1966 - Donovan went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Sunshine Superman." The track featured then-Yardbird and future Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Generally considered to be one of the first examples of the musical genre that came to be known as psychedelia. The song, which mentions both Superman and the Green Lantern, was written for Donovan's future wife, Linda Lawrence.
1968 - Ringo Starr rejoined the Beatles after quitting the band for two weeks. Upon his return to the studio, Ringo found his drum kit covered in flowers to welcome him back. As he recalled in Anthology: "I felt I wasn't playing great, and I also felt that the other three were really happy and I was an outsider. I went to see John, who had been living in my apartment in Montagu Square with Yoko since he moved out of Kenwood. I said, 'I'm leaving the group because I'm not playing well and I feel unloved and out of it, and you three are really close.' And John said, 'I thought it was you three!' So then I went over to Paul's and knocked on his door. I said the same thing: 'I'm leaving the band. I feel you three guys are really close and I'm out of it.' And Paul said, 'I thought it was you three!'"(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
1972 - Originally released on May 9th of '72, The Temptations sing, "It was the 3rd of September, that day I'll always remember" in their song "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone."
1982 - The three day US Festival in San Bernardino, California took place featuring, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, The Police, The Cars, Talking Heads, The Kinks, Ramones, B52's, The English Beat, Gang Of Four, Grateful Dead, Pat Benatar, Jackson Browne. Apple Computers founder Steven Wozniak bankrolled the festival. A crowd of at least 200,000 shows up in the blistering heat of San Bernardino, California, for three days of music, tech-geekery, and dust... a whole lot of dust. Most of the performers are in the middle of their own tours and in sharp form. Working with the brilliant audio setup, they all put on tremendous shows.
2017 - Walter Becker, co-founder, and guitarist for Steely Dan died at age 67. If pop music is a constant tug of war between the reassuringly familiar and the jolt of the modernist new, Becker's gift was the ability to hit both extremes at once. What Becker added to Steely Dan was an elusive strain of magic — the terse little melodic thing that turned out to be exactly what the music needed. And nothing more. Becker had also produced records for Rickie Lee Jones, China Crisis, and Michael Franks.
Birthdays:
Blues guitarist Freddie King was born on this day in 1934. Eric Clapton covered his 'Have You Ever Loved A Woman' on the 'Layla' album.
Al Jardine of the Beach Boys is 79.
Grand Funk Railroad drummer Don Brewer is 73.
Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones is 66.
Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness is 39.
On This Day In Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts, NPR, and Wikipedia.