March 2, 1999 - BEFORE ADELE, BEFORE AMY, THERE WAS DUSTY, and this is the day 13 years ago that Dusty Springfield died after a long battle against cancer, aged 59. The British singer had her first UK hit single in 1963 with I Only Want To Be With You, In her life-time career Ms. Springfield showed herself to be a beautiful human being, battling life's problems and discrimination with adept dignity and style. Then there was her music and her voice, many claiming her to be the original white soul queen of modern music. I'm happy with that tag, I love everything about Dusty Springfield. This video is such a vulnerable performance of her huge global hit, You Don't Have To Say You Love Me. We have placed two performances, two decades apart so you can see how she got better in time. Third clip is from an Australian TV performance, the song Stay Awhile, she in an alluring, delightful looking black mini-skirt.



1955 - BO DIDLEY had his first recording session at Universal Recording Studio in Chicago, where he recorded the song, Bo Diddley, the guitar of which had a swirling new rhythm staccato sound, Bo's very own creation. The rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter  and inventor has sometimes since been dubbed 'the originator' because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock & roll. His influence has been far-reaching and obvious with acts such as Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, The Clash, The Yardbirds, and Eric Clapton. He introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound on a wide-ranging catalogue of songs. Accordingly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, addition to bagging a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was known in particular for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular guitar, which he designed and built himself. Following are a few videos of Didley's early days when screaming girls, mostly white, showed their excitement. Finally, a video of rock'n'roll legends, where James Brown introduces Bo Didley in his own unique manner.





1964 - TWIST AND SHOUT is a song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns, and originally titled Shake It Up, Baby when first recorded in 1961 by the Top Notes. It was later covered by the Isley Brothers who scored a huge hit with the song, but not as big a hit as the cover version by The Beatles, with John Lennon on lead vocals. Their version was originally released on their debut album Please Please Me, and the song was also covered by The Mamas & Papas, on a film soundtrack by Cliff Richard, The Tremeloes, and most recently by Chaka Demus and Pliers. The Who also performed it throughout their career, most notably on Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. But this was the day when the Beatles' version was released. Watch three versions and see which one you like best. Lennon's voice just pure gold on this live version.





1967 - THE SUPREMES' song, Reflections, is the hit single recorded for for the Motown label, and released today. It was the first time the vocal trio released a song under the new billing, Diana Ross & the Supremes, and one of the final of their string of hits written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland, Dozier, & Holland. Similarly it's one of the final Supremes songs to feature Florence Ballard. Released at the height of the so-called 'summer of love' of 1967, the song was the first Supremes' release to explore psychedelic pop. Holland, Dozier, Holland's production of the song, influenced by the psychedelic rock sounds of the day, and represented a basic shift in Motown's pop sound during the latter half of the 1960s. This clip is a live version of the song, on the TV Show hosted by Tennessee Ernie Ford.


1974 - THE GENIUS OF STEVIE WONDER was on show at this year's Grammy Awards when he scooped up Album of the Year for Innervisions, Best R&B vocal for Superstition, Best R&B song for Superstition, and Best Pop Performance, You Are the Sunshine of My Life. Wonder is a bona fide living music legend, having recorded more than 30 top ten hits around the world. He has received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and in the previous year, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary, with Wonder coming in at #5.


1975 - PAUL MCCARTNEY'S PENCHANT DESIRE for the smoking herb came to the fore again in Los Angeles when a policeman stopped Lincoln Continental in which McCartney was travelling, for running a red light. The LAPD cop was surprised to find the former Beatle at the wheel, with his wife Linda in the passenger seat. The cop detected a familiar smell of marijuana and on searching the car found eight ounces of the drug. that's half a pound - a fair whack. Linda was arrested for the offence, the driver going free - possible to avoid being banned from the country in future. Linda was an American citizen. Two years later on the same day, and a very young Barry Manilow was showing the world his songwriting and entertainment skills via his very own, personal television special event, The Barry Manilow Special, aired on the American ABC-TV network. No videos for this, but you get the picture from Manilow's Top of the Pops performance a year earlier.


1981 - MICHAEL JACKSON was a special guest on Diana Ross' third TV special, Diana, on the CBS network tonight. Diana was the first TV special of Diana Ross' not produced by Motown Productions, produced instead by her own production company, Diana Ross Enterprises. The TV special coincided with her record-breaking successful album of the same name. This excerpt features she and Michael Jackson talking about sex...and then doing a sexy dance routine. Guest stars included Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Larry Hagman (JR from the TV show Dallas) and The Joffrey Ballet. With an appearance by Mohammad Ali.


1985 - THE SMITHS were at #1 on the UK indie charts today, with their haunting and intriguing song, How Soon Is Now. Sire Records chief Seymour Stein called it "the 'Stairway to Heaven' of the Eighties", while co-writer Johnny Marr described it as "possibly our most enduring record. It's most people's favourite, I think." I think the brilliant guitar player is not wrong. Despite its lofty position in The Smiths' repertoire, however, it is not generally considered to be representative of the band's style and only time has given it that hit status, only reaching #24 as it did in its day. The song has been widely praised for the artistry of its lyrics, and indeed demonstrates clearly the lyrical talent of Morrissey. Pop group Soho had a #8 hit with Hippy Chick in later years, a song based on a direct-steal guitar sample from the Smiths' classic.



1991 - FREE'S CLASSIC SONG, Alright Now was first released in 1970, and thanks to a chewing gum brand was released again, 21 years later, when it was used to help sell the gum on a television advertisement. Television ads have revived many a modern day pop song, and to prove the point of the advert and the strength of the song, it came in close to top of the charts 21 years later. After the video of the hit, watch the TV advert.:)



1991 - FRENCH SING SERGE GAINSBOURG died today, of a heart attack, leaving behind a career, family, beautiful women, and the eternal love song, Je t'aime...moi non plus (French for "I love you... me neither"). Gainsbourg remains mostly famous for his 1969 smash hit duet with his lover, Jane Birkin. It reached #1 in the UK, but was banned in several countries due to its explicit sexual content. But Gainsbourg actually wrote the song for and sang the song with the alluring a year earlier. Bardot had asked Gainsbourg to write the most beautiful love song he could imagine and that night he wrote Je t'aime. They recorded an arrangement of the song at a Paris studio in a two-hour session in a small glass booth, with heavy petting happening throughout the recording, as you can clearly hear. News of the recording reached the press and Bardot's husband, German businessman Gunter Sachs, was angry, calling for the single to be withdrawn. Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release it, and although he protested that "The music is very pure. For the first time in my life, I write a love song and it's taken badly", he complied. Here are both versions, which one do you prefer?



1996 - OASIS scored their second #1 hit single with the auntingly beautiful song, Don't Look Back In Anger, easily one of the band's best songs, and surely one of the better modern-day rock ballads. The song was on the band's What's The Story Morning Glory album, and the first Oasis single to feature Noel on lead vocals instead of his brother, Liam Gallagher. Personally I think Noel leaves Liam in the shade with his singing style and his voice. This is a live performance of magnificent proportions, not just because of Gallagher's simplicity of style here, but because of the Brazilian audience, who themselves take this song into spine-chilling levels - would loved to have been in this audience.