1936 - This is the day that British composer Richard Rodney Bennett was born, and remains one of Britain’s most respected and versatile musicians. His versatility with music composition had enabled Bennett to produce more than 200 works for the concert hall, and fifty scores for film and television, as well as having been a writer and live performer of jazz songs since the 50s, which is also when he studied with Boulez and immersed himself in the techniques of European avant-garde, though he subsequently developed his own distinctive drama-abstract style. In recent years, he has adopted an increasingly tonal idiom. He was knighted for Services to Music in 1998. Among present-day musicians, there can be few more versatile than Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, and none better at everything he does: composing for concerts and films, playing the piano in contemporary music and in jazz idioms, singing and playing classic show tunes in cabaret. For many years all these activities seemed tightly compartmentalised, but since his move in 1979 to New York City, away from the pernicious British habit of pigeonholing, they have proved capable of feeding fruitfully into each other. He's done this with different strands of his compositional activity - concert music, film music, jazz, and (yet another area of expertise) simple music for young performers. Additionally the direct contact with audiences which his cabaret performances brought him encouraged him to reach out to the general concert-goer. His movie scores go back to the swinging sixties when he wrote the music for the Julie Christie classic, Far From The Madding Crowd, and has since written the scores for movies such as Four Weddings And A Funeral, The Tale Of Sweeney Todd, and this classic, star-studded movie Murder On The Orient Express.
1951 - The King And I, the fifth stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened 60 years ago today. The musical is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, which was itself based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. Rodgers and Hammerstein initially sought Rex Harrison to play the supporting part of the King—he had played the role in the 1946 movie made from Landon's book—but Harrison was unavailable. They settled on Russian-American actor Yul Brynner, turning out to be the best man for the role. The musical was an immediate hit, winning Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Actress, and Best Featured Actor. A national tour and a hit London run followed, together with a 1956 film for which Brynner won an Academy Award. More successful revivals followed. In the early 1980s, Brynner starred in an extended national tour of the musical, culminating with a 1985 Broadway run, shortly before his death. The King and I saw another Broadway revival in 1996, with Lou Diamond Phillips as the King, and a 2000 London production. What follows is one of the best scenes from the movie, with Brynner and Deborah Kerr.
1962 - I hope that all of today's so-called r&b singers listen to Gene Chandler, who, on this day, received a gold record for this song, Duke of Earl, and deservedly so. The song is supreme. His voice is supreme. He is the master showman, and one of my all-time favourites.
1973 - They sang about it, they pleaded for it at every concert, and Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, a year after their huge worldwide hit, On The Cover Of The Rolling Stone. Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show was a pop-country rock band formed around Union City, New Jersey in 1969, fronted by Dennis Locorriere and Ray Sawyer. They enjoyed commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles such as Sylvia's Mother, The Cover of the Rolling Stone, A Little Bit More", and When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman. In addition to their own originals, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show performed songs written by poet Shel Silverstein, of children's book fame. This is the song, with a compilation of Rolling Stone covers.
1976 - In Memphis, Bruce Springsteen jumped a fence at Elvis Presley's Graceland today in an attempt to see his life-long idol and inspiration to play music and be a performer, Elvis Presley. Springsteen was enjoying the first rush of great fame and had just played Memphis on his Born to Run tour, so decided to catch a cab to Graceland. Noticing a light on up at the house, he climbed the wall and ran to the front door. As he was about to knock, Security interceded. Springsteen recalls asking, "Is Elvis home?". Answer: "No, Elvis isn't home, he's in Lake Tahoe." As he was politely escorted to the street, Springsteen attempted to impress the guards by telling all about his being a recording star and his having recently made the covers of Time and Newsweek.
1980 - It is now 31 years today since The BeeGees were sued by a Chicago man for plagiarism of the song How Deep Is Your Love. The BeeGees won the case on appeal. Are you old enough to watch this, one of the most boring videos ever, for this beautiful love song.
1988 - Madonna debuted on Broadway in Speed The Plow. She doesn't do Broadway now, so that seems to indicate she did not feel she was all that good at acting on stage. Here's American TV gossip show's take on her performance. What do you think?
1998 - This is the day Shania Twain began her first headlining tour in her Canadian homeland in Sudbury, Ontario. And here she is, feeling like a woman, short skirt and all.
