1962 - An obscure Folk singer named Robert Zimmerman had his name legally changed to Bob Dylan. He had used the name of Elston Gunn as well as variations on his birth name such as Robert Allen. However, it was on Bob Dylan that he would eventually settle.
Some people incorrectly believe that Dylan’s name is a tribute to the late Welsh poet Dylan Thomas but, on many occasions over the years, he has denied this link.
“I didn’t change my name in honour of Dylan Thomas, that’s just a story,” he told Jules Siegel in 1966 before brutally adding. “I’ve done more for Dylan Thomas than he’s ever done for me,” he added.
Thomas did, in fact, have a part to play in the creation of the name but as Dylan wrote himself in Chronicles it was more of a subconscious influence that came from him reading a lot of his work when he created the moniker, rather than a tribute.
983 - James Jamerson died at age 47. As one of The Funk Brothers, he was the uncredited bassist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s including songs by Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops and The Supremes. He performed on nearly 30 No. 1 pop hits.
1997 - Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti died at 58 years old. Kuti has been hailed as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers," and he released two dozen albums over 30 years. Former Colorado resident, Ginger Baker did an album with him and the Talking Heads said his 1973 record, Afrodisiac, was a big influence on their album, "Remain In Light."
2010 - Arcade Fire release The Suburbs. Inspired by brothers Win and William Butler's suburban Houston, Texas upbringing, the 16-track record plays out like a long lost summer weekend, with the jaunty but melancholy Kinks/Bowie-esque title cut serving as its bookends. In discussing the album, Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler explains that it "is neither a love letter to, nor an indictment of, the suburbs - it's a letter from the suburbs." (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Garth Hudson, keys and saxophone player in The Band, is 84.
Jim Capaldi, drummer for Traffic, was born today in 1944. He passed away in 2005.
Butch Vig is 67. He's the drummer in Garbage and produced Nirvana's "Nevermind".
Mojo Nixon is 65. Nixon had a particular knack for celebrity-themed novelty hits ("Elvis Is Everywhere," "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child," "Don Henley Must Die"), but he was prone to gleefully crass rants on a variety of social ills ("I Hate Banks," "Destroy All Lawyers," "I Ain't Gonna Piss In No Jar"), while celebrating lowbrow, blue-collar America in all its trashy, beer-soaked glory.
Lee Mavers frontman of The La's, is 60.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from Far Out Magazine, This Day in Music, Song Facts Allmusic, and Wikipedia.
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