February 28, 1984 - MICHAEL JACKSON won a record seven Grammy awards including Album of the year for Thriller; Record of the year and Best rock vocal performance for Beat It; Best pop vocal performance, Best R&B performance and Best R&B song for Billie Jean. What more can be said about Michael Jackson, except what a tragedy he's gone. Accordingly, here is just some of the music he left us with, both songs being Grammy winners from this year's bagful. First up, a clip of The King doing his thing at the 1995 MTV awards, and featuring legendary Slash. Following that, Beat It, live from The Bad World Tour in 1987, in Yokahama. Sponsored by Pepsi and spanning 16 months, the tour included 123 concerts to 4.4 million fans across 15 countries. When the tour concluded it grossed a total of $125 million, adding two new entries in the Guinness World Records for the largest grossing tour in history and the tour with the largest attended audience.
1968 - FRANKIE LYMON was found dead at his mother's house in New York, today, of a suspected drug overdose. Lymon was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of a New York City-based early rock and roll vocal group, The Teenagers. Like many other vocal groups in the day, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers were graduates of the doo-wop vocal genre. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid teens, Frankie being the youngest at 13. The Teenagers' first single in 1956 was Why Do Fools Fall in Love, and was also their biggest hit. After Lymon went solo in mid-1957, both his career and those of the Teenagers fell into decline. Sadly, 44 years ago today, that decline for Lymon ended in his heroin-soaked death. My fave of theirs was Juvenile Delinquent - we have both clips below, and remember Lymon was just 13 when he wrote both these songs. Their biggest hit is first, with a rather too-long intro by Frankie Lane.
1970 - FLEETWOOD MAC'S PETER GREEN talked about his plans to give all his money away in today's issue of New Musical Express, 42 years ago today. The following year Green attempted to put his statement in motion when an unwanted royalty cheque arrived. For the full Peter Green sad story of his committal to an asylum, and what he did when that unwanted money arrived, use our search engine and sweep our archive. Meanwhile, here is the great Peter Green.
1970 - SIMON & GARFUNKEL began a six week run at the top of charts around the world today when their classic song, Bridge Over Troubled Water became the #1 selling song around the world. It's the title song of Simon & Garfunkel's album of the same name. The song's recording process exposed some of the underlying tensions that existed between the pair, and which eventually led to the breakup of the duo after the album's completion. For instance, Paul Simon has since repeatedly expressed regret over his insistence that Art Garfunkel sing this song as a solo, focussing attention, as it did, on Garfunkel and relegated Simon to a secondary position. Art Garfunkel didn't actually want to sing lead vocal, feeling it was not right for him. "He felt I should have done it," Paul Simon revealed to Rolling Stone Magazine in 1972. Garfunkel said that the moment he performed it at a 1972 Madison Square Garden benefit concert as part of a one-off reunion with Simon, was "almost biblical." Rolling Stone mag named it number 47 on The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Here is a performance of the song, performed as a duo at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame Concert at Madison Square Gardens, just five years ago.
1974 - BOBBY BLOOM shot himself dead in the head at his Hollywood apartment aged 28, today. Just four years earlier the singer songwriter he was on top of the world with his global hit, Montego Bay, co-written with, and produced by Jeff Barry. Bloom suffered from depression towards the end of his life, following his only real hit record. He apparently shot himself while cleaning his gun, although that is only guesswork. Jeff Barry was surprised to find out afterwards that he was the sole beneficiary of Bloom's life insurance policy.
1982 - THIN LIZZY guitarist Scott Gorham collapsed during the bands European tour suffering from heroin withdrawal exactly 30 years ago today. American-born Gorham rose to international rock'n'roll recognition as one of the twin lead guitarists of the Irish-formed rock band, Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of the band, he firmly put his stamp on the band's sound, and is best known for his continuous membership after passing an audition when the band was on hiatus after the departure of guitarist Eric Bell. Gorham remained in the band after joining in 1974 through the band's breakup in 1984. He and guitarist Brian Robertson, both hired at the same time, marked the beginning of the band's most critically successful period, and together developed the twin lead guitar makeup of the band that distinguished its sound with dual backing vocals as well. Gorham was the band member with the longest membership after founders Brian Downey and frontman and bassist, Phil Lynott. Since Lynott's death, and from 1996 onward, with a different lineup, Gorham has continued to perform with Thin Lizzy, and, as in years past, he has contributed to the band with songwriting material written or co-written with other band members.
1986 - GEORGE MICHAEL announced, 26 years ago, that Wham! would officially split during the summer. Wham! were a British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. By the end of 1983, the group was rivalling Duran Duran and Culture Club as Britain's biggest pop act. Notoriety and column inches were duly achieved with their antics of placing shuttlecocks down their shorts during performances on their first tour, The Club Fantastic Tour. Their début LP Fantastic reached #1 at this time. After much legal wrangling, their record company, Innervision admitted there were royalty discrepancies with Wham!'s contract, the fall-out of which led to the bankruptcy and eventual dissolution of Innervision altogether. Wham! sold 25 million certified records from 1982 to 1986, including Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go".
