ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY: 3.11.21

1968 - Otis Redding had his only Gold record with "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." It was released on Stax Records' Volt label three months after Redding's untimely demise in a plane crash in Madison, Wis. Redding started writing the lyrics to the song in August 1967, while he was sitting on a rented houseboat in Sausalito, Calif. He completed the song with the help of Stax producer and session guitarist Steve Cropper. The song features mimicked seagull whistles and sounds of the waves washing on the shore.

1970 - Deja Vu, the first album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, (and the second by the trio configuration of Crosby, Stills, and Nash), was released. It topped the pop album chart for one week and spawned three U.S. Top 40 singles: "Teach Your Children", "Our House", and "Woodstock". Stephen Stills estimates that the album took around 800 hours of studio time to record; this figure may be exaggerated, even though the individual tracks display meticulous attention to detail. The songs, except for "Woodstock", were recorded as individual sessions by each member, with each contributing whatever was needed that could be agreed upon. Young appears on only half of the tracks with Nash stating he "generally recorded his tracks alone in Los Angeles then brought them back to the recording studio to put our voices on, then took it away to mix it". Nash has spoken of producing a special 50th anniversary edition of the album with outtakes and alternate mixes but 2020 came and went without one. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

1997 - Thirty years after being admitted as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Paul McCartney is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to popular music.

2016 - English musician Keith Emerson took his own life in Santa Monica after he had become "depressed, nervous and anxious" because nerve damage in his hands had hampered his playing. Emerson found his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s and was a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, one of the early progressive rock supergroups.

2019 - Drummer Hal Blaine, one of the most recorded musicians in pop music history, died of natural causes at his home in Palm Desert, California at the age of 90. As a member of the The Wrecking Crew his drumming can be heard on songs such as Presley's 'Return to Sender,' the Byrds' 'Mr. Tambourine Man,' The Beach Boys 'Good Vibrations,' Simon & Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' and dozens of hits produced by Phil Spector, not to mention the theme songs to 'Batman,' and 'The Partridge Family'.

Birthdays:

Guitarist Harvey Mandel is 76.

George Kooymans of Golden Earring is 73.

Bobby McFerrin is 71.

Nina Hagen is 66.

Bruce Watson of Big Country is 60.

Mike Percy of Dead or Alive is 60.

Lisa Loeb is 53.

Foo Fighters and Wallflowers keyboardist Rami Jaffee is 52.

On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.


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