Saturday, September 3, 2011

This Date in Rock Music History: September 3

1955:  Bill Haley & the Comets refused an offer to tour Australia because of a fear of flying.
1955:  Chuck Berry logged a third week at #1 on the R& B chart with "Maybellene".
1962:  The Beatles, Billy J. Kramer, the Coasters, and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes played the first of three Monday night gigs at the Queen's Hall in Widnes, Cheshire, England.  The Hurricanes by this time had gotten over the defection of drummer Ringo Starr to the Beatles.
1963:  Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records was absorbed by Warner Brothers Records.
1966:  The Supremes stood on top of the R&B chart with "You Can't Hurry Love".
1966:  What Now My Love gave Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass their third #1 album out of six released.  
1966:  The great song "Born Free" was #1 on the Easy Listening chart for Roger Williams.
1966:  The Association were making their move as "Cherish" jumped from #66 to #27.

1966:  Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" took over #1 from the Lovin' Spoonful, which dropped to 2 with "Summer In The City".
1967:  The Anni-Frid Four, led by Anni-Frid Lynstad who would later join ABBA, won a talent contest on the Swedish television show Hylands Hörna.









1970:  Alan Wilson, guitarist, harmonica player, singer and main songwriter of Canned Heat, died in Topanga Canyon, California from barbiturates. 
1977:  The Grateful Dead, the Marshall Tucker Band and the New Riders of the Purple Sage performed at Old Bridge Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.
1977:  "Handy Man" by James Taylor ruled the Adult chart.








                               The Brothers Johnson brightened up the Top 10...

1977:  "Best of My Love" by the Emotions was the #1 song again for the third week.  Andy Gibb's former #1 "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" refused to fall further and that meant Rita Coolidge couldn't advance with "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher And Higher".  The Commodores ("Easy) and James Taylor ("Handy Man") were stuck as well.  The rest of the Top 10:  The Floaters and "Float On", Crosby, Stills & Nash with "Just A Song Before I Go" at #7, Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop", the Brothers Johnson edged up with "Strawberry Letter 23" and ELO landed their 11th hit and second Top 10 with "Telephone Line".







           "I Don't Want to Know", one of the great tracks on 'Rumours'...

1977:  Rumours by Fleetwood Mac spent its 17th week at #1 on the Album chart, one shy of the all-time Rock Era record by More of the Monkees.  CSN, the solid release from Crosby, Stills & Nash, was #2 followed by the Soundtrack to "Star Wars".  JT from James Taylor was fourth and Moody Blue by Elvis Presley moved from 24 to 5 following his passing on August 16.  








1979: Monday, the date for new releases, fell on this date and Foreigner provided "Dirty White Boy".









1979: Kenny Rogers released the single "You Decorated My Life".  (Note:  some websites naively say the song was released September 10.  "You Decorated My Life" debuted on the Singles chart on September 8, according to 'Billboard' magazine.  It is physically impossible fr a song to be included on the Singles chart if it has not yet been released as a single.)








1982:  The Police, the Talking Heads, the B-52's, Oingo Boingo, the English Beat and the Ramones performed on the opening day of the three-day US Festival in San Bernadino, California.  The Festival attracted 400,000 people.
1983:  Metallica wrapped up their first tour at The Stone in San Francisco, California.
1983:  Laura Branigan reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You".









1983:  The Eurythmics scored the only #1 of their career--"Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)".  Michael Sembello's "Maniac" from the movie Flashdance edged up and the Police finally fishtailed from #1 after eight weeks with "Every Breath You Take".  Taco was "Puttin' On The Ritz" while Donna Summer swapped places with "She Works Hard For The Money".  The rest of the Top 10:  newcomer Men Without Hats and "The Safety Dance" moved from 11 to 6, Billy Joel's 21st hit "Tell Her About It" was right behind, Men at Work were at position #8 with "It's A Mistake", Culture Club saw "I'll Tumble 4 (sic) Ya" stay at #9 and Michael Jackson made it six Top 10 songs in a row from the album Thriller with "Human Nature".






1983:  It was seven straight weeks for the great album Synchronicity by the Police at #1.  Thriller by Michael Jackson was still at #2 after 37 weeks and the Soundtrack to "Flashdance" was #3.  Def Leppard had a hot album as well with Pyromania.  The rest of the Top 10:  The Wild Heart from Stevie Nicks, Staying Alive by the Bee Gees, Billy Joel moved from 18 to 7 with An Innocent Man, Asia's follow-up Alpha was at #8, Jackson Browne slipped into the Top 10 with Lawyers in Love and Reach the Beach was the #10 album by the Fixx.




1984:  Music directors at radio stations found "All Through The Night" from Cyndi Lauper on their desks.








