican's recent "apology" for its part in the 1966 "Bigger Than Jesus" scandal, saying, "Didn't the Vatican say we were Satanic or possibly Satanic? And they've still forgiven us? I think the Vatican, they've got more to talk about than the Beatles."

Releases

1965: The Beatles, "Ticket To Ride"
1973: The Beatles, The Beatles 1962-1966, The Beatles 1967-1970
1978: Patti Smith, "Because The Night"

Recording

1966: The Beatles, "Doctor Robert"

Certifications

1967: Frank and Nancy Sinatra's "Something Stupid" is certified gold

Levon Helm

May 26, 1940 - April 19, 2012

On April 20th in music history:

Births

1908: Lionel Hampton
1923: Tito Puente
1939: Johnny Tillotson
1945: Jimmy Winston (The Moments, The Small Faces)
1948: Craig Frost (Silver Bullet Band, Grand Funk Railroad)
1951: Luther Vandross

Deaths

1969: Papa Zita (The Funk Brothers)
1991: Steve Marriott (The Small Faces, Humble Pie)
1992: Johnny Shines
2002: Alan Dale
2003: Teddy Edwards

Events

1949: Phil Spector's father, Benjamin, commits suicide over mounting debt, prompting Phil Spector to write "To Know Him Is To Love Him" a decade later for the Teddy Bears (the title being inspired by the legend on Benjamin's headstone).
 

1963: Ricky Nelson marries his first wife, Kris Harmon, daughter of college football legend Tom Harmon and brother of actor Mark Harmon, in Los Angeles. A pregnant Kris gives birth to daughter Tracy only six months later. The couple divorce in 1982.
 

1964: Elvis' fifteenth film, Viva Las Vegas, premieres in New York.
 

1968: Deep Purple make their stage debut at the Vestpoppen, in Kastrup, Denmark.
 

 Apple Music, the Beatles' new label, runs their famous "This Man Has Talent" ads in Britain's New Musical Express, seeking demo tapes from unknown artists. Most are never heard but pile up in Apple's offices, and the majority of the label's signings are acquired through more conventional means.
 

1970: The New York Times reports that Catholic and Protestant youth groups are adopting the Beatles' "yellow submarine" image, from the song and movie of the same name, as a symbol of their faith.
 

1976: At tonight's Monty Python concert, held in New York, George Harrison joins the lads onstage, replete with mountie outfit, for a rousing rendition of their "Lumberjack Song."
 

1981: John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas is sentenced to five years for helping a Los Angeles-area pharmacist sell fake prescriptions, as well as drug possession. His sentence will be reduced to one month, however, after he agrees to perform 250 hours of community service in the form of anti-drug lectures.
 

1987: Rhode Island police arrest a teen accused of biting the head off a gerbil in tribute to his hero, Ozzy Osbourne.
 

1991: John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival marries his second wife, Julie Lebiedzinksi, in Bristol, IN. The two are still married.
 

1994: Barbra Streisand begins her first tour since 1966, performing in London.
 

1996: Tickets go on sale for the KISS reunion tour.
 

1999: At tonight's concert at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, Billy Joel announces his retirement from touring and recording pop music. (He eventually returns to the stage.)

Releases

1970: Elvis Presley, "The Wonder Of You"
1970: Paul McCartney, McCartney
1976: The Rolling Stones, Black And Blue
1976: Elvis Presley, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee

Recording

1931: Louis Armstrong, "When It's Sleepy Time Down South"
1944: Judy Garland, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"
1966: The Beatles: "And Your Bird Can Sing," "Taxman"
1967: The Beatles, "Only A Northern Song"
1968: The Rolling Stones, "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
1969: The Beatles: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Oh! Darling"

Charts

1974: MFSB featuring The Three Degrees' "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)" hits #1

On April 21st in music history:

Births

1919: Don Cornell
1924: Clara Ward
1931: Carl Belew
1939: Ernie Maresca
1945: Robert Knight
1947: Alan Warner (The Foundations)
1947: John Weider (Family)
1947: Iggy Pop
1949: Paul Davis
1951: Nicole Barclay (Fanny)
1951: Paul Carrack (Ace, Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics)

Deaths

1961: Cisco Houston
1970: Earl Hooker
1971: Don Drummond (The Skatalites)
1978: Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention)
2000: Neal Matthews Jr. (The Jordanaires)
2003: Nina Simone
2007: Lobby Loyde (Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, The Coloured Balls)
2008: Al Wilson

Events

1945: One of the world's first great R&B labels, Modern Records, is formed by Saul and Jules Bihari in Los Angeles. It would prove to be the launching pad for everyone from John Lee Hooker to Etta James.
 

