BIRTHDAYS
1918: Leonard Bernstein
1933: Wayne Shorter (Miles Davis / Weather Report)
1949: Reinhold Mack a.k.a. Mack (Music Producer / Sound Engineer for Queen, Sweet, Deep Purple, David Coverdale, Scorpions, The Rolling Stones, ELO, T.Rex & More!)
1949: Chaim Witz a.k.a. Gene Simmons (Kiss)
1950: William Boray a.k.a. Willy DeVille (Mink DeVille)
1951: Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
1952: Geoff Downes (Yes / Asia / The Buggles)
1955: Declan McManus a.k.a. Elvis Costello
1962: Vivian Campbell (Dio / Whitesnake / Def Leppard)
1967: Jeff Tweedy (Wilco / Uncle Tupelo)
EVENTS
1970: A party marked the official opening of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland studios in New York.
1970: Emerson Lake & Palmer made their live debut at The Guildhall, Plymouth, England.
1975: Bruce Springsteen released his ‘Born to Run’ album.
1976: The self-titled debut album by Boston was released.
1986: Paul Simon released his ‘Graceland’ album.
1988: Metallica released their album ‘…And Justice For All’.
1994: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant recorded their MTV unplugged set at London’s television centre.
2000: Death of producer / songwriter Jack Nitzche [aged 63].
2001: Death of Aaliyah Haughton a.k.a. Aaliyah [aged 22].
2018: Death of dancer / actor / tutor / mime artist / choreographer, Lindsay Kemp [aged 80]. Most famously, he worked with David Bowie & Kate Bush, teaching them stage craft.
2019: IRIS released her fifth single, “Foresight”.
A Very Happy Birthday to Geoff Downes ~ 72 today. Geoff is a fantastic keyboard player and he has really reached another level of fine musicianship since rejoining YES in 2011. Here he is, tackling the very intricate and powerful “South Side of the Sky” from the classic YES LP, ‘Fragile’.
The 2 Geoff Ds: The above backstage shot of me with Geoff Downes was taken after the YES concert at Vector Arena, Auckland on 1st April, 2012. Another brilliant performance from the lads it was too!
