It happened this week

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1949, RCA introduces the first 45rpm record … some record labels actually release extended classical works on sets of 45s with the playback interrupted every 4 or 5 minutes while listeners swap discs …

1952, Sun Records, future home of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, releases its first record: an instrumental recording by sax man Johnny London … it flops …

1955, Elvis Presley makes his first television appearance on a regional show called Louisiana Hayride … Bo Diddley cuts his first records for Chess including “I’m a Man,” a tune that will influence generations of rockers to follow … Muddy Waters later records his version, slowing it down a bit and re-titling it “Mannish Boy” …

1956, Gale Storm’s cover of the Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers #6 hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" rises to #9 on the pop chart … it is notable for being the first white-artist cover that fails to beat the black-artist original on the chart …

1957, Chess Records releases singles of Muddy Waters’ “I Got My Mojo Working” and Chuck Berry’s “School Days” …

1959, recording begins in New York City for the Miles Davis classic Kind of Blue … the album will become so popular that people who normally don’t buy jazz albums buy this one …

1963, it is an unlikely gathering for “The Limbo Party” at San Francisco’s Cow Palace … Chubby Checker is host … performers include Marvin Gaye, The Crystals, Lou Christie, The Four Seasons, Dick & Dee Dee, Paul & Paula, and Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass …

1966, John Lennon stirs up an international controversy when, during a newspaper interview, he remarks that the Beatles "are probably bigger than Jesus right now" … American radio stations ban Beatles albums, with some organizing record burnings to protest the comment …

1967, Paul McCartney reads a newspaper account of a missing teenage girl, triggering his song "She’s Leaving Home" … it is announced in the music media that Steve and Muff Winwood plan to quit the Spencer Davis Group … the brothers have been with the band four years and will go on to form Traffic …

1968, Johnny Cash and June Carter marry at the First United Methodist Church in Franklin, Kentucky … a motorcade of Cadillacs carries Johnny, June, and the families to the small, private ceremony … Johnny’s best man is Merle Kilgore, who shares co-writing credits with June on “Ring of Fire,” the tune generally credited as a musical documentation of Johnny and June’s love affair … this same week, Frankie Lymon dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 25 … Lymon is often regarded as the first black teenage star … his 1956 hit “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” marked the apex of a career that promptly headed downhill …

1970, Janis Joplin is fined $200 for swearing onstage in Tampa, Florida …

1977, Keith Richards is arrested in Toronto after his hotel room is raided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who discover both heroin and cocaine … he is charged with possession of heroin with intent to sell plus possession of cocaine and is released on $25,000 bail … Stones fans everywhere wonder if the cops were on horseback when they broke into Keef’s room … Bob Dylan’s wife Sara files for divorce in Santa Monica, California … the couple has been married for eleven years and has five children … in the settlement she is given possession of their home and custody of the kids … Sara is said to be the inspiration behind classic tunes such as "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," "Lay Lady Lay," and "Sara" …

1978, Van Halen launches its first tour at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom … the rockers’ contract requires that M&Ms with the brown candies removed be supplied backstage …

1983, Michael Jackson’s Thriller reaches #1 and stays there 37 weeks, selling over 40 million copies … it is the number-one album in all Western nations …

1984, Gold Star Recording Studios where Phil Spector cut most of his monster hits is demolished to make way for a mini-mall that features a Del Taco stand …

1994, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana washes down a handful of Valium with champagne and winds up in a coma in a Rome hospital … he revives after about 20 hours … though officially labeled accidental, the overdose was privately thought to be a suicide attempt by those close to Cobain … conspiracy theorists have suggested that Courtney Love may have slipped him the dose without his knowledge … a second try by Cobain nearly two months later with a shotgun will prove fatal …

1995, Bill Berry of R.E.M. begins suffering from a massive migraine about 90 minutes into the band’s set in Lausanne, Switzerland … he collapses and is rushed offstage, but does not see a doctor until the next day when it is discovered he has an aneurysm on the right side of his brain … the aneurysm is clipped and Berry makes a full recovery …

1998, rapper C-BO is arrested for song lyrics urging violence against the police … the DA says that the lyrics in his recently released album ’Til My Casket Drops violate the terms of the rapper’s parole …

1999, Sony Music Distribution raises the wholesale price on CDs by eight cents … fired Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll settles his suit against the band for $880,000 … lawyers had predicted a much bigger payday …

2000, Dennis Danell of Social Distortion dies of an apparent brain aneurysm … Danell collapsed in the driveway of his Newport Beach home and was transported to Hoag Memorial Hospital where he is later pronounced dead … he was 38 years old … at the Annual Brit Awards in the U.K., Macy Gray takes honors for Best International Female Artist and Best Newcomer …

2005, at a Buckingham Palace party to honor the British music industry, Queen Elizabeth famously asks four of the country’s greatest guitarists—Brian May, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck—”And what do you do?” … ever the English gentleman, Clapton tells the press, ” … it doesn’t matter that she did not know who we are or what we do. I wouldn’t expect her to.” … speaking of English gentlemen, Ozzy Osbourne unexpectedly grabs his daughter Kelly’s left breast while posing for photos on a publicity tour for the Australian MTV Awards …

2006, after being found asleep in his car in London, George Michael is taken in by the bobbies on charges of possessing pot and painkillers … also in England, two security cops are wounded in a shooting when they attempt to stop a ticket-less man from entering a Kanye West show near Birmingham … Axl Rose countersues former Guns ‘N Roses bandmate Slash in a dispute over sale of the band’s publishing rights …

2007, more than two months after his death, James Brown remains unburied while family members squabble over burial details … meanwhile an undisclosed agreement is reached on how DNA samples should be collected from the corpse … they are needed to resolve several paternity claims including the parentage of a child that his companion Tomi Rae Hynie says Brown fathered … though Hynie says she married Brown, the Godfather’s lawyers dispute that saying she was still married to another man when the alleged marriage took place …

… and that was the week that was in matters musical.

