1970 - It's now 41 years since The Beatles album Let it Be was released. Let It Be was the twelfth and final studio album released by the Beatles. It was released on May 8, 1970, by the band's own Apple Records label shortly after the group's announced breakup. Most of Let It Be was recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of the album Abbey Road. For this reason some critics and fans argue that Abbey Road should be considered the group's final album and Let It Be the penultimate. Let It Be was originally intended to be released before Abbey Road during mid-1969 as Get Back, but the Beatles were unhappy with this version, which was mixed and compiled by Glyn Johns, and it was temporarily shelved. A new version of the album was created by Phil Spector in 1970 and finally released as Let It Be, serving as the soundtrack album for the 1970 motion picture of the same name. While three songs from the sessions were released as singles before the album's release, Get Back/Don't Let Me Down and Let It Be, the songs were remixed by Spector for the album and Don't Let Me Down was not included. The rehearsals and recording sessions for the album did not run smoothly. The acrimony that began during the recording of the previous year's White Album resumed soon after the rehearsals began. At one point, George Harrison walked out and quit the group after severely arguing with both Paul McCartney and John Lennon, only to be coaxed back some days later. The film version is famous for showcasing a number of conflicts between the group members and has frequently been referred to as a documentary intended to show the making of an album but instead showing "the break-up of a band".
1972 - Billy Preston became the first rock performer to headline at New York City's iconic entertainment venue, Radio City Music Hall, almost four daces ago today. Billy Preston was an American rhythm and blues musician from Houston, Texas, raised mostly in Los Angeles, California. In addition to his successful, Grammy Award-winning career as a solo artist, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Band, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Eric Burdon, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Mick Jagger, Richie Sambora, Sly Stone, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ringo Starr. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ on the Get Back sessions in 1969. Preston and Tony Sheridan are the only two non-Beatles to receive billing as an artist alongside the Beatles (as distinct from receiving credit as a session musician on album packaging) on an official Beatles record release. The label of the Get Back single credits the artists on the record as The Beatles with Billy Preston. Here is one of contemporary music's best kept headlining secret with his hits, Nothin' From Nothin' and That's The Way God Planned It.
1990 - Tom Waits won $2.5 million when a Los Angeles court ruled that crisp makers Frito-Lay unlawfully used a Waits sound alike in its Doritos ads. Any excuse for a Tom Waites video, so what about this one...Christmas Card From a Hooker In Minneapolis. Followed by an interview with him on David Letterman...brilliant, just brilliant.
1992 - Will Smith (the Fresh Prince) and songwriter Sheree Zampino were married.
1998 - This was the day Johnny Winter was finally inducted into Hollywood's Rock Walk. Six years earlier he was at Bob Dylan's birthday party, Madison Square Garden and gave this truly spirited performance.
2002 - This was the day that Mariah Carey had signed a deal that included her own record label. Over the years, Carey has shown herself to be not only a superb singer, but also an efficient songwriter, record producer and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. She soon married Mottola, in 1993, and a series of hit records followed, establishing her position as Columbia's highest-selling act. In fact, according to Billboard magazine, she was the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States. They say never mix business with pleasure, and this was certainly the case with Carey and Mottola, as the brawling couple separated in 1997, and she then started to include elements of hip hop into her album work, to much initial success, but her popularity was in decline when she left Columbia in 2001. She then signed to Virgin Records but was dropped from the label and bought out of her contract the following year after a highly publicized physical and emotional breakdown, as well as the poor reception given to Glitter, her film and soundtrack project. You can't keep a tough person down, though, and just a year later, Carey signed with Island Records, and after a relatively unsuccessful period, she returned to the top of pop music in 2005. She has now old more than 175 million albums, singles and videos worldwide, placing her firmly in the upper echelon of female music acts. Here are two videos from Mariah Carey, the first Didn't Mean To Turn You On, followed by Love Takes Time.