1960: Testifying before the US Congressional committee on "payola," DJ and TV host Dick Clark admits to having taken money and gifts to play songs on the radio, going so far as to declare 27 percent of his playlist as containing some sort of financial interest for him. For his penitence, Clark is ordered to sell off some of his conflicting interests, but has his name cleared -- unlike DJ Alan Freed, who refuses to admit that payola was an illegal or immoral practice.
 

1963: The Beatles meet the Rolling Stones for the first time, backstage after the Stones' gig at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, England. The bands get along well after some initial nervousness, but contrary to myth, this is not the occasion where the Beatles write "I Wanna Be Your Man" for their rivals.
 

1965: The Beach Boys appear on today's episode of Shindig! on ABC-TV, performing their version of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance?"
 

1967: The Beatles finish work on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by recording a two-second snippet of gibberish for use in the original vinyl LP's run-out groove, meaning that the listener would hear the noises repeated on a loop until they got up and took the record off the turntable. The only actual vocal is a Beatle saying something like "never could be any other way," which, when played backwards, allegedly reveals the words "We'll f*** you like Supermen." As a practical joke, John Lennon also adds a special 15Hz tone before the groove, one so high only dogs can hear it. Not present on the US LP, both were added back to the CD.
 

1969: Janis Joplin makes her stage debut in London when she and her Kozmic Blues Band perform a legendary concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
 

1970: Elton John makes his stage debut as a solo act when he opens for T. Rex, Spooky Tooth, and Jackie Lomax at the Roundhouse in London.
 

1977: Having spent a full decade as a draft exile in Canada, singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester returns to the US.
 

 ABC airs Frank Sinatra's TV special Frank Sinatra and Friends, featuring guest stars Natalie Cole and John Denver.
 

1990: Paul McCartney sets a new world record for attendance at a concert by a single artist when his tour-ending concert at the Maracana Stadium in Rio draws 184,000 people.
 

 Bill Wyman, formerly of the Rolling Stones, marries his third wife, 33-year-old fashion designer Suzanne Accosta, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.
 

 Bill Kreutzmann, drummer for the Grateful Dead, spots a 17-year-old surfer foundering in a riptide near Mendocino, CA and dives in, saving his life.
 

2003: Setting off a five-year legal battle, the Beach Boys' label, Brother Records, sues former group member Al Jardine for using the group's name to promote his solo concerts.
 

 EMI and Universal Music sue the file-sharing service Napster for copyright violations.
 

2004: Michael Jackson is officially charged with child molestation after a California grand jury determines there is enough evidence to proceed with allegations made against him for time spent at his Neverland Ranch.

Recording

1959: Johnny Mathis, "Misty"
1966: The Beatles, "Taxman"

Charts

1951: Les Paul and Mary Ford's "How High The Moon" hits #1
 

1956: Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" hits #1
 

1958: The Platters' "Twilight Time" hits #1
 

1962: Elvis Presley's "Good Luck Charm" hits #1
 

1973: Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" hits #1
 

 Alice Cooper's LP Billion Dollar Babies hits #1
 

1976: Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" enters the charts
 

1979: Amii Stewart's "Knock On Wood" hits #1

On April 22nd in music history:

Births

1921: Candido Camero
1922: Charles Mingus
1927: Laurel Aitken
1931: Joe Cuba
1936: Glen Campbell
1937: Jack Nitzsche
1943: Mel Carter
1948: Larry Groce
1950: Peter Frampton

Deaths

1983: Earl "Fatha" Hines
2003: Felice Bryant
2008: Paul Davis

Events

1959: The Alan Freed "rock and roll movie" Go, Johnny, Go premieres in New York, featuring Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, The Cadillacs, and the Flamingos.
 

1962: Jerry Lee Lewis loses his first son, Steve Allen (named after the TV host and good friend), in a tragic drowning accident at the age of three.
 

1964: The President of England's National Federation of Hairdressers makes headlines when he offers a free haircut to the next rock group to reach Number One.
 

