Today In Oldies Music History: June 21
--Births
1929: Helen Merrill1932: Lalo Schifrin
1932: O.C. Smith
1936: Nick Noble
1940: Ray Davies (The Kinks)
1942: Deodato
1945: Chris Britton (The Troggs)
1946: Brenda Holloway
1948: Joey Molland (Badfinger)
1950: Joey Kramer (Aerosmith)
1951: Nils Lofgren
Deaths
1980: Bert Kaempfert2001: John Lee Hooker
Events
1948: The Columbia label announces its new technological breakthrough, a "long-playing" vinyl phonograph record that can hold up to 23 minutes of music on a side.1962: As part of manager Brian Epstein's plan to get the band wider exposure by having them open for established acts, the Beatles open for Bruce Chanel of "Hey! Baby!" fame at the Tower Ballroom, in New Brighton, England. Backstage, Channel's harmonica player, who will go on to fame as Delbert McClinton, offers John Lennon some tips on playing harmonica, which Lennon will later put to use on the band's first single, "Love Me Do."
1966: The Rolling Stones sue fourteen New York City hotels who have refused to admit the band during their North American tour, disingenuously accusing them of "discrimination on account of national origin."
1967: San Francisco's Golden Gate Park celebrates the Summer Solstice with a free concert with entertainment by The Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Quicksilver Messenger Service.
1968: Influenced by the recent assassination of Robert Kennedy, Steve Binder, director of Elvis Presley's upcoming NBC-TV special, asks musical director Bones Howe to write a "socially conscious" song for Elvis' big closing number, which had been slated to be the standard "I'll Be Home For Christmas." Howe writes the replacement song, "If I Can Dream," that afternoon; after hearing it a half-dozen times, Elvis agrees to end with it.
1970: Who guitarist Pete Townshend, while waiting for his flight at the airport in Memphis, likens the band's latest album, Tommy, to the atomic bomb, causing officials who misheard the remark to search the facilities for a real bomb.
1973: The band Bread, already having decided to break up, play their last live gig ever in Salt Lake City after one of its tour trucks flips over and destroys most of its gear.
1975: Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore leaves the band to form Rainbow.
1981: After a number of lawsuits, deaths, and accidents, Steely Dan break up, not to fully reform onstage until 2000.
1988: The Rascals reunite onstage for the first time in eighteen years.
1990: Little Richard is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6840 Hollywood Blvd.
2003: Johnny Cash makes a surprise appearance live on stage in Hiltons, VA, near the birthplace of his recently-deceased wife June Carter Cash, saying "I don't hardly know what to say tonight about being up here without her... the pain is so severe, there's no way of describing it."
2007: After dating her for a full eighteen years, Tony Bennett marries teacher Susan Crow.
Releases
1955: Johnny Cash, "Hey Porter"1958: Bobby Darin, "Splish Splash"
Recording
1961: Bobby Vee, "Take Good Care Of My Baby"1966: The Beatles, "She Said She Said"
1967: Elvis Presley: "Let Yourself Go," "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad"
1968: The Beatles, "Revolution 1"
1968: Elvis Presley: "It Hurts Me," "Little Egypt," "Trouble," "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child," "Where Could I Go But To The Lord?"
