This is the week that was in matters musical …
Along with Rick Wright who passed on Monday this week Norman Whitfield one of the creators of the Motown Sound died. He wrote some of the great soul tracks that came out of Berry Gordy’s studio in Detroit, such as “Money (That’s What I Want)”, “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”, “Ain’t No Sun Since You’ve Been Gone”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” and many more.
1958, while crossing the Atlantic on his way to a couple of years of army service in Germany, Elvis is asked to put together a talent show and ends up playing piano in the impromptu band he organizes …
1959, The Isley Brothers score their first chart hit with “Shout” … it’ll be followed by 41 more Top 100 singles over the next 38 years …
1962, The Springfields are the first British vocal act to score a U.S. Top 20 hit with their single “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” … their lead singer Mary O’Brien will later sustain a major solo career using the stage name Dusty Springfield …
1966, The Yardbirds, with lead guitarists Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, embark upon a British tour with The Rolling Stones and Tina Turner …
1968, Steppenwolf earns a gold record for “Born to Be Wild” … after “BTBW” is used in the movie Easy Rider the following year, it becomes a certified biker anthem … nowadays any band playing a bar with bikers in the audience had better know how to play it, and with plenty of smoke and lighting, or they may find their heads out on the highway …
1969, though the late 1960s are generally seen as a high-water mark in pop music, you couldn’t prove it by the pop chart with The Archies’ bubblegum ditty “Sugar Sugar” reigning supreme …
1970, 27-year-old Jimi Hendrix dies in a basement bedroom at the Samarkand Hotel in Notting Hill Gate, London … the room is rented to Monika Danneman, who later claims that she and Jimi were to be married … he has taken about nine hits of quinalbarbitone and is already quite dead when the medics arrive, despite Danneman’s later claims to the contrary … the coroner’s report cites “inhalation of vomit due to barbiturate intoxication” as the cause of death … in 1993 the investigation into Hendrix’s death is reopened by Scotland Yard in order to clear up discrepancies as to how and when the ambulance was called … Danneman is vilified in books and other media and in 1996 commits suicide after losing a libel case brought by Kathy Etchingham, who originally reopened the Hendrix case …
1973, Gram Parsons of the Byrds dies after a fatal combination of alcohol and morphine in Joshua Tree, California … his coffin is stolen from the airport by his manager, Phil Kaufman, and a former Byrds roadie before it can be sent to New Orleans for a family burial … according to Kaufman, he and Parsons had made a pact months earlier that when one of them died, “the survivor would take the other guy’s body out to Joshua Tree, have a few drinks, and burn it” … the two make their way into the desert night after toasting their departed friend at a local bar, pour five gallons of gasoline onto the body, and light it … the fire is spotted quickly, before the cremation is complete … Kaufman will be charged with stealing a coffin days later and sentenced to pay $750 for the casket … another singer-songwriter Jim Croce (“Bad Bad Leroy Brown” and “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”) dies after his twin-engine prop plane hits a tree on takeoff out of Natchitoches, Louisiana, killing everyone aboard including Maury Muehleisen, Croce’s guitarist … Croce became a songwriter while driving a truck, and later moonlighted as a performer while he was teaching school …
1983, the members of KISS appear on MTV sans their trademark makeup … the band already lost original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, and seeks to reinvent themselves for the ’80s … the ploy seems to work, as their next release Lick It Up becomes their first platinum album in four years …
1988, Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” becomes the first a capella song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 … the single will also land George Bush the elder in hot water when he uses it in his presidential campaign without permission … in 2008, Billboard listed the tune in its top ten One Hit Wonders from the last 50 years …
