This Date in Rock Music History: March 24

1956:  Les Baxter had the #1 song with "Poor People Of Paris".

1958:  Elvis Presley was sworn in as a private in the U.S. Army. 
1962:  Mick Jagger and Keith Richards made their professional live debut, performing onstage as Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys.
1962:  Sam Cooke's "Twistin' The Night Away" wrestled the #1 spot on the R&B chart away from Gene Chandler's "Duke Of Earl".
1962:  Connie Francis reached #1 on the Easy Listening chart with "Don't Break The Heart That Loves You".






1962:  Bruce Channel's "Hey!  Baby" was #1 for the third week.
1965:  Bill Wyman was knocked unconscious by an electrical shock from a microphone stand.  It was the first date of the Rolling Stones anniversary tour in Odense, Denmark.
1965:  The Beatles shot the interior temple scenes for the movie Help!  at Twickenham Studios in England.

1966:  The New York State Assembly passed a bill making it a misdemeanor to sell bootlegs.

1973:  Lou Reed was bitten on his rear end by a fan during a concert in Buffalo, New York.  The male fan was ejected from the show. 
1973:  Alice Cooper owned the top U.K. album with Billion Dollar Babies.

1973:  Pink Floyd released the album Dark Side of the Moon in the U.K.  They had released the album in the United States on March 17.
1973:  The O'Jays rode the "Love Train" all the way to #1, displacing the longtime top song "Killing Me Softly With His Song" by Roberta Flack.  Deodato edged up with one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era*--"Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)" while Gladys Knight & the Pips had another smash with "Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)".  The rest of the Top 10:  Newcomer Edward Bear with "Last Song", Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show were stuck on 6 with "The Cover Of The 'Rolling Stone'", Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell teamed for "Dueling Banjos", Anne Murray was at #8 with "Danny's Song", the Stylistics reached the Top 10 with "Break Up To Make Up" and the Four Tops had their 32nd hit but only seventh Top 10 song with "Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got)".
1975:  Chicago released the album Chicago VIII. 










1975:  Grand Funk released the single "Bad Time".
1978:  The British courts granted British record companies the rights to seize bootleg and pirate recordings. 













1979:  Poco controlled the Adult Contemporary chart for a third week with "Crazy Love".

1979:  Spirits Having Flown by the Bee Gees remained as the top album for a fourth week.  Minute By Minute from the Doobie Brothers was right behind and the excellent debut from Dire Straits moved to challenge.  Rod Stewart's Blondes Have More Fun fell while Love Tracks from Gloria Gaynor was #5.









1979:  The Bee Gees were as hot as nearly anyone has been at any one time in the Rock Era.  The group scored their fifth consecutive #1 song and ninth in the last five years with "Tragedy".  Gloria Gaynor slipped to second with "I Will Survive" while the Doobie Brothers were up from 6 to 3 with "What A Fool Believes".  Donna Summer with Brooklyn Dreams remained fourth with "Heaven Knows" and Peaches & Herb had a second straight big hit with "Shake Your Groove Thing".  The rest of the Top 10:  Rod Stewart's former #1 "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy", Dire Straits enjoyed their first hit with "Sultans Of Swing", the Pointer Sisters were on their way down with "Fire", Bobby Caldwell and "What You Won't Do For Love" while Olivia Newton-John stopped off at #10 with "A Little More Love".












1980:  Kenny Rogers & Kim Carnes released the single "Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer".
1982:  Iron Maiden released the album The Number of the Beast.  (Note:  some websites claim the album was released on March 24, 1980, but according to Garry Bushell and Ross Halfin's book 'Running Free, The Official Story of Iron Maiden', the correct date is March 24, 1982.)









1983:  Eddy Grant released "Electric Avenue".








 

1984:  Lionel Richie began a six-week stay at #1 in the U.K. with his great song "Hello".
1984:  Christine McVie's solo hit "Got A Hold On Me" was #1 for the third straight week on the Adult Contemporary chart.
1984:  "Jump" by Van Halen held on to #1 for the fifth week in the United States.
1984:  Thriller had already broken the Rock Era record set by Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, and this week Michael Jackson added to his total with a 34th week at #1 on the Album chart.  
1990:  Sinead O'Connor was on top of the U.K. Album chart with I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.
1990:  Taylor Dayne reached #1 on the AC chart with "Love Will Lead You Back".








