This is the week that was in matters musical …
1958, Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star” becomes the first certified Gold Record …
1964, After a long day of shooting their first feature film, the Beatles’ Ringo Starr is heard to say, "Boy, this has been a hard day’s night!" thus inadvertently giving a name to the movie …
1965, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Bill Wyman are busted for peeing on a petrol station wall after they’re refused admittance to the loo …
1972, Country music star and reformed burglar Merle Haggard is given a pardon by California governor Ronald Reagan … it’s been 12 years since Merle did his singing behind bars at San Quentin …
1976, former porn star Andrea True charts with her disco ditty "More, More, More" that will end up at #4 on the pop chart … this same week, the New Jersey Supreme Court overturns the conviction of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who had been convicted of murdering three white men in 1967 during a robbery … Carter had garnered the support of Bob Dylan during his incarceration, and Dylan had penned the song "Hurricane" in support of Carter’s claims … the song and subsequent benefit concert are credited with helping Carter’s cause …
1982, Randy Rhoads, lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne’s band, is killed when a plane he is flying in crashes into a home and explodes … the band has stopped at the Leesburg, FL, home of its bus driver, Andrew Aycock, a licensed pilot … Aycock "borrows" a plane from a nearby airfield and invites Rhoads and costume designer Rachel Youngblood to take a quick flight … as Ozzy and the rest of the band sleep on the bus, Aycock circles and buzzes it three times without incident … on the fourth pass, the aircraft bumps the bus, clips a wing, and crashes into a nearby house, erupting in flames … all three onboard are killed … a postmortem finds cocaine in Aycock’s system …
1991, seven members of Reba McEntire’s touring band and her road manager are killed when their plane crashes in a mountainous area near the California/Mexico border … McEntire was traveling in a separate plane … the same day, Eric Clapton’s 4-year-old son, Conor, falls 56 floors out the window of a New York apartment building in a freak accident … the little boy is in the custody of his mother, Italian actress Lori Del Santo … they are visiting New York and staying in a friend’s apartment … the housekeeper has just cleaned a room and opened the window to air it out when young Conor comes dashing by and falls out the window … Clapton is in his hotel nearby … he had just taken Conor to the circus the previous evening … “Tears in Heaven,” “The Circus Left Town,” and “Lonely Stranger” are all inspired by the deep impact the accident has on Conor’s aggrieved father …
1992, 40,000 people show up for Farm Aid in Irving, Texas … the star-studded show is organized by Willie Nelson to help failing family farms …
1998, 56,000 country music fans turn up in Phoenix for what must be the longest name ever for a music event: Nokia Presents The George Strait Chevy Truck Country Music Festival Brought To You By Wrangler … phew, we’re out of breath …
2000, blink-182 is forced to cut short its European tour when singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker are both felled by strep throats … this same week, the Recording Industry Association of America certifies 17 million copies sold of Shania Twain’s album Come On Over, making it the best-selling album ever by a solo female artist …
2004, a motion for a restraining order sought by Axl Rose, which would prevent Universal Music Group from releasing a Guns N’ Roses greatest hits album, is denied by a federal judge … the label argues that it has every right to release the record since Rose has failed to deliver on his contract to produce the long-threatened Chinese Democracy album …
2005, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrates its twentieth anniversary—and the fiftieth anniversary of rock music—in a ceremony that peaks with Bruce Springsteen inducting U2 and Neil Young ushering in the Pretenders … Justin Timberlake welcomes the O’Jays into the Hall, B.B. King and Eric Clapton join forces to pay tribute to fellow bluesman Buddy Guy, and Rod Stewart inducts soul singer Percy Sledge …
