This is the week that was in matters musical …
1955, Georgia Gibbs’ “Dance With Me Henry” is released … it’s a cleaned-up version of the more licentiously titled “Roll With Me Henry” by Etta James which in turn was retitled “The Wallflower” to keep censors at bay … Coral Records hires original rock DJ Alan Freed as their A&R man …
1958, Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army as Private Presley, serial number U-S-53310761 …
1962, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first perform together as Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys …
1963, teen idol Dion finally takes his “Runaround Sue” off the market when he marries Sue Butterfield …
1964, wax images of The Beatles go on display in London at the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum … they will later appear on the Sergeant Pepper cover … wax on … wax off … everyone’s favorite high-strung diva, Barbara “Babs” Streisand opens on Broadway in Funny Girl … she will win a Best Actress Oscar for her role in the movie version …
1967, Peter Bergman of Firesign Theatre coins the term "Love-In" and throws the first such event in Los Angeles’ Elysian Park, attracting 65,000 people and blocking freeways for miles … Columbia Records producer Gary Usher is so impressed, he offers Firesign Theatre their first record contract … The Who play their first American gig at New York’s Paramount Theater …
1969, raising the bar for those who love to sleep in, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their famous “bed-in” at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel …
1973, just 12 days after their single “Cover of the Rolling Stone” peaks at #6 on the pop chart, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show appear on the cover of the magazine … Lou Reed is bitten at a concert in Buffalo, New York … the “rabid” fan, unable to contain his affection, leaps onstage and bites Reed on the bum as he is about to perform Waitin’ for the Man … screaming “leather,” the fan gets past security as he assaults Reed … the fan is ejected and Reed later comments that the U.S. “seems to breed real animals” …
1975, Barry Manilow makes his first appearance on American Bandstand … No. 1 on the Billboard charts is Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti … No. 3 is Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks … No. 2 is Olivia Newton-John’s Have You Never Been Mellow … go figure …
1978, the Police sign with A&M records …
1985, Prince wins an Oscar for Best Original Score for the film Purple Rain … rumor has it that the movie’s title song actually was written by Prince’s backup musicians, Wendy and Lisa … the screenplay seems to acknowledge this, however, the credits don’t … they are credited as co-writers of “Computer Blue,” a song Wendy and Lisa claim in an interview that they had nothing to do with … Billy Joel marries model Christie Brinkley … nine years later, his relationship with the “uptown girl” goes south … Jeanine Deckers – aka the Singing Nun – kills herself as part of a suicide pact with her female partner Annie Pescherat age 51 … in 1963 she went to No. 1 with “Dominique,” but had since left her convent …
1991, New Kid Donnie Wahlberg narrowly escapes becoming the new kid on the cell block when he is arrested and charged with first-degree arson … he apparently was trying to set the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, KY, on fire with a Molotov cocktail … the charges are later reduced and then dropped in exchange for public service commercials …
1992, after it’s discovered that Milli Vanilli didn’t perform on their recordings, a Chicago judge says the duo’s label should offer refunds to those who bought their records … c’mon, give Rob and Fab a break, nobody performs on their records anymore …
1995, Tupac Shakur is found guilty of sexual assault against a female fan and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in Rikers Island penitentiary … while in jail, Tupac’s Me Against the World hits number one … he becomes the first rapper to top the charts and get married while incarcerated … a short opera on the life of Martina Navratilova has its Carnegie Hall premiere … the Song of Martina, composed by Dean X Johnson, assistant music director of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, features lesbian comic Lea Delaria in the title role … Duran Duran release Thank You, a collection of cover versions … it’s generally considered to be one of the worst albums ever recorded …
1996, the Beatles last charting single, “Real Love,” enters the Top 100 and will eventually rise to #11 … the song is based on a demo cut by John Lennon in 1979 to which the other Beatles added new vocals 16 years after Lennon’s death …
1997, shock-rocker Marilyn Manson is forced to cut short a show at the Nimitz Concert Hall in Honolulu, Hawaii, after lead singer Manson injures his hand during the performance … Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, falls onstage and cuts an artery in his hand … we hear that Manson normally isn’t squeamish at the sight of blood … unless it’s his own … Paul McCartney’s birth certificate is auctioned for $84,146 …
1998, Chuck Negron files suit against his former Three Dog Night bandmates … Negron alleges that a breach of a 1990 settlement put a crimp in the crooner’s career … years later in an odd twist, Negron’s management licenses the rights to use the name of the 1960s horn band Blood, Sweat & Tears from BS&T drummer Bobby Colomby … Negron now appears as Blood, Sweat & Tears Featuring Chuck Negron at various venues …
1999, rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard is arrested yet again, this time in New York City after police claim to have found crack cocaine in his vehicle after pulling him over for not having license plates on his vehicle … ODB will be charged with a misdemeanor drug possession charge and for driving with a suspended license … he will be arrested again five days later after police pull him over because once again, the vehicle he is driving has no license plates … on the positive side of hip-hop, rap mogul Master P donates $500,000 to keep his old grammar school from closing …