1966: A young Bruce Springsteen gets a boost when his band The Castiles wins a battle of the bands contest at a roller rink in Matawan, NJ. The first prize? Opening for the Crystals and the Ad-Libs at next week's show.
 

1967: Elvis' 23rd film, Easy Come, Easy Go, premieres in Hollywood.
 

1968: Herb Alpert sings a Burt Bacharach composition, "This Guy's In Love With You," to his wife on the Tijuana Brass' CBS special Beat Of The Brass, sparking a national demand for the song, which results in it being released a few weeks later. It goes on to sell a million records.
 

1969: A&M signs the Carpenters.
 

 On the roof of Apple headquarters at 3 Savile Row, London, John Winston Lennon has his name legally changed to John Ono Lennon.
 

 Today is Tommy Day. The Who perform their new rock opera Tommy for the first time on stage in its entirety at a concert in Dolton, England; five years later to the day, the group begins filming the movie version (with Tina Turner's turn as the Acid Queen being filmed first), and, on the same date in 1993, the Broadway play based on the album opens.
 

1978: Bob Marley headlines the historic One Love Peace Concert in Jamaica, the singer's first appearance in his home country since an assassination attempt two years before. At the concert, Marley manages to unite Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley with rival Edward Seaga, who had both been using local warlords to battle for power.
 

 On tonight's Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd team up to debut two new characters called "The Blues Brothers," who perform a cover of Sam and Dave's "Soul Man."
 

1979: The Rolling Stones play two concerts in Oshawa, Ontario for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, a result of court-ordered community service for guitarist Keith Richards, busted two years earlier in Toronto for heroin possession.
 

1981: Eric Clapton is involved in a car crash near Seattle and is hospitalized with bruised ribs and lacerations, a mere two days after being released from hospitalization for ulcer treatment in St. Paul, MN.

Releases

1966: The Troggs, "Wild Thing"
1975: Elvis Presley, "T-R-O-U-B-L-E"
1978: Gerry Rafferty, "Baker Street"

Recording

1966: The Beatles: "Taxman," "Tomorrow Never Knows"

Certifications

1974: Redbone's "Come And Get Your Love" is certified gold
1976: Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" is certified platinum

On April 23rd in music history:

Births

1935: Ray Peterson
1936: Roy Orbison
1936: April Stevens
1940: Dale Houston (Dale and Grace)
1947: Glenn Cornick (Jethro Tull)
1949: John Miles
1952: Narada Michael Walden

Deaths

1975: Pete Ham (Badfinger)
1986: Harold Arlen

Events

1943: The Earl "Fatha" Hines Band, featuring then-unknowns Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and a vocalist named Sarah Vaughan, begins a series of engagements at the Apollo in Harlem.
 

1956: High on his recent successes, and at the insistence of Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley begins a disastrous concert stint at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas where he opens for comedian Shecky Greene. The middle-aged audience, miles removed from Elvis' teen fanbase, are completely indifferent to him, and his contract is soon torn up after only one week of a two-week engagement. However, while there, Presley witnesses a band called Freddie Bell and the Bellboys doing a wild rave-up version of Big Mama Thornton's blues hit "Hound Dog." He soon works it into the live act.
 

1960: While staying at Paul McCartney's aunt's pub, The Fox and Hound in Caversham, Berkshire, England, Paul and John Lennon perform a set together, calling themselves the Nurk Twins.
 

1962: The Beatles make their first appearance on record when Tony Sheridan's version of the standard "My Bonnie," featuring the Fab Four as backup, is released by Decca. The single is not a hit.
 

1964: While shooting their first movie, A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles are filmed running around Thornbury Playing Fields in Isleworth, Middlesex, England -- footage which, combined with an earlier sequence shot at London's Gatwick Airport, becomes the famous "Can't Buy Me Love" scene. Having been asked to attend a luncheon in honor of manager Brian Epstein, John is not in attendance for this shoot; his place is taken by a body double.
 

1969: Los Angeles' famed folk and rock club The Ash Grove, launching pad for everyone from Linda Ronstadt to Canned Heat, catches fire and nearly burns to the ground.
 

1974: Just before being scheduled to appear as guest host on NBC-TV's Tonight Show, Mama Cass collapses from exhaustion.
 

