TODAY IN HISTORY – DECEMBER 17th
1939 - Born on this day, Eddie Kendricks, vocals, The Temptations, (1971 US No.1 & UK No.8 single 'Just My Imagination' and re- issued 'My Girl' UK No.2 in 1992, solo US No.1 & UK No.18 single 'Keep On Truckin'). Died on 5th October 1992.
1942 - Born on this day, Paul Butterfield, blues singer, harmonica player, (1965 album 'Paul Butterfield Blues Band'). Appeared at The Bands, 'Last Waltz'. Died on 4th May 1987.
1943 - Born on this day, David Dee, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, (1968 UK No.1 single 'Legend Of Xanadu'). Dee died on 9th Jan 2009 at the age of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer. The singer, whose real name was David Harman, was originally a police officer and as a police cadet was called to the scene of the car crash that killed Eddie Cochrane during a UK tour in 1960.
1949 - Born this day, Paul Rodgers, in England, rock singer, guitarist, Free, 1970 UK No.2 and US No.4 single All Right Now, with Bad Company, 1974 Feel like making love. More recently has performed with Queen.
1955 - Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. Less than 48 hours later, he recorded it at the Sun Studios in Memphis. The tune became one of the first records to be popular simultaneously on rock, country and rhythm & blues charts.
1958 - Born this day, Mike Mills, musician, rock bassist, R.E.M., over 20 top 40 UK singles, 1992 UK No.1 album Automatic For The People, 1993 UK No.7 single Everybody Hurts.
1963 - A disc jockey at WWDC in Washington, DC, became the first person to broadcast a Beatles record on American airwaves. James Carroll played I Want To Hold Your Hand, which he had obtained from his stewardess girlfriend who brought the single back from Britain. Due to listener demand, it played daily, every hour. Since it hadn't been released yet in the States, Capitol initially considered court action, but instead released the record earlier than planned.
1969 - The soprano-voiced, ukelele-playing Tiny Tim married the lovely Miss Vickie (Vicki Budinger) on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show on this date before a huge 50 million viewing audience. The NBC-TV program earned the second-highest, all-time audience rating; second only to Neil Armstrong's walking on the moon. The unlikely couple later divorced in 1977, but not before Miss Vickie gave birth to daughter Tulip.
1969 - Chicago Transit Authority became a gold record for the group of the same name (they later changed the name to simply Chicago. When the album was released by Columbia Records, it marked the first time an artist's debut LP was a double record.
1969 - Born this day, Micky Quinn, bass, Supergrass, 1995 UK No.2 single Alright.
1971 - David Bowie released his fourth album Hunky Dory, which was the first to feature all the members of the band that would become known the following year as Ziggy Stardust's Spiders From Mars.
1973 - Slade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Merry Xmas Everybody' their sixth chart topper. It has been released during every decade since 1973, and has been covered by numerous artists. In a 2007 poll, 'Merry Xmas Everybody' was voted the UK's most popular Christmas song.
1977 - A Mr. David Ackroyd purchased the one-millionth copy of Mull Of Kintyre by Wings and became the first record buyer to receive a Gold Disc.
1977 - Elvis Costello made a rare TV appearance when Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols failed to show up for a gig. Deputising for The Sex Pistols on NBC-TVs Saturday Night Live, Elvis Costello stopped his performance of Less Than Zero, saying, 'there's no reason to do this', and launched into Radio Radio which he had been told not to perform.
1982 – Karen Carpenter gave her last performance singing Christmas Carols. She died of Anorexia 7 weeks later. (Died February 4th 1983)
1988 - Featured on the front page of the NME, Bros, interviewed for the paper, a quote from Matt, 'We've got the quickest selling debut LP in the history of CBS Records. You don't do that if your talentless'.
1994 - Singer Celine Dion married her manager Rene Angelil at the Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal.
1994 - A remixed version of The Four Seasons' "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" re-entered the US Hot 100, where it stayed for another 27 weeks, just as it did when it first charted in 1976. The combined run will establish a record for the longest total chart appearance in US chart history.
1999 - American jazz-funk, soul-jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr died of a heart attack aged 56. He collapsed in the green room after taping four songs for The Early Show, at CBS Studios in New York City, He released over 20 solo albums and featured on the 1981 Bill Withers hit ‘Just The Two of Us.’
2000 - Bob The Builder started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with Can You Fix It. It was also the Christmas No.1 for 2000.
2000 - Eminem was the subject of a sick Internet hoax after MTV reported that the rapper had been killed in a car crash en route to a party.
2004 - Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley agreed to sell 85% of his estate to businessman Robert Sillerman in a deal worth $100m. Sillerman would run Presley's Memphis home Graceland, and own Elvis' name and the rights to all revenue from his music and films. In the deal Lisa Marie would retain possession of Graceland and many of her father's ‘personal effects.’
2010 - Sir Paul McCartney performed an intimate lunchtime gig at the 100 Club on London's Oxford Street, the historic music venue threatened with closure. Around 300 fans were treated to a set lasting almost two hours, in what was McCartney’s smallest gig in the UK for nearly 10 years. A campaign to keep the 100 Club open had attracted support from Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and Sir Mick Jagger.
2012 - Adele was named Billboard's top artist of 2012, while her hit record 21 was named top album of the year in the music magazine's annual review. The 24-year-old became the first to receive both accolades two years in a row. The year's top three songs were Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know, Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe and Fun's We Are Young. respectively.
