Today in Music History...July 29, 2017 (Now with more info & links)

Music History: July 29th

 

2014 Jazz drummer Idris Muhammad, born Leo Morris, dies at age 74.

2011 Chuck Berry throws out the first pitch at the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game on the same day his statue is unveiled on Delmar Boulevard in the city.

2011 Gene McDaniels, known for singing the 1961 hit "A Hundred Pounds Of Clay" and writing Roberta Flack's 1974 hit "Feel Like Makin' Love," dies at age 76 at his home in Maine.

2011 At a Dallas concert, Kings Of Leon frontman Caleb Followill leaves the stage after complaining about the heat. He never returns, and the band cancels the rest of their tour. The incident is officially blamed on "dehydration," but Caleb's brother (and bass player) Jared later Tweets: "There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade."

2005 An anonymous bidder pays one million dollars for the original handwritten lyrics to The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" at the Hippodrome nightclub in London.

2004 Cincinnati-born singer, songwriter, and musician Huby Heard dies of a heart attack at age 53. As a keyboardist, he played with Billy Preston's group The God Squad, Leon Russell's Gap Band, and toured with The Rolling Stones.

1999 Anita Carter (of The Carter Family) dies at age 66 after years of drug treatment for rheumatoid arthritis irreparably damages her liver, kidneys, and pancreas.

1998 Miramax studios announces their purchase of the rights to The Beatles' 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, intending to remaster it in time for the film's 35th anniversary.

1995 Les Elgart, swing jazz bandleader and trumpeter who performed the American Bandstand theme "Bandstand Boogie," dies of heart failure shortly before his 78th birthday.

1993 Eddie Guzman (drummer for Rare Earth) dies from complications of diabetes at age 49.

1990 Elton John can't find a facility in Los Angeles that will treat both his bulimia and drug and alcohol addictions, so he checks into the Parkside Lutheran Hospital in Chicago for rehab. He stays for six weeks, then takes a year off from touring and recording.

1988 Pete Drake, Nashville record producer and session guitarist who played with the likes of Bob Dylan, Don Gibson, and Marty Robbins, dies of emphysema at age 55. Known for the 1964 hit "Forever" with his groundbreaking use of a talk box for the pedal steel guitar.

1987 Michigan governor James Blanchard declares today "Four Tops Day" in honor of the Motown legends.

1986 Seventies soft-rocker Paul Davis is gutshot during an attempted robbery at a Nashville hotel. He eventually recovers.

1978 Publicist Peter Meaden (former manager of The Who) dies from a barbiturate overdose at age 36 in Edmonton, London, England.

1978 Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks release "Whenever I Call You 'Friend'."

1978 The Village People's "Macho Man" enters the US charts, where it peaks at #25.

1978 Glenn Goins (guitarist, vocalist for Parliament-Funkadelic) dies of Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 24.

1973 Wanya Morris (of Boyz II Men) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1973 Led Zeppelin has about $180,000 stolen from their safe at the Drake Hotel after a show at Madison Square Garden, an event chronicled in their concert documentary The Song Remains The Same.

1972 Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" hits #1 for the first of six non-consecutive weeks in the US.

1969 The Beatles record "Come Together," "Sun King," and "Mean Mr. Mustard."

1968 Refusing to play in front of the country's segregated audiences, Gram Parsons leaves The Byrds on the eve of a South African tour.

1968 The Beatles begin recording "Hey Jude."

1967 Chris Gorman (drummer for Belly) is born in Buffalo, New York.

1967 The Temptations release "You're My Everything."

1967 The Doors' "Light My Fire" hits #1 for the first of three weeks in the US. It is knocked off by the Beatles song "All You Need Is Love."

1966 Country singer Martina McBride is born in Sharon, Kansas.

1966 Bob Dylan gets in a famous motorcycle accident, and pretty much disappears for 9 months, leaving a void filled with rumors speculating on his condition. Dylan cleared things up in his 2004 autobiography, where he wrote: "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race."

1966 Cream make their stage debut, playing at Manchester, England's Twisted Wheel club.

1965 The Beatles' second movie, Help!, premieres in London at the Pavilion Theatre, with none other than the Queen attending. (Though reviews are mixed, the movie is a financial success.) Later, manager Brian Epstein and the group attend a post-premiere reception at the Dorchester Hotel.

1963 Capitol Records sends disc jockeys around the US a list of hot rod terms to assist DJs when talking about the latest music trend.

1963 Peter, Paul and Mary release "Blowin' In The Wind."

1961 Dick Clark presents his very first Caravan of Stars revue at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, featuring The Jive Five, The Shirelles, and Clarence "Frogman" Henry.

1959 John Sykes (guitarist for Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy) is born in Reading, Berkshire, England.

1953 Rush frontman Geddy Lee is born Geddy Lee Weinrib in Willowdale, Ontario, Canada.

1953 Patti Scialfa (Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band) is born in Deal, New Jersey.

1947 Carlo Paul Santanna (lead singer of Paper Lace) is born in the UK to an Italian mother and Polish father.

1946 Jazz great Charlie Parker falls asleep while smoking and sets his hotel bed on fire. He is arrested after wandering through the hotel lobby wearing nothing but socks. The incident leads to a stay at the Camarillo State Hospital (a mental institution), which inspires his song "Relaxin' at Camarillo."

1946 Neal Doughty (keyboardist for REO Speedwagon) is born in Evansville, Indiana.

1933 Randy Sparks (of The New Christy Minstrels) is born in Leavenworth, Kansas.

1887 Austro-Hungarian composer Sigmund Romberg is born Siegmund Rosenberg in Nagykanizsa, Hungary.

 

The Grease Soundtrack Slides To #1

 

1978The Grease soundtrack hits #1 in the US, thanks to the hits "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights."
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Featured Events

2015 The Eagles play their last concert. The show takes place in Bossier City, Louisiana, the final date of their History of the Eagles tour. The set features 27 songs and two encores, closing with "Desperado." Founding member Glenn Frey dies six months later.

1987 Ben and Jerry's introduces a new flavor: Cherry Garcia, named after the Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.

1974 Cass Elliot (of The Mamas & The Papas) dies of a heart attack (not from choking on a ham sandwich) in London, England at age 32.

1970 The Rolling Stones' contract with Decca expires, and the group takes the opportunity to split with notorious manager Allen Klein. Delivering one more song to the label to fulfill its obligation, the famously unreleasable "C********* Blues" (aka Schoolboy Blues), they also begin the process of forming their own label, Rolling Stones Records (which will feature the debut of the band's "tongue and lip" logo).

1966 A US magazine targeted to teenagers called Datebook causes an uproar when they reprint some of John Lennon's interview from four months earlier in the London Evening Standard where Lennon said, "We're more popular than Jesus now." The American media jumps on the quote and turns it into a major story.