1981: Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins join Johnny Cash onstage at his show in Stuttgart, West Germany, performing their hits and some mutual country, blues, and gospel favorites. The concert is later released as the LP The Survivors.
 

1985: Liberace guest-stars as himself on today's episode of NBC-TV's long-running soap Another World.
 

1987: Carole King sues her former label head and mentor, Lou Adler, for $400,000 in royalties and the publishing rights to some of her older recordings from the late Sixties.
 

1988: During tonight's Bruce Springsteen concert at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, CA, Roy Orbison, celebrating his 52nd birthday, is brought onstage so that fans can sing "Happy Birthday" to him.
 

1995: London's Sunday Times reports that Peter Hodgson, whose father once lent Paul McCartney his tape recorder, had found a reel-to-reel of the Beatles' first recordings in his attic. Made in 1959, the tape features sixteen songs, including "Hello Little Girl," written by Lennon and McCartney but given to another band, and Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love Her So."

Recording

1963: Jan and Dean, "Surf City"
1963: Bob Dylan: "Girl OF The North Country," "Masters Of War," "Talking World War III Blues," "Bob Dylan's Dream"

Charts

1977: Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way" hits #1

Certifications

1970: Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit In The Sky" is certified gold

On April 24th in music history:

Births

1928: Johnny Griffin
1933: Freddie Scott
1934: Shirley Boone
1942: Barbra Streisand
1943: Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys)
1945: Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
1947: Ann Kelly (The Hues Corporation)
1948: Steve York (Manfred Mann)

Deaths

2001: Al Hibbler

Events

1954: Keeping an eye on the new trends, an article in this week's Billboard is entitled "Teenagers Demand Music With A Beat - Spur Rhythm And Blues."
 

1959: After running on Saturday nights on radio for 24 years and TV for the last nine, the final installment of the musical countdown show Your Hit Parade airs on NBC. The final Top Five: Elvis Presley, "I Need Your Love Tonight" (#5), Brook Benton, "It's Just A Matter Of Time" (#4), Ricky Nelson, "Never Be Anyone Else But You" (#3), Dodie Stevens, "Pink Shoe Laces" (#2), and the Fleetwoods at #1 with "Come Softly To Me."
 

1961: Bob Dylan makes his first recording -- playing harmonica on Harry Belafonte's song "Calypso King." He's paid fifty dollars.
 

1963: An 18-year-old Brenda Lee marries Ronnie Shacklett, one year her senior, in Nashville a mere six months after meeting him at a Jackie Wilson concert. 46 years later, the two are still together.
 

1968: The newly-formed Apple Records decides not to sign a young talent named David Bowie.
 

1970: Having been invited to a White House dinner by Tricia Nixon, daughter of US President Richard Nixon, the Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick brings radical Abbie Hoffman with her, in an attempt to secretly dose Tricia with LSD during the meal. Hoffman is turned away at the door by Secret Service agents, causing Slick to leave as well.
 

1976: In a parody of recent public offers, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels goes on air and offers the Beatles the whopping sum of $3,000 if they agree to reunite on the hits NBC-TV show. And it almost happens: Paul, visiting John in his New York apartment for what would turn out to be the last time, is watching the skit with John, and both consider going across town to the studio live. However, the duo decide they're too tired.
 

1979: Governor George Busbee of Georgia issues a proclamation declaring Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia On My Mind" the new official state song. Ray Charles sings his famous version at the ceremony.
 

1984: With questions still lingering about the death of his fifth wife, Shawn Stephens, Jerry Lee Lewis marries his sixth, Kerrie McCarver, the 22-year-old president of his fan club.
 

1992: The Cleveland Orchestra sues Michael Jackson for $7 million after it discovers the singer used part of their recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on his hit album Dangerous.
 

 David Bowie marries his second wife, model Iman, in Switzerland.
 

 In his hometown of Inglewood, NJ, Wilson Pickett drives his car through the mayor's front yard, yelling death threats at the house and accidentally running over an 86-year-old man. He is later arrested and found with open containers of alcohol in his car.
 

2005: After 94 performances, the Broadway musical and Beach Boys tribute Good Vibrations closes.
 

2007: US President George W. Bush is denied a luxury suite at the Imperial Hotel in Vienna when Mick Jagger, in town with the Stones on a tour, books it first.

