Sunday, December 10, 2017

This Date in Rock Music History: November 22

1955:  Sun Records sold the recording contract of Elvis Presley to RCA Records for $40,000.  Presley manager Sam Phillips invested his portion of that in the struggling chain of hotels called Holiday Inn and became a millionaire.
1957:  Simon and Garfunkel appeared under the name Tom & Jerry on American Bandstand.
1961:  Bob Dylan finished recording his debut album.










1961:  Elvis Presley released the single "Can't Help Falling In Love".












1961:  Dion released the single "The Wanderer".
1961:  The movie Blue Hawai'i, starring Elvis Presley, opened in theaters.








1963:  The Beatles released their album With the Beatles, with orders of 300,000 already.











1965:  Stevie Wonder released his single "Uptight (Everything's Allright)".
1965:  Bob Dylan married Sara Lownds outside a judge's office on Long Island, New York.  (Note:  numerous sources report that Dylan married Sara Lowndes on this date.  Dylan never married someone named Lowndes.  Sara (birth name Shirley Marlin Noznisky) changed her name to Sara and married Hans Lownds, a magazine photographer, and kept her married name after they divorced.   The newspapers The New York Times', 'The Daily Mail', 'The Independent', 'The Telegraph', and 'The Guardian", the books 'Inside the Dream Palace: The Life and Times of New York's Legendary Chelsea ...' by Sherill Tippins, 'Life on the Tracks:  Bob Dylan's Songs' by Guido Bieri, 'No Direction Home:  The Life and Music of Bob Dylan' by Robert Shelton, 'Whispering Pines:  The Northern Roots of American Music' by Jason Schneider and 'Sounds of Rebellion:  Music in the 1960's' by the Britannica Publishing Company, all say that Bob married Sara Lowndes on this date.)  But the books 'A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of Blood on the Tracks' by Andy Gill and Kevin Odegard, 'Bob Marley:  The Father of Music' by Jean-Pierre Hombach, 'Bob Dylan:  Intimate Insights from Friends and Fellow Musicians' by Kathleen Mackay, and 'The Band:  Pioneers of Americana Music' by Craig Harris got it right.) 
1967:  George Harrison of the Beatles began recording the soundtrack to the movie Wonderwall (Note:  several websites report that the recording took place from December of 1967 through February of 1968.  They may have gotten the start date from 'Penny Laine's Anthology' by Terry Rowan, but all Rowan says for a start date is "Circa December".  In the book 'The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology' by Walter Everett, Everett put a specific start date of November 22.)
1968:  The Beatles released their double album we now call The White Album.
1969:  The Originals made it three weeks atop the R&B chart with "Baby, I'm For Real".
1969:  Peter, Paul & Mary had the top Easy Listening song with the song John Denver wrote for them, "Leaving On A Jet Plane".
1969:  The 5th Dimension had the #1 song for a third week with "Wedding Bell Blues".  Together with "Aquarius", their hit earlier in the year, it gave the group nine weeks at #1 for the year.
1969:  The Beatles had the #1 album Abbey Road but Led Zeppelin made a 15 to 2 move with Led Zeppelin II.










1971:  The Hillside Singers released the single "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing".
1975:  The Staple Singers returned to #1 for a second week on the R&B chart with "Let's Do It Again".








1975:  Simon & Garfunkel's first song together in five years hit #1 on the Easy Listening chart--"My Little Town".









  
 Radio stations ignore Jigsaw's song at their peril...and add to the popularity of this web site!

1975:  K.C. and the Sunshine Band moved to #1 in an active Top 10 with "That's the Way (I Like It)".  Silver Convention threatened by moving from 16 to 2 with "Fly, Robin, Fly" with the 4 Seasons peaking at #3 with "Who Loves You".  The previous #1 "Island Girl" by Elton John was fourth while the Captain & Tennille proved they were for real with "The Way I Want to Touch You".  The rest of the Top 10:  Natalie Cole's first hit--"This Will Be", "Feelings" from Morris Albert, War moved up to #8 with "Low Rider", Jigsaw had their one and only hit "Sky High" and the Staple Singers moved from 21 to 10 with "Let's Do It Again".




                                                 The master was at it again...


1975:  Rock of the Westies by Elton John led the way on the Album chart with Windsong by John Denver a strong second.  Jefferson Starship had a great album with Red Octopus and as always, a Linda Ronstadt album was a threat as Prisoner In Disguise was fourth.  The rest of the Top 10:  Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, Paul Simon edged up to #6 with Still Crazy After All These Years, the collaboration between David Crosby & Graham Nash led to the #7 album Wind on the Water, Born to Run from Bruce Springsteen tumbled to #8 after just 11 weeks, The Who By Numbers from the Who was ninth and Art Garfunkel's album Breakaway cracked the Top 10.