2002, Mike Batt of The Planets settles a lawsuit filed by the John Cage Trust for “an undisclosed six-figure sum” … at issue is one minute of silence on the band’s latest CD Classical Grafitti … the avante-garde composer’s estate had claimed Batt plagiarized Cage’s 1952 composition “4’33,” which was completely silent when he credited his piece—”A One Minute Silence”—to “Batt/Cage” …
2004, singer Cat Stevens, a convert to Islam and now known as Yusuf Islam, is detained in Maine after his London-to-Washington, D.C., flight is diverted there … citing national security, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials question the singer-songwriter, then put him on the next flight back to the U.K. where Islam lives … in 2003 he had rerecorded his 1970s hit song “Peace Train” in protest of the Iraq war … meanwhile, on the verge of a Duran Duran reunion, bass player John Taylor observes, “There are difficult bastards everywhere in life, so why not just stick with the ones you know?” …
2005, two huge benefit concerts are staged at Madison Square Garden to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina … dubbed From the Big Apple to the Big Easy, fans are treated to performances by Simon and Garfunkel, Jimmy Buffett, Elton John, Bette Midler, Tom Waits, Dave Matthews, Trey Anastasio, and Elvis Costello … they are joined by dozens of New Orleans’ finest including The Meters, The Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, The Dixie Cups, and Buckwheat Zydeco …
2006, William “Bill” Schultz, former Fender CEO who led the leveraged buyout of the struggling guitar maker from CBS in 1985, dies of cancer … singer Marianne Faithfull puts a hold on her world tour after being diagnosed with breast cancer … The Rolling Stones embark on the latest leg of their seemingly endless Bigger Bang tour in Foxboro, Massachusetts … it’s The Stones’ first show since Keith Richards fell out of a tree in Fiji the previous April and underwent surgery for head injuries … the baddest Stone ruefully recollecting the incident says, “Everyone imagines it was a 50-foot-tall palm tree. It’s embarrassing, really; I was sitting in this gnarled shrub about six feet off the ground … I hit the ground the wrong way, my head hit the trunk, and that was that … I guess what I’ve learned is, don’t sit in trees anymore.” … Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, the operators of the Rhode Island nightclub where 100 people died in a fire touched off by protechnics during a Great White show, plead guilty to involuntary-manslaughter charges … Michael will receive a four-year prison sentence while Jeffrey will be ordered to perform 500 hours of community service … nearly 300 civil suits have been filed by victims and their families against the brothers, Great White, and the company that sold the nightclub flammable soundproofing material that was deemed a prime cause of the tragedy … Raymond “Boz” Burrell, the former Bad Company bassist, dies of a heart attack … prior to co-founding that band, Burrell was hired by Robert Fripp as King Crimson’s vocalist …
2007, renowned harp player Gary Primich dies at the age of 49 … in additon to touring and winning fans in North Amercia and Europe, he released nine albums featuring many of his own tunes, conducted harmonica workshops, and released a highly-regarded audiocassette course in which he explained and demonstrated blues harp techniques … it’s reported that director Martin Scorsese is working on a documentary about George Harrison and will have the cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the late Beatle’s widow, Olivia … in a vigorously promoted feud in which rappers Kanye West and 50 Cent release new albums on the same day—September 11, 2007—the two rap stars go head to head over record sales with the two appearing in boxer-like stances on the cover of Rolling Stone … the ensuing sales battle is one sided: West’s Graduation CD with 957,000 copies sold trounces Fiddy’s mere 691,000 copies of Curtis …
and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