2000, with Angus Young in attendance, the Spanish town of Leganes names a street “Calle de AC/DC” …
2003, Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose sends the Offspring a cease-and-desist letter after they announce plans to call their new album Chinese Democrazy … “You snooze you lose,” Offspring singer Dexter Holland says in a statement … “Axl ripped off my braids, so I ripped off his album title.” … Madonna’s Swept Away is named worst film at this year’s Razzies … Madonna also ties with Britney Spears for worst actress and wins worst supporting actress for her appearance in the James Bond flick Die Another Day …
2005, Justin Jeffre, former member of the boy band 98 Degrees, announces his candidacy for the mayor of Cincinnati … according to pollsters, Jeffre ran a lackluster campaign … American Idol is forced into a revote after the show displays the incorrect phone numbers for each of the 11 contestants during the voting stage of the Fox TV talent program …
2006, Apple releases a free software patch for download that permits iPod owners to set a maximum volume level … the action is seemingly in response to articles critical of the device’s potential for hearing damage and a pending class-action lawsuit …
2007, Elsrock, an outdoor heavy-metal rock festival, is given conditional approval to put on its show outside the town of Rijssen located in the Netherlands’ Bible Belt … the proviso is that there can be no cursing or blasphemy … the 2006 version of the festival had outraged residents … in explaining why the permit was granted, Mayor Bort Koelewijn cites "the stated readiness of the organizers to make sure that no blasphemous words are used, and that the honor of God’s name is not besmirched” … also this week, members of the ’70s Scots pop band Bay City Rollers sue Arista, their former label, charging that they are owed millions in unpaid royalties …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
March 20: Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1921), Jerry Reed (1937), blues saxist Eddie Shaw (1937), Carl Palmer (1951), Jimmy Vaughan (1951), Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats (1961), Tracy Chapman (1964), Chester Bennington of Linkin Park (1976)
March 21: Delta blues legend Son House (1902), Chicago bluesman Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers (1929), blues pianist Otis Spann (1930), Vivian Stanshall of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1943), Rosemary Stone of Sly and the Family Stone born Rosemary Stewart (1945), Eddie Money (1949), Roger Hodgson of Supertramp (1950), Conrad Lozano of Los Lobos (1951), Prodigy’s MC Maxim (1967), Ace of Base’s Jonas Berggren (1967), Andrew Copeland of Sister Hazel (1968), rapper Notorious B.I.G. born Christopher Wallace (1972)
March 22: Stephen Sondheim (1930) George Benson (1943), Keith Relf of the Yardbirds (1943), Tony McPhee of The Groundhogs (1944), Jeremy Clyde of Chad and Jeremy (1944), Harry Vanda of the Easybeats (1947), Patrick Olive of Hot Chocolate (1947), Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948), McCoys/Montrose bass player Randy Jo Hobbs (1948), Richard Ploog of The Church (1962)
March 23: Joey d’Ambrosio of Bill Haley and the Comets (1934), swamp bluesman Louisiana Red (1936), Ric Ocasek of the Cars (1949), Chaka Khan, born Yvette Marie Stevens (1953), Epic Soundtracks, born Kevin Godfrey, founding drummer of the punk band Swell Maps (1959), Damon Albarn of Blur (1968)
March 24: Ollie McLaughlin, producer for Del Shannon (1925), George Lee, singer with Ruby and the Romantics (1936), soul singer Billy “Fat Boy” Stewart (1937), songwriter Peggy Sue, sister of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle (1947)
March 25: Vivian Carter, The “Vee” in Vee-Jay Records (1921), Tom Wilson, producer for Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and John Coltrane (1931), Johnny Burnette (1934), Jose L. Rodriguez, engineer for Culture Club, Mary J. Blige, and Gloria Gaynor (1944), Nick Lowe (1949)
March 26: Rufus Thomas, best known for “Walkin’ The Dog” (1917), Diana Ross (1944), Steven Tyler of Aerosmith (1948), Teddy Pendergrass (1950), Bill Lyall, keyboardist for Pilot and Bay City Rollers (1953), Eddie Van Halen (1955)
Departures:
March 20: Jazz and R&B guitarist Billy Butler (1991), Cadence Records founder Archie Bleyer (1989)
March 21: songwriter Fred Spielman (1997), Leo Fender (1991)
March 22: George Howard, sax player with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (1998), Dan Hartman (1994), Dave Guard of the Kingston Trio (1991), one-hit-wonder Mark Dinning of “Teen Angel” fame (1986)
March 23: Walter Turnbull, founder of the Boys Choir of Harlem (2007), Cindy Walker, country songwriter who also wrote hits for Ray Charles and Roy Orbison (2006), songwriter-producer J.D. Miller (1996), Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles (1996), Ripley Ingram, tenor vocalist with The Five Keys (1995), Jeanine Deckers – aka the Singing Nun (1985), Frank Kirkland, Bo Diddley’s drummer (1973)
March 24: country singer Hensen Cargill (2007), Foghat’s founding guitarist Rod Price (2005), Harold Melvin, leader of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (1997)
March 25: country legend Buck Owens (2006), Kenny Moore, keyboardist for Tina Turner (1997), folksinger-songwriter Tom Jans (1984)
March 26: Nikki Sudden of Swell Maps (2006), Paul Hester, drummer for Crowded House (2005), Jan Berry of Jan and Dean (2004), rapper Eazy-E aka Eric Wright (1996), Duster Bennett, member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (1976), songwriter-playwright Noel Coward (1973), Harold McNair, flutist and saxophonist with Donovan and Ginger Baker (1971)