1980:  ABBA owned the #1 album in the U.K. with Super Trouper.
1981:  Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones joined blues superstar Muddy Waters on stage at the Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago, Illinois.






Middle Of The Road by The Pretenders on Grooveshark
1983:  The Pretenders released their great single "Middle Of The Road".












We were introduced to one of the elite keyboard players of the Rock Era...

1986:  The Human League had the top song with "Human", taking over from Boston's "Amanda".  Madonna peaked at #3 with "True Blue", but Bon Jovi had designs on the top with "You Give Love A Bad Name".  The rest of the Top 10:  Eddie Money with "Take Me Home Tonight", Cameo's "Word Up" at #6, Sun Valley, Idaho's Peter Cetera teamed with Amy Grant for "The Next Time I Fall", Huey Lewis & the News reached the Top 10 with "Hip To Be Square", Bruce Hornsby's first hit "The Way It Is" jumped from 14-9 and Lionel Richie joined the group with "Love Will Conquer All".






1986:  Boston led the way on the Album chart for a fourth week with Third Stage while the previous #1 Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi was still second.  Fore!  by Huey Lewis & the News was next followed by Cyndi Lauper's True Colors and Dancing on the Ceiling by Lionel Richie.  The rest of the Top 10:  Break Every Rule by Tina Turner, the landmark Graceland album from Paul Simon moved from 11-7, Billy Idol was up to #8 with Whiplash Smile, Billy Joel was overtaken with The Bridge and Madonna closed the list with True Blue.






1988:  Paula Abdul released the single "Straight Up".
1991:  Alice Cooper helped two fans, Patrick and Dee Ann Kelly, whose home in California was about to be re-possessed.  Patrick had painted Cooper's face on the house to help sell the property.  Cooper signed autographs at a yard sale to help raise money for the couple.  4,000 people showed up, and the Kelly's were able to make their mortgage payment.
1992:  Paul Simon began a tour of South America in Brazil.
1995:  Sophie B. Hawkins was on the television show Party of Five.
1997:  Michael Hutchence, the lead singer of INXS, was found hanging in his hotel room in the Ritz Carlton in Double Bay, Australia, dead from suicide at the age of 37.





1997:  It was easy to crack the Top 10 albums by now and Shania Twain had one of four albums that debuted in the Top 10--lame.  This was a good one though and Come On Over debuted at #2.  Another solid album--Spiceword by the Spice Girls, debuted at #8.
1998:  Ladies and Gentlemen:  The Best of George Michael topped the U.K. Album chart.
2002:  Ray Manzarek and Robbi Krieger, the surviving members of the Doors, announced they had recruited ex-Cult lead singer Ian Astbury and Stewart Copeland, former drummer for the Police, and would record and tour again.
2003:  ZZ Top, which first played at the Compaq Center in Houston, Texas in 1975, became the final rock band to play the venue.
2004:  U2 filmed the video "All Because Of You" from a moving flat bed truck on the streets of Brooklyn, New York.  They then gave a concert under the Brooklyn Bridge.
2005:  Poems written by Bob Dylan when he was studying at the University of Minnesota were sold for $78,000 at an auction in New York City.

2005:  Will Smith won the award for Favorite Male Artist at the American Music Awards.
2015:  Taylor Swift won Song of the Year for "Blank Space" and  Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.  One Direction was named Favorite Pop/Rock Group, Ed Sheeran was named Favorite Male Artist and Ariana Grande took Favorite Female Artist honors.


Born This Day:
1942:  Steve Caldwell, vocalist of Orlons ("The Wah-Watusi"), was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1943:  Floyd Sneed, drummer with Three Dog Night, was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

1944:  Jesse Colin Young, lead singer of the Youngbloods, was born in Manhattan, New York.
1946:  Aston Barrett, bassist for Bob Marley who also played on albums by John Denver, was born in Kingston, Jamaica.
1947:  Sonny Geraci, lead singer of the Outsiders ("Time Won't Let Me") and Climax ("Precious And Few") was born in Cleveland, Ohio; died February 5, 2017, five years after suffering a brain aneurysm that he never fully recovered from.
1947:  Rod Price, guitarist of Foghat, was born in Willesdon, North London, England; died when he fell down a flight of stairs while suffering a heart attack at his home in Wilton, New Hampshire on March 22, 2005. (Note:  some websites report that Rod was born in Willesden, London, England, but according to the newspaper 'The Independent', Price was born in Chiswick, West London.
1950:  Steven Van Zandt, songwriter, guitarist, arranger and producer with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  (Note:  some websites report his place of birth as Boston, but according to the official website of Boston, as well as 'Allmusic.com', Steven was born in Winthrop.)
1950:  Tina Weymouth, founding member and bassist of the Talking Heads, was born in Coronado, California.
1968:  Rasa Don of Arrested Development

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