This is the week that was in matters musical …
1944, Dinah Shore’s “I’ll Walk Alone” moves to the top spot on the American singles chart … it is the first-ever number-one U.S. hit for a female artist …
1957, rock-and-roll wild man Jerry Lee Lewis records “Great Balls of Fire” … it reaches #2 on the Billboard pop charts, #3 on the R&B charts, #1 on the country charts, and #1 on the U.K. pop charts … 32 years later a motion picture by the same name is released starring Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder … despite the movie’s chilly reviews, Quaid is acclaimed for his performance …
1958, doo-wop group The Vocal Chords release the single “Please Accept My Love” … lead vocals for the tune are sung by none other than B.B. King …
1959, 22-year-old Bobby Darin becomes the youngest to ever headline at the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas … he displaces the prior record-holder Johnny Mathis who headlined when he was 23 …
1960, Tommy Roe & The Satins release “Sheila” on Judd Records and Jerry Landis releases “I’d Like To Be The Lipstick On Your Lips” for Warwick records … both singles are major flops … a revised version of “Sheila” will be released two years later by a lone Tommy Roe on ABC-Paramount and will streak to the top of the charts … the first of 22 hits for the artist … five years later, Jerry Landis will emerge as one of America’s greatest songwriters when he hits with “The Sound of Silence” (aka “The Sounds of Silence”) under his real name, Paul Simon …
1961, the Beatle haircut is born when Paul and John are celebrating John’s 21st birthday in Paris … they meet up with Jurgen Vollmer, a friend from Hamburg who wears his hair brushed forward in a cut popular with French teens … Paul and John like the style and have Jurgen give them haircuts in their hotel room … the rest is history …
1962, Bob Dylan showcases at Carnegie Hall … the man who would later be called the voice of his generation “speaks” to an audience of 53 … The Beatles release their first single in the U.K., “Love Me Do” backed by “P.S. I Love You” … according to rumor, in an act of faith, manager Brian Epstein orders 10,000 copies for the record store chain he owns … all 10,000 are purchased … assuring The Beatles a spot in the British Top 20 … it’s to do with the hair … Little Richard and Sam Cooke begin a European tour in Doncaster, England … playing keyboards on the tour is a 16-year-old Billy Preston and the M.C. is Gene Vincent of “Be-Bop-A-Lula” fame, who wasn’t allowed to perform because his work permit had expired … for later concerts it is oddly decided by authorities that Vincent would be allowed to sing, but only in front of the stage, not on it …
1966, The Jimi Hendrix Experience is formed in London … his song “Fire” will become one of the most played songs in rock … despite the song’s sexual overtones, the actual inspiration came while spending a cold December night at the home of bassist Noel Redding’s mother … Jimi asked if he could stand next to her fireplace … though she agreed, apparently her Great Dane did not … hence the spoken line before the solo, “Aw, move over, Rover, and let Jimi take over” …
1968, after rising to the top with three million-seller albums, supergroup Cream begins its farewell tour …
1970, Janis Joplin is found dead in her room at Hollywood’s Landmark Hotel, the victim of a heroin overdose … she had just finished recording her second solo album, entitled Pearl … at the time of her death, Joplin is only 27 years old …
1976, The Who and The Grateful Dead pair up as dual headliners for a concert at the Oakland-Alameda County Stadium … Joe Perry and Steven Tyler are injured during an Aerosmith concert in Philadelphia when a fan throws a cherry bomb onto the stage …
1980, Bob Marley collapses in New York while preparing for a tour … he is diagnosed with cancer and will die seven months later …
1986, CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather is attacked while walking down Park Avenue in New York City about 11 PM … he is knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly by a mentally unstable citizen who asks over and over “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” … his assailant is William Tager, a diagnosed psychotic who suspected the media of beaming hostile messages to him, and wanted Rather to tell him the frequency being used for the nefarious plot … nearly ten years later R.E.M. will write a song loosely based on the event titled “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” …
1996, former Smashing Pumpkin Jimmy Chamberlain pleads guilty to disorderly conduct … the charges are related to fellow band member Johnathon Melvoin’s death from a heroin O.D. …
2001, U2 launches the third leg of its Elevation tour with a South Bend, Indiana, concert … U2 invites the world to see and hear it for free … the performance is webcast and accessible to U.S. fans on U2.com …
2004, Howard Stern tells his 12 million listeners that in 2006 he will move over to Sirius Satellite Radio … six stations fired the breast-fixated broadcaster from their rosters after Clear Channel Broadcasting was hit with $495,000 in FCC fines … though Clear Channel president John Hogan admitted that Stern hadn’t committed any recent sins, the company decided to drop him anyway … reportedly the decision was based on Stern’s lifetime fascination with biology … his “lectures” on applied human anatomy in particular … Stern fires back saying, “As soon as I came out against Bush, that’s when my rights to free speech were taken away. It had nothing to do with indecency.” …
