This is the week that was in matters musical…
1933, knowing he will soon die of tuberculosis and wanting to provide for his family, Jimmy Rodgers, widely known as The Singing Brakeman, begins his final Peer Records recording sessions … Rodgers is accompanied by a nurse and rests on a cot between songs … he dies two days after laying down his last tracks…
1945, the first album chart debuts in the US … albums in those days consist of collections of 78rpm discs that usually come in a box or sleeved binder…
1955, on the second night of a back-to-back at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, Elvis Presley sparks the first riot of his burgeoning career with the phrase, “Girls, I’ll see you backstage” … the female portion of the 14,000 strong audience goes into a frenzy and the future King’s clothes and shoes are torn from his body as he tries to escape … after witnessing the event Colonel Tom Parker is convinced of Elvis’ marketability…
1956, Buddy Holly gets fitted for his first pair of contact lenses … as fate would have it, the creator of the Elvis Costello look can’t stand the eye irritation and sticks with his trademark spectacles…
1961, Gladys Knight & The Pips enjoy the distinction of having two different versions of their hit “Every Beat of My Heart” on the pop chart simultaneously … the group had cut the song twice for different labels with the VeeJay version charting at #6 while the single on Fury registers at #45…
1963, Bob Dylan blows off his Ed Sullivan Show TV gig when he is told he can’t perform “Talking John Birch Society Blues,” Dylan’s skewering of the far-right political group…
1967, Archie Bell, leader of The Drells, is drafted into the army where he’ll soon be performing for Uncle Sam in Vietnam … exactly a year later his instrumental hit “Tighten Up” rides to the top of the pop chart while Bell languishes in a VA hospital recovering from wounds…
1968, disavowing the Beatles’ former discipleship at the feet of Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, John Lennon says, “We made a mistake. He’s human like the rest of us”…
1975, Bob Wills, the man largely credited with creating the Western swing genre, breathes his last…
1977, Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” tops the singles chart … the song is a tribute to Duke Ellington…
1983, having blown all the money his 1979 million-selling Bat Out of Hell album had garnered, Marvin Lee Aday, better known to fans as Meatloaf, files for bankruptcy…
1986, Elvis Costello and Pogues singer-bassist Cait O’Riordan take the matrimonial plunge …their marriage comes on the heels of Rum Sodomy & the Lash , the Pogues’ latest release…
1995, B.B. King, Jimmie Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Robert Cray reunite to play a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan in the late guitar slinger’s home town of Austin, Texas … all five had appeared with SRV at his last show on August 26, 1990, just before he took that fateful helicopter ride…
1999, SoundScan announces that the album Millennium by Backstreet Boys has sold 1.13 million copies during its first week in release, establishing a new record … rock band No Doubt sues clothing manufacturer No Fear for service mark infringement … the company is marketing a line of clothes bearing the “No Doubt” name…
2001, XM Satellite Radio completes its satellite system…
2002, Dionne Warwick is arrested at Miami International Airport when she attempts to smuggle 11 joints aboard a plane in her lipstick case…
2004, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco completes a stint in rehab to kick an addiction to painkillers he developed while battling migraines … Tweedy’s stay forces the band to cancel a handful of tour dates, including a stop at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California … two weeks after he checks out of the Chicago-area treatment center the band will hit the road to tour behind the album A Ghost Is Born-its fifth…
