1961 - The Shirelles became the first girl group to have the No. 1 song on the U.S. chart when "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" (also known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow") reached the top.
1969 - The Beatles with Billy Preston, played their lunchtime rooftop gig on top of the Apple building on Savile Row, London. Lasting for just over 40 minutes it was the last time The Beatles performed live. The played ‘Get Back’, ‘Don’t Let Me Down’, ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’, ‘The One After 909’ and ‘Dig A Pony’. Traffic was brought to a standstill as crowds of people gathered below and watched from windows in nearby buildings. John Lennon ended the performance by saying “I’d like to say ‘Thank you’ on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.” (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Disney)
1971 - Janis Joplin released her most successful single "Me And Bobby McGee" posthumously, as she had died the previous October of an overdose. The song was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, originally performed by Roger Miller.
1971 - Neil Young performs "The Needle and the Damage Done" at UCLA's Royce Hall. The song is recorded and released on the Harvest album a year later. Young wrote it about Danny Whitten, one of the original members of his band Crazy Horse.
Young made this succinct statement about the song in the liner notes to his album Decade: "I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men."
1989 - New Order released Technique. Tastes and sounds were changing quickly in the late '80s, which prompted New Order's most startling transformation yet -- from moody dance-rockers to, well, moody acid-house mavens. But while pure dance was the case for the singles "Fine Time" and "Round & Round," elsewhere New Order were still delivering some of the best alternative pop around, plaintive and affecting songs like "Run" (the third single), "Love Less," and "Dream Attack."
2016 - David Bowie's Blackstar album hits #1 in America, 20 days after his death. It's Bowie's first #1 album in the States.
In his lifetime, Bowie charted seven top 10 albums on the Billboard 200. His highest-charting album was his album, 2013’s The Next Day, which debuted and peaked at No. 2. He previously visited the top 10 with Let’s Dance (No. 4 in 1983), ChangesOneBowie (No. 10, 1976), Station to Station (No. 3, 1976), Young Americans (No. 9, 1975), David Live (No. 8, 1974) and Diamond Dogs (No. 5, 1974).
Birthdays:
Jefferson Airplane co-founder Marty Balin was born today in 1942. While remaining best known for his contributions to the pioneering San Francisco psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane, Marty Balin also enjoyed a successful solo career, scoring a Top Ten hit in 1981 with "Hearts."
Ego clashes forced Balin out of Jefferson Airplane in 1971 In early 1975, he rejoined the newly rechristened Jefferson Starship, contributing perhaps his most memorable effort with the hit "Miracles."
Phil Collins is 73. Phil Collins' status as one of the most successful pop and adult contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond was probably as much a surprise to him as it was to many others. He was almost 30 years old when his first solo single, "In the Air Tonight," became a hit.
Long before any of that happened, however, Collins was a child actor/singer who appeared as the Artful Dodger in the London production of Oliver! in 1964. (He also has a cameo in A Hard Day's Night, among other films.) He got his first break in music in his late teens, when he was chosen to be a replacement drummer in the British art rock band Genesis in 1970. (Collins maintained a separate jazz career with the band Brand X as well.)
Genesis was then fronted by Peter Gabriel. When Gabriel left in 1974. Genesis auditioned 400 singers without success, then decided to let Collins have a go. During the '80s, Collins was enormously successful in balancing his continuing solo work with his membership in Genesis.
Steve Marriott was born on this day in 1947. The frontman for British hitmakers the Small Faces (and later Humble Pie), best-known in the U.S. for their hit "Itchycoo Park". They enjoyed far more success in England reeling off a series of hits including "All or Nothing," "My Mind's Eye," and "Lazy Sunday" as well as the 1968 classic LP Ogden's Nut Gone Flake.
After Small Faces, Marriott formed Humble Pie, a hard rock/boogie outfit, featuring Peter Frampton. By the time the album "Smokin'" arrived, Frampton was no longer in the band, but they did score a hit with "30 Days in the Hole".
After the departure of Mick Taylor in 1975 from the Rolling Stones, Marriott was considered as his replacement; however, Mick Jagger allegedly blocked the move after Marriott upstaged him during the audition.
R.I.P.:
1980 - New Orleans bluesman Professor Longhair dies of a heart attack at age 61. A founding father of New Orleans R&B, his Latin-tinged rhumba-rocking piano style and croaking, yodeling vocals were as singular and spicy as the second-line beats that power his hometown's musical heartbeat.
1982 - Blues singer, songwriter, guitarist Sam Lightnin' Hopkins died, aged 70. Hopkins' nimble dexterity made intricate boogie riffs seem easy, and his fascinating penchant for improvising lyrics to fit whatever situation might arise made him a beloved blues troubadour. Hopkins influenced Bob Dylan, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. R.E.M. recorded a song named after him on their Document album.
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On This Day in Music History was sourced. copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Billboard, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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