BIRTHDAYS
1927: Clementina Campbell a.k.a. Cleo Laine
1941: Brian Rankin a.k.a. Hank Marvin
1969: Ben Harper
EVENTS
1977: Queen released their sixth album, ‘New Of The World’.
1977: The Sex Pistols released their only studio album, ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’.
1996: Yes released their album, ‘Keys to Ascension’.
2009: Lloyd Cole played a concert at The Cabana, Napier ~ I was there.
Happy Birthday to Ben Harper ~ he’s 52 today. If you ever get the chance, check out Ben live in concert, for some pure musicianship. Play that Weissenborn slide, man!
BIRTHDAYS
1939: John Cleese
1949: Garry Tallent (Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band)
1951: Ken “KK” Downing (Judas Priest)
1967: Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots)
1978: Vanessa-Mae
1984: Kelly Osbourne
EVENTS
1962: The Rolling Stones recorded their first demo tape at Curly Clayton Studios in Highbury, London.
1969: Muddy Waters was seriously injured and three people were killed in a car crash in Illinois.
1970: Black Sabbath played their first live show in the US at Glassboro State College.
1979: Elton John collapsed on stage, due to exhaustion, at Hollywood’s Universal Amphitheatre.
1980: Death of Stephen Porter a.k.a. Steve Peregrin Took of Tyrranosaurus Rex [aged 31].
2002: Death of record producer, Tom Dowd [aged 77].
2013: Death of singer / songwriter / poet / musician, Lou Reed [aged 71].
The Stones keep on Rolling! Hard to believe that they recorded their first demo 59 years ago today! Check out the young lads in the 1963 photo above (Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman). And this classic Rock ‘n’ Rolling Stones footage is 57 years old! Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around”…
BIRTHDAYS
1951: William “Bootsy” Collins (Parliament / Funkadelic)
1951: Maggie Roche (The Roches)
1952: David Was (Was Not Was)
1963: Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs)
EVENTS
1958: Bill Haley and his Comets played the first rock ‘n’ roll concert in Germany.
1965: Queen Elizabeth II presented The Beatles with their MBEs at Buckingham Palace, England.
2016: Steven Wilson played his first ever concert in New Zealand, at The Powerstation, Auckland ~ I was there!
2019: Death of Little Feat guitarist / singer / songwriter, Paul Barrere [aged 71].
Wow ~ has it been five years already! Steven Wilson performed a brilliant gig in Auckland, on his ‘Hand. Cannot. Erase.’ tour on this day in 2016. And he returned to New Zealand in 2019! 😀
This live footage gives some idea of the calibre of musicianship required to be in SW’s band. Before this, guitarist Dave Kilminster had recently completed service on Roger Waters’ world tour for ‘The Wall’, keyboardist Adam Holzman had made history and played in NZ with Miles Davis, while Nick Beggs has played bass for Steven since 2011.
Also, Happy Birthday to super-funky bassist / singer, Bootsy Collins. Check out this smokin’ jam session, featuring legendary sax man, David Sanborn (y’know Bowie’s ‘Young Americans’ & all that), drummer Omar Hakim and a scorching lead guitar break from Hiram Bullock. Get the funk out, Bootsy!
BIRTHDAYS
1944: Jon Anderson (Yes)
1947: Glenn Tipton (Judas Priest)
1951: Richard Lloyd (Television)
1956: Matthias Jabs (Scorpions)
1962: Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
EVENTS
1968: Led Zeppelin made their live debut as New Yardbirds, at Surrey University, England.
1985: Death of singer / songwriter / actor, Gary Holton of Heavy Metal Kids [aged 32].
1988: Bryan Ferry performed a concert at Mt. Smart Supertop, Auckland ~ I was there!
1991: Death of promoter Bill Graham [aged 60].
1993: Death of Vincent Price [aged 82].
2015: Death of bassist / singer / songwriter, Jack Bruce of Cream [aged 71].
