BIRTHDAYS
1928: Burt Bacharach
1937: George Carlin
1942: Ian Dury
1945: Jayotis Washington (The Persuasions)
1946: Ian McLagan (The Small Faces)
1948: Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group / Traffic / Blind Faith)
1950: Billy Squier
1958: Eric Singer (Alice Cooper Band / Kiss)
1959: Ray Gillen (Black Sabbath / Badlands) Briefly the singer in Black Sabbath, before forming the excellent Badlands band with guitarist Jake E Lee. A great singer gone way too soon, aged 34 (12 May, 1959 – 1 December, 1993).
1961: Billy Duffy (The Cult)
EVENTS
1965: The Rolling Stones recorded “(I Can’t Get No), Satisfaction” at RCA Hollywood Studios.
1967: Pink Floyd performed their ‘Games For May’ concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.
1967: The debut album by Jimi Hendrix, ‘Are You Experienced’ was released in the UK.
1973: Led Zeppelin started a 3-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Houses of the Holy’.
1977: Virgin Records signed The Sex Pistols, who had been dropped by EMI and A&M Records.
1977: Led Zeppelin received Ivor Novello Awards for outstanding contribution to British music.
One of the finest lyricists in rock, Mr. Ian Dury was born 79 years ago. Ian will never be forgotten…
BIRTHDAYS
1888: Irving Berlin
1904: Salvador Dali
1935: Kit Lambert (Record Producer / Manager of The Who)
1941: Eric Burdon (The Animals / War)
1947: Claude “Butch” Trucks (The Allman Brothers Band)
1967: Avtar Singh (Cornershop)
EVENTS
1970: The triple LP soundtrack album ‘Woodstock’ was released in the US, going gold within 2 weeks.
1974: Led Zeppelin attended Elvis Presley’s show at the Los Angeles Forum in California.
1978: Completing their ‘News of the World’ 46-date tour, Queen played 3 sold-out nights at Wembley Arena, London.
1978: The Enemy, The Clean & London SS played a gig at Beneficiaries Hall, Dunedin ~ I was there!
1981: Death of Jamaican reggae legend, Bob Marley [aged 36].
2003: Death of Noel Redding, bassist of The Jimi Hendrix Experience [aged 57].
2008: Death of original Rush drummer, John Rutsey [aged 55].
2017: Living Colour played a gig at The Powerstation, Auckland ~ I was there!
Rest in Peace, Noel Redding ~ a fantastic, inventive bassist / singer / songwriter. Noel was originally a guitarist, but switched to bass as requested by Jimi Hendrix, when the Experience was formed. Redding helped create Jimi’s three landmark albums ‘Are You Experienced‘, ‘Axis: Bold as Love’, and ‘Electric Ladyland‘, as well as performing in some of Hendrix’s most celebrated concerts.
RUSH ~ Also on this day in 2008, original Rush drummer, John Rutsey died [aged 55]. He was on the first Rush album, but left the band in 1974, to be replaced by Neil Peart. Rest in Peace, John ~ “Working Man”!
BIRTHDAYS
1899: Fred Astaire
1921: Bert Weedon
1946: Dave Mason (Traffic / Fleetwood Mac)
1946: Graham Gouldman (10cc)
1946: Donovan Leitch
1947: Jay Ferguson (Spirit)
1952: Lowell “Sly” Dunbar
1952: Lee Brilleaux (Dr Feelgood)
A great singer / harmonica player, Lee Brilleaux was born on this day in 1952 and died quite young, on 7 April 1994 [aged 41].
1957: John Ritchie a.k.a. Sid Vicious
1960: Paul Hewson a.k.a. Bono (U2)
EVENTS
1971: Free disbanded.
1999: Death of multi-instrumentalist / songwriter / author / poet / cartoonist, Shel Silverstein [aged 57].
2003: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith) was given an honorary doctorate degree in music by the Berklee College of Music.
2004: Death of David Wayne, singer for Metal Church [aged 47].
2020: Death of soul singer, Bessie Norris a.k.a. Betty Wright [aged 66].
Happy Birthday to Graham Gouldman, bassist / singer / songwriter in 10cc, who is 75 today! I finally got to see 10cc live, on 8 February, 2013, in Taupo and again in Napier on 14th November, 2015, at Municipal Theatre in Napier (photo above taken by me). What a great live band! Probably my favourite 10cc song is “Feel the Benefit”. If there was ever any doubt that Graham was influenced by Chris Squire of YES, check out his bass solo at the 9 minute mark. Sounds a little bit like “Starship Trooper”. 😉
BIRTHDAYS
1944: Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield)
1949: Billy Joel
1951: Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick)
1953: John Edwards (Status Quo)
1960: Marc Duncan (The Vibrators)
1962: David Gahan (Depeche Mode)
1965: Charley Drayton (The X-pensive Winos / The Cult / Divinyls / Cold Chisel / The Dead Daisies)
1971: Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan (Oasis)
EVENTS
1964: Chuck Berry began his first ever UK tour at The Astoria Theatre.
