1861 - Had she been alive, Dame Nellie Melba would have been 150 years old today. The Australian opera soprano singer was a superstar, possibly the best known superstar of the western world at her peak, during the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century, due to the purity of her lyrical voice and the brilliance of her technique. Melba was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician, and along with Mary Whitty, was the first stage performer to be granted damehood of the Order of the British Empire. She was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1918 for her charity work during World War I, and was elevated to Dame Grand Cross of the British Empire in 1927. Melba was the first Australian to appear on the cover of Time magazine, in April 1927.
1958 - This was the day when Bobby Darin's break-through pop/rock single, Splish Splash, was released as the first ever eight-track master tape recording pressed to a plastic 45-RPM disc, a technological revolution at the time. Darin was a multi-talented two-time grammy award winning American singer, Oscar nominated actor, song writer, and accomplished musician. Darin performed widely in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country, and, in truth, was at the crossroads of a generational music mood swing. Not known to the general public was that his health was dangerously fragile, and that could have been one of the many factors that strongly motivated him to succeed within the limited lifetime he feared he would, and ultimately, did have. As if that wasn't enough, he crossed the hallowed ground of creativity to also become a successful music business entrepreneur. His wish for a legacy was "to be remembered as a human being and as a great performer." Among his many other contributions, he became a goodwill ambassador for the American Heart Association. Love him.
1960 - And it's 51 years since The Drifters recorded Save the Last Dance For Me. The Drifters are a long-lived American doo wop/R&B vocal group with their worldwide popularity peak firmly between around 1953 and 1962, but, as with other vocal acts of this era, several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed by Clyde McPhatter (of Billy Ward & the Dominoes) in 1953, and McPhatter himself had a big solo hit called Lover Please. Rolling Stone magazine states that the Drifters were the least stable of the vocal groups due to their management only paying low-paid hired musicians. The Treadwell Drifters website states that there have been 60 vocalists in the history of the Treadwell Drifters line. Several splinter groups by former Drifters members add to the count. Only one splinter Drifters group features a classic Drifters member, and that is Charlie Thomas' Drifters. Nevertheless, there are two versions of the Drifters that are notable. The first classic Drifters formed by Clyde McPhatter was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as The Drifters, or The Original Drifters. The second Drifters formed by Treadwell featuring Ben E. King was separately inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as Ben E. King and The Drifters. In their induction, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame eclectically selected four members from the classic Drifters, two from the second Drifters, and one from the post-King Treadwell Drifters. According to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, "Through turmoil and changes the (original) Drifters managed to set musical trends and give the public 13 chart hits, most of which are legendary recordings today." Watch the Drifters, then Clyde McPhatter doing some awesome boogie, with the aforementioned Bobby Darin playing keys, then swinging it one time...a *MUSICBACKTRACK* gem!
1961 - This is the year The Everly Brothers went indie, just like Frank Sinatra did just a few short years later, and launched their own record label, Caliope. For full details and videos of the Everly Brothers, go to our archive search engine. Just four years later, same day, FBI agents visited Wand Records, to investigate lyrics to the song Louie Louie by the Kingsmen. God knows why they did this, there is innuendo, but only slight innuendo in the lyrics, but there you have it, it happened. Censorship, eh? Always looks ridiculous looking back at censorship in any generation. See for yourself with the Kingsmen's version of the song...And then there's Iggy's version, and after that, a version from the Pinks Finks.
1973 - This was the day, almost 40 years ago, that Paul Simon released Kodachrome, the song with the memorable opening line, "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all." Simon wrote recorded the song for his 1973 album, There Goes Rhymin' Simon. The song is named after the Kodak 35mm film Kodachrome, and became a major hit in the United States, peaking at #2 in Billboard but was not released as a single in Britain because, supposedly, the British Broadcasting Corporation would not play the trademarked name. Kodak required the album to note that Kodachrome is a trademark of Kodak. In the late 1990s, Kodak used the song in commercials to sell film.
1976 - Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) crashed his car in Newton Pagnell, England, today, and was later charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana that was found in his car. Could have been a cause of the accident, perhaps. A few years later, in '79, Eric Clapton and George Harrison's ex-wife, Patti Boyd were married, today, Ms. Boyd's second rock'n'roll musician marriage. Following is a tribute to George and Patti from fan and youtuber, Ivanka1991: "A tribute to my hero George and the sweet beatlegirl Pattie. Because they're sweet and lovely. With George's classics, Here Comes The Sun, Something (written about Pattie), Isn't It A Pity (written about Pattie). Many believe that Harrison's inspiration for Something was his wife at the time, Pattie Boyd, who confirmed that fact in her 2007 autobiography, Wonderful Tonight where she wrote: "He told me, in a matter-of-fact way, that he had written it for me. This is my first tribute video I've made. I hope you like it, enjoy!" Thanks Ivanka. Following that, see video of Pattie Boyd at the Las Vegas Beatlefest three years ago as she discusses George's songwriting and struggles on getting his songs heard within the Beatles 'heirarchy'.
1984 - This was the day Boston group, The Cars, released their song, Magic. The Cars took some contemporary music trends like garage rock, proto-punk, bubblegum pop, through it all together with synthesizers, married it to power pop, and threw them all into a mixer, the resulting mixture was the Cars own sound. The band broke up in 1988, and singer/guitarist and song writer Ric Ocasek, has always discouraged talk of a reunion since then, telling one interviewer in 1997 "I'm saying never and you can count on that." As you read tis, you may not be surprised to know that the Cars have reformed and are touring USA - with Ric Ocasek in the lineup. Amazing what a bit of money does to pop stars' integrity, don't you think?
