March 12, 1958 - BILLIE HOLIDAY was found guilty of narcotics possession, and sentenced to a year's probation by a Philadelphia court, 54 years ago today. The breakthrough American jazz singer and songwriter, nicknamed 'Lady Day' by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Music critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, songs such as God Bless the Child, Don't Explain, Fine and Mellow, and Lady Sings the Blues. She also became famous for singing Easy Living, Good Morning Heartache, and Strange Fruit, a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording. She was squalidly treated by the media, the law and human leaches during her life particularly at the end, when she was arrested for narcotics, on her death bed in hospital. She had 70 cents in the bank, and $750 dollars in her purse from selling her life story to a tabloid magazine. One of music's most tragic tales. Following is the absolute epitome of real blues singing. Here is a selection of songs and interviews from the beautiful, talented and exploited Billie Holiday.
1939 - MAN, OH, MAN, this is 72 years ago, and just listen to this groove-shuffle from Artie Shaw's band as it kicks along - and the phrasing of Helen Forest is just superb. This is the day they released the classic song, Deep Purple, written six years earlier by pianist Peter DeRose. The song has been a hit many times, the most recent in 1963 by Nino Tempo and April Stevens. But this is Artie Shaw and Helen Forest 24 years earlier.
1955 - THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET appeared today, for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and on the same day two years later it was the rockin' genius of Buddy Holly and the Crickets as they recorded Maybe Baby. One of Holly's biggest fans was Paul McCartney and the Beatle married his beloved Linda Eastman on this same day in 1969, the very same day and year that his fellow band mate, George Harrison, and his wife, Patti, were busted for having 120 joints of cannibis. George and Patti were arrested in Esher, Surrey. Sergeant Norman Pilcher was the man behind the arrest. He was also behind John Lennon's arrest for drugs the previous year. Pilcher showed up at the house of Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd with a team of men, a pack of dogs, and a search warrant. Harrison was not home at the time but came home upon the call of Patti. When he arrived home he found his house torn apart by the police. He was quoted as saying, "You needn't have turned the whole bloody place upside down. All you would have had to do is ask and I would have shown you where I keep everything." Pilcher had already found the 120 marijuana joints. When a photographer showed up as the police led them out of the house Harrison's temper flared and he chased down the photographer and stomped on his camera when it was dropped. Harrison thought the bust was a frame and that the joints had been planted in his house. He said that the police failed to find the drugs that he actually kept in his house and that this bust was set up to take away from the fact that on this very same day fellow Beatle Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman. Lending much credence to Harrison's claim is the fact that in 1972 Sergeant Pilcher was charged with "conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" for having planted drugs in many other cases. He was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. Besides Lennon and Harrison, Pilcher also arrested Mick Jagger and Donovan on drug charges. It's possible that it is Pilcher being referenced in the Beatles classic I Am The Walrus with the line, "Semolina Pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower."
1955 - CHARLIE PARKER American jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker died of a heart attack in New York City while watching Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra on television, tonight. He was only 34 years old. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age, such was his self-abuse from consistently massive intakes of drugs and alcohol. The American jazz saxophonist and composer is considered by many as the most influential jazz musicians of his time. He acquired the nickname 'Yardbird' early in his career and the shortened form, 'Bird', continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as Yardbird Suite, Ornithology, Bird Gets the Worm and Bird of Paradise. He was a leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterised by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation. His tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and sombre. Many Parker recordings demonstrate virtuosic technique and complex melodic lines, combining jazz with other musical genres, including blues, Latin and classical. He was, and remains, an icon for the hipster subculture and later, the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than an entertainer. Here are two vids of the Bird, the second accompanied by Dizzie Gillespie.
1974 - JOHN LENNON'S so-called 'lost years' were when he went on a drugs and booze fall-out around Los Angeles clubs and drinking holes, with his drinking-partner-in-crime, singer/songwriter, Nilsson. They landed in mischief on more than one occasion, but it was this occasion, on this day, that the pair were thrown out of LA's Troubador Club, where they'd been heckling the Smothers' brothers comedy act. Following a description of the event from the Smothers Brothers, Lennon & Nilsson.