1978: Fee Waybill of The Tubes, broke a leg after falling from the stage at Hammersmith Odeon.
1999: Suede scored their third UK No.1 album with ‘Head Music’.
2019: Death of singer / guitarist, Malcolm Black of Netherworld Dancing Toys (also entertainment lawyer, A&R director) [aged 58].
2020: Death of singer / songwriter / pianist, Little Richard [aged 87].
Happy Birthday to Tom Petersson, bassist / guitarist in Cheap Trick (bottom left in photo). Tom’s 70 today ~ here’s a great clip of the band, back when he was only 24!
BIRTHDAYS
1911: Robert Johnson
1943: Paul Samwell-Smith (The Yardbirds)
1944: William Fifield a.k.a. Bill Legend (T. Rex)
1945: Keith Jarrett
1951: Chris Frantz (Talking Heads / Tom Tom Club / Gorillaz)
1951: Philip Bailey (Earth Wind & Fire)
1953: Alex Van Halen (Van Halen)
1953: Billy Burnette (Fleetwood Mac)
1976: Martha Wainwright
1977: Joe Bonamassa
EVENTS
1974: Rick Wakeman quit Yes.
1974: Death of British blues keyboard player, Graham Bond [aged 36].
1976: BBC Radio 1 DJ, Johnnie Walker quit the station, after being told he must pretend to like The Bay City Rollers.
1982: Death of Casablanca Records boss, Neil Bogart [aged 39].
1993: Mark Knopfler received an honorary music doctorate from the University of Newcastle.
1993: Aerosmith entered the US album chart at No.1 with ‘Get a Grip’, a No.2 hit in the UK.
2019: IRIS released her third single, “Dead to You”.
Legendary blues guitarist / singer / songwriter, Robert Johnson was born on this day, 109 years ago! He died at 27 and only had 29 known recordings (available across two LPs). His music wasn’t widely played during his lifetime, and few facts are known about his life. Yet he’s widely regarded as the greatest bluesman of all time!
Happy Birthday to Alex Van Halen, who is 68 today! You can hear how good he is on this classic Van Halen song, from their ‘1984’ LP.
BIRTHDAYS
1939: Jimmy Ruffin
1942: Derek Taylor (Press officer for The Beatles)
1945: Christy Moore
1946: Jerry Nolan (The New York Dolls)
1950: Charles “Prairie” Prince (The Tubes)
1951: Carlos Alomar (David Bowie band)
1951: Bernie Marsden (Whitesnake)
1955: Steve Diggle (Buzzcocks)
1960: Anne Dudley (Art of Noise)
1961: Phil Campbell (Motorhead)
1986: Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys)
EVENTS
1972: The Rolling Stones released ‘Exile on Main Street’, the second album on their own label.
1972: Reginald Dwight changed his name by deed poll to Elton Hercules John.
1983: Paul Weller unveiled his new group, The Style Council at an anti-nuclear benefit gig in London.
1985: Marianne Faithfull played a concert at Auckland Town Hall ~ I was there!
1992: Death of Nigel Preston of The Cult [aged 31].
Happy 60th Birthday to Phil Campbell! He was guitarist in Motorhead for 31 of those years, right ’til the end ~ longer than all the other guitar players combined. Rock on, Phil!
Lemmy & Motorhead were never subtle with their music or lyrics ~ just awesome and completely over the top! I always loved this video clip… one of the first songs Phil played on, way back in 1984. Here it is, warts ‘n’ all ~ the outrageously hilarious “Killed by Death”!
BIRTHDAYS
1945: Bob Seger
1951: Davey Johnstone (Elton John Band)
1952: Graham Brazier (Hello Sailor / The Legionnaires)
1966: David Narcizo (Throwing Muses)
1971: Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters)
EVENTS
1972: The Tyrannosaurus Rex double LP ‘Prophets, Seers & Sages & the Angels of the Ages / My People Were Fair & Had Sky in Their Hair, But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows’ went to No.1 in the UK.
1973: Paul Simon set out on his first tour without partner Art Garfunkel.
2004: Death of jazz guitarist, Barney Kessell [aged 80].
2006: Death of singer / songwriter / guitarist, Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens [aged 48].
2020: Death of singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist, Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk [aged 73].
One of New Zealand’s greatest singer / songwriters, Graham Brazier was born on this day. A superb front man for Hello Sailor and The Legionnaires, as well as a solo artist, we sadly lost him several years ago. Rest in Peace Graham Brazier [6 May 1952 – 4 September 2015]. Fortunately, we have the excellent debut Hello Sailor LP to remember him by!
