This Date in Rock Music History: November 10

1958:  Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls were injured in a car accident that claimed the life of the driver near Marion, Arkansas.

1958:  Frank Sinatra began filming the movie A Hole in the Head.
1958:  "Topsy II" by Cozy Cole spent a third week at #1 on the R&B chart.

1958:  "I Got Stung" by Elvis Presley moved from #65 to #18.
1960:  Gregg Allman received a guitar as an early present for his 13th birthday (December 8).
1961:  Elvis Presley scored his ninth #1 song in the U.K. with "(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame"/"Little Sister".
1962:  Brenda Lee took over at #1 on the Easy Listening chart with "All Alone Am I".
1963:  The Yardbirds, with Eric Clapton aboard on guitar, performed at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, Surrey, England.
1964:  The Beatles played the last date of a U.K. tour at Colston Hall in Bristol, England.  (Note:  some websites erroneously show the date of the concert as November 9, but the official website of Colston Hall reports that it was November 10.)

1967:  Although it did not become a smash until five years later, the Moody Blues released the single "Nights in White Satin".
1967:  The Beatles filmed three promotional clips for the single "Hello Goodbye" at the Saville Theatre in London.  In the first, the group wore the uniforms they wore in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  They wore normal, everyday clothes in the second and in the third, the clip showed sequences from the group's first two movies plus additional shots of the group doing the dance the twist.
1969:  "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Gene Autry went over a million copies sold and earned a Gold record.
1969:  Change of Habit, the last movie starring Elvis Presley, was released in theaters.  (Note:  some websites list the premiere as January 21, 1970, but according to the book 'The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool:  A Celebration of the Grooviest  People' by Chris Strodder, the movie was released on November 10, 1969.)
1970:  Martha Reeves and her husband celebrated the birth of son Eric.




1971:  Badfinger released their single "Day After Day".
1972:  Led Zeppelin's winter tour of the U.K. sold out as fans bought 120,000 tickets in one day.










1973:  Helen Reddy advanced from 90 to 59 with "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)".

1973:  Eddie Kendricks, former lead singer of the Temptations, earned the #1 song with "Keep On Truckin'".  That meant Gladys Knight & the Pips had an abbreviated stay of two weeks at #1 with "Midnight Train To Georgia".  The Rolling Stones' former #1 "Angie" was third followed by "Heartbeat - It's A Lovebeat" from the DeFranco Family.  The rest of the Top 10:  Marie Osmond's "Paper Roses", Ringo Starr had his fourth solo hit and third straight Top 10 with "Photograph", moving from 11 to 6, Billy Preston's instrumental "Space Race" came in at position #7, Cher's former #1 "Half-Breed" was #8, Art Garfunkel slipped up to #9 with "All I Know" and the Carpenters were an amazing 10 of 14 in earning Top 10 hits, registering their eight consecutive Top 10 with "Top Of The World".

1973:  Charlie Rich claimed the new #1 Easy Listening song with "The Most Beautiful Girl".
1973:  Gladys Knight & the Pips spent a fourth week at #1 on the R&B chart with their classic "Midnight Train To Georgia".








1973:  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road rose to #1 on the Album chart for Elton John after just four weeks.
1974:  Jose Feliciano was a guest star on the popular television show McMillan and Wife on NBC.
1975:  Chicago released Chicago IX, their greatest hits package.
1975:  David Bowie owned the top song in the U.K. with "Space Oddity".
1979:  Fleetwood Mac had the #1 album in the U.K. with the great Tusk.
1979:  Kool & the Gang knew where their bread was buttered, and their song about "Ladies Night" moved from #56 to #25.

         
      Styx with one of their biggest career hits...

1979:  The Eagles collected their fifth #1 song "Heartache Tonight", which was also their 8th Top 10 in 16 releases.  Donna Summer challenged with "Dim All The Lights" while "Still" by the Commodores moved to #3.  Herb Alpert's former #1 "Rise" was fourth while the previous #1 from M--"Pop Musik" was fifth.  The rest of the Top 10:  "Babe" from Styx, Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer moved up with "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", Fleetwood Mac's lead single from Tusk, the title track, was #8, Kenny Rogers and "You Decorated My Life" and K.C. and the Sunshine Band registered their sixth Top 10 and 15th hit with "Please Don't Go".
1980:  Neil Diamond released "The Jazz Singer" Soundtrack album.
1984:  Chaka Khan went to #1 in the U.K. with "I Feel For You".

1984:  One of The Most Important Songs of the Rock Era*--"Pride (In The Name Of Love)" from U2, moved from 74 to 55 on this date.









                      Chaka Khan had a big hit...