1988:  Peter Cetera of Sun Valley, Idaho enjoyed a huge Adult Contemporary hit as "One Good Woman" reached #1.
1988:  The album Hysteria had already spent three weeks at #1 and now, Def Leppard rose to #1 for the third time--55 weeks after its release!  Tracy Chapman had to relinquish the spot with her debut and Guns N' Roses edged up with Appetite for Destruction.










1990:  INXS released the single "Suicide Blonde".  (Note:  some websites naively say the single was released September 25.  "Suicide Blonde" debuted on the Singles chart on September 8.  It is physically impossible for a song to be included on the Singles chart if it has not yet been released as a single.)














1990:  New group Alias released the song "More Than Words Can Say" to radio stations.  (Note:  some websites naively report that the song was released on September 8.  The song debuted on the 'Billboard' Singles chart on September 8.  It is physically impossible for a song to be released as a single, mailed to radio stations, listened to and added by the radio station to their playlists, reported to the trade papers, and printed and published by the trade papers, all on the same day.)
1992:  David Bowie appeared on the cover of Architectural Digest.
1993:  Kenny G & Peabo Bryson combined for the #1 Adult Contemporary hit on this date--"By The Time This Night Is Over".

1994:  Brian Setzer (Stray Cats and solo performer) married Christine Schmidt.








1994:  Major Lance ("Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um") died of heart failure at the age of 55 in Decatur, Georgia.  (Note:  there is much confusion as to his birth year.  Some websites say he was born in 1941 or 1942, but according to the newspaper 'The Baltimore Sun', Lance was born in 1939, making him 55 at the date of his death.) 
1994:  The Soundtrack to "The Lion King" held on to #1 for the eighth straight week on the Album chart while the Soundtrack to "Forrest Gump" sat at #2.  The Sign from Ace of Base was third with Stone Temple Pilots taking the #4 position with their album Purple.  The rest of the Top 10:  The great album Dookie from Green Day, August and Everything After by the Counting Crows, Regulate...G Funk Era by Warren G, the self-titled Candlebox, Sleeps With Angels from Neil Young & Crazy Horse debuting at #9 and Smash from Offspring at #10.



1994:  Boyz II Men could not be stopped as "I'll Make Love To You" remained #1 on the R&B chart for the third week.
1999:  Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots was sentenced to one year in jail for violating parole.  (Note:  some websites say the sentencing was handed down on September 6.  The correct date is September 3, according to 'MTV'.)
2003:  The Rolling Stones performed at the SECC Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.
2003:  Kyle Norman of Jagged Edge turned himself in to authorities in Decatur, Georgia to face charges of drugs and weapons possession.
2003:  Mary J. Blige had the top album with Love and Life.







2010:  Mike Edwards, cellist of ELO, was killed on the road between Harbertonford and Halwell, Devon, England when a giant bale of hay fell down a hill and crashed into his van.  The cylindrical bale fell down a slope, flipped 15 feet over a hedge and smashed onto the roof of his van, killing him instantly.
2014:  David Cassidy, former singer with the Partridge Family, pleaded guilty to a DWI charge in upstate New York.  The charge is from an incident near Albany the previous summer in which Cassidy was pulled over for failing to dim his headlights to oncoming traffic, and was discovered to be driving while intoxicated. 

Born This Day:


1934:  Freddie King, one of the elite guitarists of the Rock Era, was born in Gilmer, Texas; died of complications from stomach ulcers and acute pancreatitis December 28, 1976 in Dallas, Texas.
1940:  Shadow Morton (George Morton), who wrote "Remember (Walking In The Sand" and "Leader Of The Pack" for the Shangri-Las and worked with the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Iron Butterfly, Janis Ian and Vanilla Fudge, was born in Richmond, Virginia; died February 14, 2013 in Laguna Beach, California after a long battle with cancer.  (Note:  the newspaper 'The New York Times' claims Morton was born in Brooklyn, New York.  According to the newspaper 'The Guardian', Morton was born in Richmond and later lived in Brooklyn.)

1942:  Al Jardine of the Beach Boys was born in Lima, Ohio.
1945:  George Biondi, bassist of Steppenwolf, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1945:  Mike Harrison, keyboardist of Spooky Tooth, was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England.

1947:  Eric Bell, founding member and original guitarist of Thin Lizzy, was born in Belfast, Ireland.







1948:  Don Brewer, founding member and drummer of Grand Funk Railroad, was born in Flint, Michigan.
1955:  Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols was born in London.
1960:  Perry Bamonte, keyboard and guitar player of the Cure, was born in London.








1973:  Jennifer Paige ("Crush") was born in Marietta, Georgia.  (Note:  some websites report Paige was born in Atlanta, Georgia.  According to Barnes & Noble, Jennifer was born in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta.)

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