Today in Rock History – 17th MARCH:

BIRTHDAYS
1919: Nat “King” Cole
1941: Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane / Starship)
1944: John Sebastian (The Lovin’ Spoonful)
1948: Bobby Whitlock (Derek & The Dominos)
1951: Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy)
1959: Mike Lindup (Level 42)
1963: Michael Ivins (The Flaming Lips)
1967: Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins)
1972: Melissa Auf Der Maur (Hole)
1973: Caroline Corr (The Corrs)
1975: Justin Hawkins (The Darkness)

EVENTS
1973: Pink Floyd‘s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ LP was released in America. The album stayed on the chart for over 740 weeks.
1990: Death of bassist, Ric Grech of Traffic & Blind Faith [aged 43].
2004: Ray Davies of The Kinks received a CBE medal for services to the music industry.
2019: Death of singer / songwriter, Andre Williams [aged 82].
2019: Death of guitarist / singer / songwriter, Bernie Torme of Gillan / Ozzy Osbourne Band / Torme / Desperado / GMT [aged 66].
2023: Death of singer / musician, Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins, of Parliament & Funkadelic [aged 81].
2023: Death of guitarist, Mick Slattery, a founding member of Hawkwind [aged 77].
2024: Death of singer / songwriter / musician, Stephen Nice a.k.a. Steve Harley, leader of Cockney Rebel [aged 73].

Happy 57th Birthday to Billy Corgan! This shot of Billy was taken when I met him on 5th February, 1994, after The Smashing Pumpkins had played at the first Big Day Out Music Festival, Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland. He wasn’t keen on being photographed, but instead asked for my camera and took the photo of his own face (years before the word “selfie”).

Billy has written so many cool songs. Always love this one… a great year!