Arrivals:

February 26: Fats Domino (1928), Norman P. Rich of Billy Stewart’s band (1930), Johnny Cash (1932), Paul Cotton of Poco (1943), Bob “The Bear” Hite of Canned Heat (1943), Mitch Ryder (1945), Jonathan Cain of Journey (1950), Michael Bolton (1953), Bronski Beat’s John Jon (1961), Erykah Badu (1971)

February 27: Eddie Gray of Tommy James & The Shondells (1948), Neil Schon of Journey (1954), Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden (1957), Chili of TLC (1971), Jeremy Dean of Nine Days (1972), singer-songwriter Josh Groban (1981)

February 28: guitarist John Fahey (1939), singer-songwriter Joe South (1940), Marty Sanders of Jay and the Americans (1941), R&B singer Barbara Acklin (1943), Brian Jones (1952), Ronald Rosman of Tommy James & The Shondells (1945), Cindy Wilson of The B-52’s (1957), Ian Stanley of Tears For Fears (1957), Phillip Gould of Level 42 (1957), Pat Monahan of Train (1969)

March 1: bandleader Glenn Miller (1904), barrelhouse pianist Walter Davis (1912), Harry Belafonte (1927), Jim Ed Brown of The Browns (1934), Roger Daltrey (1942), Jerry Fisher of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1943), Mike D’Abo of Manfred Mann (1944), synth pop singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw (1958)

March 2: Desi Arnaz (1917), Doc Watson (1923), Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops (1938), Lou Reed born Louis Firbank (1942), George Benson (1943), sax player Michael Brecker (1949), Eddie Money (1949), blues/rock guitarist Rory Gallagher (1949), Karen Carpenter (1950), Jay Osmond of The Osmonds (1955), Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons (1955), Mark Evans of AC/DC (1956), Jon Bon Jovi born John Bongiovi (1962), rapper and DJ Scott LaRock (1962), Coldplay’s Chris Martin (1977)

March 3: jazz bassist Pierre Michelot (1928), Willie Chambers of The Chambers Brothers (1938), Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane (1942), Mike Pender of The Searchers (1942), Jance Garfat of Dr. Hook (1944), Jennifer Warnes (1947), Robyn Hitchcock (1953), Tone-Loc (1966), John Bigham of Fishbone (1969), Ronan Keating of Boyzone (1977)

March 4: Miriam Makeba (1932), Bobby Womack (1944), singer-songwriter Shakin’ Stevens (1948), Billy Gibbons (1948), Chris Squire of Yes (1948), Emilio Estefan of Miami Sound Machine (1950), Jason Newsted of Metallica (1963), Patrick Hannan of The Sundays (1966), Fergal Lawlor of The Cranberries (1971)

Departures:

February 26: lyricist Ben Raleigh (1997), Frank O’Keefe of The Outlaws (1995), Cornell Gunter of The Coasters (1990), bluesman Bukka White (1977), Sherman Garnes of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers (1977), blues pianist Big Maceo (1953)

February 27: drummer Bobby Rosengarden (2007), Othar Turner (2003), Marlena Easley of The Orlons (1993)

February 28: saxophonist Walter Kimble (1988), DJ Eddie Madison (1987), David Byron of Uriah Heep (1985), Duprees lead vocalist Joey Vann (1984), Bobby Bloom (1974), Frankie Lymon (1968), Fats Domino’s guitarist Walter “Papoose” Nelson (1962)

March 1: Jackson 5 drummer Johnny Jackson (2006), Dennis Danell of Social Distortion (2000), Air Supply’s Frank Esler-Smith (1991)

March 2: pop composer Martin Denny (2005), Hank Ballard (2003), Dusty Springfield (1999), singer-songwriter David Ackles (1999), French pop singer Serge Gainsbourg (1991), rockabilly pianist Roy Hall (1984), Charlie Christian (1942)

March 3: poet-songwriter Ivor Cutler (2006), Harlan “Mr. Songwriter” Howard (2002)

March 4: songwriter-pianist Marvin Jenkins (2005), guitarist John McGeoch (2004), country artist Eddie Dean of “I Dreamed Of a Hillbilly Heaven” fame (1999), Minnie Pearl (1996), songwriter Eden Ahbez (1995), jazz guitarist Mary Osborne (1992), founder of the doo-wop Herald and Ember labels Al Silver (1992), bebop guitarist Tiny Grimes (1989), Richard Manuel of The Band (1986), R&B bandleader Red Saunders (1981), Brit rocker Mike Patto (1979), Raymond Edwards of The Silhouettes (1977)

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