February 9 – Today in Music History Events

1939 Barry Mann born in New York (Brooklyn). US singer, songwriter. Wrote many early 60’s pop hits including ‘Saturday Night At The Movies’, ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’, ‘Walking In The Rain’. ‘Blame It On The Bossa Nova’. Also had the 1961 US No.7 solo single ‘Who Put The Bomp, In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp.’
1940 Brian Bennett born in Palmers Green, North London, England. Drummer with The Shadows, he joined the group in 1961. (1963 UK No.1 single ‘Foot Tapper’ plus 28 other UK Top 40 singles. Plus hits with Cliff Richard). 
1942 Carole King born in Brooklyn, New York. US singer, songwriter, many with Gerry Goffin, (1962 UK No.3 & US No.22 single, ‘It Might As Well Rain Until September’, 1970 US No.1 album ‘Tapestry’ has sold over 15 million copies. Grammy award winner in 71. 
1942 Marc Mathis born in Hahira, Georgia. US Singer with the Newbeats. 
1947 Joe Ely born in Amarillo, Texas. American singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music touches on honky-tonk, Texas country, Tex-Mex and rock and roll. He has had a genre-crossing career, performing with Bruce Springsteen, Uncle Tupelo, Los Super Seven, the Chieftains and James McMurtry in addition to his early work with the Clash and more recent acoustic tours with Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, and Guy Clark.
1947 Major Harris born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. US Singer with the Delfonics from 1971 – 1974. (1968 US No.4 & 1971 UK No.19 single ‘La- La Means I Love You’). 
1951 Dennis ‘Dee Tee’ Thomas – US Saxophonist with Kool & The Gang, (1981 US No.1 & UK No.7 single ‘Celebration’, 1984 UK No.2 single ‘Joanna’ plus over 15 other Top 40 hits). 
1955 Jersey City, New Jersey , vocals, Sham 69, (1979 UK No.6 single, ‘Hersham Boys’). 
1957 Rosemary Clooney went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Hey There’. Staying at the stop spot for 4wks. 
1960 Holly Johnson (William Johnson) born in Liverpool, Merseyside. UK Singer/Songwriter with Big In Japan & Frankie Goes To Hollywood, (1984 UK No.1 & US No. 10 single ‘Relax’). Solo, (1989 UK No.4 ‘Love Train’ & 1989 UK No.1 album ‘Blast’). 
1961 The Beatles appeared at The Cavern Club, Liverpool, for the very first time (as The Beatles), they would go on to make a total of 292 other appearances at the Club. 
1962 Neil Sedaka recorded ‘Breaking Up Is Hard To Do’. 
1963 Dave Rotheray born in Birmingham, England. Guitarist with The Beautiful South, (1990 UK No.1 single ‘A Little Time’ plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles). 
1963 Paul and Paula started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles charts with ‘Hey Paula’, it made No.8 in the UK. 
1963 Digger Revell & The Denvermen went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Surfside. Staying at the top spot for 1wk. 
1964 Rachel Bolan born James Richard Southworth in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Bass Guitarist with Skid Row, (1989 US No.4 & 1990 UK No.12 single ’18 and Life’). 
1964 The Beatles made their US live debut on CBS-TV’s ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’; they performed five songs including their current No.1 ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ watched by an estimated 73 million people. The show had received over 50,000 applications for the 728 seats in the TV studio. 
1967 The film for the latest Beatles single ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ was shown on BBC-TV’s Top Of The Pops. It was the first Beatles single not to make No.1 in the UK since 1963, held off the top by Engelbert Humperdinck’s ‘Release Me.’ 
1967 Canadian conductor Percy Faith died aged 67. He scored the 1953 hit ‘Song from the Moulin Rouge’ and 1960 US No.1 ‘Theme From A Summer Place’, nine weeks at No.1, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1961. 
1968 Hal Cone former manager of The Monkees and Head of Jones Records was found guilty of theft, forgery, receiving stolen property and conspiracy. 
1972 Paul McCartney’s Wings played the first night of a UK College tour in Nottingham. The group arrived unannounced asking social secretaries if they would like them to perform that evening. The band’s intended first stop on the tour, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, refused to allow them to play so they drove on to Nottingham. Admission was 40p, British pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz was the opening act for the tour. 
1974 The Love Unlimited Orchestra went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Love’s Theme’, it made No.10 in the UK. 
1976 Canadian conductor Percy Faith died aged aged 68 in Los Angeles, California. He scored the 1960 US No.1 ‘Theme From A Summer Palace’, nine weeks at No.1 
1981 American singer Bill Haley was found dead, fully clothed on his bed at his home in Harlingen, Texas from a heart attack, Haley had sold over 60 million records during his career. Scored the 1955 UK & US No.1 single ‘Rock Around The Clock’, and became known as the first Rock ‘n’ Roll star. Haley was blinded in his left eye as a child due to a botched operation and later adopted his distinctive spit-curl hairstyle to distract attention from his blind eye. 