1958 - This was the day when Bobby Darin's break-through pop/rock single, Splish Splash, was released as the first ever eight-track master tape recording pressed to a plastic 45-RPM disc, a technological revolution at the time. Darin was a multi-talented two-time grammy award winning American singer, Oscar nominated actor, song writer, and accomplished musician. Darin performed widely in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country, and, in truth, was at the crossroads of a generational music mood swing. Not known to the general public was that his health was dangerously fragile, and that could have been one of the many factors that strongly motivated him to succeed within the limited lifetime he feared he would, and ultimately, did have. As if that wasn't enough, he crossed the hallowed ground of creativity to also become a successful music business entrepreneur. His wish for a legacy was "to be remembered as a human being and as a great performer." Among his many other contributions, he became a goodwill ambassador for the American Heart Association. Love him.
1960 - And it's 51 years since The Drifters recorded Save the Last Dance For Me. The Drifters are a long-lived American doo wop/R&B vocal group with their worldwide popularity peak firmly between around 1953 and 1962, but, as with other vocal acts of this era, several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed by Clyde McPhatter (of Billy Ward & the Dominoes) in 1953, and McPhatter himself had a big solo hit called Lover Please. Rolling Stone magazine states that the Drifters were the least stable of the vocal groups due to their management only paying low-paid hired musicians. The Treadwell Drifters website states that there have been 60 vocalists in the history of the Treadwell Drifters line. Several splinter groups by former Drifters members add to the count. Only one splinter Drifters group features a classic Drifters member, and that is Charlie Thomas' Drifters. Nevertheless, there are two versions of the Drifters that are notable. The first classic Drifters formed by Clyde McPhatter was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as The Drifters, or The Original Drifters. The second Drifters formed by Treadwell featuring Ben E. King was separately inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as Ben E. King and The Drifters. In their induction, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame eclectically selected four members from the classic Drifters, two from the second Drifters, and one from the post-King Treadwell Drifters. According to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, "Through turmoil and changes the (original) Drifters managed to set musical trends and give the public 13 chart hits, most of which are legendary recordings today." Watch the Drifters, then Clyde McPhatter doing some awesome boogie, with the aforementioned Bobby Darin playing keys, then swinging it one time...a *MUSICBACKTRACK* gem!
1961 - This is the year The Everly Brothers went indie, just like Frank Sinatra did just a few short years later, and launched their own record label, Caliope. For full details and videos of the Everly Brothers, go to our archive search engine. Just four years later, same day, FBI agents visited Wand Records, to investigate lyrics to the song Louie Louie by the Kingsmen. God knows why they did this, there is innuendo, but only slight innuendo in the lyrics, but there you have it, it happened. Censorship, eh? Always looks ridiculous looking back at censorship in any generation. See for yourself with the Kingsmen's version of the song...And then there's Iggy's version, and after that, a version from the Pinks Finks.
1973 - This was the day, almost 40 years ago, that Paul Simon released Kodachrome, the song with the memorable opening line, "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all." Simon wrote recorded the song for his 1973 album, There Goes Rhymin' Simon. The song is named after the Kodak 35mm film Kodachrome, and became a major hit in the United States, peaking at #2 in Billboard but was not released as a single in Britain because, supposedly, the British Broadcasting Corporation would not play the trademarked name. Kodak required the album to note that Kodachrome is a trademark of Kodak. In the late 1990s, Kodak used the song in commercials to sell film.
1976 - Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) crashed his car in Newton Pagnell, England, today, and was later charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana that was found in his car. Could have been a cause of the accident, perhaps. A few years later, in '79, Eric Clapton and George Harrison's ex-wife, Patti Boyd were married, today, Ms. Boyd's second rock'n'roll musician marriage. Following is a tribute to George and Patti from fan and youtuber, Ivanka1991: "A tribute to my hero George and the sweet beatlegirl Pattie. Because they're sweet and lovely. With George's classics, Here Comes The Sun, Something (written about Pattie), Isn't It A Pity (written about Pattie). Many believe that Harrison's inspiration for Something was his wife at the time, Pattie Boyd, who confirmed that fact in her 2007 autobiography, Wonderful Tonight where she wrote: "He told me, in a matter-of-fact way, that he had written it for me. This is my first tribute video I've made. I hope you like it, enjoy!" Thanks Ivanka. Following that, see video of Pattie Boyd at the Las Vegas Beatlefest three years ago as she discusses George's songwriting and struggles on getting his songs heard within the Beatles 'heirarchy'.
1984 - This was the day Boston group, The Cars, released their song, Magic. The Cars took some contemporary music trends like garage rock, proto-punk, bubblegum pop, through it all together with synthesizers, married it to power pop, and threw them all into a mixer, the resulting mixture was the Cars own sound. The band broke up in 1988, and singer/guitarist and song writer Ric Ocasek, has always discouraged talk of a reunion since then, telling one interviewer in 1997 "I'm saying never and you can count on that." As you read tis, you may not be surprised to know that the Cars have reformed and are touring USA - with Ric Ocasek in the lineup. Amazing what a bit of money does to pop stars' integrity, don't you think?