Releases

1957: Ricky Nelson, "I'm Walkin'"
1958: Dion and the Belmonts, "I Wonder Why"
1959: The Drifters, "There Goes My Baby"
1970: Ringo Starr, Sentimental Journey
1972: John Lennon, "Woman Is The *** Of The World"
1974: David Bowie, Diamond Dogs

Recording

1958: Bobby Darin, "Early In The Morning"
1969: Bob Dylan: "Living The Blues," "Spanish Is The Loving Tongue"

Charts

1961: Del Shannon's "Runaway" hits #1
1965: Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders' "Game Of Love" hits #1
1971: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's LP 4 Way Street hits #1
1976: Wings' LP At The Speed Of Sound hits #1

Certifications

1969: The Cowsills' "Hair" is certified gold

On April 25th in music history:

Births

1917: Ella Fitzgerald
1923: Albert King
1925: Prentiss Barnes (The Moonglows)
1932: Willis "Gator" Jackson
1933: Jerry Leiber
1944: Michael Kogel (Los Bravos)
1945: Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA)
1945: Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
1946: Ronnie Gilbert (Blues Magoos)
1949: Michael Brown (The Left Banke)
1950: Steve Ferrone (Average White Band)

Deaths

2007: Bobby "Boris" Pickett

Events

1955: The UN's commission on narcotics releases a report stating "definite connection between increased marijuana smoking and that form of entertainment known as bebop and rebop."
 

1960: Eddie Cochran is laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, CA.
 

1970: At today's concert in Raleigh, North Carolina, the interracial band Pacific Gas and Electric is subject to verbal abuse on stage. Later, when they leave the club, four bullets are fired at their van. No one is injured.
 

1974: According to the new issue of Rolling Stone, "streaking" has become so popular that Yes and Gregg Allman concerts have been interrupted by the fad. At a recent Beach Boys concert, the magazine says, the band was streaked by its own crew.
 

1977: Elvis Presley performs at the Civic Center in Saginaw, MI, with a mobile unit capturing what would be his very last recording (released on the album Moody Blue).
 

 The musical variety television special Paul Anka -- Music My Way, featuring Natalie Cole, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, and a host of famous cameos, airs on ABC.
 

1981: Denny Laine leaves the trio Wings, essentially leaving Paul McCartney a solo act once more.
 

1985: The musical Big River, based on Mark Twain's work and featuring a score by Roger Miller, opens on Broadway. Miller would go on to win a Tony award for the music.
 

1990: A London auction house sells the Fender Stratocaster on which Jimi Hendrix played the US national anthem at Woodstock for $295,000.
 

1993: Legendary album artist Stanley "Mouse" Miller, designer of the Grateful Dead's "skull and roses" logo, has his upcoming liver transplant financed by the band.
 

1994: After fourteen years, The Eagles reform at Warner's Burbank Studios for the first of what will be two reunion concerts chronicled on the live/studio album Hell Freezes Over.
 

 A judge finds Michael Bolton's 1991 hit "Love Is A Wonderful Thing" plagiarizes the Isley Brothers' 1966 song of the same name, despite Bolton's protests that he's never heard the song.
 

Yankee Stadium in New York holds their first "Joe DiMaggio Day," featuring Paul Simon singing "Mrs. Robinson" (and cheers when he gets to the "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" part).
 

2003: The parents of the late Doors frontman Jim Morrison sue the remaining members for touring with a new singer as "The Doors 21st Century" using the band's image and logo.
 

Nina Simone is laid to rest in Carry-Le-Rouet, France, with attendees including Miriam Makeba and gifts from luminaries like Elton John.
 

2004: For the third time in two years, Billy Joel is involved in a minor traffic accident, driving his car into a home in Bayville, Long Island, New York. No one is injured.

Recording

1967: The Beatles, "Magical Mystery Tour"
1978: Bob Dylan, "Changing Of The Guards"

Charts

1960: Elvis Presley's "Stuck On You" hits #1
1970: The Jackson 5's "ABC" hits #1

Certifications

1973: Sweet's "Little Willy" is certified gold
1978: Queen's "We Are The Champions" is certified gold

On April 26th in music history:

Births

1925: Jorgen Ingmann
1938: Maurice Williams
1938: Duane Eddy
1940: Giorgio Moroder
1941: Claudine Clark
1942: Bobby Rydell
1943: Gary Wright
1945: Tony Murray (The Troggs)
1946: Ronny Dayton (Ronny and the Daytonas)

Deaths

1984: Count Basie
1997: Ernest Stewart (KC and the Sunshine Band)

Events

1957: Calypso star Harry Belafonte resigns to his record label, RCA Victor, for an unprecedented million dollars.
 

