Today in Oldies Music History: July 24

Today In Oldies Music History: July 24

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Births

1908: Cootie Williams
1916: Bob Eberly
1921: Billy Taylor
1934: Rudy Collins (Dizzy Gillespie)
1941: Barbara Jean Love (Friends of Distinction)
1942: Heinz Burt (The Tornados)
1944: Jim Armstrong (Them)
1947: Alan Whitehead (Marmalade)
1948: Kim Berly (The Stampeders)

Deaths

1968: Nervous Norvus

Events

1956: Ten years to the day after their act began, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis broke up their wildly popular musical/comedy act after a farewell show at New York's Copacabana nightclub.
1964: At the Rolling Stones' gig in Blackpool, England's Empress Ballroom, an angry audience member spits on guitarist Brian Jones, sparking a riot which injures two policemen and 30 fans, as well as destroying chandeliers, seats and a Steinway grand piano. Their remaining performances at the venue are cancelled and the group is banned from performing in the city, a ban which was not lifted until 2008.
1967: The Beatles and manager Brian Epstein, among other celebrities, take out a full-page ad in The Times newspaper in Britain calling for the legalization of marijuana. On the same day, Asia's edition of Life Magazine features the Beatles on the cover, sporting a new look featuring long hair and facial hair, a major stylistic statement at the time, and carrying the headline "The New, Far-Out Beatles."
1972: Bobby Ramirez, drummer with Edgar Winter's White Trash, is beaten to death in a Chicago barroom brawl after several patrons complain about the length of his hair.
1978: The legendary bomb musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band opens in New York, starring Peter Frampton, George Burns, and the Bee Gees. An attempt to write a fantasy film around several classic Beatles songs, the movie ruined or significantly damaged the careers of almost everyone in it.
1984: Aretha Franklin's father, the well-known gospel singer The Reverend Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, dies after a five-year coma brought on by a burglar's bullet.
1985: A stretch of Detroit's Washington Boulevard is renamed "Aretha Franklin's Freeway Of Love," in honor of her recent comeback hit.
1987: The movie La Bamba, a somewhat fictionalized biography of Latin rock star Richie Valens, opens in the US. It's generally well-received, especially the soundtrack by Los Lobos. Lou Diamond Phillips stars as Valens, who died in the infamous plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper; Marshall Crenshaw appears as Buddy Holly and Brian Setzer as Eddie Cochran.
1995: A three-night career retrospective honoring Frank Sinatra on his 80th birthday begins at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium. A visibly ailing Sinatra attends but does not perform. Meanwhile, in New York City, the Empire State Building is lit with blue lights in his honor.
1998: Country legend Tanya Tucker files suit against her label, Capitol Nashville, for $300,000, claiming the label has not promoted her properly.
2007: Blues legend Etta James enters Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for complications stemming from recent abdominal surgery.

Releases

1965: The Beach Boys, "California Girls"
1976: Hall and Oates, "She's Gone"

Recording

1938: Artie Shaw, "Begin The Beguine"
1968: The Beatles, "Sexy Sadie"
1969: The Beatles: "Sun King," "Mean Mr. Mustard"

Charts

1954: The Four Aces' "Three Coins In The Fountain" hits #1
1965: Dino, Desi and Billy's "I'm A Fool" enters the charts
1971: The Raiders' "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" hits #1
1976: The Manhattans' "Kiss And Say Goodbye" hits #1

Certifications

1967: Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow LP is certified gold