2005, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne put their six-bedroom Beverly Hills home up for sale … the asking price is $11.9 million…
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals
May 11: Irving Berlin (1888), British blues diva Beryl Bryden (1920), record exec Ewart Abner (1923), Who manager Kit Lambert (1935), jazz pianist-composer Carla Bley (1938), Eric Burdon (1941), Les Chadwick of Gerry and the Pacemakers (1943), Arnie Silver of The Dovells (1943), Art of Noise’s Jonathan Jeczalik (1955)
May 12: Burt Bacharach (1928), The Cardinals’ Leon Hardy (1932), Jay Otis Washington of The Persuasions (1941), Ian Dury (1942), singer-songwriter Billy Swan (1942), Ian McLagan of Small Faces (1945), Steve Winwood (1948), Billy Squier (1950), Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn (1955), Billy Duffy of The Cult (1959) Black Sabbath singer Ray Gillen (1959), Jason Biggs (1978)
May 13: editor of the Schwann Catalog William Schwann (1913), Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips (1926), The Weavers’ Fred Hellerman (1927), Ritchie Valens (1941), Mary Wells (1943), Caolyn Franklin (1944), harp player “Magic” Dick Salwitz of The J.Geils Band (1945), bassist Danny Klein of The J.Geils Band (1946), Peter “Overend” Watts of Mott the Hoople (1947), Stevie Wonder born Steveland Morris (1950), Danny Kirwan of Fleetwood Mac (1950), Paul Thompson of Roxy Music (1951), Darius Carlos Rucker of Hootie & The Blowfish (1966)
May 14: Frederick Van Pallandt of Nina and Frederick (1934), Bobby Darin born Walden Robert Cassotto (1936), songwriter Ed Labunski (1937), Jack Bruce of Cream (1943), Derek Leckenby of Herman’s Hermits (1943), Gene Cornish of The Rascals (1945), David Byrne (1952), Ian Astbury of The Cult (1962), C.C. DeVille of Poison (1962), Mike Inez of Alice in Chains (1966), Fabrice “Fab” Morvan of Milli Vanilli (1966), Danny Wood of New Kids on the Block (1969), Freaky Tah of The Lost Boyz (1971), Natalie Appleton of All Saints (1973), R&B singer Shanice (1973)
May 15: Eddy Arnold (1918), Hi Records owner Joe Cuoghi (1922), Trini Lopez (1937), K.T. Oslin (1942), Graham Goble of the Little River Band (1947), Brian Eno born Brian Peter St. George De La Salle Eno (1948), Dennis Fredericksen of Toto (1951), Phil Seymour of The Dwight Tilley Band (1952), Mike Oldfield (1953), Prince Be of PM Dawn (1970), Ahmet Zappa (1974)
May 16: Liberace born Wladziu Valentino Liberace (1919), Betty Carter born Lillie Mae Jones (1930), The Diamonds’ Ted Kowalski (1931), Kripp Johnson of The Del-Vikings (1933), Billy Cobham (1944), Robert Fripp (1946), The Chiffons’ Barbara Lee (1947), Nazareth’s Darrell Sweet (1947), Iron Maiden’s Paul Di’anno (1959), Krist (Chris) Novoselic (1965), Janet Jackson (1966), New Edition’s Ralph Tresvant (1968)
May 17: R&B singer-pianist Sonny Knight (1934), Malcolm Hale of Spanky And Our Gang (1941), Taj Mahal (1942), Jesse Winchester (1944), Bill Bruford (1949), George Johnson of The Brothers Johnson (1953), Enya (1961), Page McConnell of Phish (1963), Dave Abbruzzese (1964), Trent Reznor (1965), Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block (1970)
Departures
May 11: singer-songwriter John Whitehead (2004), Noel Redding (2003), Chess Records singer-guitarist Danny Overbea (1994), Robert Nesta Marley (1981)
May 12: Perry Como (2001), sax man “Big” John Greer (1972)
May 13: session trumpeter Floyd Arceneaux (1992), Bob Wills (1975)
May 14: bluegrass singer-guitarist Jimmy Martin (2005), Frank Sinatra (1998), Rudy West of The Five Keys (1998), Keith Relf of the Yardbirds (1976), Fairport Convention’s Martin Lamble (1969)
May 15: June Carter Cash (2003), Joy Division manager Rob Gretton (1999), Frederick Van Pallandt (1994), Barbara Alston of The Crystals (1992), Paul Wilson of The Flamingos (1988)
May 16: pop/soul singer Marv Johnson (1993), Sammy Davis Jr. (1990), Ernie Freeman (1981), bluesman Arthur Gunter (1976)
May 17: producer Bruce Fairbairn (1999), Johnny “Guitar” Watson (1996), Lawrence Welk (1992), Fats Domino guitarist Roy Montrell (1979)