1963 - Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips (Part 2)" becomes the first live recording to hit #1 in the US.
1968 - The Who release "Magic Bus." This song is about a man who wants to buy the bus that he takes to get to his girlfriend every day, but the driver does not want to sell it. After haggling for a while, the driver finally lets him have it and he vows to drive it to his girlfriend's house every day.
1984 - Red Hot Chili Peppers release their self-titled debut album, an arduous collaboration with producer Andy Gill of the British rock band Gang of Four. Anthony Kiedis, wanted to bring the raw energy of their live club gigs to their debut release but producer Andy Gill insisted the band pursue a commercial path with a hit friendly sound. Kiedis was shocked when his potent punk creations came out sounding like "they had gone through a sterilizing Goody Two-shoes machine." The band's rows with Gill got so bad, the tension sent engineer Dave Jerden to the hospital with a stomach ulcer and led RHCP bassist Flea to defecate in a pizza box and deliver it to Gill.
2008 - Isaac Hayes died. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul-music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a session musician and record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s on several projects. The hit song "Soul Man," written by Hayes and Porter and first performed by Sam & Dave. Hayes is well-known for his musical score for the film Shaft, and his hit song, the "Theme from Shaft", won Hayes the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972. Later in his career, Hayes also became known as the voice of Chef from South Park. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Clarence Leonidas 'Leo' Fender, inventor and founder of the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was born today in 1909. He was 81 years old when he passed away in 1991.
Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, is 75.
Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers was born today in 1940.
James Griffin of Bread was born today in 1943. He passed away in 2005.
Veronica Yvette Bennett, also known as Ronnie Spector, was born today in 1943. Spector was the lead singer of the Ronettes, which had a bunch of hits during the early to mid-1960s including "Be My Baby", "Baby, I Love You", "The Best Part of Breakin' Up", "Do I Love You?", and "Walking in the Rain".
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.