Inside the Rock Era

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

This Date in Rock Music History: February 14

1961: The Beatles performed at the Cassanova Club in Liverpool, England and were captured on film for the first time. (Note: you will see numerous websites misspell the name of the club. The correct spelling is with two "s's", as shown in the poster above, the Liverpool newspaper 'The Echo", and the books 'The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years' by Barry Miles, 'Beatlemania: Technology, Business, and Teen Culture in Cold War America' by André Millard, and 'The Beatles' Gigs: Every Beatles' Gig from 1957 to 1970' by Robert G. Anstey. The club was started by Brian Casser, who named it after his group Cass & the Cassanovas.)
1966: Neil Diamond recorded the songs "Cherry Cherry" and "Solitary Man.

1967: Aretha Franklin recorded one of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*--"Respect" at Atlantic Records Studio in New York City.
1967: If you were anywhere near Sunset Strip on this date, you had to go in. The Doors were live at the Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles.

1968: Manfred Mann topped the U.K. chart with "The Mighty Quinn".
1970: The Who recorded a concert at the Refectory on the campus of Leeds University in England for their upcoming release Live at Leeds.

1970: We had no idea how great this new act would be in the years to come. But on this date, the Carpenters first debuted on the chart with their remake of the Beatles' "Ticket To Ride".

"Heartbreaker"/"Living Loving Maid"...

1970: For the third week in a row and fourth overall, Led Zeppelin II topped the Album chart.
1970: A song charged ahead on this date (49-13), serving notice that it would be a factor, not only that year but for all-time, as Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" calmed the seas.

The Guess Who's got "No Time"...

1970: "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"/"Everybody Is A Star" became a double-sided #1 for Sly & the Family Stone. Former #1's from the Jackson 5 ("I Want You Back"), B.J. Thomas ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head") and the Shocking Blue ("Venus") provided a stone wall for anyone to get through. The rest of the Top 10: Eddie Holman's "Hey There Lonely Girl", the Guess Who moved to #6 with "No Time", Dionne Warwick with "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", the Temptations scored their 28th career hit and 11th Top 10--"Psychedelic Shack" and Boise, Idaho's Mark Lindsay moved his solo hit "Arizona" to #10.
1972: John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono began a week of hosting The Mike Douglas Show on television.

1972: The musical Grease opened off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre in downtown Manhattan. It would become one of the most popular plays in history, with a total of 3,388 performances.
1972: "Steppenwolf Day" was declared in Los Angeles after news that the group broke up.
1973: David Bowie collapsed at the end of his concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, reportedly from exhaustion.
1974: The New Seekers broke up.
1974: Bob Dylan and the Band concluded a tour with a show at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

1976: Jimmy Buffett released the single "Margaritaville".

1977: Leo Sayer released the single "When I Need You".
1977: The B-52's performed for the first time at a house party in Athens, Georgia.

1977: Janis Ian received 461 Valentine's Day cards after the lyrics of her 1975 song "At Seventeen" indicated she had never received any. It's news like this that makes one think there is indeed hope for the world.
1980: Phil Lynott, leader of Thin Lizzy, married Caroline Crowther. (Note: some websites claim the marriage took place on February 13, but it was on Valentine's Day, February 14, according to the book 'Phil Lynott: The Rocker' by Mark Putterford.)
1980: Lou Reed married Sylvia Morales in New York City.
1981: Billy Idol left the group Generation X for a solo career.

1981: The Police had a hot song as "Don't Stand So Close To Me" moved from 78 to 57.
1981: ABBA continued to have the #1 Adult Contemporary song with the fantastic "The Winner Takes It All".

1983: Michael Jackson released the single "Beat It".

1984: Deniece Williams released her single from the "Footloose" Soundtrack, "Let's Hear It For The Boy".

1984: Elton John married Renate Blauel.
1986: Frank Zappa was a guest star on Miami Vice on television.
1987: Bon Jovi made it six weeks at #1 for the album Slippery When Wet.

1987: Steve Winwood had one of the hottest songs with "The Finer Things", which moved from 95 to 72.

1987: Bon Jovi climbed to the top with "Livin' On A Prayer".
1989: Vincent Crane, keyboardist with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown ("Fire" from 1968), died at age 45 when he took too many painkillers while dealing with manic depression.
1990: The Rolling Stones set up shop at the Korakuen Dome in Tokyo, Japan, where they would play 10 nights.
1990: Victor Lundberg ("An Open Letter To My Teenage Son", a Top 10 song in 1967) died at the age of 66.
1993: Harry Nilsson ("Without You" from 1972) suffered a heart attack at his home in Agoura Hills, California. He recovered from this one but would die of another one.
1994: Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead married Deborah Koons.
1996: Prince married Mayte Garcia.

1998: The "Titanic" Soundtrack was the #1 album for the fourth straight week. Celine Dion was a solid #2 with Let's Talk About Love. Listeners couldn't get enough of the song "My Heart Will Go On", which was on both albums. The "Spiceworld" Soundtrack by the Spice Girls was next with Usher right behind with his release My Way. Yourself or Someone Like You by Matchbox 20 was proving to be one of the most durable albums out there, as it was moving back up after 48 weeks. The rest of the Top 10: The Backstreet Boys with their debut, the great Savage Garden debut, Tubthumper from Chumbawamba, Mase with Harlem World and the first Spice Girls album, Spice, moved back up to #10 after 52 weeks of release.
1998: Usher had the #1 song with "Nice & Slow".
1999: Buddy Knox ("Party Doll" from 1957), who was a lifetime smoker, died of cancer in Bremerton, Washington at the age of 65.
2000: KISS announced thy would do a farewell tour in makeup.
2001: Barbra Streisand's farewell concert, Barbra Streisand: Timeless was shown on FOX-TV.

