Today in Oldies Music History: April 21

Today In Oldies Music History: April 21

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Births

1919: Don Cornell
1924: Clara Ward
1931: Carl Belew
1939: Ernie Maresca
1945: Robert Knight
1947: Alan Warner (The Foundations)
1947: John Weider (Family)
1947: Iggy Pop
1949: Paul Davis
1951: Nicole Barclay (Fanny)
1951: Paul Carrack (Ace, Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics)

Deaths

1961: Cisco Houston
1970: Earl Hooker
1971: Don Drummond (The Skatalites)
1978: Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention)
2000: Neal Matthews Jr. (The Jordanaires)
2003: Nina Simone
2007: Lobby Loyde (Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, The Coloured Balls)
2008: Al Wilson

Events

1945: One of the world's first great R&B labels, Modern Records, is formed by Saul and Jules Bihari in Los Angeles. It would prove to be the launching pad for everyone from John Lee Hooker to Etta James.
1960: Testifying before the US Congressional committee on "payola," DJ and TV host Dick Clark admits to having taken money and gifts to play songs on the radio, going so far as to declare 27 percent of his playlist as containing some sort of financial interest for him. For his penitence, Clark is ordered to sell off some of his conflicting interests, but has his name cleared -- unlike DJ Alan Freed, who refuses to admit that payola was an illegal or immoral practice.
1963: The Beatles meet the Rolling Stones for the first time, backstage after the Stones' gig at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, England. The bands get along well after some initial nervousness, but contrary to myth, this is not the occasion where the Beatles write "I Wanna Be Your Man" for their rivals.
1965: The Beach Boys appear on today's episode of Shindig! on ABC-TV, performing their version of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance?"
1967: The Beatles finish work on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by recording a two-second snippet of gibberish for use in the original vinyl LP's run-out groove, meaning that the listener would hear the noises repeated on a loop until they got up and took the record off the turntable. The only actual vocal is a Beatle saying something like "never could be any other way," which, when played backwards, allegedly reveals the words "We'll f*** you like Supermen." As a practical joke, John Lennon also adds a special 15Hz tone before the groove, one so high only dogs can hear it. Not present on the US LP, both were added back to the CD.
1969: Janis Joplin makes her stage debut in London when she and her Kozmic Blues Band perform a legendary concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
1970: Elton John makes his stage debut as a solo act when he opens for T. Rex, Spooky Tooth, and Jackie Lomax at the Roundhouse in London.
1977: Having spent a full decade as a draft exile in Canada, singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester returns to the US.
1977: ABC airs Frank Sinatra's TV special Frank Sinatra and Friends, featuring guest stars Natalie Cole and John Denver.
1990: Paul McCartney sets a new world record for attendance at a concert by a single artist when his tour-ending concert at the Maracana Stadium in Rio draws 184,000 people.
1993: Bill Wyman, formerly of the Rolling Stones, marries his third wife, 33-year-old fashion designer Suzanne Accosta, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.
1993: Bill Kreutzmann, drummer for the Grateful Dead, spots a 17-year-old surfer foundering in a riptide near Mendocino, CA and dives in, saving his life.
2003: Setting off a five-year legal battle, the Beach Boys' label, Brother Records, sues former group member Al Jardine for using the group's name to promote his solo concerts.
2003: EMI and Universal Music sue the file-sharing service Napster for copyright violations.
2004: Michael Jackson is officially charged with child molestation after a California grand jury determines there is enough evidence to proceed with allegations made against him for time spent at his Neverland Ranch.

Releases

none

Recording

1959: Johnny Mathis, "Misty"
1966: The Beatles, "Taxman"

Charts

1951: Les Paul and Mary Ford's "How High The Moon" hits #1
1956: Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" hits #1
1958: The Platters' "Twilight Time" hits #1
1962: Elvis Presley's "Good Luck Charm" hits #1
1973: Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" hits #1
1973: Alice Cooper's LP Billion Dollar Babies hits #1
1976: Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" enters the charts
1979: Amii Stewart's "Knock On Wood" hits #1

Certifications

none