Sunday, December 11, 2016

Today in Music History...December 11, 2016

Music History: December 11

 

Births

1916: Perez Prado
1926: Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton
1931: Rita Moreno
1934: Curtis Williams (The Penguins)
1935: Tom Brumley (Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Stone Canyon Band)
1940: David Gates (Bread)
1941: J. Frank Wilson
1944: Booker T. Jones (Booker T. and the MGs), Brenda Lee
1946: Tony Brown
1954: Jermaine Jackson

Deaths

1964: Sam Cooke

Events

1957: In one of the biggest scandals to ever hit rock music, Jerry Lee Lewis marries his 14-year-old cousin Myra Gale Brown, daughter of his cousin Jim. Lewis' first marriage is still valid; the divorce wouldn't be finalized for six months. Reports are that Myra still believes in Santa Claus. When the story breaks in England a few weeks later, Lewis' career will be seriously damaged.
1960: Aretha Franklin makes her stage debut at New York's Village Vanguard.
1964: Sam Cooke is shot and killed under mysterious circumstances at around 3 am at the Hacienda Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. Earlier that evening, the married singer had picked up a young woman, Elisa Boyer, and driven her 17 miles to the black-friendly motel.

(She was half-Caucasian and half-Chinese.) Boyer later claimed Cooke attempted to rape her at the Hacienda, although she may have also robbed him. When she ran away, according to her testimony, a clearly drunken Cooke followed and assaulted the hotel manager, Bertha Franklin, demanding to know the girl's whereabouts, at which point Franklin shot him in the heart. No charges are ever brought.
1966: After presenting him at London's Saville Theatre, Beatles manager Brian Epstein offers to manage Little Richard -- an offer which is rejected.
1967: NBC airs the Nancy Sinatra television special Movin' With Nancy.
1968: The Rolling Stones film their legendary Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus television special at Wembley television studios in Middlesex, England, featuring performances by John Lennon, Eric Clapton, the Who, Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithful -- and yes, circus people, all filmed in a circus tent. The show is never aired and only sees the light of day in 1996, supposedly because the Stones thought the Who upstaged them with their performance.
1971: John Lennon debuts his new song "John Sinclair" at the Free John Sinclair Rally in Ann Arbor, MI. Stevie Wonder and Phil Ochs also appear, among others.
1972: After a show in Knoxville, TN, James Brown is arrested and charged with "disorderly conduct" when a conversation Brown has with fans is somehow mistaken for an attempt to incite a riot. Charges are dropped after Brown threatens to sue the city for a million dollars due to police brutality.
1972: Genesis play their first-ever US show at Massachusetts' Brandeis University.
1976: KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is nearly electrocuted when he touches a short-circuited light during a concert in Florida. He is carried from the stage but returns to finish the show just ten minutes later.
1988: Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre plays host to a Roy Orbison tribute concert featuring Don Henley, Tom Petty, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt.

Releases

1970: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
1971: Carly Simon, "Anticipation"
1976: Bob Seger, Night Moves

Recording

1939: Marlene Dietrich, "Falling In Love Again"
1958: The Coasters, "Charlie Brown"

Certifications

1973: The Carpenters' "Top of the World" is certified gold

Charts

1961: The Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" hits #1
1961: Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii hits #1
1965: Ray Charles' "Crying Time" enters the pop charts
1976: Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat" enters the pop charts

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