Today in Oldies Music History: November 14

Today In Oldies Music History: November 14

--

Births

1900: Aaron Copland
1915: Martha Tilton
1920: Johnny Desmond
1938: Cornelius Gunter (The Coasters)
1940: Freddie Garrity (Freddie and the Dreamers)
1944: Scherrie Payne (The Supremes)
1947: Buckwheat Zydeco
1948: James "JY" Young (Styx)
1951: Stephen Bishop

Deaths

1984: Don Addrisi (The Addrisi Brothers)

Events

1952: The British music paper New Musical Express publishes its first record chart. The first Number One: Al Martino's "Here In My Heart."
1960: Elvis Presley's latest single, "It's Now Or Never," sells 780,000 copies in the UK during its first week of release, making it the fastest-selling song in the country's history.
1957: The Boston stop on Alan Freed's "Biggest Show Of Stars" concert is the scene of yet another rock and roll "riot" when five audience members are arrested for fighting during a performance by Fats Domino. One audience member, a sailor, is stabbed during the fight.
1960: Drummer Cozy Cole of "Topsy" fame is sent by the US State Department on a 20-week goodwill tour of Africa.
1964: At the start of her first UK tour, Dusty Springfield causes a furor when she tells a local magazine: "I wish I'd been born colored. When it comes to singing and feeling, I want to be one of them and not me. Then I see how some of them are treated and I thank God I'm white."
1964: Them, the Van Morrison-led band who would later score a hit with the garage-rock classic "Gloria," backs up legendary bluesman Jimmy Reed during a British tour.
1967: Pink Floyd begin their first UK tour at the Royal Albert Hall in London, playing on a package bill with The Move, Nice, Amen Corner, and the headliner, the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
1987: In a initially awkward but eventually moving live event, David Letterman convinces guest Cher to sing "I Got You Babe" just one more time with embittered ex Sonny Bono on his NBC-TV Late Night program. Both Sonny and Cher are left in tears, though no reunion is forthcoming.
1987: A major oldies revival crests today, when the soundtrack to the hit Patrick Swayze film Dirty Dancing -- set in 1963 and featuring many hits of the day -- rises to Number One on the Billboard charts.
1990: This week's issue of Newsweek hits the stands, featuring what seems like a stark admission from the Who's Pete Townshend -- he's bisexual. "I know how it feels to be a woman because I am a woman," he says. "And I won't be classified as just a man." About his song "Rough Boys," which some saw as a gay anthem, he says, "...In a way it was a coming-out. That it was a real acknowledgment of the fact that I'd been surrounded by people that I really adored -- and was actually sexually attracted to -- who were men. And that the side of me that responded to those people was a passive side, a subordinate side."
1997: Tonight's Bee Gees show at Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena rakes in a record $1,681,100 -- and yet doesn't sell out entirely.

Releases

1970: Santana, "Black Magic Woman"

Recording

1944: Tommy Dorsey, "Opus No. 1"
1956: Jerry Lee Lewis, "End Of The Road" b/w "Crazy Arms"
1958: Cliff Richard, "Livin' Lovin' Doll"
1961: The Everly Brothers: "Crying In The Rain," "That's Old Fashioned (That's The Way Love Should Be)"
1962: Bob Dylan, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
1969: Led Zeppelin, "Since I've Been Loving You"
1973: Bob Dylan, "Forever Young," "Dirge"

Charts

1960: Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind" hits #1

Certifications

1967: The Monkees' "Daydream Believer" is certified gold
1975: The Spinners' "They Just Can’t Stop It (The Games People Play)" is certified gold