Today In Oldies Music History: June 6
--Births
1936: Levi Stubbs (The Four Tops)1939: Gary U.S. Bonds
1942: Howie Kane (Jay and the Americans)
1943: Joe Stampley
1944: Peter Albin (Big Brother and the Holding Company)
1944: Edgar Ffoese (Tangerine Dream)
1944: Monty Alexander
1947: Tony Williams (Dire Straits)
1951: Dwight Twilley
Deaths
1986: Dick Rowe1991: Stan Getz
2003: Dave Rowberry (The Animals)
2006: Billy Preston
Events
1960: The RIAA presents Bing Crosby with a special platinum record honoring the sale of his 200 millionth record, a total which includes not only 125 albums but 2,600 singles!1960: Singer Tony Williams leaves the Platters to embark upon a solo career.
1962: The Beatles audition for EMI, recording four demos, the first material the band ever recorded at Abbey Road: three original compositions called "Love Me Do," "Ask Me Why," and "P.S. I Love You," and a cover of the standard "Besame Mucho." Producer George Martin is not at the session, but is called in by engineer Norman "Hurricane" Smith when he hears something he likes in "Love Me Do." Martin is not impressed with the group's songwriting, scruffy outfits, and even scruffier equipment (one of the band's amps blows during the audition), and he tells them so, finishing, "Look, I've laid into you for quite a time, you haven't responded. Is there anything you don't like?" To which George quips, "I don't like your tie!" The tension is broken, and Martin, charmed by the group's personality, agrees to work with them. (Though he later says, "They were pretty awful. I understand why other record companies turned them down.") The band members are paid US $12 each for the session; drummer Pete Best, whose skills Martin remains unimpressed with, would soon be sacked from the group.
1964: An anonymous ad taken out in six American music trade papers declares: "In the public interest, watch the Rolling Stones crush the Beatles!"
1966: Roy Orbison loses his first wife, Claudette, then 25, after the motorcycle they're both riding collides with a truck in Gallatin, TX. The tragedy would haunt Orbison for years.
1969: Rod Stewart signs to the Mercury label.
1971: John Lennon and Yoko Ono join Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention onstage at the Fillmore East in New York for a set of lengthy, chaotic, screeching jams later release as a bonus disc with the Lennon/Ono album Some Time In New York City.
1971: After almost 23 years on the air, making it American TV's longest-running variety show of all time, The Ed Sullivan Show bows on CBS with its last program, featuring guests Jerry Vale and Gladys Knight & the Pips.
1973: The Elvis Presley concert documentary Elvis On Tour opens nationwide.
1975: Pink Floyd begin their ill-fated American tour in support of their album Animals, an event which would directly inspire the soul-searching of the next LP, The Wall.
1977: Stevie Wonder appears, sponsored by Billboard, as a guest music lecturer at a UCLA symposium, talking about his early Motown days and illustrating his points with performances.
1987: Under increasing pressure from the group to tone down his behavior, Michael Jackson officially severs ties with the Jehovah's Witnesses.
1992: David Bowie and his new wife, model Iman, renew their vows in Florence, Italy after some doubt arises as to the legality of their first ceremony in Switzerland.
1993: The Velvet Underground reform for the first time in 24 years for a show at London's Wembley Arena.
1993: The Who's Tommy, now a Broadway play, takes home five Tony Awards at the annual ceremony in New York.
2001: Saying he "doesn't have time to drive them anymore," Elton John auctions off 20 of his automobiles for a cool $2.75 million.
2005: A Los Angeles jury begins deliberation in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial.
Releases
1960: Roy Orbison, "Only The Lonely"1972: David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
1977: Elvis Presley, "Way Down"
Recording
1966: The Beatles, "Eleanor Rigby"1968: The Beatles, "Don't Pass Me By"
1974: Billy Swan, "I Can Help"
