March 3/4, 1986 - RICHARD MANUEL committed suicide today, at the age of just 43, after a gig at the Cheek to Cheek Lounge outside Orlando, in Winter Park, Florida. He had appeared to be in relatively good spirits but ominously thanked Garth Hudson for "twenty-five years of incredible music". The Band returned to the Quality Inn, down the block from the Cheek to Cheek Lounge, and Manuel talked with Levon Helm about music, film, etc., in Helm's room. According to Helm, at around 2:30 Manuel said he needed to get something from his room. Upon returning to his motel room, it is believed that he finished one last bottle of Grand Marnier before hanging himself. Manuel's wife Arlie—also intoxicated at the time—discovered his body along with the depleted bottle and a small amount of cocaine the following morning. This second video is of his grave, with music from the Band. First up, though, Richard Manuel and The Band, preforming this at their 1983 reunion tour titled 'The Band Is Back'.
1967 - STEVE WINWOOD and his brother Muff announced today they were leaving the Spencer Davis Group in which Steve had been a member since he was 14 - four years earlier. His career has now spanned almost 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music (blue-eyed soul), R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz. Winwood is a multi-instrumentalist who plays the electric organ, synthesizers, bass, drums, guitar, mandolin, violin and other stringed instruments. His trademark style is singing in a tenor voice and playing the Hammond organ. In addition to his solo career, he was a member of the bands the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and Go. Winwood has won numerous Grammy Awards in the United States of America. In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Winwood #33 in its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
1877 - SWAN LAKE remains one of the most enduring pieces of music - and, of course, one of the most enduring ballets. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake debuted 135 years ago today, in Moscow. The music was composed between 1875 &1876. The scenario of the ballet, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales, and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger. The ballet was premièred by the Bolshoi Ballet on March 4, 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, billed as The Lake of the Swans. Although it has been presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their stagings both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of the piece. This is the Bolshoi Ballet, performing the piece in 1989.
1966 - NEIL YOUNG, STEPHEN STILLS, & RICHIE FURAY formed what would become a most seminal band which they named Buffalo Springfield. This was a group that 46 years ago served as a springboard for the careers of Young, Stephen, Furay and Jim Messina, two of whom, later in their career, played in rock, pop, folk, country and acoustic group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Buffalo Springfield is best known for the very cool, laid-back roller of a song, For What It's Worth. After the band's formation, a series of disruptions, including infighting and the pressure of working in the music industry, resulted in constant changes in the group's lineup and ultimately culminated in the group's splitting two years later. Buffalo Springfield released a total of three albums but left many demo recordings, studio outtakes and live recordings, and despite the band's short tenure and relatively limited output, it was one of the most influential bands of the 1960s. Virtually all members had successful careers. This is an original video of the original band, filmed in '67 at the Hollywood Palace, as guests of the Smothers Brothers TV show. Great song.
1931 - CAB CALLOWAY and his band's album from 82 years ago today became the very first jazz album to sell a million copies. Jazz was going through a transition, as happens with all music genres, and this was one of those moments in time when the music reflected the mood of the people, and vice-versa. This is the name of the album, and the name of the song that became Calloway's signature song - Minnie the Moocher.
1940 - FRENESI is a musical piece composed by Alberto Dominguez for the marimba, a musical instrument in the percussion family, consisting of a set of wooden bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The song wasadapted as a jazz standard by Leonard Whitcup and others. Other performers who have recorded the song include Cliff Richard, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Dave Brubeck, June Christy, The Four Freshmen, Anita O'Day, Betty Carter, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Perez Prado, Eydie Gorme, Caterina Valente, and Frank Sinatra. Today was the day that Artie Shaw and his orchestra recorded the song and their version reached #1 on the Billboard pop chart by the end of the year. Doesn't seem to be anything worthy to put up from Artie, but howzabout this near-perfect version from the multi-talented Linda Ronstadt. Stick with it, you've heard the tune before.
