January 15th: On this day
1958, The Everly Brothers made their debut on British TV appearing on The Perry Como Show.
1961, The Supremes signed a world wide recording contract with Motown Records.
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1964, The Beatles performed live at the Cinema Cyrano, Versailles, France, before an audience of 2,000. The show was a warm-up for a three-week engagement at the Olympia Theatre that would start the next day in Paris.
1965, The Who released their first single 'I Can't Explain'. With Jimmy Page on guitar and The Ivy League on backing vocals, it went on to reach No.8 on the UK chart.
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1967, The Rolling Stones were forced to change the lyrics of 'Lets Spend The Night Together' to 'Lets Spend Some Time Together' when appearing on the US TV's The Ed Sullivan Show after the producers objected to the content of the lyrics.
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1967, Donovan appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London, Paul McCartney and George Harrison both attended the show.
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1969, George Harrison had a five-hour meeting with John, Paul and Ringo where he made it clear that he was fully prepared to quit The Beatles for good. Harrison wasn’t happy with plans for live performances and the Let It Be film project.
1972, Don McLean's 'American Pie' started a four week run at No.1 in the US singles chart.
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1976, Paul Simonon auditioned for The London SS, the band went on to become The Clash.
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1977, Abba scored their second UK No.1 album when 'Arrival' went to the top of the charts.
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1977, The Eagles went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Hotel California' the group's third US No.1 album.
1977, UK singer Leo Sayer went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'You Make Me Feel Like Dancing', it was the first of two US No.1's for the singer.
1980, The Ramones appeared live on UK BBC TV music show The Old Grey Whistle Test.
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1982, Harry Casey of KC and the Sunshine Band was seriously injured in a head-on car crash.
1982, The Police kicked off the North American leg of their 119-date Ghost In The Machine world tour at Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, supported by The Go-Go's.
1983, A new pop music show was launched by Channel 4 TV called 'Gastank' hosted by ex Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman and Tony Ashton from Ashton Gardner & Dyke.
1983, Men At Work started a four week run at No.1 in the US singles chart with 'Down Under' the Australian act group's second US No.1, also a No.1 in the UK.
1983, Phil Collins had his first UK No.1 single with his version of 'You Can't Hurry Love,' a hit for The Supremes in 1966. Collins' version was the first track on the very first Now That's What I Call Music CD.
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1985, Singer Sheena Easton married record company executive Rob Light.
1991, Sean Lennon's updated version of his father John's 'Give Peace A Chance' was released to coincide with the United Nation's midnight deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.
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1992, Dee Murray bass player with the Elton John band died after suffering a stroke aged 45. He first appeared with Elton on the 1970 album Tumbleweed Connection and the milestone albums Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.
1994, American singer songwriter Harry Nilsson died in his sleep of heart failure after spending the previous day in the recording studio. He recorded 'Everybody's Talkin' from the film 'Midnight Cowboy' and wrote hits for Three Dog Night and The Monkees. Had the UK & US No.1 single with his version of Badfinger Evans & Ham song 'Without You.' When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Corps, John was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied, "Nilsson". Paul was then asked to name his favorite American group. He replied, "Nilsson".
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1998, Harmonica player Junior Wells died, (born Amos Blakemore). Worked with Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt and The Rolling Stones.
2002, 1980's British pop legend Adam Ant was admitted to a mental ward 24 hours after being charged by police with pulling a gun on staff in a London pub.
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2004, it was announced that album sales in the UK rose by 7.6% in 2003 to a record high. Almost 121 million artist albums were sold, according to Official UK Charts Company. The Top five albums of 2003: 1. Dido, 'Life For Rent'. 2. Justin Timberlake, 'Justified', 3. Christina Aguilera, 'Stripped', 4. Daniel Bedingfield, 'Gotta Get Thru This', 5. Norah Jones, 'Come Away With Me'. UK singles sales continued to drop, down 30% on the previous year. The Black Eyed Peas had the biggest selling single of 2003 with sales over 625,000.
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2006, James Blunt was at No.1 on the UK album chart with his debut album and biggest selling UK album of 2005 'Back To Bedlam.'
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2008, Ronnie Wood was recovering following an operation for a hernia after he sustained the injury during the band's recent Bigger Bang tour. The 60-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist was told to rest for two months after the procedure.
January 15th: Born on this day
1893, Born on this day, Ivor Novello, songwriter & actor. Annual British music awards are named after him. Died 6th March 1951.
1941, Born on this day, Don Van Vliet, (Captain Beefheart). Albums, 'Safe As Milk', 'Trout Mask Replica', 'Strictly Personal', with his Magic Band.
1942, Born on this day, Edward Bivens, vocals, The Manhattans, (1976 US No.1 & UK No.4 single 'Kiss And Say Goodbye').
1947, Born on this day, Pete Waterman, producer, TV presenter and part of the Stock, Aitken & Waterman team. Booked the first ever tour for The Bay City Rollers, signed Musical Youth and Nik Kershaw, during the 70’s was promotion consultant for John Travolta. Had 1987 UK No.13 hit with ‘Roadblock.’ Dominated UK pop in the mid-to-late 1980s. as part of S.A.W. the most successful pop writers & producers of all time producing Bananarama, Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley, Jason Donovan. Judge on UK TV’s Pop Stars.
1948, Born on this day, Ronnie Van Zant, vocalist with Lynyrd Skynyrd, (1974 US No.8 single with ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and a 1982 UK No.21 single with ‘Freebird’). He died in a plane crash on October 20th 1977.
1951, Born on this day, Martha Davis, vocals, The Motels, (1981 UK No.41 single 'Days Are OK').
1952, Born on this day, Melvyn Gale, cello, Electric Light Orchestra, (1979 UK No.3 & US No.4 single 'Don't Bring Me Down', plus 26 other Top 40 hits).
1953, Born on this day, Boris Blank, Yello, (1988 UK No.7 single 'The Race').
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1953, Born on this day, Douglas Elwin Erikson, Garbage, (1996 UK No. 4 single 'Stupid Girl').
1959, Born on this day, Peter Trewavas, bass, Marillion, (1985 UK No.2 single 'Kayleigh').
1961, Born on this day, Damian O'Neill, guitar, The Undertones, (1980 UK No.9 single 'My Perfect Cousin').
1965, Born on this day, Adam Jones, guitarist, Tool, (2001 US No.1 album 'Lateralus').
1967, Born on this day, Lisa Velez, vocals, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, (1987 US No.1 single 'Head To Toe').
1969, Born on this day, Ice Cube, rapper, 1994 UK No.22 single Bop Gun, (1992, US No.1 US album 'The Predator'). NWA, (1990 UK No.26 single 'Express Yourself').
1975, Born on this day, Belinda Chapple, Bardot, winners of the Australian Popstars reality show, (2000 Australian No.1 single ‘Poison’, and 2000 Australian No.1 self-titled album).
How's that for much ado about nothing?
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