September 18: jazz singer Teddi King (1929), pop singer Jimmie Rodgers (1933), Frankie Avalon (1939), Kerry Livgren of Kansas (1949), Dee Dee Ramone (1952), Joanne Catherall of Human League (1962), Ian Spice of Breathe (1966), Ricky Bell of Bell Biv Devoe (1967)
September 19: singer-songwriter Brook Benton (1931), Beatles manager Brian Epstein (1934), Nick Massi of The Four Seasons (1935), Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers (1940), songwriter Paul Williams (1940), Mama Cass Elliot (1941), soul singer Freda Payne (1945), David Bromberg (1945), Lol Creme of 10cc (1947), producer Daniel Lanois (1951), Nile Rodgers of Chic (1952), Trisha Yearwood (1964)
September 20: pop singer Gogi Grant (1924), guitarist Eric Gale (1939), John Panozzo of Styx (1948), Alannah Currie of The Thompson Twins (1959), Cowboy of the Furious Five (1960), Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme (1966), Matthew and Gunnar Nelson—twin sons of Ricky Nelson (1967), Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden (1968), Rick Woolstenhulme of Lifehouse (1979)
September 21: composer Gustav Holst (1874), jazz drummer Chico Hamilton (1921), singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen (1934), teen-tragedy pop singer Dickey Lee (1934), Don Felder of the Eagles (1947), Tyler Stewart of Barenaked Ladies (1967), Faith Hill (1967), De La Soul’s Trugoy the Dove (1968), David Silveria of Korn (1972)
September 22: Brit rocker Mike Patto (1942), David Coverdale of Whitesnake and Deep Purple (1951), Debby Boone (1956), Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde (1957), gurrl rocker Joan Jett (1960), Liam Gallagher of Oasis (1972)
September 23: bandleader Tiny Bradshaw (1905), Sam Phillips’ assistant Marion Keisker (1917), blues guitarist and DJ Joe Hill Louis (1921), groundbreaking sax titan John Coltrane (1926), jazz bassist Jimmy Woode (1928), Wally Whyton of The Vipers (1929), Ray Charles (1930), singer and songwriter Charlie Fox (1934), bluesman Fenton Robinson (1935), Ben E. King (1938), Roy Buchanan (1939), Steve Boone of the Lovin’ Spoonful (1941), Julio Iglesias (1943), Ron Bushy of Iron Butterfly (1945), jazz musician Don Grolnick (1947), Jerry Corbetta of Sugarloaf (1947), Bruce Springsteen (1949), Robbie McIntosh of Average White Band (1950), John Baker Saunders of Mad Season (1954), glam metal singer-guitarist Lita Ford (1959), singer Ani DiFranco (1970), Jermaine Dupri (1972), Erik-Michael Estrada of O-Town (1979)
September 24: gospel, blues, and doo-wop singer Allen Bunn (1924), Carl Feaster of The Chords (1930), actor and singer-songwriter Anthony Newley (1931), Ventures drummer Mel Taylor (1933), James “Shep” Sheppard of Shep & The Limelites (1935), session reed player Steve Douglas (1938), Barbara Allbut of The Angels (1940), Phyllis Allbut of The Angels (1942), Linda McCartney (1942), Gerry Marsden of Gerry And The Pacemakers (1942), Cedric Dent of Take 6 (1962), Marty Cintron of No Mercy (1971)
Departures:
September 18: singer-songwriter Charlie Fox (1998), blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon (1997), R’N’B singer Roy Milton (1983), Jimi Hendrix (1970)
September 19: singer-songwriter-producer Willie Hutch (2005), Skeeter Davis born Mary Frances Penick (2004), Australian folkie Slim Dusty (2003), Rich Mullins (1997), Motown arranger and keyboardist Earl Van Dyke (1992), Gram Parsons of The Byrds (1973)
September 20: rotund yodeling Texas swing singer Don Walser (2006), punk rocker Nick Traina (1997), author-producer-critic Robert Palmer (1997), singer-songwriter Steve Goodman (1984), singer-songwriter Jim Croce (1973), Maury Muehleisen of Jim Croce’s band (1973), country artist Red Foley (1968)
September 21: former Fender CEO William “Bill” Schultz (2006), former Bad Company and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell (2006)
September 22: virtuoso violinist Isaac Stern (2001), Irving Berlin (1989)
September 23: harpman Gary Primich (2007), Piedmont blues guitarist Etta Baker (2006), boogie-woogie pianist Lawrence “Booker T.” Laury (1995), Mississippi bluesman Houston Stackhouse (1980), Average White Band drummer Robbie McIntosh (1974)
September 24: British folk singer-songwriter Matthew Jay (2003), folk rocker Tim Rose (2002)