2005, a recently discovered live recording of the Thelonious Monk Quartet featuring John Coltrane debuts in the #2 spot on the Billboard jazz chart … the tape of the 1957 Carnegie Hall performance was discovered in a dusty Library of Congress archive the previous January by a researcher …
2006, A victim of plummeting record sales, record retailer Tower Records is liquidated … 3,000 employees in 20 states lose their jobs … Jadakiss is busted in Yonkers, NY, when the car he is riding in is searched … pot and a stolen revolver are found … he pleads not guilty and is released on bail … after a 30-year hiatus, proto punk band The Stooges hit a Chicago studio to cut a new record …
Arrivals:
October 4: Leon Thomas , jazz vocalist who worked with Pharoah Sanders and Santana (1937), Marlena Easley of The Orlons (1944), bassist Jim Fielder of Blood, Sweat, and Tears and The Mothers of Invention (1947), Barbara K. MacDonald of Timbuk 3 (1948), Keb’ Mo’ aka Kevin Moore (1951), Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys (1959), Jon Secada (1961), Lena Katina of tATu (1984), Ashlee Simpson (1984)
October 5: Delta blues singer and guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill (1934), singer-guitarist Abi Ofarim of “Cinderella Rockefella” fame (1939), Richard Street of The Temptations (1942), Steve Miller (1943), Richard Kermode, keyboardist who worked with Janis Joplin and Santana (1946), Brian Johnson of AC/DC (1947), guitarist B.W. Stevenson born Louis Charles Stevenson (1949), Bob Geldof (1954), Paul of Good Charlotte (1980)
October 6: session guitarist Cliff White, regular backup player for Sam Cooke (1921), violinist Cyril Reuben (1926), Walter Kimble, sax player with Fats Domino (1938), Millie Small of “My Boy Lollipop” fame (1948), Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon (1951), David Hidalgo of Los Lobos (1954), Matthew Sweet (1954), Tommy Stinson of The Replacements (1966)
October 7: banjo player, singer-songwriter, and farmer “Uncle” Dave Macon (1870), Martin Murray of The Honeycombs (1941), Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1943), Kevin Godley of 10cc (1945), David Hope of Kansas (1949), John Cougar Mellancamp (1951), Tico Torres of Bon Jovi (1953), Toni Braxton (1968), Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (1968), Leeroy Thornhill of Prodigy (1969)
October 8: composer Toru Takemitsu (1930), Doc Green, baritone singer with The Drifters (1934), Ray Royer of Procol Harum (1945), Toni Wilson of Hot Chocolate (1947), Johnny Ramone (1948), Hamish Stewart of Average White Band (1949), Robert “Kool” Bell of Kool & The Gang (1950), Cliff Adams of Kool & The Gang (1952), roots blues revivalist Lonnie Pitchford (1955), Steve Perry of Cherry Poppin’ Daddies (1963), C.J. Ramone, aka Christopher James Ward (1965)
October 9: John Lennon (1940), John Entwistle of The Who (1944), Jackson Browne (1948), P. J. Harvey (1969), Sean Ono Lennon (1975)
October 10: composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813), Ivory Joe Hunter, R&B singer, songwriter and pianist, best known for his hit recording, “Since I Met You, Baby” (1914), Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917), “The Big Bopper,” born Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. (1932), country singer Dottie West (1932), singer O.V. Wright (1939), John Prine (1946), Edward Freche, session guitarist who toured with the Neville Brothers (1947), singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Midge Ure (1953), David Lee Roth (1955), Tanya Tucker (1958), singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl (1959), Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet (1961), Mike Malinin of Goo Goo Dolls (1967), Michael Bivens of Bel Biv Devoe (1968), Nine Days drummer Vinnie Tattanelli (1972), pop and R&B singer Mya Harrison (1979)
Departures:
October 4: bebop trumpeter Art Farmer (1998), country fiddler Herry Rivers (1996), guitarist Danny Gatton (1994), 1950s R&B singer Varetta Dillard (1993), J. Frank Wilson whose first and last record was “Last Kiss” (1991), singer Ray Stephens of The Village People (1990), influential Atlanta DJ Zenas “Daddy” Sears (1988), Jimmy Springs, drummer and singer for doo-woppers The Red Caps (1987), Janis Joplin (1970)
October 5: Eddie Kendricks of The Tempations (1992)
October 6: Portugese fado singer Amalia Rodriguez (1999), Texas rockabilly singer “Groovy” Joe Poovey (1998), composer, arranger, and bandleader Nelson Riddle (1996), Australia’s first rock star Johnny O’Keefe (1978)
October 7: blues singer Overton Amos Lemons, aka Smiley Lewis (1966), British rocker Johnny Kidd of The Pirates (1966), Mario Lanza (1959)
October 8: Oscar Moore, guitarist with Nat “King” Cole (1991), country singer Harold Doman (1988), Cliff Gallup of Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps (1988), Jimmy Cross of “I Want My Girlfriend Back” fame (1978)
October 9: founder of The Modern Jazz Quartet, Milt Jackson (1999), New Orleans R&B artist Joseph “Mr. Google Eyes” August (1992), gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1973)
October 10: Darren Robinson, 400-pound member of The Fat Boys known as The Human Beat Box (1995), Lenny Peters of British pop duo Peters and Lee (1992)