TODAY IN HISTORY – DECEMBER 21st
1940 - Born this day, Frank Zappa, in Baltimore, Maryland, composer, musician, songwriter, singer, satirist, 1970 UK No.9 album Hot Rats. (Mothers of Invention, Catholic Girls, Valley Girl [w/daughter Moon]). Died 4 December 1993. Before going into the music business, Frank Zappa was a greeting-card designer.
1946 - Born this day, Carl Dean Wilson, in Hawthorne, California, musician, guitar, singer, The Beach Boys, 1966 UK and US No.1 single Good Vibrations, plus over 25 other UK top 40 singles including I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda, California Girls, Surfin’ USA, Little Deuce Coupe, Surfer Girl, Be True to Your School. Brother of Brian and Dennis. The original group was Carl and the Passions. Died 6 February 1998.
1966 - The Beach Boys received a gold record for the single Good Vibrations.
1968 - David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash premiered together in California.
1968 - The first solo Janis Joplin concert was held, in Memphis, Tennessee.
1968 - Glen Campbell topped the US album chart with 'Wichita Lineman'. Although the LP would stay on the chart for 46 weeks, it would be Campbell's only No.1 album.
1969 - The Supremes made their last TV appearance together with Diana Ross on 'The Ed Sullivan show', singing their last No.1 'Someday We'll Be Together'.
1970 - A stretch limousine carrying Elvis Presley pulled up outside the White House in Washington, D.C. The driver handed over a letter from Elvis addressed to President Nixon requesting a meeting to discuss how the King of Rock and Roll could help Nixon fight drugs. The President agreed to give Presley a Narcotics Bureau badge - but only after learning that the chief of the narcotics bureau had turned down the same request earlier that day and told Presley the only person who could overrule his decision was the President. At Elvis' request, the meeting remained secret for more than a year, until the Washington Post broke the story on January 27th, 1972.
1974 - Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle rose to the Number 1 spot on Billboard's record charts, and was there for one week.
1974 - Mud were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Chinn & Chapman song 'Lonely This Christmas'. The group's second No.1 and third chart topper for Chinn & Chapman in 1974.
1985 - Lionel Richie started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Say You, Say Me', a No.8 hit in the UK.
1985 - Bruce Springsteen’s album, Born in the USA, passed Michael Jackson’s Thriller to become the second longest-lasting LP in the top 10. It stayed there for 79 weeks. Only The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews lasted longer: 109 weeks.
1988 - Pan Am World Airways Flight 103 was the target of a terrorist attack. The jet exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 258 passengers and crew, plus several people who were on the ground at the site of the crash. Ex Cockney Rebel bass player Paul Jeffreys was one of the passengers killed.
1991 - Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives by Queen started a five week run at No.1 in the UK, released as a tribute to Freddie Mercury. It was also the Christmas No.1 for this year.
1995 - Former Oasis drummer Tony McCarrol, issued a writ against the band seeking damages and royalties from his work on ('What's The Story) Morning Glory'.
1999 - The readers of Guitar magazine voted Noel Gallagher the most overrated guitarist of the millennium. Jimi Hendrix was voted guitarist of the millennium with Nirvana's Nevermind winning best album.
2001 - Police launched an investigation into why Olivia Harrison listed a non-existent Beverly Hills address as the place of George Harrison's death.
2003 - American Idol winner Ruben Studdard was at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Soulful.'
2005 - The Sugababes unveiled their new member just a day after Mutya Buena announced she was leaving. Self-confessed Sugababes fan Amelle Berrabah, 21, from Hampshire, was named as the new singer in the group. "For years I've dreamt of breaking into the music business but never did I dream of waking up one day to be the third Sugababe," she said. Buena said she left because she wanted a break from promoting the band's album Taller in More Ways.
2012 - Paul Simon performed his classic track The Sound of Silence at the funeral of a teacher who died in the school shooting in Connecticut on 14 December of this year. The 1966 song was understood to be a favourite of 27-year-old Victoria Soto, a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The singer, a family friend, performed the song in front of some 400 mourners, at Soto's local church on Wednesday. Twenty six people were killed by Adam Lanza in the mass shooting the previous week.
2012 - 'Gangnam Style' by South Korean musician Psy became the first YouTube video to reach a billion views. By the end of 2012, the song had topped the music charts of more than 30 countries.