2002: Mick Tucker, drummer of Sweet, died at the age of 54 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England from leukemia.
2004: Dave Holland, former drummer of Judas Priest, was thrown in jail for eight years (the jury was far too kind) for indecent assault and the attempted rape of a 17-year old boy who had learning difficulties. The boy had been taking drum lessons from Holland.
2008: Stevie Wonder was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame.

2009: Bruce Springsteen rose to #1 on the Album chart with Working on a Dream.
2010: "Everybody Hurts", the remake of the R.E.M. classic that featured Robbie Williams and Take That, Kylie Minogue and Leona Lewis, rose to #1 in the U.K. Proceeds of the sales of over 453,000 copies that week and all the proceeds from the life of the song went to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti.

2010: Doug Fieger, songwriter, lead singer and rhythm guitarist with the Knack ("My Sharona") died at the age of 57 in Los Angeles, California after a long battle with cancer. (Note: some websites say that Fieger died in Woodland Hills, California. Woodland Hills is not a city; it is just a neighborhood in Los Angeles. One will never see a neighborhood listed as the place of death on a death certificate)
2013: Shadow Morton, songwriter who wrote "Leader Of The Pack" and "Remember (Walking In The Sand") for the Shangri-Las, died of cancer in Laguna Beach California at the age of 71. Morton worked with the Who, Jimmy Hendrix, Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, Mott the Hoople and Janis Ian.

Born This Day:

1931: Phyllis McGuire of the McGuire Sisters ("Sincerely")
1943: Maceo Parker, saxophonist for James Brown, Parliament and Funkadelic, was born in Kinston, North Carolina.
1945: Vic Briggs, lead guitarist of Steampacket and the Animals, was born in Feltham, London, England. (Note: some websites state Briggs was born in Twiggenham, Middlesex, England. He was born in Feltham in Greater London, and lived in Twiggenham, according to 'Billboard' magazine.)
1946: Doug Simril, guitarist and pianist with the Steve Miller Band and Boz Scaggs

1950: Roger Fisher (above right), great original guitarist of Heart and later Alias ("More Than Words Can Say" from 1990), was born in Seattle, Washington.
1951: Kenny Hyslop, drummer of Silk, Skids and Simple Minds, was born in Helensburgh, Stratclyde, Scotland.

1972: Rob Thomas, songwriter and lead singer of Matchbox 20 and a solo star, was born on Ramstein Air Base in Landstuhl, West Germany.

New Additions to Rock & Roll Heaven

We said goodbye to these great musicians recently:

1927: Patti Page (real name Clara Ann Fowler), who had 43 hits in the early years of the Rock Era, including "Let Me Go Lover" and "Allegheny Moon", was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma; died January 1, 2013 in Encinitas, California.

1941: Big Jim Sullivan (James Tomkins), famed session guitarist who performed on over a thousand charting singles, was born in Uxbridge, England; died October 2, 2012. Sullivan played on hits such as "A World Without Love" by Peter & Gordon, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield, "Itchycoo Park" by the Small Faces, "I'll Never Find Another You" by the Seekers, "Something In The Air" by Thunderclap Newman, "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones and "Clair" by Gilbert O'Sullivan, and also worked with George Harrison, Olivia Newton-John, Bobby Darin, Frank Zappa and Eddie Cochran, among others.

1920: Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who gave us the memorable album Take Five, was born in Concord, California; died of heart failure on December 5, 2012, one day shy of his 92nd birthday, in Norwalk, Connecticut.

1925: Mickey Baker, who had a hit with Sylvia ("Love Is Strange") and worked with artists such as the Drifters, Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner and Ivory Joe Hunter, was born in Louisville, Kentucky; died November 27, 2012 near Toulouse, France.

1943: R.B. Greaves ("Take a Letter Maria"), nephew of Sam Cooke, was born in Georgetown, British Guyana; died September 27, 2012 in Inglewood, California of prostate cancer.

1920: Ravi Shankar (Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury), sitar player who worked with George Harrison and performed at both Woodstock and the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and was the father of singer Norah Jones, was born in Varanasi, United Privinces, Indian Empire; died December 11, 2012 in San Diego, California.

1940: Frank Wilson, who wrote for the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Four Tops and Smoky Robinson & the Miracles, among others, and later created two publishing firms, was born in Houston, Texas; died of prostate cancer September 27, 2012.

1940: Fontella Bass ("Rescue Me"), who worked with Maurice White, Minnie Riperton and Little Milton, was born in St. Louis, Missouri; died of complications from a heart attack on December 26, 2012 in St. Louis Missouri.

1935: Bob Engemann of the Lettermen was born in Highland Park, Michigan; died January 20, 2013 in Provo, Utah.

1923: Ed Cassidy, drummer and co-founder of Spirit, was born in Chicago, Illinois; died December 6, 2012 in San Jose, California.

1939: Willie Ackerman, drummer who played on "El Paso" by Marty Robbins and "Amos Moses" for Jerry Reed, and also worked with the Monkees, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Patsy Cline and Louis Armstrong among others, was born in Nashville, Tennessee; died in his sleep on December 13, 2012.

1942: Lee Dorman, bassist and keyboardist of Iron Butterfly and also a member of Captain Beyond, was born in St. Louis, Missouri; died Laguna Niguel, California of natural causes.

1946: Sammy Johns ("Chevy Van" from 1975) was born in Charlotte, North Carolina; died January 4, 2013 in Gastonia, North Carolina.

Five Best: Police

This group was one of the key exponents of new wave music, which revitalized rock music in the late 70's and early 80's. They gave us so much great music--here are their Five Best (plus some extras!):