Happy Birthday, Jon Anderson of YES! Unique singer, musician, songwriter ~ trying to save the planet, whilst living totally on another ~ Jon is 77 today! (Photo by Deborah Anderson, Jon’s daughter).
Here is what Jon considers as the ultimate Yes piece, “Awaken”. Jon performed this amazing rendition with Icelandic orchestra and band in 2013. You MUST watch this!!!
BIRTHDAYS
1911: Saunders Terrell a.k.a. Sonny Terry
1936: William Perks a.k.a. Bill Wyman (The Rolling Stones)
1944: Ted Templeman
1946: Jerry Edmonton (Steppenwolf)
1947: Edgar Broughton
1948: Dale “Buffin” Griffin (Mott The Hoople)
1979: Ben Gillies (Silverchair)
EVENTS
1970: Pink Floyd scored their first No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Atom Heart Mother’.
1970: Santana scored their first US No.1 album with ‘Abraxas’.
2015: Anathema’s acoustic concert at King’s Arms, Auckland.
2016: Death of singer, Robert Velline a.k.a. Bobby Vee [aged 73].
2017: Death of pianist / singer, Antoine “Fats” Domino [aged 89].
2018: Death of singer / songwriter / guitarist, Tony Joe White [aged 75].
Happy 85th Birthday to Bill Wyman!!! I think we can safely say that Bill won’t be re-joining The Stones.
BIRTHDAYS
1947: Greg Ridley (Spooky Tooth / Humble Pie)
1949: Michael Burston a.k.a. Wurzel (Motorhead)
1959: Alfred Matthew “Weird Al” Yankovic
1964: Robert Trujillo (Suicidal Tendencies / Metallica)
EVENTS
1962: 12-year-old Little Stevie Wonder recorded his first single for Motown Records, “Thank You For Loving Me All The Way”.
1966: The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded their first single “Hey Joe”, at De Lane Lea Studios in London.
2016: Death of singer, Pete Burns of Dead Or Alive [aged 57].
2020: Death of country singer / songwriter / guitarist, Jerry Jeff Walker [aged 78].
Bassist, Greg Ridley was born today, 74 years ago. He passed away in 2003, but he certainly left his mark in Rock history, with his fine playing with Spooky Tooth & alongside Steve Marriott & Peter Frampton in the mighty Humble Pie! Check out the fantastic “I Don’t Need No Doctor”, live in ’71 with the Pie. (Photo L-R: Jerry Shirley, Peter Frampton, Steve Marriott, Greg Ridley).
BIRTHDAYS
1811: Franz Liszt
1945: Lesley West (Mountain)
EVENTS
1965: The Who failed an audition for EMI Records. They were known as The High Numbers at this early stage of their career.
1969: Led Zeppelin released their second album, logically entitled ‘II’.
1988: U2 scored their 4th UK No.1 album with their 2LP film soundtrack ‘Rattle and Hum’.
1989: Death of folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, (and father of Kirsty MacColl), James “Jimmie” Miller a.k.a. Ewan MacColl [aged 74].
1993: Oasis signed a 6-album deal with Creation Records for a £40,000 advance.
1994: Death of James “Jimmy” Miller, record producer for Rolling Stones, etc. [aged 52].
2000: George Michael paid £1.45m for the Steinway piano on which John Lennon wrote “Imagine”.
2017: Death of guitarist, Scott Putesky a.k.a. Daisy Berkowitz of Marilyn Manson [aged 49].
2017: Death of guitarist / bassist / songwriter / producer, George Young of The Easybeats, Marcus Hook Roll Band & AC/DC [aged 70]. The elder brother of Malcom & Angus Young, George helped set his brothers on their musical path, played bass on early AC/DC recordings and produced some of their albums.
In 1969, the mighty Led Zeppelin ‘II‘ album was released!! Can you imagine what it must have been like hearing “Whole Lotta Love” for the first time… 52 years ago!! Mind blowing Zep!!
