1942 - In Passaic, New Jersey, Glenn Miller plays his last concert as a civilian. Ten days later he joins the Army, where he performs for troops. In December 1944, his plane disappears over the Atlantic Ocean. Glenn Miller is in the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame.
1973 - The syndicated music show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert debuts with a performance by The Rolling Stones, (taped in London) making their first appearance on US television in six years. They play "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll."
Unlike TV music shows, such as “American Bandstand,” performances on “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” were not lip-synched in a studio. Instead, “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” featured raw, full-length performances in a live concert or club setting.
“Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” featured legendary performances by popular acts such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Eagles, B.B. King, The Police, The Sex Pistols, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sly & the Family Stone, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, KISS, The Ramones, Aerosmith, Steely Dan, the Eagles, ABBA, Prince, Bob Marley, Alice Cooper, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, David Bowie and countless others.
I watched it every week...when I could bend the TV antenna just right to tune it in from the far away station that carried it.
1973 - After becoming a devotee of the guru Sri Chinmoy, Carlos Santana starts using the name Devadip, which means "the Lamp of the Light Supreme."
1976 - "Ringo's Rotogravure" is issued in America. It would turn out to be the last album featuring active involvement from all four former Beatles. John Lennon played piano on "A Dose Of Rock And Roll", Paul McCartney played bass on "Pure Gold" and George Harrison contributed a song called "I'll Still Love You", but because of previous commitments, did not actually play on the track. It also featured Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, and Dr. John. Despite the star power (no pun intended), the album did not get good reviews.
1997 - Bob Dylan plays "Knocking On Heaven's Door" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" for Pope John Paul II and an audience of 300,000 at the World Eucharist Congress in Bologna, Italy. For the 77-year-old Pope, it's a chance to connect with young people, and the pontiff does so by invoking Dylan's song "Blowin' In The Wind" during his sermon.
2016 - Bruce Springsteen publishes his autobiography, Born To Run. He started working on it after his 2009 performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. The Boss laid bare abandonment issues, women troubles, his awareness of a racial divide in the E Street Band, buying his first guitar at an auto parts store, depression, and how a Bob Dylan concert convinced him to reunite the band.(Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Meat Loaf was born on this day in 1947. With his blustery, wounded romantic-on-the-brink-of-a-breakdown style, Marvin Lee Aday (aka Meat Loaf) was one of the biggest chart acts of the 1970s before enjoying a commercial renaissance two decades later. His 1977 Jim Steinman-produced debut, Bat Out of Hell, has sold over 40 million copies worldwide and spawned a hit-making trilogy that yielded the 1993 Grammy-winning single "I'd Do Anything for Love." In addition to his successful music career, Meat Loaf carved out an impressive arc as an actor, appearing in the original Broadway theater cast of The Rocky Horror Show as well as the movie, the musical Hair, and in the David Fincher-directed film Fight Club.
Robbie Shakespeare was born on this day in 1953. He is best known as one half of the reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar. Regarded as one of the most influential reggae bassists, Shakespeare's work extended beyond the reggae genre, covering various pop and rock artists such as Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Cocker, Yoko Ono, Serge Gainsbourg, and Grace Jones.
R.I.P.
2018 - Singer, songwriter Marty Balin died at the age of 76. He was best-known as the founder and one of the lead singers of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Balin played with Jefferson Airplane at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Balin also enjoyed a successful solo career, scoring a Top Ten hit in 1981 with "Hearts."
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Allmusic, Don Kirshner, The Guardian, Classic Bands, Rolling Stone, and Wikipedia.