1983 - BONNIE TYLER, the Welsh singer, had her only UK #1single, today, with a song written by Meat Loaf's producer, Jim Steinman. The song, Total Eclipse Of The Heart, also hit the top spot on music charts around the world. The single sold over 5 million copies, and the music video was directed by Australian, Russell Mulcahy. The Gothic-themed video features Bonnie Tyler clad in white, apparently having a dream or fantasy about her students in a boys' boarding school. Young men are seen dancing and participating in various school activities such as swim team, karate, gymnastics, football, fencing, soccer, and singing in a choir. The video was shot at Holloway Sanatorium, notable for its Gothic architecture and distinguished for the multi-arched grand entrance as seen at the end of the video. Remember this?
1991 - REM released their album Out of Time, today, and accordingly here's an interview with them, Michael Stripe telling us all how important he is as a song writer. The Athens, Georgia-born alternative rock group had come a long way since their first single, Radio Free Europe, and now exists as one of the most important rock groups of the past three decades.
1994 - ACE OF BASS, the Swedish pop group, started a six week run at #1 on charts around the world today, with their song, The sign. The Gothenburg-formed pop group released four studio albums between 1993 and 2002, which sold in excess of 37 million copies worldwide. Happy Nation / The Sign is one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, and was certified ten times platinum in the United States, and was the first debut album to produce three #1 singles on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 charts.
1947 - BRIGADOON, musical Brigadoon opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City, 65 years ago today. There's no footage of this event, but seven years later we got this movie version, and what a musical this was. Here's the movie trailer - and they sure don't make trailers like this anymore.
1961 - RICKY NELSON recorded his classic #1 hit song, Travelin' Man, 51 years ago today. The American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973 including Poor Little Fool, which holds the distinction of being the first #1 song on Billboard magazine's then newly created Hot 100 chart. He recorded nineteen additional top-ten hits, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. Nelson died in a plane crash on Boxing Day in 1985 in a plane crash.
1965 - THE YARDBIRDS were one of the greatest of all British rock groups, being the early playground for Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, but this was the day that Clapton left the seminal band. Here he is playing with the Yardbirds doing their song, Louise.
2004 - LUCIANO PAVAROTTI gave his final opera performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York tonight. He still had concerts planned up until October 12, 2005. The Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually became one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century. He was one of The Three Tenors and became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances. He was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. He died on September 6, 2007. Let's go to Paris and watch this magical voice in action.
1939 - MAN, OH, MAN, this is 72 years ago, and just listen to this groove-shuffle from Artie Shaw's band as it kicks along - and the phrasing of Helen Forest is just superb. This is the day they released the classic song, Deep Purple, written six years earlier by pianist Peter DeRose. The song has been a hit many times, the most recent in 1963 by Nino Tempo and April Stevens. But this is Artie Shaw and Helen Forest 24 years earlier.
1955 - THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET appeared today, for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and on the same day two years later it was the rockin' genius of Buddy Holly and the Crickets as they recorded Maybe Baby. One of Holly's biggest fans was Paul McCartney and the Beatle married his beloved Linda Eastman on this same day in 1969, the very same day and year that his fellow band mate, George Harrison, and his wife, Patti, were busted for having 120 joints of cannibis. George and Patti were arrested in Esher, Surrey. Sergeant Norman Pilcher was the man behind the arrest. He was also behind John Lennon's arrest for drugs the previous year. Pilcher showed up at the house of Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd with a team of men, a pack of dogs, and a search warrant. Harrison was not home at the time but came home upon the call of Patti. When he arrived home he found his house torn apart by the police. He was quoted as saying, "You needn't have turned the whole bloody place upside down. All you would have had to do is ask and I would have shown you where I keep everything." Pilcher had already found the 120 marijuana joints. When a photographer showed up as the police led them out of the house Harrison's temper flared and he chased down the photographer and stomped on his camera when it was dropped. Harrison thought the bust was a frame and that the joints had been planted in his house. He said that the police failed to find the drugs that he actually kept in his house and that this bust was set up to take away from the fact that on this very same day fellow Beatle Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman. Lending much credence to Harrison's claim is the fact that in 1972 Sergeant Pilcher was charged with "conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" for having planted drugs in many other cases. He was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. Besides Lennon and Harrison, Pilcher also arrested Mick Jagger and Donovan on drug charges. It's possible that it is Pilcher being referenced in the Beatles classic I Am The Walrus with the line, "Semolina Pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower."