1984:  Billy Ocean remained at #1 with "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)".  Stevie Wonder's former #1 "I Just Called To Say I Love You" wasn't going away, Prince remained at #3 with "Purple Rain" and Wham! had #4--"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go".  The rest of the Top 10:  A solo hit from Chaka Khan ("I Feel For You") moved from 10-5, Hall & Oates had their 25th hit and sixth straight Top 10 song with "Out Of Touch", Tina Turner's comeback was complete with "Better Be Good To Me", David Bowie's "Blue Jean" was #8, Chicago dropped with their great song "Hard Habit To Break" and Styx lead singer Dennis DeYoung picked himself up a solo Top 10 with "Desert Moon".
1984:  After 18 weeks, Cyndi Lauper re-entered the Top 10 on the Album chart with She's So Unusual.
1986:  Bruce Springsteen released the boxed set Live 1975-1985.

1986:  Peter Gabriel released the single "Big Time".

1986:  Bob Dylan presented Gordon Lightfoot with the Canadian Hall of Fame Award at a ceremony in Toronto, Ontario.
1988:  Steve Miller set out on his first concert tour in six years.
1990:  Ronnie Dyson, who starred in the original production of Hair and was a solo artist ("(If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You" from 1970) died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of heart failure and lung disease at the age of 40.

1990:  The Very Best of Elton John was the #1 album in the U.K.

1990:  To the Extreme by Vanilla Ice was the album that finally ended M.C. Hammer's 21-week reign at #1 with Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, fifth most in the Rock Era.
1990:  Mariah Carey" slid up to #1 on the R&B chart with her great song "Love Takes Time".

1990:  Two releases, two #1's for Mariah Carey as "Love Takes Time" was the new #1 song.
1992:  It always catches up to you.  Axl Rose was found guilty of assault and property damage at a Guns N' Roses concert in Maryland Heights, Missouri.  Rose was ordered to pay $50,000 to community groups.
1994:  Jimmy Page and Robert Plant performed an acoustic version Stairway to Heaven" at a news station in Tokyo, Japan for broadcast on television.
1997:  Tommy Tedesco, session guitarist for Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys, died of lung cancer in Northridge, California at the age of 67.
2002:  Johnny Griffith, keyboard player with the Motown house band which played on Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" among others, died of a heart attack at age 66 in Detroit, Michigan.
2002:  Westlife picked up their 11th #1 song in the U.K. with "Unbreakable".
2003:  Jane's Addiction played a surprise "flash mob" concert in Convent Garden in London.

2004:  Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, was given the Man for Peace award from ex-Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev in Rome, Italy.
2004:  As today's artists could no longer put together good albums, a collection of hits by Ashlee Simpson, Gretchen Wilson and others called Now 17 (similar to the albums K-Tel used to release in the 70's) easily rose to #1 on the Album chart.
2006:  Gerald Levert, who had a hit with "Casanova" in 1987 and was the son of O'Jays vocalist Eddie Levert, died of a heart attack in Cleveland, Ohio at age 40.
2007:  Carrie Underwood had the #1 album with Carnival Ride.


Born This Day:

1947:  Greg Lake, singer/songwriter, bassist of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer and later a producer, was born in Poole, Dorset, England.  (Note:  some websites show that Lake was born in Bournemouth.  'Allmusic.com' and other reputable websites show he was born in Poole.  Greg later moved to Bournemouth.)  







1947:  Glen Buxton, elite guitarist with Alice Cooper; was born in Akron, Ohio; died of complications from pneumonia on October 19, 1997 in Clarion, Iowa.








1947:  Dave Loggins, cousin of Kenny Loggins and a solo star with the song "Please Come to Boston" from 1974, was born in Mountain City, Tennessee.
1949:  Donna Fargo ("The Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A." from 1972) was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
1949:  Peter Bramall, who adopted the stage name Bram Tchaikovsky and was the lead singer of the group that goes by that name, was born in Lincolnshire, England.
1950:  Ronnie Hammond, lead singer of the Atlanta Rhythm Section, was born in Macon, Georgia; died of heart failure in Forsyth, Georgia on March 14, 2011.



1953:  Midge Ure, signer/songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist of Ultravox and also the author of the Band Aid song "Do They Know It's Christmas?", was born in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
1954:  Mario Cipollina, bassist of Huey Lewis & the News, was born in San Rafael, California.
1959:  Frank Maudsley, bass guitarist with A Flock of Seagulls, was born in Liverpool, England.
1970:  Warren G. ("Regulate" from 1994) was born in Long Beach, California.
1970:  Derry Brownson, keyboardist of EMF ("Unbelievable" from 1990), was born in Gloucester, England.
1975:  Jim Adkins, singer and guitarist of Jimmy Eat World, who gave us one of The Most Important Songs of the Rock Era*--"The Middle", was born in Mesa, Arizona.

