1967 - "It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day," as Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge, according to the Bobbie Gentry song, "Ode To Billie Joe."
1970 - The Kinks Ray Davies was forced to make a 6,000 mile round trip from New York to London to record one word in a song. Davies had to change the word 'Coca- Cola' to 'Cherry Cola' on the bands forthcoming single 'Lola' due to an advertising ban at BBC Radio.
1977 - Bob Marley & the Wailers released Exodus. In the wake of an assassination attempt, Marley and his band left Jamaica and settled in London for two years, where he recorded 1977's Exodus. Thematically, Exodus represented a subtle but significant shift for Marley; while he continued to speak out against political corruption and for freedom and equality for Third World people, his lyrics dealt less with specifics and more with generalities and the need for peace and love. His gifts as a vocalist were near their peak on these sessions, bringing a broad range of emotional color to his performances, and this lineup of the Wailers is superb, effortlessly in the pocket throughout. The album featured the hits, 'Jamming', 'Waiting In Vain', 'Three Little Birds' and 'One Love'. In 1999, Time magazine named Exodus the best album of the 20th century. (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)
1983 - Already undergoing psychiatric treatment and suffering from voices in his head, Derek and the Dominos drummer Jim Gordon took his mother's life in their home. Gordon, who co-wrote the band's biggest hit, "Layla," was sentenced to life in prison.
2001 - Tom Petty marries Dana York in a ceremony officiated by Little Richard. It's his second marriage.
Birthdays:
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who appeared in the film for Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," was born on this date in 1926. Ginsburg at one time lived in Denver's Colburn Hotel and spent many evenings with Cassady drinking at Charlie Brown's, the bar at the foot of the hotel.
Ian Hunter Patterson (aka Ian Hunter) is 83 today. He is best known as the lead singer of Mott The Hoople, who released the David Bowie-penned song "All the Young Dudes" on their 1972 album of the same name. His best-known solo works are "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," later covered by Great White, and "Cleveland Rocks," which the Presidents of the United States of America covered and licensed as the theme song for The Drew Carey Show.
Curtis Mayfield was born on this day in 1942. As the leader of the Impressions, he recorded some of the finest soul vocal group music of the 1960s. As a solo artist in the 1970s, he helped pioneer funk and helped introduce hard-hitting urban commentary into soul music. "Gypsy Woman," "It's All Right," "People Get Ready," "Freddie's Dead," and "Super Fly" are merely the most famous of his many hit records.
Mike Gordon, Phish bassist, is 57.
On this Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Denver Post, Song Facts and Wikipedia.