1964 - The Beatles made their live U.S. television debut on CBS-TV's The Ed Sullivan Show. They performed five songs, including their No. 1 hit at the time, "I Want To Hold Your Hand." An estimated 73 million people watched the program. Never before had so many viewers tuned-in to a live television program, that was three-fourths of the total adult audience in the United States. Prior to the broadcast, CBS received more than 50,000 applications for the 728 seats in the TV studio. (Photo JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images)
2015 - Bob Dylan turned the tables on his critics during a 30-minute speech at the Musicares charity gala honoring his career. The 73-year-old, who rarely talks about his work, asked why critics complained he "can't sing" and sounds "like a frog" but did not "say that about Tom Waits?" The singer added, "Critics say my voice is shot, that I have no voice. Why don't they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment?"
2021 - Jazz composer, keyboardist, bandleader Chick Corea died age 79. His compositions 'Spain', '500 Miles High', 'Armando's Rhumba' and 'Windows' are widely considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late 1960s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans.
Birthdays:
Singer-songwriter Barry Mann, who penned such 1960s pop hits as "Saturday Night At The Movies", "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", and "Who Put The Bomp, In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp", is 83.
Carole King is 80. She meets husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin while attending Queens College. Starting with the 1960 chart-topper "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" for the Shirelles, Goffin and King write a catalog of feel-good hits for the biggest pop stars of the era, including their babysitter Little Eva ("The Loco-Motion"), Bobby Vee ("Take Good Care Of My Baby"), Dusty Springfield ("Goin' Back"), Herman's Hermits ("I'm Into Something Good"), and The Monkees ("Pleasant Valley Sunday"). King is particularly proud when she turns on the radio and hears Aretha Franklin belting their tune "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman."
King always wanted to be a songwriter and never seriously considered herself to be a performer. After the dissolution of her marriage, however, she finds a friend and mentor in James Taylor, who encourages her to pursue a solo career. In 1971 she released Tapestry, which stayed on the charts for nearly six years and was the best-selling album of the era.
Joe Ely, country singer who toured with The Clash in the late 1970s, is 75. He also helped them with their hit "Should I stay Or Should I Go."
In a 2012 Songfacts interview with Joe Ely, he explained: "I'm singing all the Spanish verses on that, and I even helped translate them. I translated them into Tex-Mex and Strummer kind of knew Castilian Spanish, because he grew up in Spain in his early life. And a Puerto Rican engineer (Eddie Garcia) kind of added a little flavor to it. So it's taking the verse and then repeating it in Spanish."
On this Day in Music History are gathered from Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.