1990:  Canadian Allanah Myles had the top song with "Black Velvet".
1990:  Forever Your Girl by Paula Abdul was the #1 album for the eighth week.  Janet Jackson came in second with Rhythm Nation 1814 while Phil Collins was stuck at 3 with ...But Seriously.  Michael Bolton's excellent Soul Provider moved up and Cosmic Thing from the B-52's was fifth.  The rest of the Top 10:  The great Nick of Time from Bonnie Raitt, storming into the list after 50 weeks of release, Girl You Know It's True from Milli Vanilli, Alannah Myles with her self-titled album, Cry Like a Rainstorm - Howl Like the Wind from Linda Ronstadt and Storm Front by Billy Joel slipped to #10.
1991:  The Black Crowes were dropped as the opening act on ZZ Top's tour for repeatedly criticizing Miller Beer.  Miller Beer happened to be sponsoring the tour.  Some people don't have all their marbles.
1992:   A Chicago judge ruled in the Milli Vanilli class-action suit that $3.00 cash rebates would be given to anyone that could prove that they bought the group's music before November 27, 1990 (the date the lip syncing scandal broke).

1997:  Harold Melvin of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes ("If You Don't Know Me By Now" and "The Love I Lost") died at age 57 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reportedly from a second stroke.

1998:  Amway Corp. announced that it had agreed to pay $9 million to settle a lawsuit over the company's use of songs by top artists in videotaped sales pitches. 

2001:  The stretch of Highway 19 in Macon, Georgia where Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash (October 29, 1971) was renamed Duane Allman Boulevard.

2002:  Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach became the father of son Makaile Cielo Shaddix.

2003:  David Lee Roth began a week as a substitute morning disc jockey on Arrow 93.1 in Los Angeles.
2003:  Madonna had to re-edit her "American Life" clip when war broke out in Iraq.  The video featured her lobbing grenades at a fashion show.








                                         "Sunrise" from Norah Jones' new album

2004:  Norah Jones' second album Feels Like Home topped the Album charts for a fifth consecutive week.
2005:  Anthrax announced the lineup that was in place for the album Among the Living would reform for a national tour.
2007:  Henson Cargill ("Skip A Rope" from 1967) died at the age of 66 following complications from surgery in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

2009:  Uriel Jones, drummer for Motown on songs like "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder, "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations and "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, died at age 74 from complications after suffering a heart attack in Dearborn, Michigan.
2010:  Johnny Maestro of the Crests ("16 Candles") and Brooklyn Bridge ("The Worst That Could Happen") died of cancer in Cape Coral, Florida at the age of 70.
2013:  Deke Richards (real name Dennis Lussier), songwriter and producer, who co-wrote "Love Child" for the Supremes and "ABC" for the Jackson 5, and produced the Supremes, the Jackson 5, Bobby Darin and Martha and the Vandellas, among others, died in Bellingham, Washington at the age of 68 from esophageal cancer.



Born This Day:
1937:  Billy Stewart ("Summertime" from 1966) was born in Washington, D.C.; died January 17, 1970 along the Neuse River near Smithfield, North Carolina.
1938:  Don Covay, who wrote "Chain Of Fools" for Aretha Franklin, and songs for the Rolling Stones, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Wilson Pickett, Steppenwolf, Chubby Checker, Bobby Womack, Solomon Burke, and others, and worked with Jimi Hendrix and Little Richard, was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina; died in his sleep after suffering a second stroke on January 31, 2015 in Valley Stream, New York.  (Note:  some websites report that Covay died on January 30, but the correct date is January 31, according to the newspaper 'The New York Times'.)
1941:  Michael Masser, songwriter who wrote "Greatest Love Of All", "Saving All My Love For You", "Didn't We Almost Have It All" and "All At Once" for Whitney Houston, "THeme From 'Mahogany'", "Touch Me In the Morning" and "Last Time I Saw Him" by Diana Ross, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" for Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson, "If Ever You're In My Arms Again" for Bryson, "Nothing's Gonna' Change My Love For You" for Glenn Medeiros, "Miss You Like Crazy" for Natalie Cole, and many others, was born in Chicago, Illinois; died July 9, 2015 in Rancho Mirage, California, the result of deteriorating health after suffering a stroke three years before.
1947:  Mike Kellie, drummer of Spooky Tooth, was born in Birmingham, England.

1948:  Lee Oskar, famed harmonica player of War, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.











1949:  Nick Lowe, member of Brinsley Schwatz, solo star ("Cruel To Be Kind" from 1979) and producer, was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.  (Note:  some websites claim Lowe was born in Woodchurch, Suffolk, England, but according to both 'Billboard' and the newspaper 'The Examiner', he was born in Walton-on-Thames.)

1951:  Dougie Thomson, bassist for Supertramp, was born in Glasgow, Scotland.
1960:  Nena (real name Gabriele Susanne Kerner), lead singer of the group which bears her name ("99 Luftballons" from 1982), was born in Hagen, Germany.
1970:  Sharon Corr of the Corrs ("Breathless") was born in Dundalk, Ireland.
1974:  Chad Butler, drummer for Switchfoot, was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
1982:  Nivea was born in Savannah, Georgia.