1939 - Born on this day, Eddie Kendricks, vocals, The Temptations, (1971 US No.1 & UK No.8 single 'Just My Imagination' and re- issued 'My Girl' UK No.2 in 1992, solo US No.1 & UK No.18 single 'Keep On Truckin'). Died on 5th October 1992.
1942 - Born on this day, Paul Butterfield, blues singer, harmonica player, (1965 album 'Paul Butterfield Blues Band'). Appeared at The Bands, 'Last Waltz'. Died on 4th May 1987.
1943 - Born on this day, David Dee, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, (1968 UK No.1 single 'Legend Of Xanadu'). Dee died on 9th Jan 2009 at the age of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer. The singer, whose real name was David Harman, was originally a police officer and as a police cadet was called to the scene of the car crash that killed Eddie Cochrane during a UK tour in 1960.
1949 - Born this day, Paul Rodgers, in England, rock singer, guitarist, Free, 1970 UK No.2 and US No.4 single All Right Now, with Bad Company, 1974 Feel like making love. More recently has performed with Queen.
1955 - Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. Less than 48 hours later, he recorded it at the Sun Studios in Memphis. The tune became one of the first records to be popular simultaneously on rock, country and rhythm & blues charts.
1958 - Born this day, Mike Mills, musician, rock bassist, R.E.M., over 20 top 40 UK singles, 1992 UK No.1 album Automatic For The People, 1993 UK No.7 single Everybody Hurts.
1963 - A disc jockey at WWDC in Washington, DC, became the first person to broadcast a Beatles record on American airwaves. James Carroll played I Want To Hold Your Hand, which he had obtained from his stewardess girlfriend who brought the single back from Britain. Due to listener demand, it played daily, every hour. Since it hadn't been released yet in the States, Capitol initially considered court action, but instead released the record earlier than planned.
1969 - The soprano-voiced, ukelele-playing Tiny Tim married the lovely Miss Vickie (Vicki Budinger) on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show on this date before a huge 50 million viewing audience. The NBC-TV program earned the second-highest, all-time audience rating; second only to Neil Armstrong's walking on the moon. The unlikely couple later divorced in 1977, but not before Miss Vickie gave birth to daughter Tulip.
1969 - Chicago Transit Authority became a gold record for the group of the same name (they later changed the name to simply Chicago. When the album was released by Columbia Records, it marked the first time an artist's debut LP was a double record.
1969 - Born this day, Micky Quinn, bass, Supergrass, 1995 UK No.2 single Alright.
1971 - David Bowie released his fourth album Hunky Dory, which was the first to feature all the members of the band that would become known the following year as Ziggy Stardust's Spiders From Mars.
1973 - Slade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Merry Xmas Everybody' their sixth chart topper. It has been released during every decade since 1973, and has been covered by numerous artists. In a 2007 poll, 'Merry Xmas Everybody' was voted the UK's most popular Christmas song.
1977 - A Mr. David Ackroyd purchased the one-millionth copy of Mull Of Kintyre by Wings and became the first record buyer to receive a Gold Disc.
1977 - Elvis Costello made a rare TV appearance when Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols failed to show up for a gig. Deputising for The Sex Pistols on NBC-TVs Saturday Night Live, Elvis Costello stopped his performance of Less Than Zero, saying, 'there's no reason to do this', and launched into Radio Radio which he had been told not to perform.
1982 – Karen Carpenter gave her last performance singing Christmas Carols. She died of Anorexia 7 weeks later. (Died February 4th 1983)
1988 - Featured on the front page of the NME, Bros, interviewed for the paper, a quote from Matt, 'We've got the quickest selling debut LP in the history of CBS Records. You don't do that if your talentless'.
1994 - Singer Celine Dion married her manager Rene Angelil at the Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal.
1994 - A remixed version of The Four Seasons' "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" re-entered the US Hot 100, where it stayed for another 27 weeks, just as it did when it first charted in 1976. The combined run will establish a record for the longest total chart appearance in US chart history.
1999 - American jazz-funk, soul-jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr died of a heart attack aged 56. He collapsed in the green room after taping four songs for The Early Show, at CBS Studios in New York City, He released over 20 solo albums and featured on the 1981 Bill Withers hit ‘Just The Two of Us.’
2000 - Bob The Builder started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with Can You Fix It. It was also the Christmas No.1 for 2000.
2000 - Eminem was the subject of a sick Internet hoax after MTV reported that the rapper had been killed in a car crash en route to a party.
2004 - Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley agreed to sell 85% of his estate to businessman Robert Sillerman in a deal worth $100m. Sillerman would run Presley's Memphis home Graceland, and own Elvis' name and the rights to all revenue from his music and films. In the deal Lisa Marie would retain possession of Graceland and many of her father's ‘personal effects.’
2010 - Sir Paul McCartney performed an intimate lunchtime gig at the 100 Club on London's Oxford Street, the historic music venue threatened with closure. Around 300 fans were treated to a set lasting almost two hours, in what was McCartney’s smallest gig in the UK for nearly 10 years. A campaign to keep the 100 Club open had attracted support from Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and Sir Mick Jagger.
2012 - Adele was named Billboard's top artist of 2012, while her hit record 21 was named top album of the year in the music magazine's annual review. The 24-year-old became the first to receive both accolades two years in a row. The year's top three songs were Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know, Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe and Fun's We Are Young. respectively.