1982 George Harrison presented UNICEF with a cheque for $9 million (£5.3 million), ten years after the fundraising concert for Bangladesh. 
1984 Rachel Bolan, from American heavy metal band Skid Row. The group achieved commercial success in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with its first two albums Skid Row (1989) and Slave to the Grind (1991) the latter of which reached No.1 on the Billboard chart. 
1984 Pat Benetar went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Love Is A Battlefield’. Staying at the top spot for 5wks in a row. 
1985 Elaine Page and Barbara Dickson were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Know Him So Well.’ The song was taken from the musical Chess, written by Tim Rice and Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from Abba. It gave Benny and Bjorn their 10th No.1 as writers. 
1985 Madonna started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Like A Virgin’, a No.3 hit in the UK. 
1986 Pete Townshend, Chrissie Hynde and The Communards played a charity show at London’s Albert Hall for the victims of a volcanic eruption in Colombia. 
1987 Winners at this years Brit awards held in London included Peter Gabriel who won British Male Solo Artist, Kate Bush won British Female Solo Artist, Best British Group went to Five Star, British Album was Dire Straits ‘Brothers In Arms’, British Breakthrough Act was The Housemartins, International Solo Artist went to Paul Simon, The Bangles won Best International Group, Best British Video went to Peter Gabriel for ‘Sledgehammer’ and Best British Single was The Pet Shop Boys for ‘West End Girls’. 
1990 Nirvana set out on a short west coast tour opening for Dinosaur Jr. at the Pine Street Theater, Portland, Oregon. 
1991 C & C Music Factory started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Gonna Make You Sweat’, a No.3 hit in the UK. 
1992 Touring Australia and New Zealand for the first and only time Nirvana appeared at the Logan Campbell Center in Auckland, New Zealand. 
1993 British broadcaster Bill Grundy died of a heart attack aged 69. He conducted the famous Sex Pistols interview on Thames Television on December 1, 1976; when Grundy provoked the band into using obscenities on live TV. The broadcast wrecked Grundy’s television career. He was also the first television presenter to present The Beatles on Granada Television on October 17, 1962. 
1997 Mississippi blues artist Jack Owens died aged 92. In 1995 he appeared in a TV advertisement for Levi’s jeans, showing him seated on his front porch. 
1998 Brit Award winners included All Saints best single and video with ‘Never Never’, The Verve, best group and album with ‘Urban Hymns’, best male artist was Finley Quaye, best female was Shola Ama and Stereophonics won the best newcomers. 
2001 Eminem beefed up security for his UK shows following the threat of gay rights protests. Campaigners said the rapper was a homophobe who fuelled prejudice with hate-filled lyrics. 
2002 Billboard published the Top 5 selling albums in the world from 2001: Britney Spears ‘Britney’, $7m (£4.1m); Shaggy’s ‘Hotshot’, $7.2m £4.24m); Destiny’s Child’s ‘Survivor’, $7.8m (£4.6m); Linkin Park’s ‘Hybrid’, $8.5m (£5m) and Dido’s ‘No Angel’, $8.6m (£5.06m) sales. 
2003 Destiny’s Child Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Simply Deep.’ 
2005 Winners at this year’s Brit Awards included The Streets who won Best British male solo artist, Joss Stone won British female solo artist, Best British Album went to Keane for ‘Hopes and Fears’, Franz Ferdinand won Best British Group and Best Rock Act, McFly won Best Pop Act, Scissor Sisters won Best International group and the Best Album award the Brits 25 best song award went to Robbie Williams for ‘Angels’ and Sir Bob Geldof won the Outstanding Contribution To Music award. 
2009 Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant took home five prizes for his collaboration with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss at this year’s Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles. The duo won album of the year for Raising Sand and record of the year for ‘Please Read The Letter.’ Coldplay, (who won song of the year for ‘Viva La Vida’) Adele, Duffy, Radiohead and Peter Gabriel were among other UK acts to be honoured. 
2009 Ringo Starr became the 2,401st person to be added to the Hollywood Walk Of Fame during a ceremony that marked the 50th anniversary of the attraction. The Beatles as a group were given a star in 1998. 
2010 The White Stripes were taking on the US Air Force, complaining that it used one of the group’s songs ‘Fell In Love With A Girl’ in a TV advert without permission. In a statement on their website, the duo said they took “strong insult and objection, with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support.” 
2015 Bob Dylan turned the tables on his critics during a 30-minute speech, at the Musicares charity gala honouring his career. The 73-year-old, who rarely talks about his work, asked why critics complained he “can’t sing” and sounds “like a frog” but do not “say that about Tom Waits?” The singer added, “Critics say my voice is shot, that I have no voice. Why don’t they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment?”