2006, Isaac Hayes quits South Park, the animated show where he voiced the character of Chef for nine years … Hayes cites the show’s take on religion as his reason for leaving … "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs of others begins" … Matt Stone, the show’s co-creator, cites a recent episode that targeted Hayes’ religion, Scientology … "He has no problem—and he’s cashed plenty of checks—with our show making fun of Christians" …
2007, Sony BMG Music Entertainment announces that it’s shutting down Sony Wonder, its kids’ label that was once home to Sesame Street …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
March 13: Helen Sinclair Glatz (1908), Howlin’ Wolf drummer Willie Williams (1922), songwriter Mike Stoller (1933), Neil Sedaka (1939), Mississippi bluesman Melvin Taylor (1959), U2’s Adam Clayton (1960)
March 14: Georg Philipp Telemann (1681), Johann I. Strauss (1804), bandleader Les Brown (1912), Phil Phillips (1931), Quincy Jones (1933), Loretta Lynn (1940), Jim Pons of The Turtles (1943), Chicago’s Walt Parazaider (1945), Boon Gould of Level 42 (1955)
March 15: Lightnin’ Hopkins (1912), Phil Lesh (1940), Beach Boy Mike Love (1944), Sly Stone aka Sylvester Stewart (1944), War’s Howard Scott (1946), Ry Cooder (1947), Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider (1955), Terence Trent D’Arby (1962), Brett Michaels of Poison (1963), Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray (1970), Mark Hoppus of blink-182 (1972), Joseph Hahn of Linkin Park (1977)
March 16: Jerry Jeff Walker born Paul Crosby (1942), Heart’s Nancy Wilson (1954), Flavor Flav of Public Enemy (1959), Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen (1991)
March 17: Nat King Cole (1917), Clarence Collins of Little Anthony & The Imperials (1939), Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane (1941), John Sebastian (1944), Harold Brown of War (1946), Ian Gomm of Brinsley Schwartz (1947), Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham (1951), Los Lobos’ Conrad Lozano (1951), Mike Lindup of Level 42 (1959), Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan (1967), Melissa Auf der Maur of Hole (1972)
March 18: Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844), Lester “Big Daddy” Kinsey (1927), Robert Lee Smith of The Tams (1936), Charley Pride (1938), Wilson Pickett (1941), dub-style reggae pioneer Keith Hudson (1946), B.J. Wilson of Procol Harum (1947), John Hartman of The Doobie Brothers (1950), Bill Frisell (1951), Irene Cara (1959), Vanessa Williams (1963), Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains (1966), Queen Latifah born Dana Owens (1970), Jamiroquai’s Stuart Zender (1974)
March 19: Moms Mabley (1894), Chicago blues singer Sam Myers (1936), Clarence “Frogman” Henry (1937), R&B artist Walter Jackson (1938), The Monkees’ Mickey Dolenz (1945), The Zombies’ Paul Atkinson (1946), Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters (1946), The B-52s’ Ricky Wilson (1953), Bay City Rollers’ Derek Longmuir (1955), Terry Hall of The Specials (1959)
Departures:
March 13: soul singer Lyn Collins (2005), reggae singer Judge Dread (1998), record exec Bob Shad (1985), jazz bandleader Jerry Blaine (1973), alto sax maestro and bebop originator Charlie Parker (1955)
March 14: songwriter Jerome “Doc” Pomus (1991), soul singer Linda Jones (1972)
March 15: violinist Olga Rudge (1996), Lester “Pres” Young (1959)
March 16: ska pioneer Justin Hinds (2005), drummer and cofounder of Blackfoot – Jakson Spires (2005), pop and country singer-songwriter Johnny Cymbal (1993), Reflections member John Simmons (1990), legendary electric bluesman Aaron “T-Bone” Walker (1975), Tammi Terrell (1970)
March 17: MTV VJ J.J. Jackson (2004), Trumpet Records co-founder Lillian McMurry (1999), ’80s R&B pop figure Jermaine Stewart (1997), Chicago blues pianist Sunnyland Slim (1995), Chantels member and James Brown backup vocalist Yvonne Fair (1994), Ric Grech, bassist for Blind Faith and Traffic (1990), New Orleans R&B singer Bobby Mitchell (1989), Samuel George Jr. of The Capitols (1982), James “Jimmie” Davis, bassist for Fats Domino (1920)
March 18: session bassist Wayne Pedzwater (2005), The Mamas & the Papas co-founder John Phillips (2001)
March 19: drummer Jeff Ward of Nine Inch Nails and Ministry (1993), Mother Love Bone’s Andrew Wood (1990), Randy Rhoads (1982), Chicago’s first big blues star, bottleneck slide man Tampa Red (1981), Paul Kossoff of Free (1976)