Today in Music History...June 5, 2017 (Now with more info & links)

Music History: June 5

 

2015 Shania Twain begins her Rock This Country Tour with a show in Seattle. Billed as her farewell tour, it's her first trek since her 2003-2004 Up! tour.

2013 Doo-wop singer Marshall Sewell (of The Edsels) dies of esophageal cancer at age 75.

2013 Rob Halford announces that Judas Priest will be reforming after their retirement two years earlier.

2012 Herb Reed (founding member of The Platters) dies of heart disease, among other ailments, at age 83 in Boston, Massachusetts.


2012 Blues singer-songwriter Lou Pride, known for the compositions "Long Arm Of The Blues" and "Love From A Stone," dies after a bout of illness at age 68.

2008 James Taylor sings the US national anthem at Game 1 of the NBA finals in Boston.

2007 Bruce Springsteen releases Live In Dublin.

2006 "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi is released in the UK.

2006 Elliot Easton of The Cars breaks his clavicle when their tour bus swerves to avoid an accident, and Easton falls out of the bunk. Performing with "The New Cars" fronted by Todd Rundgren, he plays four shows in a brace before getting surgery, which ends the tour.

2004 Jennifer Lopez marries Marc Anthony. The union lasts 10 years and produces two children: twins Max and Emme.

1999 Frankie Laine marries his third wife, Marcia Ann Kline.

1993 Conway Twitty dies of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at age 59 after collapsing while on tour in Missouri.

1993 Mariah Carey marries Tommy Mottola, the music executive who signed her to Columbia Records. The marriage, her first, lasts four years.

1990 Jim Hodder (original drummer for Steely Dan), age 42, drowns in the swimming pool of his home in Point Arena, California.

1989 The Doobie Brothers begin their reunion tour, their first with their original lineup since 1975.

1988 Pattie Boyd, ex-wife of George Harrison, files for divorce from Eric Clapton, who once wrote the song "Layla" about her.

1987 The Prince's Trust Rock Gala is held for the fifth time at Wembley Arena in London. The annual charity event features the music of George Harrison, who performs "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with Eric Clapton, and Ringo Starr's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends," featuring Jeff Lynne. Other performers include Elton John, Phil Collins, Dave Edmunds, and Ben E. King.

1987 Sly Stone (Sly and the Family Stone) surrenders to authorities in Fort Meyers, Florida, for violating his probation (for cocaine possession).

1983 U2 plays the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado. Despite rain, the concert is intimate and energetic; it is later released as a concert film called Under a Blood Red Sky.

1981 Sebastien Lefebvre (rhythm guitarist for Simple Plan) is born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1979 Muddy Waters, 64, marries his third wife, 25-year-old Marva Jean Brooks, in Chicago with Eric Clapton as best man.

1979 Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy is born in Wilmette, Illinois.

1977 Alice Cooper's boa constrictor - a star of his stage show - dies after the rat he is served for breakfast bites him. Cooper holds open auditions for a new snake, eventually choosing one named Angel.

1975 Syd Barrett, ex-Pink Floyd member and founder who was forced from the band after becoming an acid casualty, quietly appears in the Abbey Road studios during recording of the band's album Wish You Were Here, which was largely written about him. No one notices Barrett, and he soon leaves as quietly as he entered.

1974 Aaron "P-Nut" Wills (bassist for 311) is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

1974 Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone marries his first wife, Kathy Silva, onstage before his show at Madison Square Garden. Bishop Stewart, the singer's uncle, officiates before the crowd of 19,000; Silva files for divorce five months later.

1974 CBS debuts the summer replacement variety show The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour.

1974 Patti Smith records "Hey Joe."

1972 Maureen McGovern quits her full-time secretarial job in order to follow her dream of being a professional singer.

1971 Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg is born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he's the youngest of nine children, including older brother Donnie (future member of New Kids on the Block).

1971 James Taylor releases "You've Got a Friend."

1971 Grand Funk Railroad beats The Beatles' 1965 Shea Stadium record gross for a concert, after manager Terry Knight has the idea to raise ticket prices at Shea just enough to make that possible.

1970 Claus Norreen (guitarist for Aqua) is born in Charlottenlund, Denmark.

1970 Bob Dylan records "If Dogs Run Free," "Went To See The Gypsy," "What It's All About," "Winterlude," "I Forgot To Remember," "The Man In Me," "Father Of Night," and "Lily Of The West (Flora)."

