This is the week that was in matters musical …
1936, Billboard magazine, which began publishing news about circuses in 1894, publishes the first record sales chart … Joe Venuti’s jazz number "Stop! Look! Listen!" is the first record to occupy the #1 slot …
1950, Sam Phillips opens the recording facility in Memphis that will later be named Sun Studio … considered by many to be the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll, the studio will be the site of sessions by Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Howlin’ Wolf, and dozens of other rock and blues luminaries …
1957, Joe Louis, the former heavyweight boxing champion, appears on The Steve Allen Show to introduce Solomon Burke who sings "You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide," a song written by Louis …
1958, Gibson obtains a patent for its Flying V guitar … the instrument doesn’t sell well at first and is discontinued only to be revived later … it eventually becomes associated with many great blues and rock players including Albert King … the futuristic design will be emulated by many other manufacturers over the years …
1959, Coral Records issues Buddy Holly’s single, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” … it is the last release by the bespectacled rocker before his death, and unlike most of his hits that were self-penned, it is written by Paul Anka …
1964, The Rolling Stones embark on their first British tour as headliners … the opening act is the American girl group, The Ronettes …
1965, CBS pays $13 million for Fender Guitars, the makers of the mighty Stratocaster and Telecaster, founded in 1947 by Leo Fender … many Fender customers come to prefer what they call “pre-CBS” instruments and amps … Leo goes on to MusicMan and G&L …
1969, A shipment of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s album Two Virgins is seized by authorities in New Jersey because the jacket sports a picture of the pair in the buff showing everything …
1970, Max Yasgur, whose farm was the site of the Woodstock Festival, is sued for $35,000 by neighbors charging property damage …
1975, 1,000 ticket-seeking Led Zeppelin fans who have camped out overnight in the lobby of the Boston Gardens go on a rampage causing $30,000 in damage … Boston mayor Kevin White promptly pulls the plug on the show …
1993, the U.S. Postal Service releases a first-class stamp bearing the likeness of the 1950s-era Elvis … the USPS had asked the public to choose between that image and a portrait of an older, plumper King … the younger, svelter version won hands down …
1994, Nirvana plays its last U.S. date at the Seattle Arena …
2000, the renowned Chicago club Lounge Axe goes out in a blaze of glory with a surprise appearance by Wilco … the alt-country quartet plays a two-and-a-half-hour set before a standing-room-only crowd … fans had queued up for over seven hours to catch the band …
2004, Britney Spears marries childhood friend Jason Alexander in Las Vegas’s Little White Wedding Chapel after a weekend of courtship … 55 hours later the marriage is annulled …
2004, Ray Davies of The Kinks is shot in the thigh after he gives chase to a pair of muggers who snatched his female companion’s purse while they stroll on a quiet New Orleans street … some media report the story with the headline “You Really Shot Me” …
2005, Beatles guitarist George Harrison is added to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Britain’s definitive record of the great and the good …
2006, Apple introduces the iPhone … tightly integrated with Apple’s iTunes software, the new device dispenses with micro touch buttons in favor of a large touch screen that simplifies all the phone’s music, camera, messaging, and web surfing capabilities … Apple’s stock shoots up in anticipation of the iPhone becoming a category killer …
2007, "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow, pedal steel guitarist who came to prominence playing with the Flying Burrito Brothers as well as on many studio sessions, dies from complications of Alzheimer’s disease … Kleinow was also a highly accomplished stop-motion effects specialist whose work appeared in many films including Terminator 2 …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
January 3: Beatles producer George Martin (1926), Chess Records star Danny Overbea (1926), pianist Carl McVoy (1931), Van Dyke Parks (1941), Stephen Stills (1945), John Paul Jones (1946)
January 4: guitarist John McLaughlin (1942), Bernard Sumner of New Order (1956), Patty Loveless (1956), Michael Stipe of R.E.M. (1960), Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins (1962), David Glasper of Breathe (1965), Beth Gibbons of Portishead (1965), Deana Carter (1966)
January 5: Sun Records’ Sam Phillips (1923), R&B/blues artist Johnny Adams (1932), George Brown of Kool and the Gang (1949)
January 6: Earl Scruggs (1924), Wilbert Harrison (1929), Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention and “Battle of Evermore” fame (1947), Nino Tempo (1935), Van “Do The Hustle” McCoy (1944), that crazy diamond Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett (1946), Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds (1951), Malcolm Young (1953), Kathie Sledge of Sister Sledge (1959), Jazzie B of Soul II Soul (1963), Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone (1966)
January 7: flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal (1922), Lefty Baker of Spanky and Our Gang (1942), Paul Revere Dick of Paul Revere and the Raiders (1942), Kenny Loggins (1948), Kathy Valentine of The Go-Gos (1959)
January 8: legendary rock concert promoter Bill Graham (1931), Elvis Presley (1935), Shirley Bassey (1937), Little Anthony (1940), Robbie Krieger of The Doors (1946), David Bowie (1947), Terry Sylvester of The Hollies (1947), Mike Reno of Loverboy (1955), R. Kelly (1967)
January 9: Joan Baez (1941), Roy Head (1943), Jimmy Page (1944), Scott Engel of The Walker Brothers (1944), Dave Matthews (1967)
Departures:
January 3: drummer Al Duncan (1993), pianist Carl McVoy (1992), producer Felton Jarvis (1981), West Coast bluesman Amos Milburn (1980), Beatles roadie Mal Evans (1976)
January 4: Thin Lizzy lead singer-bass player Phil Lynott (1986)
January 5: Salvatore Phillip “Sonny” Bono (1998), Billy Windsor (1994), jazz bassist and bandleader Charles Mingus (1979)
January 6: "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow (2007), Laura Webb Childers, member of The Bobettes (2001), doo-wop singer Hal Lucas (1994), jazz legend Dizzie Gillespie (1993), Georgeanna Tillman, founding member of The Marvellettes (1980), Johnny Moore of The Blazers (1969)
January 7: Bernice Petkere, “Queen of Tin Pan Alley” (2000), legendary Nashville producer Owen Bradley (1998), Larry Williams (1980), Cyril Davies, pioneer of British blues (1964)
January 8: Louisiana bluesman Silas Hogan (1994), Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark (1991)
January 9: Lou Rawls (2006), Lynne Denicker of The Aquatones (2001), Howie Johnson, original drummer for The Ventures (1998)