BIRTHDAYS
1926: John Coltrane
1930: Ray Charles
1939: Roy Buchanan
1947: Neal Smith (Alice Cooper Band)
1949: Bruce Springsteen
1970: Ani DiFranco
EVENTS
1967: The Mothers of Invention made their UK debut at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
1968: The Beatles recorded a new John Lennon song, “Happiness is a Warm Gun”.
1970: The Allman Brothers Band released their second album, ‘Idlewild South’.
1977: Steely Dan released their sixth album, ‘Aja’.
1978: Blondie released their third album, ‘Parallel Lines’
1981: Frank Zappa released his album, ‘You Are What You Is’.
2017: Death of singer, Charles Bradley [aged 68].
Happy 69th Birthday to Bruce Springsteen! Was gonna put up the clip for the brilliant slow number, “Point Blank”, but what the hell… Bruce was “Born to Run” and I love this song too! Get ready for some raw, multi-cam footage of The Boss live — here in New Zealand, in 2014!
BIRTHDAYS
1951: David Coverdale (Deep Purple / Whitesnake)
1956: Doug Wimbish (Tackhead / Living Colour)
1957: Nick Cave
1960: Joan Larkin a.k.a. Joan Jett (The Runaways)
1965: Adam Cairns (Therapy)
EVENTS
1981: King Crimson released their ‘Discipline’ album, featuring new line-up of Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Tony Levin & Adrian Belew.
1985: The first “Farm Aid” concert included Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Bob Dylan & Tom Petty.
2005: Jimmy Page was made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro for his charity to street children.
Happy Birthday to Mr. David Coverdale — one of the best rock singers in the world is 67 today! “Now I feel I’m growing older, and the songs that I have sung, echo in the distance…”
BIRTHDAYS
1932: Don Preston (The Mothers of Invention)
1934: Leonard Cohen
1947: Stephen King
1947: Don Felder (Eagles)
1954: Philip “Philthy Animal” Taylor (Motorhead)
1972: Liam Gallagher (Oasis)
EVENTS
1961: 21 year-old singer / songwriter, Bob Dylan recorded his debut album in one day.
1987: Death of bassist, Jaco Pastorius [aged 35].
2003: I attended Roger Dean’s art exhibition at a gallery in Glebe, Sydney. We met Dean and members of Yes, while Rick Wakeman performed a few Yes pieces on grand piano.
2006: Death of bassist, Boz Burrell of Bad Company & King Crimson [aged 60].
Let’s hear it for Leonard Cohen! It would have been his 84th birthday today, he made it to 82. Here’s one of his many fine compositions, which was also the title of a beautiful tribute album to Leonard by Jennifer Warnes — “Famous Blue Raincoat”.
BIRTHDAYS
1949: Chuck & John Panozzo (Twins in Styx)
1959: Alannah Currie (The Thompson Twins)
1960: Robert Wiggins (Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five)
1966: Nuno Battencourt (Extreme)
1968: Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden / Pearl Jam)
EVENTS
1969: John Lennon resigned from The Beatles.
1969: Blind Faith started a 2-week run at No.1 on the UK chart with their self-titled debut album.
1970: The Rolling Stones live album ‘Get Your Ya-Yas Out’ began a 2-week run at No.1 in UK.
1975: The John Lennon co-written single, “Fame” gave David Bowie his first No.1 in the US.
1978: Yes released their album ‘Tormato’.
1980: Queen started a 5-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Game’.
1980: Kate Bush scored her first UK No.1 album with ‘Never For Ever’.
2003: Yes played a concert at Sydney Entertainment Centre — I was there and had met the band earlier at a music / book shop.
The Dream is Over: 49 years ago, John said “I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that’s reality”. Aptly, “The End” was the last song recorded collectively by all four Beatles. Recorded in August, 1969, it’s the final song of the medley that comprises the majority of side two of their magnificent final album, ‘Abbey Road‘.
BIRTHDAYS
1934: Brian Epstein
1941: Lee Dorman (Iron Butterfly)
1943: Cass Elliott (The Mamas & The Papas)
1946: John Coghlan (Status Quo)
1947: Laurence “Lol” Creme (10CC)
1951: Daniel Lanois
1952: Nile Rodgers (Chic)
1958: Lita Ford (The Runaways)
1963: Jarvis Cocker (Pulp)
1969: Candy Dulfer
EVENTS
1973: Death of Gram Parsons [aged 26].
1981: The Rolling Stones album ‘Tattoo You’ started a 9-week run at No.1 on the US chart.
1985: Frank Zappa testified at a congressional hearing against P.M.R.C. censorship. The Parents Music Resource Center were a group of U.S. senator’s wives, who decided a rating system for records was necessary for those they deemed offensive. Frank (and others, such as Dee Snider of Twisted Sister) strongly opposed the group’s desire to censor artists.
1999: Yes released their album ‘The Ladder’.
2003: Yes played a concert at Vodafone Arena, Melbourne — I was there & met them after the show!
Gram Parsons was only 26 when he od’d 45 years ago. A true original, Gram was a key influence on The Stones in the early 70s, and many other artists since. Here is Keef with Gram’s daughter (Polly), Ravi Shankar’s daughter (Nora), Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and others with their tribute. They are performing a song that Gram contributed to considerably when it was written, back in 1969…
BIRTHDAYS
1949: Kerry Livgren (Kansas)
1952: Douglas Colvin a.k.a. Dee Dee Ramone
EVENTS
1970: Death of James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix [aged 27].
1970: Black Sabbath released their second album, ‘Paranoid‘.
On the same day as Jimi died, Black Sabbath released their second LP, ‘Paranoid’. A number one album for the Sabs, it is a groundbreaking, quintessential record from the masters of heavy rock, featuring “War Pigs”, “Paranoid”, “Iron Man” and other doom-laden classics!