1979 - THE BEE GEES came back from being virtually dead in the water by the mid seventies with a sensational movie soundtrack and a new outlook took them back to being one of the biggest groups in the world by the end of the decade. The band went to #1 around the world with their new sound as epitomised in the song, Tragedy. The group was also at #1 on the album charts with Spirits Having Flown, the brothers' second #1 album.
1983 - THE EURYTHMICS kicked off a 10-date UK tour at The Hacienda, Manchester, 29 years ago tonight. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart (both previously in the bands The Catch and The Tourists), the duo released their first album in 1981, with not much success, critical or otherwise. The group took off around the world two years later, with their second album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), the title track becoming a worldwide hit, topping the chart in various countries. Eurythmics went on to release a string of hit singles and albums before they split in 1990.
1984 - NENA started a three week run at #1 around the world, starting on the UK singles chart with 99 Red Balloons. Originally sung in German, 99 Luftballons was re-recorded in English as 99 Red Balloons. Nena, is a German singer and actress. Nena was also the name of the band with whom she released the song. With the re-recording and subsequent release of some of her old songs, her career re-emerged in 2002. In 2007, she co-founded the school Neue Schule Hamburg.
1986 - METALLICA released their third album, the highly influential, Master of Puppets, considered by many in the metal community to be the best metal album of all time. This was the last Metallica album with bassist Cliff Burton who was killed when the group's tour bus over-turned in southern Sweden while touring to promote the album. This is the band performing live in Seattle, 1989.
1990 - LINDY LAYTON and Beats International were storming up charts around the world today with the single Dub Be Good To Me. Formed by ex-Housemartins Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, the song was based on the SOS Band's 1984 hit Just Be Good To Me, mashed up with The Clash's Guns of Brixton.
1994 - NIRVANA were breaking all over the world at the start of 1994, and the Kurt Cobain-led group was in Rome for some concerts. Within hours of Courtney Love, accompanied by Michael DeWitt, joining Cobain, Kurt was fighting for his life in a Roman hospital. According to Cobain later, he and Love had argued, he informing her that he was leaving her. Courtney's response to this, as told to Select magazine: "If he thinks he can get away from me that easily, he can forget it. I'll follow him through hell." Cobain overdosed on a lethal mixture of Rohypnol and champagne. Some people believe it was administered to Cobain without his knowledge. Here's a bootleg of Cobain and his band performing in Rome eight days earlier.
1995 - R.E.M.'s 1994 release Monster was a return to a more rock-oriented sound for the band, so it began its first tour in six years to support the album. The tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three band members, including drummer Bill Berry who underwent surgery to halt a bleeding brain aneurysm. He entered hospital on this date.
1967 - STEVE WINWOOD and his brother Muff announced today they were leaving the Spencer Davis Group in which Steve had been a member since he was 14 - four years earlier. His career has now spanned almost 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music (blue-eyed soul), R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz. Winwood is a multi-instrumentalist who plays the electric organ, synthesizers, bass, drums, guitar, mandolin, violin and other stringed instruments. His trademark style is singing in a tenor voice and playing the Hammond organ. In addition to his solo career, he was a member of the bands the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and Go. Winwood has won numerous Grammy Awards in the United States of America. In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Winwood #33 in its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
1877 - SWAN LAKE remains one of the most enduring pieces of music - and, of course, one of the most enduring ballets. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake debuted 135 years ago today, in Moscow. The music was composed between 1875 &1876. The scenario of the ballet, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales, and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger. The ballet was premièred by the Bolshoi Ballet on March 4, 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, billed as The Lake of the Swans. Although it has been presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their stagings both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of the piece. This is the Bolshoi Ballet, performing the piece in 1989.
1966 - NEIL YOUNG, STEPHEN STILLS, & RICHIE FURAY formed what would become a most seminal band which they named Buffalo Springfield. This was a group that 46 years ago served as a springboard for the careers of Young, Stephen, Furay and Jim Messina, two of whom, later in their career, played in rock, pop, folk, country and acoustic group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Buffalo Springfield is best known for the very cool, laid-back roller of a song, For What It's Worth. After the band's formation, a series of disruptions, including infighting and the pressure of working in the music industry, resulted in constant changes in the group's lineup and ultimately culminated in the group's splitting two years later. Buffalo Springfield released a total of three albums but left many demo recordings, studio outtakes and live recordings, and despite the band's short tenure and relatively limited output, it was one of the most influential bands of the 1960s. Virtually all members had successful careers. This is an original video of the original band, filmed in '67 at the Hollywood Palace, as guests of the Smothers Brothers TV show. Great song.