1996 - GRAMMY AWARD WINNERS 16 years ago tonight included Alanis Morissette who won album of the year for Jagged Little Pill, Best female rock vocal & best song for You Oughta Know; Nirvana's Unplugged album won best alternative album, and Coolio won best rap performance with Gangsta's Paradise. Accordingly dear reader, and without further ado, let us check out Alanis with her song, You Oughta know, followed by Nirvana's version of the Leadbelly song, In The Pines from the Unplugged album. This is followed by MC Coolio's standout live version of Gangsta's Paradise from the year before's Billboard celebrations. Outstanding because it features Stevie Wonder and LV of South Central Cartel.
1968 - FRANKIE LYMON was found dead at his mother's house in New York, today, of a suspected drug overdose. Lymon was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of a New York City-based early rock and roll vocal group, The Teenagers. Like many other vocal groups in the day, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers were graduates of the doo-wop vocal genre. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid teens, Frankie being the youngest at 13. The Teenagers' first single in 1956 was Why Do Fools Fall in Love, and was also their biggest hit. After Lymon went solo in mid-1957, both his career and those of the Teenagers fell into decline. Sadly, 44 years ago today, that decline for Lymon ended in his heroin-soaked death. My fave of theirs was Juvenile Delinquent - we have both clips below, and remember Lymon was just 13 when he wrote both these songs. Their biggest hit is first, with a rather too-long intro by Frankie Lane.
1970 - FLEETWOOD MAC'S PETER GREEN talked about his plans to give all his money away in today's issue of New Musical Express, 42 years ago today. The following year Green attempted to put his statement in motion when an unwanted royalty cheque arrived. For the full Peter Green sad story of his committal to an asylum, and what he did when that unwanted money arrived, use our search engine and sweep our archive. Meanwhile, here is the great Peter Green.
1970 - SIMON & GARFUNKEL began a six week run at the top of charts around the world today when their classic song, Bridge Over Troubled Water became the #1 selling song around the world. It's the title song of Simon & Garfunkel's album of the same name. The song's recording process exposed some of the underlying tensions that existed between the pair, and which eventually led to the breakup of the duo after the album's completion. For instance, Paul Simon has since repeatedly expressed regret over his insistence that Art Garfunkel sing this song as a solo, focussing attention, as it did, on Garfunkel and relegated Simon to a secondary position. Art Garfunkel didn't actually want to sing lead vocal, feeling it was not right for him. "He felt I should have done it," Paul Simon revealed to Rolling Stone Magazine in 1972. Garfunkel said that the moment he performed it at a 1972 Madison Square Garden benefit concert as part of a one-off reunion with Simon, was "almost biblical." Rolling Stone mag named it number 47 on The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Here is a performance of the song, performed as a duo at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame Concert at Madison Square Gardens, just five years ago.
1974 - BOBBY BLOOM shot himself dead in the head at his Hollywood apartment aged 28, today. Just four years earlier the singer songwriter he was on top of the world with his global hit, Montego Bay, co-written with, and produced by Jeff Barry. Bloom suffered from depression towards the end of his life, following his only real hit record. He apparently shot himself while cleaning his gun, although that is only guesswork. Jeff Barry was surprised to find out afterwards that he was the sole beneficiary of Bloom's life insurance policy.
1982 - THIN LIZZY guitarist Scott Gorham collapsed during the bands European tour suffering from heroin withdrawal exactly 30 years ago today. American-born Gorham rose to international rock'n'roll recognition as one of the twin lead guitarists of the Irish-formed rock band, Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of the band, he firmly put his stamp on the band's sound, and is best known for his continuous membership after passing an audition when the band was on hiatus after the departure of guitarist Eric Bell. Gorham remained in the band after joining in 1974 through the band's breakup in 1984. He and guitarist Brian Robertson, both hired at the same time, marked the beginning of the band's most critically successful period, and together developed the twin lead guitar makeup of the band that distinguished its sound with dual backing vocals as well. Gorham was the band member with the longest membership after founders Brian Downey and frontman and bassist, Phil Lynott. Since Lynott's death, and from 1996 onward, with a different lineup, Gorham has continued to perform with Thin Lizzy, and, as in years past, he has contributed to the band with songwriting material written or co-written with other band members.
1986 - GEORGE MICHAEL announced, 26 years ago, that Wham! would officially split during the summer. Wham! were a British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. By the end of 1983, the group was rivalling Duran Duran and Culture Club as Britain's biggest pop act. Notoriety and column inches were duly achieved with their antics of placing shuttlecocks down their shorts during performances on their first tour, The Club Fantastic Tour. Their début LP Fantastic reached #1 at this time. After much legal wrangling, their record company, Innervision admitted there were royalty discrepancies with Wham!'s contract, the fall-out of which led to the bankruptcy and eventual dissolution of Innervision altogether. Wham! sold 25 million certified records from 1982 to 1986, including Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go".
1996 - GRAMMY AWARD WINNERS 16 years ago tonight included Alanis Morissette who won album of the year for Jagged Little Pill, Best female rock vocal & best song for You Oughta Know; Nirvana's Unplugged album won best alternative album, and Coolio won best rap performance with Gangsta's Paradise. Accordingly dear reader, and without further ado, let us check out Alanis with her song, You Oughta know, followed by Nirvana's version of the Leadbelly song, In The Pines from the Unplugged album. This is followed by MC Coolio's standout live version of Gangsta's Paradise from the year before's Billboard celebrations. Outstanding because it features Stevie Wonder and LV of South Central Cartel.
