Today in Oldies Music History: July 23

Today In Oldies Music History: July 23

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Births

1934: Bert Convy
1935: Cleveland Duncan (The Penguins)
1942: Madeline Bell (Blue Mink)
1943: Tony Joe White
1945: Dino Danelli (The Young Rascals)
1946: Andy Mackay (Roxy Music)
1947: David Essex
1950: Blair Thornton (Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

Deaths

1980: Keith Godchaux (The Grateful Dead)

Events

1950: CBS-TV premieres The Gene Autry Show.
1963: High school student Neil Young and his band, the Squires, enter a Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada studio to record their first single, a surf instrumental called "The Sultan."
1968: The Iveys, later known as Badfinger, sign with Apple Records after a persistent campaign by longtime Beatles associate Mal Evans, who will produce their first sessions.
1969: Los Angeles declares "James Brown Day" in honor of the singer, but when Mayor Sam Yorty is slightly late for the ceremonies, Brown leaves in a huff.
1977: Backstage at the "Days On The Green" festival in Oakland, CA, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham allegedly sees a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff slap his son for taking down a dressing room sign. Bonham kicks the employee, and band manager Peter Grant later breaks into the staff member's trailer and beats him savagely. Bonham and Grant, among others, are arrested for assault. Both would bargain down to misdemeanors, plead guilty, and eventually pay a combined $2 million fine.
1979: Iran's new leader, the Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, bans rock and roll as a corruptive influence on the people, a decision that eventually inspires both the graphic novel Perseopolis and the Clash song "Rock the Casbah."
1989: Ringo Starr begins his first tour since the Beatles stopped touring in 1966, introducing his "All-Starr Band" of Seventies icons in Dallas, TX.
1994: The International Astronomical Union names an asteroid in Mars' orbit ZappaFrank, after the musician Frank Zappa, who'd passed away from cancer the year before.
2001: Just three years after the death of first wife Linda from cancer, Paul McCartney gets engaged to former model and activist Heather Mills, who he first met at a charity event in 1999. This news does not sit well with fans, especially when the marriage lasts just four years. The couple produce one daughter, Beatrice Milly McCartney.
2003: The US National Registry of Historic Places declares Memphis, Tennessee's Sun Studios, at 706 Union Avenue, a historic landmark.
2003: In a bizarre ad placed in Variety, James Brown announces his separation from his fourth wife, Tomi Rae, by featuring a picture of the couple and their two-year-old, James Brown II, posing with Goofy at Disney World.

Releases

1955: Chuck Berry, "Maybellene"
1977: Foreigner, "Cold As Ice"

Recording

1941: Sonny Dunham, "Memories Of You"
1968: The Beatles: "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey," "Good Night"
1969: The Beatles: "Come Together," "Oh! Darling"

Charts

1951: Rosemary Clooney's "Come On-A My House" hits #1
1966: Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" hits #1
1966: Frank Sinatra's Strangers In The Night LP hits #1
1966: Roger Miller's "You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd" enters the charts
1977: Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It" hits #1

Certifications

1969: Three Dog Night's "One" is certified gold