Today in Oldies Music History: March 21

Today In Oldies Music History: March 21

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Births

1902: Son House
1918: Sir Charles Thompson
1919: Billy Joe Hunter
1923: Mort Lindsey
1930: Otis Spann
1940: Solomon Burke
1941: John Boylan
1943: Viv Stanshall (Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band)
1945: Rosemary Stone (Sly and the Family Stone)
1946: Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry)
1950: Roger Hodgson (Supertramp)
1951: Russell Thompkins Jr. (The Stylistics)
1953: Robert Johnson (KC and the Sunshine Band)

Deaths

1987: Dean Paul Martin (Dino, Desi and Billy)
1991: Leo Fender
2002: John "Speedy" Keene (Thunderclap Newman)
2004: Johnny Bristol

Events

1952: At the Cleveland Arena, influential DJ Alan Freed holds what is today considered the first true "rock and roll concert," as his Moondog Coronation Ball features Billy Ward and the Dominoes, Tiny Grimes, and Paul Williams and the Hucklebuckers. With ten thousand attendees (and twice that many outside, waiting to get in), the local police shut the concert down prematurely for fire code violations, causing a near-riot.
1956: After performing in Norfolk, VA (with Gene Vincent opening), and en route to New York to appear on The Perry Como Show, Carl Perkins is badly injured in a Dover, DE car crash that also kills his manager and his brother Jay. The crash derails Perkins career, almost for good, as he is forced to spend months in the hospital nursing a fractured neck, broken collarbone, and a severe concussion, while Elvis Presley has an ever bigger hit with Carl's hit "Blue Suede Shoes."
1961: The Beatles, still featuring Pete Best on drums, play their first evening gig at Liverpool's Cavern Club, opening for an act called The Bluegenes (later the Swinging Blue Jeans of "Hippy Hippy Shake" fame).
1963: Barbra Streisand marries her first husband, actor Elliott Gould, whom she'd met while both were performing in the Broadway hit I Can Get It for You Wholesale.
1964: Dean Martin immortalizes his handprints in the cement of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
1964: Judy Collins is catapulted into stardom after a momentous appearance at New York's Carnegie Hall.
1967: John Lennon takes his first major LSD trip and freaks out while recording backing vocals on the track "Getting Better." Producer George Martin, not realizing the effects of the drug, takes Lennon to the roof of Abbey Road Studios to get some fresh air. Paul and George, upon learning where John was, rush up to get him down. The group works on a piano track for "Lovely Rita" instead.
1973: After screaming teenage David Cassidy fangirls cause a riot on the set of the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops, the program bans all future teen idols from performing.
1976: David Bowie and Iggy Pop are arrested in New York and charged with marijuana possession, charges which are later dropped.
1984: John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, dedicates a section of New York City's Central Park as a place of meditation called Strawberry Fields. Every December 9, thousands of fans converge on the spot to remember her last husband, who was murdered by a deranged fan on that day in 1980.
1990: Tony Orlando is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Boulevard.
1994: Bruce Springsteen wins an Oscar for penning the song "Streets Of Philadelphia" for the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia.
2003: Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry divorces his first wife, model Lucy Helmore, after 21 years, on grounds of adultery.
2006: After a six-year legal battle, the three surviving daughters of African musician Solomon Linda are awarded one-quarter of all future royalties from the Tokens' 1961 hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." The court ruled that the song, which the Tokens adapted from a Pete Seeger song called "Wimoweh," which was actually Linda's 1939 adaptation of a native folk song. Linda, who died in 1962, had nothing to leave to his family, who were destitute at the time of the ruling.
2008: Five years of legal wrangling comes to a close after the Beach Boys' Mike Love and Brian Wilson sued former member Al Jardine in an attempt to stop him from using the name while touring with his own band. Jardine's lawyer, while not disclosing the terms of the agreement, said his client "feels very happy and feels that this is a friendly settlement that allows them to focus on the talent and future of this American iconic band," words that have Beach Boys fans hopeful for the possibility of a full-scale group reunion.

Releases

1970: The Faces, First Step

Recording

1939: Kate Smith, "God Bless America"
1960: Elvis Presley: "Stuck On You," "Fame And Fortune," "A Mess Of Blues," "It Feels So Right"
1961: Elvis Presley: "Hawaiian Sunset," "Ku-u-i-po," "No More," "Slicin' Sand"
1967: The Beatles, "Lovely Rita"
1971: "Love Me, Love The Life I Lead"

Charts

1953: Patti Page's "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?" hits #1
1964: The Beatles' "She Loves You" hits #1

Certifications

none