1955 - CHARLIE PARKER American jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker died of a heart attack in New York City while watching Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra on television, tonight. He was only 34 years old. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age, such was his self-abuse from consistently massive intakes of drugs and alcohol. The American jazz saxophonist and composer is considered by many as the most influential jazz musicians of his time. He acquired the nickname 'Yardbird' early in his career and the shortened form, 'Bird', continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as Yardbird Suite, Ornithology, Bird Gets the Worm and Bird of Paradise. He was a leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterised by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation. His tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and sombre. Many Parker recordings demonstrate virtuosic technique and complex melodic lines, combining jazz with other musical genres, including blues, Latin and classical. He was, and remains, an icon for the hipster subculture and later, the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than an entertainer. Here are two vids of the Bird, the second accompanied by Dizzie Gillespie.
1974 - JOHN LENNON'S so-called 'lost years' were when he went on a drugs and booze fall-out around Los Angeles clubs and drinking holes, with his drinking-partner-in-crime, singer/songwriter, Nilsson. They landed in mischief on more than one occasion, but it was this occasion, on this day, that the pair were thrown out of LA's Troubador Club, where they'd been heckling the Smothers' brothers comedy act. Following a description of the event from the Smothers Brothers, Lennon & Nilsson.
1983 - BONNIE TYLER, the Welsh singer, had her only UK #1single, today, with a song written by Meat Loaf's producer, Jim Steinman. The song, Total Eclipse Of The Heart, also hit the top spot on music charts around the world. The single sold over 5 million copies, and the music video was directed by Australian, Russell Mulcahy. The Gothic-themed video features Bonnie Tyler clad in white, apparently having a dream or fantasy about her students in a boys' boarding school. Young men are seen dancing and participating in various school activities such as swim team, karate, gymnastics, football, fencing, soccer, and singing in a choir. The video was shot at Holloway Sanatorium, notable for its Gothic architecture and distinguished for the multi-arched grand entrance as seen at the end of the video. Remember this?
1991 - REM released their album Out of Time, today, and accordingly here's an interview with them, Michael Stripe telling us all how important he is as a song writer. The Athens, Georgia-born alternative rock group had come a long way since their first single, Radio Free Europe, and now exists as one of the most important rock groups of the past three decades.
1994 - ACE OF BASS, the Swedish pop group, started a six week run at #1 on charts around the world today, with their song, The sign. The Gothenburg-formed pop group released four studio albums between 1993 and 2002, which sold in excess of 37 million copies worldwide. Happy Nation / The Sign is one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, and was certified ten times platinum in the United States, and was the first debut album to produce three #1 singles on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 charts.
1947 - BRIGADOON, musical Brigadoon opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City, 65 years ago today. There's no footage of this event, but seven years later we got this movie version, and what a musical this was. Here's the movie trailer - and they sure don't make trailers like this anymore.
1961 - RICKY NELSON recorded his classic #1 hit song, Travelin' Man, 51 years ago today. The American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973 including Poor Little Fool, which holds the distinction of being the first #1 song on Billboard magazine's then newly created Hot 100 chart. He recorded nineteen additional top-ten hits, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. Nelson died in a plane crash on Boxing Day in 1985 in a plane crash.
1965 - THE YARDBIRDS were one of the greatest of all British rock groups, being the early playground for Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, but this was the day that Clapton left the seminal band. Here he is playing with the Yardbirds doing their song, Louise.
2004 - LUCIANO PAVAROTTI gave his final opera performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York tonight. He still had concerts planned up until October 12, 2005. The Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually became one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century. He was one of The Three Tenors and became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances. He was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. He died on September 6, 2007. Let's go to Paris and watch this magical voice in action.
