March 19, 1937 - BENNY GOODMAN led the charge for swing music and its exploding era, as the genre erupted across American and the rest of the world. This was the year the big band sound came to town and none could swing like Goodman, and this is one of the songs recorded by Goodman and his talented band, including the great Gene Krupa on drums and Harry James on trumpet. This video, Sing, Sing, Sing is from the movie, Hollywood Hotel.
1941 - JIMMY DORSEY and his orchestra could swing, too, and today was the day - exactly 71 years ago - when he recorded Green Eyes, with vocals by the gorgeous Helen O'Connell. Though this was more pop-jazz, it still swings.
1957 - ELVIS PRESLEY bought the mansion he would later call Graceland, today, and just a year later, on the same day in 1958, Our Song was released by an act known as 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 - BOBBY RYDELL was part of the fifties pop rock explosion when white pop - often singing or recording cover versions of Afro-American penned or performed songs - consisted of a new global pop infiltration. This was the day Rydell headed a group of the pop singing solo male, pretty-boy rockers, making his debut TV appearance, on American Bandstand. His biggest hits were Wild One and Volare, but his first big hit was this one, Swinging School.
1961 - RICKY NELSON was another pretty boy, and he came from an entertainment family background, his roots remaining in television acting. This was the day, 51 years ago today, when he branched out and recorded one of his biggest hits ever, Hello Mary Lou.
1962 - BOB DYLAN and his record company decided on this day to release his self-titled debut album, taking 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. for a lot of Bob Dylan, go to our archives and use the search engine. 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.
1964 - BILLY J KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS were at #1 on the UK singles chart today with Little Children, the group's second song to top charts, and the only release from the band that made any charts outside their home country, UK. The group was managed by Brian Epstein, who also managed The Beatles, and recorded several original Lennon and McCartney compositions. With record producer George Martin, the song Do You Want to Know a Secret? was recorded by the group and became their first major hit.
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. Following the date thread, just two years after that and Ringo Starr released his solo song, Back Off, Boogaloo, inspired by a dinner at Ringo's home, which was attended by Marc Bolan, and this is it.
1974 - THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE began their first tour under their new name Jefferson Starship, today, 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 Bad Company as they released this song, Young Blood. This is a bootleg live version from just a couple of years ago, recorded at Manchester Theatre.
1991 - MICHAEL JACKSON AND SONY RECORDS signed a contract today that gave an $18 million advance for the then forthcoming album Dangerous. The contract also made Jackson the CEO of the newly formed Nation Records, which later changed its name to MJJ. The overall deal was reported to be worth $1 billion. As an entertainer/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 and Luther Dixon (credited as Barney Williams) and Mack David. It was firstly 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, and 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.
1941 - JIMMY DORSEY and his orchestra could swing, too, and today was the day - exactly 71 years ago - when he recorded Green Eyes, with vocals by the gorgeous Helen O'Connell. Though this was more pop-jazz, it still swings.
1957 - ELVIS PRESLEY bought the mansion he would later call Graceland, today, and just a year later, on the same day in 1958, Our Song was released by an act known as 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 - BOBBY RYDELL was part of the fifties pop rock explosion when white pop - often singing or recording cover versions of Afro-American penned or performed songs - consisted of a new global pop infiltration. This was the day Rydell headed a group of the pop singing solo male, pretty-boy rockers, making his debut TV appearance, on American Bandstand. His biggest hits were Wild One and Volare, but his first big hit was this one, Swinging School.
1961 - RICKY NELSON was another pretty boy, and he came from an entertainment family background, his roots remaining in television acting. This was the day, 51 years ago today, when he branched out and recorded one of his biggest hits ever, Hello Mary Lou.
1962 - BOB DYLAN and his record company decided on this day to release his self-titled debut album, taking 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. for a lot of Bob Dylan, go to our archives and use the search engine. 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.
1964 - BILLY J KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS were at #1 on the UK singles chart today with Little Children, the group's second song to top charts, and the only release from the band that made any charts outside their home country, UK. The group was managed by Brian Epstein, who also managed The Beatles, and recorded several original Lennon and McCartney compositions. With record producer George Martin, the song Do You Want to Know a Secret? was recorded by the group and became their first major hit.
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. Following the date thread, just two years after that and Ringo Starr released his solo song, Back Off, Boogaloo, inspired by a dinner at Ringo's home, which was attended by Marc Bolan, and this is it.
1974 - THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE began their first tour under their new name Jefferson Starship, today, 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 Bad Company as they released this song, Young Blood. This is a bootleg live version from just a couple of years ago, recorded at Manchester Theatre.
1991 - MICHAEL JACKSON AND SONY RECORDS signed a contract today that gave an $18 million advance for the then forthcoming album Dangerous. The contract also made Jackson the CEO of the newly formed Nation Records, which later changed its name to MJJ. The overall deal was reported to be worth $1 billion. As an entertainer/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 and Luther Dixon (credited as Barney Williams) and Mack David. It was firstly 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, and 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.
