1941 - And speaking of swinging, Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra could swing, too, and today was the day - exactly 70 years ago - when he recorded Green Eyes, with vocals by the gorgeous Helen O'Connell.
1957 - This was the day Elvis Presley bought the mansion he would later call Graceland, and just a year later, 1958, Our Song was released by Tom and Jerry. Later they revealed it their real names, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and if you listen and watch closely on this montage of stills, you'll recognise what would become Simon & Garfunkel.
1959 - This fifties was definitely the decade when rock'n'roll infiltrated our global consciousness, with such a variety of style., and heading the pop singing solo male, pretty-boy rockers was Bobby Rydell, and this was the day he made his first TV appearance, on American Bandstand. His biggest hits were Wild One and Volare, but his first big hit was this one, Swinging School.
1961 - Another pretty boy was Ricky Nelson, who came from an entertainment family background, and he recorded one of his biggest hits 50 years ago today, Hello Mary Lou.
1962 - And it was this day that Bob Dylan released his self-titled debut album, took folk music to a new level and the art of the protest song to its own platform, giving a new perspective to rock'n'roll and to popular music. Just three years later and it was the Motown sound making a full tilt tour, its first, of the UK. So to celebrate the 46th anniversary of that tour, here is Martha and the Vandellas and one of the greatest Motown songs of all time.
1968 - Rock'n'rollers Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Richie Furay and Jim Messina were arrested on drug charges in Los Angeles, today, and exactly a year later, on the Rock of Gibraltar John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married, and exactly a year later to the day, so did David Bowie and Angela Barnett. Just two years after that and Ringo Starr released his solo song, Back Off, Boogaloo, inspire by a dinner at Ringo Starr, which Marc Bolan attended. And this is it. You can click off the advert.
1974 - The Jefferson Airplane began their first tour under their new name Jefferson Starship, and a year later came the third album from KISS, Dressed to Kill, released today. Two years later, to the day, it was the brilliance of B ad Company as they released this song, Young Blood. This is a bootleg live version from just last year, recorded at Manchester Theatre.
1991 - Tears in Heaven is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell from a window of the 53rd-floor New York apartment of his mother's friend, on March 20, 1991. Clapton, who arrived at the apartment shortly after the accident, was visibly distraught for months afterwards. This song is one of Clapton's most successful, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S. The song also spent three weeks at #1 on the American adult contemporary chart in 1992.
1991 - It was announced that Michael Jackson and Sony signed a contract that gave an $18 million advance for the forthcoming album Dangerous. The contract also made Jackson the CEO of the newly formed Nation Records (which changed its name to MJJ). The deal was reported to be worth $1 billion. As a performer he is one of the best in history, no question, up there with Fred Astaire, Elvis, Beatles, an amazing talent.
1995 - Baby It's You is a song written by Burt Bacharach (music), and Luther Dixon (credited as Barney Williams) and Mack David (lyrics). It was recorded by The Shirelles and The Beatles, both of whom had hits with the song. The highest-charting version of "Baby It's You" was by the band Smith, who took the song to number five on the US charts in 1969. The Beatles released a live version on Live at the BBC in 1994. The song was issued as a CD single and a vinyl single in 1995 in both the UK and the US, their first in nearly a decade. Both versions have four tracks, making it an EP instead of a regular issue single. It reached number seven in the UK and number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100.