1971: Pink Floyd performed ‘Atom Heart Mother’ at the Classical Music Festival in Montreaux, Switzerland.
1971: The Who scored their first and only UK No.1 album with ‘Who’s Next’.
1976: Boston released the single “More Than a Feeling”.
1999: Bassist D’Arcy Wretzky announced that she had quit The Smashing Pumpkins.
Jimi Hendrix — Like a psychedelic fireball of sound, Jimi shone very brightly, but was only on Earth for a brief time. He left us some of the greatest music and guitar playing ever! His Haze was so Purple…
BIRTHDAYS
1923: Hank Williams
1947: Jim Hodder (Steely Dan)
1950: John Waldo a.k.a. Fee Waybill (The Tubes)
1959: William Gregory (Goldfrapp)
1969: Keith Flint (The Prodigy)
1973: Lyn Newkirk a.k.a. Anastacia
EVENTS
1987: Yes released their ‘Big Generator’ album.
1991: Over 4 million copies of Guns N’ Roses albums, ‘Use Your Illusion I’ & ‘II’ were simultaneously released, making it the largest ship-out in American pop history.
1991: Death of singer, Robert Derminer a.k.a. Rob Tyner of MC5 [aged 46].
Was it really 31 years ago since the ‘Big Generator’ album was released? Yes! There is no official video for my favourite track from the 1987 LP (“Shoot High, Aim Low”), but a Yesfan has put this nice collage together for it…
After the ‘Big Generator’ tour, original singer, Jon Anderson quit the group to reform with classic Yes men, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe & Rick Wakeman. Guitarist, Trevor Rabin and bassist, Chris Squire (pictured above) continued to work together under the Yes banner for several more years. At that point in time (1988-1990), there were two versions of Yes, and now in 2017 history has repeated itself! Steve Howe & Alan White have “Official” Yes (with Geoff Downes, Jon Davison & Billy Sherwood), which they have kept going through the decades, and with the passing of Chris Squire, three ex-members — Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin & Rick Wakeman — have their Yes in action too. Opinions are divided about the two groups, but I reckon two Yes’s is even better than having one Yes! 😀
BIRTHDAYS
1925: Riley “B.B.” King
1948: Kenney Jones (The Small Faces / The Faces / The Who)
1952: Ron Blair (Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers)
1954: Colin Newman (Wire)
1969: Justine Frischmann (Elastica)
1984: Katie Melua
EVENTS
1970: Jimi Hendrix joined Eric Burdon on stage at Ronnie Scotts in London for what would become the guitarists last ever public appearance.
1977: Death of singer / songwriter / guitarist, Marc Bolan [aged 29].
Marc Bolan went to rock star heaven 41 years ago. Bolan was a passenger in a purple Mini 1275GT (registration FOX 661L) driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones. The car struck a steel reinforced chain link fence post and came to rest against a sycamore tree after failing to negotiate a small humpback bridge near Gipsy Lane on Queens Ride, Barnes, southwest London. Neither occupant was wearing a seat belt. Bolan was killed instantly, while Jones suffered a broken arm and broken jaw and spent time in hospital; she did not learn of Bolan’s death until the day of his funeral, which was attended by David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Tony Visconti, Steve Harley and many others. His crash site has subsequently become a shrine to his memory, with fans travelling from all over the world to leave tributes beside the tree. Bolan never learned to drive, fearing a premature death. Despite this fear, cars or automotive components are mentioned in, if not the subject of, many of his songs and he also owned a number of vehicles, including a white 1960s Rolls-Royce. “I drive a Rolls Royce, ‘cause it’s good for my voice”.
Marc didn’t make it to 30, but he left us some fantastic songs — find a T. Rex record and Get It On! This is a great clip for a very cool Bolan number…
BIRTHDAYS
1960: Michel Dorge (Crash Test Dummies)
1965: Zak Starkey (The Who)
1977: Paul Thomson (Franz Ferdinand)
EVENTS
1974: New Zealand bassist, Gary Thain of Uriah Heep was severely electrocuted, whilst performing on stage with the group in Dallas, Texas.
1979: Led Zeppelin scored their 6th US No.1 album when ‘In Through The Out Door’ started a 7-week run at the top of the charts.
1980: Death of jazz pianist, Bill Evans [aged 51].
2004: Death of guitarist / singer, John Cummings a.k.a. Johnny Ramone [aged 55].
2008: Death of keyboard player, Richard Wright of Pink Floyd [aged 65].
Richard Wright… ten years gone and hugely missed! He wrote this Pink Floyd masterpiece — and it’s where he’s at now: “The Great Gig in the Sky”…
BIRTHDAYS
1946: Pete Agnew (Nazareth)
1949: Ed King (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
1949: Steve Gaines (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
1950: Paul Kossoff (Free)
1983: Amy Winehouse
Singer, Amy Winehouse would have been 35 today! She certainly made her mark in the music world, but tragically died on 23 July 2011, at the age of — you guessed it — 27.
EVENTS
1974: Mike Oldfield’s 2nd album ‘Hergest Ridge’ started a 3-week run at No.1 on the UK chart.
1975: Supertramp released their fourth album, ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’.
1991: Nirvana released their 2nd album, ‘Nevermind’.
1991: Jane’s Addiction played a concert at Auckland Town Hall — I was there again! (Yes, I went both nights).
2017: Death of drummer / singer / songwriter, Grant Hart, of Husker Du [aged 56].
The late Paul Kossoff of Free was born 68 years ago. Check out this great footage of Free performing “Fire and Water” from 1970. Listen to that Les Paul Gibson sing… Koss!!
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