1962: Jerry Lee Lewis, still stricken from the tragedy of losing his three-year-old son Steve Allen Lewis in a swimming pool drowning, arrives in the UK to tour for the first time since he was forced out in 1958 for marrying his 13-year-old cousin.
 

1963: Teen idol Frankie Avalon agrees to star in Beach Party, the first of what would become known as the "Beach Movies" starring himself and Annette Funicello.
 

1964: The Beatles attend a birthday party for Roy Orbison in London (Orbison had actually turned 28 three days earlier). That night, the group headlines the poll winner's concert for the magazine New Musical Express, which also features fan favorites The Rolling Stones and the Dave Clark Five.
 

1965: Bob Dylan makes his first trip to England to promote his new album, called Bringing It All Back Home. The tour is chronicled by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker for a film that will eventually become the iconic Don't Look Back.
 

1966: According to the New York Times, Ray Charles is being forced to undergo tests in Boston to confirm that he has kicked the heroin habit, as ordered by a court after a drug-possession rap the previous year.
 

1967: Janis Ian, then only sixteen, appears on Leonard Bernstein's CBS special Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution, singing her single from a year earlier, "Society's Child." Though the song, which details a forbidden interracial relationship, was banned from airwaves in its initial run, this exposure turns it into a Top 20 hit.
 

 The Mamas and the Papas' "Mama Cass" Elliot gives birth to her one and only child, daughter Owen Vanessa. She would take the father's name to the grave.
 

1970: Tom Jones (along with John Wayne and Bob Hope) guest-stars on Raquel Welch's NBC television special, entitled simply Raquel!.
 

1977: The disco boom gets rolling in earnest with the opening of Steve Rubell's new glitzy and ultra-exclusive club, Studio 54, in New York. Among the guests invited opening night: Cher, Mick Jagger and wife Bianca, Debbie Harry, Donald and Ivana Trump, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Halston, Margaux Hemingway, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Salvador Dali, Brooke Shields, Martha Graham, and Robin Leach.
 

1978: Ringo Starr plays two roles in a musical version of Prince and the Pauper entitled simply Ringo, also starring Art Carney, John Ritter, Carrie Fisher, Vincent Price, Angie Dickinson, Mike Douglas, and featuring George Harrison's narration. Airing on NBC, the show is a dismal flop.
 

1980: The Carpenters' fifth TV variety special, entitled Music, Music, Music and also starring John Davidson and Ella Fitzgerald, airs on ABC.
 

1982: While shopping for clothes on Hollywood Boulevard in the middle of the day, Rod Stewart is robbed at gunpoint of, among other things, his $50,000 Porsche.
 

1994: The Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick pleads guilty to assault after turning a shotgun on police who visited her California home the previous month. Although she claims she was edgy due to a recent fire, the judge nonetheless sentences her to a short stint in Alcoholics Anonymous.
 

2003: The Morgan Creek Bridge in Chapel Hill, NC, is renamed the James Taylor Bridge in honor of the city's native son.
 

 David Cassidy guest-stars as wealthy CEO "Everett Price" in the "War, Inc." episode of CBS-TV's The Agency.
 

2004: June Pointer of the Pointer Sisters is arrested in Los Angeles for possession of cocaine.

Recording

1957: Larry Williams, "Short Fat Fannie"
1962: Sam Cooke: "Having A Party," "Bring It On Home To Me"
1966: The Beatles, "And Your Bird Can Sing"
1967: The Beatles, "Magical Mystery Tour"
1969: The Beatles: "Oh! Darling," "Octopus's Garden"
1969: Bob Dylan: "Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go)," "A Fool Such As I," "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know," "Let It Be Me"
1978: Bob Dylan: "Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)," "Is Your Love In Vain?," "New Pony," "We Better Talk This Over," "Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)"

Charts

1969: The Original Broadway Cast Soundtrack of Hair hits #1
1975: B.J. Thomas' "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" hits #1