T. Rex were all over the charts in the early to mid-70s, even reissues of Marc Bolan’s pixie folk rock group, Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was all because of the fantastic singles and very cool albums ‘Electric Warrior’ & ‘The Slider’. Bolan was such a great songwriter, a perfect example being “Get It On”. And check out who is miming the piano parts on this Top of the Pops clip!
BIRTHDAYS
1941: Roy Phillips (The Peddlars)
1942: Jim King (Family)
1948: Bill Ward (Black Sabbath)
1954: Pete Erskine (Weather Report)
1959: Steven Schneider a.k.a. Steve Stevens (Billy Idol / Atomic Playboys)
1959: Ian McCulloch (Echo & The Bunnymen)
1963: James LaBrie (Dream Theater)
1988: Adele Adkins (Adele)
EVENTS
1956: Elvis Presley scored his first US No.1 single & album when “Heartbreak Hotel” and his debut LP both went to the top of the charts.
1962: The soundtrack to ‘West Side Story’ went to No.1 on the US album chart.
1968: Buffalo Springfield split up.
1973: David Bowie scored his first UK No.1 album when ‘Aladdin Sane’ started a 5-week run at the top.
1973: Elvis Presley went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite’.
1988: Miles Davis played a concert at St. James Theatre, Auckland ~ I was there! Price was $66.10 ~ very expensive back then. But of course, worth every cent ~ it was mind-blowing!
1991: Mick Tucker performed his last gig with Sweet, in Austria.
2015: Death of bassist, Craig Gruber, of Elf & Rainbow.
2020: Death of singer / songwriter, Millie Small [aged 73]. She was best known for the song “My Boy Lollipop”.
Happy Birthday Bill Ward! He’s 73 today ~ quite amazing that he has made it this far, after all he went through in the 1970s! This is classic Black Sabbath, back in the days when Bill (pictured centre, above Ozzy) was on drums in the band…
BIRTHDAYS
1923: Ed Cassidy (Spirit)
1937: Ron Carter (The most recorded jazz bassist in history, including 4 years with Miles Davis Quintet)
1937: Richard Anthony Monsour a.k.a. Dick Dale
1942: Ronnie Bond (The Troggs)
1951: Bruce Day (Santana)
1951: Colin Bass (Camel)
1951: Robert Deal a.k.a. Mick Mars (Motley Crue)
1962: Oleta Adams
1972: Mike Dirnt (Green Day)
EVENTS
1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared on UK TV’s Top of the Pops’.
1973: Yes released their triple live album,’Yessongs‘. It was recorded live on the ‘Fragile’ & ‘Close To The Edge’ tours in 1972 and features a quad-fold cover, which opens out to amazing Roger Dean paintings!
1973: Led Zeppelin opened their 1973 North American tour, which was billed as the “biggest and most profitable rock & roll tour in the history of the United States”.
1987: Death of American blues harmonica player / singer, Paul Butterfield [aged 44].
Big respect to the man with the guitar ~ Dick Dale would have been 84 today! He passed away on 16th of March, 2019. Dick was way ahead of his time, doing surf guitar about 30 years before the Alien came along. Remember this from ‘Pulp Fiction’? Well, it goes back to 1963…
BIRTHDAYS
1903: Bing Crosby
1919: Pete Seeger
1933: James Brown
1944: Peter Staples (The Troggs)
1950: Mary Hopkin
1951: Christopher Geppert a.k.a. Chris Cross
1953: Gary Young (Pavement)
1969: Jay Darlington (Kula Shaker)
EVENTS
1968: Jimi Hendrix and friends recorded “Voodoo Chile” for the ‘Electric Ladyland’ album.
1972: Death of guitarist, Les Harvey, of Stone The Crows [aged 27].
1976: Aerosmith released their 4th album, ‘Rocks’.
1976: David Bowie played the first of six sold out nights at Wembley.
1984: Deep Purple (Mk II line-up: Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice) announced that they had reformed.
1994: The Tea Party played a concert at The Powerstation, Auckland ~ I was there!
1997: Death of Spanish guitarist, Narciso Yepes [aged 69].
2001: Death of jazz drummer, Billy Higgins [aged 64].
2005: Death of drummer, Pierre Moerlen of Gong & Mike Oldfield Band [aged 52].
2020: Death of keyboardist, Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers [aged 71].
2021: Death of singer / songwriter / bandleader, Lloyd Price [aged 88].
What a happy day it was, when Deep Purple announced their reformation in 1984. It had been 11 years since the classic Mk II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord & Ian Paice had last performed together. They recorded the excellent ‘Perfect Strangers’ album and played concerts around the world ~New Zealand was second stop on the tour! With Mk II Purple back and in top form again, it was glorious for the fans for another five years. But, with Ritchie Blackmore refusing to shake Ian Gillan’s hand ~ as shown in this official “Perfect Strangers” clip ~ it was never going to last!