1978:  Eve ("Gangsta' Loviin'" from 2002) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1979:  Chris Joannou, bassist of Silverchair, was born in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Up next in The Top 100 Artists of the Seventies*...

He defined soul, and put out some great music in the 60's and 70's.  Woe is you if you don't check out his great music tomorrow on Inside The Rock Era!

The Spinners, The #61 Artist of the Seventies*

This group was together long before most of the elite groups of the Seventies.  They formed back in 1954 in Ferndale, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.  Billy Henderson, Henry Fambrough, Pervis Jackson, C.P. Spencer, and James Edwards began as the Domingoes.  Bobby Smith replaced Edwards after a few weeks, and George Dixon soon replaced Spencer.

In 1961, the group renamed themselves the Spinners, and scored their first hit that year with "That's What Girls Are Made For", a #27 song.

Edwards' brother, Edgar "Chico" Edwards, replaced Dixon in 1963.  At this time, Motown Records bought out the Spinners' contract and welcomed them aboard the label.  However, chart success eluded the Spinners during the 60's.  The members of the group became road managers, chauffers and chaperones for other groups.  G.C. Cameron replaced Edwards in 1967.

I

In 1970, the Spinners finally struck paydirt at #14 with the Stevie Wonder song "It's A Shame".  It was plucked from the album 2nd Time Around, and got as high as #4 on the R&B chart. 

The Spinners made the jump to Atlantic Records in 1972, but due to contractual obligations, Cameron had to stay with Motown as a solo artist.  He suggested his cousin Philippe Wynne as a replacement, and Wynne became one of the group's lead singers.

The move to Atlantic  brought several blessings, one of them being the ability to work with songwriter and producer Thom Bell.  With all the pieces now in place, the Spinners, which had been around over ten years without a Top 10 song, took flight, becoming one of the top soul groups of their time.

T

he Spinners achieved their first Gold album in 1973 with their self-titled release.  The single "I'll Be Around" proved to be their breakthrough song, but it wasn't even the "A" side of the 45.  That distinction went to "How Could I Let You Go Away", which went nowhere.  Smart DJ's flipped the record over to find this gem waiting for them, and "I'll Be Around" landed at #3 overall, and #1 on the R&B chart.  It also sold over one million copies. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spinners had a follow-up in the chute, and released "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love", which gave them another R&B smash that reached #4 on the Popular chart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The group finally was on its way, and they released the single "One Of A Kind (Love Affair)", a third hit from the album.  The song was their third consecutive R&B #1 that stopped just shy of the Top 10 at #11 (Please click the "Play" icon in the top left-hand portion of the video...).

The 1974 album Mighty Love featured three songs that found favor in the top rungs of the R&B chart, but the mass appeal was missing.

When superstar Dionne Warwick joined them for a song on their next album New and Improved, it was just what the doctor ordered.  The #1 smash brought the Spinners back into the limelight--they were in a streak of five consecutive Gold albums.  And it was a across-the-board winner; "Then Came You" also scored in the upper echelon of both the Adult and R&B genres (#3 on each).

The group's next three releases ("Love Don't Love Nobody", "Living A Little, Laughing A Little", and "Sadie") continued their run of 13 Top 20 songs on the R&B chart, but were mid-charters at best overall.

In 1975, the Spinners achieved their fourth straight Gold album, and Pick of the Litter was the highest-ranking album of their career.  The single "(They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play)" was a gem--#5 on the Popular chart, #1 R&B, and #2 Adult.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The group returned the following year with another great song (never accept a radio station that plays the short version!) in "Rubberband Man".  It bounced to #2 giving the Spinners one of their all-time best; it also gave them their sixth career R&B #1.  Jackson actually acquired the nickname "12:45" for his famous bass line in the song.

Wynne left the group in 1977, with John Edwards replacing him.  The Spinners posted some minor hits, but parted ways with Thom Bell in 1979.  They would return in a big way, though, in 1980, but that is outside the scope of this particular music special. 

The Spinners collected no less than 21 hits in the Seventies (with 5 Top 10's and one #1 song), and although officially the RIAA pegs their sales in the decade at three million, Motown rarely requested official sales audits from the RIAA, and the group's sales are certainly higher than that.  But since the RIAA is the authority, three million is what we have to go by in calculating their rank in the decade.

The group was a phenomenal R&B group, landing 16 Top 10 songs out of 20 hits in the 70's, and an astonishing six #1's.