BIRTHDAYS
1940: Michael Lubowitz a.k.a. Manfred Mann
1941: Steve Cropper (Booker T & The MGs)
1946: Erick Lee Purkhiser a.k.a. Lux Interior (The Cramps)
1947: Tetsu Yamauchi (The Faces / Free)
1948: John “Rabbit” Bundrick (Free)
1952: Brent Mydland (The Grateful Dead)
1957: Julian Cope (Teardrop Explodes)
1957: Steve Lukather (Toto)
1964: Jon Carin (David Gilmour / Roger Waters)
1971: Nick Oliveri (Kyuss / Queens of the Stone Age)
EVENTS
1965: Death of Bill Black, Elvis Presley’s bass player [aged 39].
1969: Death of beatnik writer, Jack Kerouak [aged 47].
1976: Led Zeppelin’s film ‘The Song Remains the Same’, premiered in New York City.
1995: Death of singer, Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon [aged 28].
2001: Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, The Who, Elton John & others played a benefit concert at Madison Square Gardens, NY, for families affected by September 11th terrorist attacks.
2003: Death of folk / punk singer / songwriter, Elliott Smith [aged 34].
2006: Death of drummer, Sandy West of The Runaways [aged 47].
2007: Death of guitarist, Paul Fox of The Ruts [aged 56].
2017: Death of bassist, Martin Ain of Celtic Frost [aged 50].
21st of October seems to be a bit of a dangerous day for rock stars… one of those who died on this day was Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon. Yep, it was a drug overdose at only 28, in 1995. Here he is singing the wonderful “No Rain”, with BM three years earlier:
BIRTHDAYS
1890: Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton
1925: Tom Dowd (Record producer)
1945: Ric Lee (Ten Years After)
1950: Tom Petty
1951: Alan Greenwood (Foreigner)
1958: Mark King (Level 42)
1964: David Ryan (The Lemonheads)
1978: Paul Wilson (Snow Patrol)
EVENTS
1977: Ronnie Van Zant [aged 29], Steve Gaines [27] & sister Cassie [29], along with manager Dean Kilpatrick & two pilots were all killed when Lynyrd Skynyrd’s rented plane ran out of fuel and crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, Missouri. The other members of the band were all seriously injured.
1992: Iron Maiden played their first ever concert in New Zealand, at Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland. I was there and met them after the show.
2007: Death of Paul Raven of Killing Joke [aged 46].
2015: Death of singer / guitarist, Cory Wells of Three Dog Night [aged 74].
Maiden New Zealand on the ‘Fear of the Dark’ World Tour: Steve Harris and I, backstage after the very loud Iron Maiden concert at LCC, Auckland on 20th October, 1992. People say we look like brothers ~ I’ll take that! 🙂
BIRTHDAYS
1944: Peter Tosh
1946: Keith Reid (Procol Harum)
1957: Karl Wallinger (The Waterboys / World Party)
EVENTS
1974: Bachman Turner Overdrive went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Not Fragile’.
1980: AC/DC kicked off a 20-date UK tour at Bristol Colston Hall, their first gigs since the death of singer Bon Scott.
1988: Death of blues singer / guitarist, Son House [aged 86].
1989: Death of guitarist, Alan Murphy of Level 42 [aged 35].
1995: Tackhead performed a concert at The Powerstation, Auckland ~ I was there!
1995: Death of trumpeter, Don Cherry [aged 58].
1997: Death of guitarist, Glen Buxton of the Alice Cooper band [aged 49].
2020: Death of multi-instrumentalist / singer, Spencer Davis [aged 81].
2020: Death of singer / songwriter / bassist, Tony Lewis of The Outfield [aged 62].
Glen Buxton ~ 24 years gone. Glen was lead guitarist for the original Alice Cooper Band (1968 – 1974) and co-wrote classic songs, such as “School’s Out”, “Elected” and “I’m Eighteen”.
