Today in Music History...March 21, 2017 (Now with links)

Music History: March 21

 

2015 Jackie Trent dies at age 74. She was married to Tony Hatch, which whom she wrote the theme song to the Australian TV show Neighbours and the Petula Clark hit "Don't Sleep In The Subway."

2013 John Mayer hosts a Google+ hangout, an online virtual meeting place with his fans. The PR action of the pop-blues rocker is a historic precedent, in that this marks the first time such a big-name celebrity has made an exclusive appearance on Google+, a social network competitor to Facebook.


2011 Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins

2011 Loleatta Holloway

2008 Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk, Neu!)

2006 After a six-year legal battle, the three surviving daughters of African musician Solomon Linda are awarded one-quarter of all future royalties from The Tokens' 1961 hit The Lion Sleeps Tonight. The court ruled that the song, which The Tokens adapted from a Pete Seeger song called "Wimoweh," which was actually Linda's 1939 adaptation of a native folk song. Linda, who died in 1962, had nothing to leave to his family, who were destitute at the time of the ruling.

2004 Johnny Bristol

2003 Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry divorces his first wife, model Lucy Helmore, after 21 years, on grounds of adultery.

2002 John "Speedy" Keene (Thunderclap Newman)

2000 Soul Coughing disbands after eight years and three albums.

1997 The movie Selena debuts in theaters, chronicling the life of the late Tejano singer Selena, who was murdered two years earlier by the former president of her fan club. Jennifer Lopez is lauded for her breakout performance in the title role, which inspires her to pursue a singing career of her own.

1991 Leo Fender

1990 Tony Orlando is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Boulevard.

1989 Dick Clark announces the end of his 33 year gig as host of American Bandstand.

1988 Lynyrd Skynyrd releases Southern by the Grace of God, their second live album. It features music recorded in 1987 in what was supposed to be a one-time touring tribute to band members who died in a 1977 plane wreak that seemingly ended the band. Four years later, an updated Lynyrd Skynyrd lineup records new material and begins touring again regularly.

1987 Dean Martin's son Dean Paul Martin dies in a plane crash in California’s San Bernardino Mountains at the age of 35 while serving in the Air National Guard.

1987 Club Nouveau's poppy cover of the Bill Withers song "Lean On Me" hits #1 on the Hot 100.

1980 Deryck Whibley (Sum 41)

1978 Carole King's third husband, Rick Evers, dies of a drug overdose after working on Carole's album Welcome Home, which was released two months later. Evers had co-writing credits on three songs from the album and appears on the cover with King.

1976 After playing a show in Rochester, New York, David Bowie is arrested on charges of marijuana possession when police raid his hotel room. Iggy Pop and two others are also arrested. His hearing takes place on April 20 (4/20!), and the charges are dropped.

1976 The French actress Claudine Longet, ex-wife of Andy Williams, shoots her live-in lover, the famed skier Spider Sabich, at his home in Aspen, Colorado. The shooting is ruled an accident, and Longet is sentenced to 30 days in jail for criminal negligence. Her case inspires the Rolling Stones song "Claudine."

1976 The French singer Claudine Longet shoots and kills her lover Vladimir Sabich at Aspen, Colorado.

1975 No. 1 Billboard hit: Frankie Valli's My Eyes Adored You

1970 The Faces, First Step

1968 Andrew Copeland (Sister Hazel)

1967 MC Maxim (The Prodigy)

1967 John Lennon takes his first major LSD trip and freaks out while recording backing vocals on the track Getting Better. Producer George Martin, not realizing the effects of the drug, takes Lennon to the roof of Abbey Road Studios to get some fresh air. Paul McCartney and George Harrison, upon learning where John was, rush up to get him down. The group works on a piano track for Lovely Rita instead.

1967 The Beatles, Lovely Rita

1966 The Beach Boys release "Sloop John B," a traditional tune from the West Indies.

1964 Dean Martin leaves his handprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

1964 The Beatles' She Loves You hits #1

1964 Judy Collins is catapulted into stardom after a momentous appearance at New York's Carnegie Hall.

1963 Barbra Streisand marries her first husband, actor Elliott Gould, whom she'd met while both were performing in the Broadway hit I Can Get It for You Wholesale.

1961 Elvis Presley: "Hawaiian Sunset," "Ku-u-i-po," "No More," "Slicin' Sand"

1960 Elvis Presley: "Stuck On You," "Fame And Fortune," "A Mess Of Blues," "It Feels So Right"

1957 Sean Dickson (The Soup Dragons)

1957 Jonas Berggren (Ace Of Base)

1956 The movie Rock Around The Clock, about a concert promoter (played by DJ Alan Freed) who brings Rock and Roll to the masses, opens in theaters. The film stars Bill Haley and His Comets and is named after their hit song. It is one of the first movies based on rock music and aimed at teenagers.

1955 No. 1 Billboard hit: Bill Hayes' The Ballad of Davy Crockett

1953 Robert Johnson (KC and the Sunshine Band)

1953 Patti Page's "(How Much Is) That Doggie In The Window?" hits #1 in America. A version by Lita Roza later tops the chart in the UK.

1951 Conrad Lozano (Los Lobos)

1951 Russell Thompkins, Jr. (The Stylistics)

1950 Roger Hodgson (Supertramp)

1949 Eddie Money is born Joseph Mahoney in Brooklyn, New York.

1946 Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry)

1945 Rosemary Stone (Sly and the Family Stone)

1943 Viv Stanshall of Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band is born in Oxford, England.

1941 John Boylan

1939 Kate Smith records "God Bless America."

1936 Solomon Burke

1930 Otis Spann

1923 Mort Lindsey

1919 Billy Joe Hunter

1918 Sir Charles Thompson

1902 Son House

1839 Composer Modest Mussorgsky is born in Russia.

 

Featured Events

2008 Beach Boys founding members Mike Love and Al Jardine settle a lawsuit Love filed in 2003, claiming Jardine was touring under variations of the group name, to which Love owns the rights. The settlement leads to a reunion of the group in 2012 for their 50th anniversary.

1994 Bruce Springsteen wins an Oscar for the song "Streets of Philadelphia" from the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia.

1985 In Vancouver, the Canadian wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen begins his "Man In Motion" tour to raise money for spinal cord research. Inspired by his quest, fellow Canadian David Foster works with John Parr to write a tribute song to Hansen for the film St. Elmo's Fire.