1969 Brian McKnight is born in Buffalo, New York.

1969 Donovan and Joan Baez perform at a rally for nuclear disarmament in London.

1969 The Doors concert documentary Feast Of Friends premieres at the Cinematheque in Los Angeles.

1968 The Beatles record "Don't Pass Me By."

1966 Gladys Presley, Elvis' mother, awakens suddenly in Memphis, convinced that her boy is in danger; at that moment, Elvis' first pink Cadillac catches on fire while en route from Fulton, Arkansas. Elvis is unharmed.

1964 The Rolling Stones play their first show in America when they begin a nine-date tour at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California.

1961 Roy Orbison's "Running Scared" hits #1.

1960 Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry" enters the charts.

1959 Robert Zimmerman graduates from Hibbing High School in Minnesota. A few years later, he becomes Bob Dylan.

1958 Johnny Mathis' LP Johnny's Greatest Hits hits #1.

1957 Bill Justis records "Raunchy."

1956 Richard Butler (lead singer of The Psychedelic Furs) is born in Kingston upon Thames, London, England.

1956 Kenny G is born Kenneth Gorelick in Seattle, Washington.

1956 Elvis Presley appears on The Milton Berle Show where the pair do a comedy bit performing Elvis' "Hound Dog" and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You." It marks the first TV appearance of The Jordanaires backing up Elvis, and the last Milton Berle show for 10 years.

1956 Gene Vincent releases "Be-Bop-a-Lula."

1954 Jazz drummer Pete Erskine (of Weather Report) is born in Somers Point, New Jersey.

1954 Kitty Kallen's "Little Things Mean A Lot" hits #1.

1952 Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain is born Michael Henry McBrain outside of London, England.

1950 Ronnie Dyson, an actor-turned-singer known for his breakout role in the Broadway production of Hair and his hit single "(If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?," is born in Washington, DC, though he'll grow up in Brooklyn, New York.

1947 Laurie Anderson is born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

1947 Tom Evans (guitarist for Badfinger) is born in Liverpool, England.

1946 Freddie Stone (co-founder of Sly & the Family Stone) is born Frederick Stewart in Vallejo, California.

1945 Don Reid (lead singer of The Statler Brothers) is born in Staunton, Virginia.

1942 The musical film Yankee Doodle Dandy is released. Starring James Cagney, the film features the song "The Yankee Doodle Boy," based upon "Yankee Doodle," a long-time standard American anthem.


1942 Capitol Records' first recording session takes place when "The General Jumped at Dawn" by Paul Whiteman's New Yorker Hotel Orchestra is recorded at Radio Recorders Studio in Los Angeles. The record flops, but Capitol soon becomes the most successful record company of the era.

1937 R&B singer Floyd Butler (of The Friends Of Distinction) is born in California.

1932 Pete Jolly is born in New Haven, Connecticut. The jazz pianist and accordionist is known for his work in film and television, including The Love Boat, M*A*S*H, and Dallas.

1925 Singer/actor Bill Hayes is born in Harvey, Illinois. Known for his long-running role as Doug Williams on Days of Our Lives and his chart-topping rendition of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."

1922 Jazz drummer Gordon "Specs" Powell is born in New York.

1826 German composer Carl Maria von Weber dies of tuberculosis at age 39.

Tom Cruise Turns Rock Star In Rock Of Ages

 

2012Tom Cruise stars as rocker Stacee Jaxx in the film adaptation of the Broadway hit Rock of Ages, an homage to '80s rock and glam metal that features songs from Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, Pat Benatar, and Journey.
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Featured Events

2002 Dee Dee Ramone, a founding member of the Ramones, dies of a heroin overdose at age 50.

1993 Toby Keith scores his first #1 country hit when "Should've Been a Cowboy" reaches the top.

1968 Senator Robert Kennedy is shot three times while exiting through a kitchen at a hotel where he delivered a speech after winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. This event prompts David Crosby to write "Long Time Gone" and The Rolling Stones to insert the lyrics, "Who killed the Kennedys?" to their new song "Sympathy For The Devil."

1964 The first recording featuring David Bowie is released. He's still known as David Jones when "Liza Jane" by David Jones and the King Bees comes out.