1940 - Born this day, Frank Zappa, in Baltimore, Maryland, composer, musician, songwriter, singer, satirist, 1970 UK No.9 album Hot Rats. (Mothers of Invention, Catholic Girls, Valley Girl [w/daughter Moon]). Died 4 December 1993. Before going into the music business, Frank Zappa was a greeting-card designer.
1946 - Born this day, Carl Dean Wilson, in Hawthorne, California, musician, guitar, singer, The Beach Boys, 1966 UK and US No.1 single Good Vibrations, plus over 25 other UK top 40 singles including I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda, California Girls, Surfin’ USA, Little Deuce Coupe, Surfer Girl, Be True to Your School. Brother of Brian and Dennis. The original group was Carl and the Passions. Died 6 February 1998.
1966 - The Beach Boys received a gold record for the single Good Vibrations.
1968 - David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash premiered together in California.
1968 - The first solo Janis Joplin concert was held, in Memphis, Tennessee.
1968 - Glen Campbell topped the US album chart with 'Wichita Lineman'. Although the LP would stay on the chart for 46 weeks, it would be Campbell's only No.1 album.
1969 - The Supremes made their last TV appearance together with Diana Ross on 'The Ed Sullivan show', singing their last No.1 'Someday We'll Be Together'.
1970 - A stretch limousine carrying Elvis Presley pulled up outside the White House in Washington, D.C. The driver handed over a letter from Elvis addressed to President Nixon requesting a meeting to discuss how the King of Rock and Roll could help Nixon fight drugs. The President agreed to give Presley a Narcotics Bureau badge - but only after learning that the chief of the narcotics bureau had turned down the same request earlier that day and told Presley the only person who could overrule his decision was the President. At Elvis' request, the meeting remained secret for more than a year, until the Washington Post broke the story on January 27th, 1972.
1974 - Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle rose to the Number 1 spot on Billboard's record charts, and was there for one week.
1974 - Mud were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Chinn & Chapman song 'Lonely This Christmas'. The group's second No.1 and third chart topper for Chinn & Chapman in 1974.
1985 - Lionel Richie started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Say You, Say Me', a No.8 hit in the UK.
1985 - Bruce Springsteen’s album, Born in the USA, passed Michael Jackson’s Thriller to become the second longest-lasting LP in the top 10. It stayed there for 79 weeks. Only The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews lasted longer: 109 weeks.
1988 - Pan Am World Airways Flight 103 was the target of a terrorist attack. The jet exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 258 passengers and crew, plus several people who were on the ground at the site of the crash. Ex Cockney Rebel bass player Paul Jeffreys was one of the passengers killed.
1991 - Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives by Queen started a five week run at No.1 in the UK, released as a tribute to Freddie Mercury. It was also the Christmas No.1 for this year.
1995 - Former Oasis drummer Tony McCarrol, issued a writ against the band seeking damages and royalties from his work on ('What's The Story) Morning Glory'.
1999 - The readers of Guitar magazine voted Noel Gallagher the most overrated guitarist of the millennium. Jimi Hendrix was voted guitarist of the millennium with Nirvana's Nevermind winning best album.
2001 - Police launched an investigation into why Olivia Harrison listed a non-existent Beverly Hills address as the place of George Harrison's death.
2003 - American Idol winner Ruben Studdard was at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Soulful.'
2005 - The Sugababes unveiled their new member just a day after Mutya Buena announced she was leaving. Self-confessed Sugababes fan Amelle Berrabah, 21, from Hampshire, was named as the new singer in the group. "For years I've dreamt of breaking into the music business but never did I dream of waking up one day to be the third Sugababe," she said. Buena said she left because she wanted a break from promoting the band's album Taller in More Ways.
2012 - Paul Simon performed his classic track The Sound of Silence at the funeral of a teacher who died in the school shooting in Connecticut on 14 December of this year. The 1966 song was understood to be a favourite of 27-year-old Victoria Soto, a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The singer, a family friend, performed the song in front of some 400 mourners, at Soto's local church on Wednesday. Twenty six people were killed by Adam Lanza in the mass shooting the previous week.
2012 - 'Gangnam Style' by South Korean musician Psy became the first YouTube video to reach a billion views. By the end of 2012, the song had topped the music charts of more than 30 countries.