TODAY IN HISTORY – 21st JULY
1947 - Born this day, Cat Stevens [Stephen Georgiou], singer, songwriter, 1967 UK No.2 single Matthew And Son, 1972 UK No.9 and US No.6 single Morning Has Broken, Rich Wakeman played pianoon this track. Other tracks include Wild World, Moon Shadow, Peace Train, Oh Very Young. Wrote The First Cut Is The Deepest covered by PP Arnold, Rod Stewart and Cheryl Crow. Converted to the Muslim religion in 1977 changing his name to Yusef Islam.
1969 - Just one day after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Duke Ellington and a portion of his band performed a 10-minute composition on ABC-TV titled, Moon Maiden. The work featured piano, drums, bass and vocals.
1969 - The Beatles started work on the John Lennon song 'Come Together' at Abbey Road studios in London. The track became the opening song on The Beatles Abbey Road album and was later released as a double A-sided single with 'Something', their twenty-first single in the UK and twenty-sixth in the US where it reached the top of the charts.
1973 - Jim Croce started a two week run at No.1 on the US Billboard singles chart with Bad, Bad Leroy Brown. Croce was killed in a plane crash three months later on 20 September 1973.
1973 - Canned Heat, Chuck Berry, Nazareth, Edgar Broughton Band, Groundhogs, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Medicine Head, all appeared at this years Buxton Festival in Derbyshire, England. Hell's Angels arrived in force and proceeded to drink the site dry. Initially they paid for the booze, but when the money ran out a deputation was sent into the audience to collect donations of 10p per person. About 20 minutes into his set Chuck Burry was showing one of the Angels how to do his duck-walk properly. He did a magnificent one from one end of the stage to the other and disappeared into the wings. The band played on, the Angels bopped, and Chuck legged it to his car and drove off at high speed, never to return.
1977 - Linda Ronstadt joined the Rolling Stones onstage at their Tucson, Arizona concert, singing Tumblin' Dice with them.
1977 - Despite protests, The Sex Pistols made their first appearance on the UK music show Top Of The Pops, where they lip-synched to their third single, 'Pretty Vacant'. The performance helped push the song up the charts to No.7.
1987 - Guns N’ Roses released their debut album on Geffen Records: Appetite for Destruction featured the singles 'Welcome to the Jungle', 'Sweet Child o' Mine', and 'Paradise City'. The album now has worldwide sales in excess of 28 million, 18 million of which are in the US, making it the best-selling debut album of all time there.
1990 - Roger Waters' The Wall, took place at the Berlin Wall in Potzdamer Platz, Berlin. Over 200,000 people attended and the event was broadcast live throughout the world, Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell and others took part. (Play “Another Brick in the Wall”)
1995 - A judge in Los Angeles threw out a lawsuit against Michael Jackson by five of his former security guards. The guards had claimed they were fired for knowing too much about night-time visits by young boys to Jackson's estate. The singer denied any improprieties.
1996 - Alanis Morissette started a second run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Jagged Little Pill, which stayed at the top for eight weeks.
2002 - Producer Gus Dudgeon was killed in a car accident, his wife, Sheila, also died in the accident. Best known for his work with Elton John. Also produced David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Zombies, Kiki Dee, Strawbs, XTC, Joan Armatrading.
2003 - Coldplay singer Chris Martin was charged with malicious damage in Australia after he allegedly attacked a photographer's car who had taken pictures of him surfing at Seven Mile Beach. Martin admitted he had lost his temper due to the constant harassment by that journalist, and consequently smashed his windscreen and let the air out of his tyres.
2005 - UK singer Long John Baldry died of a chest infection. He was one of the founding fathers of British Rock 'n' Roll in the 1960s performing with Blues Incorporated and Cyril Davies' R&B All Stars. He later fronted the Hoochie Coochie Men, with Rod Stewart and then Steam Packet with Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll. Also a member of Bluesology with Elton John. He also narrated on Winnie The Pooh recordings for Disney and was the voice for Robotnik on the Sonic The Hedgehog computer game.
2008 - The Police played the first of two nights at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado during the final leg of their 152-date world Reunion tour. The tour became the third highest grossing tour of all time, with revenues reaching over $340 million.