1931 - CAB CALLOWAY and his band's album from 82 years ago today became the very first jazz album to sell a million copies. Jazz was going through a transition, as happens with all music genres, and this was one of those moments in time when the music reflected the mood of the people, and vice-versa. This is the name of the album, and the name of the song that became Calloway's signature song - Minnie the Moocher.
1940 - FRENESI is a musical piece composed by Alberto Dominguez for the marimba, a musical instrument in the percussion family, consisting of a set of wooden bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The song wasadapted as a jazz standard by Leonard Whitcup and others. Other performers who have recorded the song include Cliff Richard, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Dave Brubeck, June Christy, The Four Freshmen, Anita O'Day, Betty Carter, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Perez Prado, Eydie Gorme, Caterina Valente, and Frank Sinatra. Today was the day that Artie Shaw and his orchestra recorded the song and their version reached #1 on the Billboard pop chart by the end of the year. Doesn't seem to be anything worthy to put up from Artie, but howzabout this near-perfect version from the multi-talented Linda Ronstadt. Stick with it, you've heard the tune before.
1979 - THE BEE GEES came back from being virtually dead in the water by the mid seventies with a sensational movie soundtrack and a new outlook took them back to being one of the biggest groups in the world by the end of the decade. The band went to #1 around the world with their new sound as epitomised in the song, Tragedy. The group was also at #1 on the album charts with Spirits Having Flown, the brothers' second #1 album.
1983 - THE EURYTHMICS kicked off a 10-date UK tour at The Hacienda, Manchester, 29 years ago tonight. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart (both previously in the bands The Catch and The Tourists), the duo released their first album in 1981, with not much success, critical or otherwise. The group took off around the world two years later, with their second album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), the title track becoming a worldwide hit, topping the chart in various countries. Eurythmics went on to release a string of hit singles and albums before they split in 1990.
1984 - NENA started a three week run at #1 around the world, starting on the UK singles chart with 99 Red Balloons. Originally sung in German, 99 Luftballons was re-recorded in English as 99 Red Balloons. Nena, is a German singer and actress. Nena was also the name of the band with whom she released the song. With the re-recording and subsequent release of some of her old songs, her career re-emerged in 2002. In 2007, she co-founded the school Neue Schule Hamburg.
1986 - METALLICA released their third album, the highly influential, Master of Puppets, considered by many in the metal community to be the best metal album of all time. This was the last Metallica album with bassist Cliff Burton who was killed when the group's tour bus over-turned in southern Sweden while touring to promote the album. This is the band performing live in Seattle, 1989.
1990 - LINDY LAYTON and Beats International were storming up charts around the world today with the single Dub Be Good To Me. Formed by ex-Housemartins Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, the song was based on the SOS Band's 1984 hit Just Be Good To Me, mashed up with The Clash's Guns of Brixton.
1994 - NIRVANA were breaking all over the world at the start of 1994, and the Kurt Cobain-led group was in Rome for some concerts. Within hours of Courtney Love, accompanied by Michael DeWitt, joining Cobain, Kurt was fighting for his life in a Roman hospital. According to Cobain later, he and Love had argued, he informing her that he was leaving her. Courtney's response to this, as told to Select magazine: "If he thinks he can get away from me that easily, he can forget it. I'll follow him through hell." Cobain overdosed on a lethal mixture of Rohypnol and champagne. Some people believe it was administered to Cobain without his knowledge. Here's a bootleg of Cobain and his band performing in Rome eight days earlier.
1995 - R.E.M.'s 1994 release Monster was a return to a more rock-oriented sound for the band, so it began its first tour in six years to support the album. The tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three band members, including drummer Bill Berry who underwent surgery to halt a bleeding brain aneurysm. He entered hospital on this date.