1947 - Born this day, Cat Stevens [Stephen Georgiou], singer, songwriter, 1967 UK No.2 single Matthew And Son, 1972 UK No.9 and US No.6 single Morning Has Broken, Rich Wakeman played pianoon this track. Other tracks include Wild World, Moon Shadow, Peace Train, Oh Very Young. Wrote The First Cut Is The Deepest covered by PP Arnold, Rod Stewart and Cheryl Crow. Converted to the Muslim religion in 1977 changing his name to Yusef Islam.
1969 - Just one day after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Duke Ellington and a portion of his band performed a 10-minute composition on ABC-TV titled, Moon Maiden. The work featured piano, drums, bass and vocals.
1969 - The Beatles started work on the John Lennon song 'Come Together' at Abbey Road studios in London. The track became the opening song on The Beatles Abbey Road album and was later released as a double A-sided single with 'Something', their twenty-first single in the UK and twenty-sixth in the US where it reached the top of the charts.
1973 - Jim Croce started a two week run at No.1 on the US Billboard singles chart with Bad, Bad Leroy Brown. Croce was killed in a plane crash three months later on 20 September 1973.
1973 - Canned Heat, Chuck Berry, Nazareth, Edgar Broughton Band, Groundhogs, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Medicine Head, all appeared at this years Buxton Festival in Derbyshire, England. Hell's Angels arrived in force and proceeded to drink the site dry. Initially they paid for the booze, but when the money ran out a deputation was sent into the audience to collect donations of 10p per person. About 20 minutes into his set Chuck Burry was showing one of the Angels how to do his duck-walk properly. He did a magnificent one from one end of the stage to the other and disappeared into the wings. The band played on, the Angels bopped, and Chuck legged it to his car and drove off at high speed, never to return.
1977 - Linda Ronstadt joined the Rolling Stones onstage at their Tucson, Arizona concert, singing Tumblin' Dice with them.
1977 - Despite protests, The Sex Pistols made their first appearance on the UK music show Top Of The Pops, where they lip-synched to their third single, 'Pretty Vacant'. The performance helped push the song up the charts to No.7.
1987 - Guns N’ Roses released their debut album on Geffen Records: Appetite for Destruction featured the singles 'Welcome to the Jungle', 'Sweet Child o' Mine', and 'Paradise City'. The album now has worldwide sales in excess of 28 million, 18 million of which are in the US, making it the best-selling debut album of all time there.
1990 - Roger Waters' The Wall, took place at the Berlin Wall in Potzdamer Platz, Berlin. Over 200,000 people attended and the event was broadcast live throughout the world, Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell and others took part. (Play “Another Brick in the Wall”)
1995 - A judge in Los Angeles threw out a lawsuit against Michael Jackson by five of his former security guards. The guards had claimed they were fired for knowing too much about night-time visits by young boys to Jackson's estate. The singer denied any improprieties.
1996 - Alanis Morissette started a second run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Jagged Little Pill, which stayed at the top for eight weeks.
2002 - Producer Gus Dudgeon was killed in a car accident, his wife, Sheila, also died in the accident. Best known for his work with Elton John. Also produced David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Zombies, Kiki Dee, Strawbs, XTC, Joan Armatrading.
2003 - Coldplay singer Chris Martin was charged with malicious damage in Australia after he allegedly attacked a photographer's car who had taken pictures of him surfing at Seven Mile Beach. Martin admitted he had lost his temper due to the constant harassment by that journalist, and consequently smashed his windscreen and let the air out of his tyres.
2005 - UK singer Long John Baldry died of a chest infection. He was one of the founding fathers of British Rock 'n' Roll in the 1960s performing with Blues Incorporated and Cyril Davies' R&B All Stars. He later fronted the Hoochie Coochie Men, with Rod Stewart and then Steam Packet with Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll. Also a member of Bluesology with Elton John. He also narrated on Winnie The Pooh recordings for Disney and was the voice for Robotnik on the Sonic The Hedgehog computer game.
2008 - The Police played the first of two nights at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado during the final leg of their 152-date world Reunion tour. The tour became the third highest grossing tour of all time, with revenues reaching over $340 million.