August

1       1779 ~ Francis Scott Key, born More information about Key Listen to Francis Scott Key's Star Spangled Banner Read about the Star Spangled Banner • 1877 ~ Angela Diller, American pianist and educator • 1919 ~ Oscar Hammerstein I passed away • 1930 ~ Lionel Bart, Broadway Composer • 1930 ~ Geoffrey Holder, Dancer • 1939 - American band leader Glenn Miller recorded In the Mood which later became his theme tune. • 1942 ~ Jerry Garcia, American rock guitarist, banjo, lyricist and singer with The Grateful Dead • 1942 ~ Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded Charleston Alley, on Decca Records. • 1942 ~ The American Federation of Musicians went on strike. Union president James C. Petrillo told musicians that phonograph records were "a threat to members’ jobs." As a result, musicians refused to perform in recording sessions over the next several months. Live, musical radio broadcasts continued, however. • 1947 ~ Rick Anderson, Musician, bass with The Tubes • 1947 ~ Rick Coonce, Singer, drummer with The Grassroots • 1953 ~ Robert Cray, Guitar • 1960 ~ Chubby Checker's The Twist was released. The song inspired the dance craze of the 1960s. 1971 ~ The Concert for Bangladesh was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Ravi Shankar and Billy Preston performed. A multirecord set commemorating the event was a super sales success. Together, the concert and the album raised over $11 million to help the starving minions of Bangladesh. • 1981 ~ MTV (Music Television) made its debut at 12:01 a.m. • 1984 ~ Singer Jermaine Jackson made a guest appearance on the TV soap opera, As the World Turns. • 1997 ~ Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter died of a heart attack in a Moscow hospital. He was 82. 2      1891 ~ Sir Arthur Bliss, British composer Read quotes by and about Bliss • 1900 ~ Helen Morgan (Riggins), Pop Singer • 1905 ~ Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer • 1924 ~ Joe Harnell, Conductor and arranger • 1925 ~ John Dexter, Opera director, Mid-America Chorale • 1921 ~ Enrico Caruso, Italian operatic tenor, died in Naples. • 1926 ~ The first demonstration of the Vitaphone system, that combined picture and sound for movies, was held at the Warner Theatre in New York City. John Barrymore and Mary Astor starred in the demonstration film for the new moving picture projector. • 1935 ~ Hank Cochran, Pop Singer and songwriter • 1937 ~ Garth Hudson, Musician, keyboard with The Band • 1937 ~ Benny Goodman and his quartet recorded Smiles for Victor Records. Playing with Goodman’s clarinet on the famous song were Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa. • 1939 ~ Edwin Patten, Singer with Gladys Knight & The Pips • 1941 ~ Doris Kenner-Jackson (Coley), Singer with The Shirelles • 1943 ~ Kathy Lennon, Singer with The Lennon Sisters • 1951 ~ Andrew Gold, Singer, son of composer Ernest Gold • 1991 ~ Jeri Southern passed away • 1997 - Nigeria's musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who popularized the Afro-music beat globally, died of AIDS aged 58. • 2000 ~ Helen Quinn, who for more than 30 years presided over the Metropolitan Opera patrons who lined up to buy standing-room tickets, died at the age of 76. Often called the Queen of Standees by those who allowed her to take charge of the ticket queue, Quinn was herself a veteran of standing-room lines at the Met, and attended five or six performances a week, almost always as a standee. In 1966, on her own initiative, she imposed a system on the standee process that the throng of regulars was apparently happy to abide by, and to which the Met gave tacit approval. • 2001 ~ Ron Townson, the portly centerpiece singer for the Grammy-winning pop group  The 5th Dimension, died of renal failure after a four-year battle with kidney disease. He was 68.  Other members of the reconstituted group - known for such 1960s hits as Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In, Wedding Bell Blues and Stoned Soul Picnic - performed at the Capitol Fourth music and fireworks show on July 4 in Washington, D.C.   Declining health had forced Townson to retire from The 5th Dimension in 1997, bringing to an end a career that saw him tour with such music legends as Nat 'King' Cole and Dorothy Dandridge, appear in operas and direct choirs. He helped front The 5th Dimension when the group's smooth mixture of pop, jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues won it four Grammys in 1968 for the Jimmy Webb song Up Up and Away. Other hits included One Less Bell to Answer and Sweet Blindness. As various members left The 5th Dimension in the 1970s to pursue solo projects, Townson formed the group Ron Townson and Wild Honey. Later, he reunited with McLemore and LaRue in a new version of The 5th Dimension that included Phyllis Battle and Greg Walker. He also appeared on television and in films, including the 1992 movie The Mambo Kings. • 2002 ~ Freidann Parker, co-founder of the Colorado Ballet, died at the age of 77.Colorado Ballet co-founder Lillian Covillo met Parker in the late 1940s in a dance class taught by Martha Wilcox. The two began the Covillo-Parker School of Dance, and then a fledgling ballet company.After an ambitious double bill in 1961, they created Colorado Concert Ballet, which presented Denver's first Nutcracker the following season. Every performance sold out. By 1978, the board of directors more than doubled its budget to $100,000, and Colorado Ballet was born. Today its budget has grown to $7 million with a roster of 40 dancers. Parker's first dance lessons were with Iris Potter. She later trained with modern-dance pioneer Hanya Holm. 3    1778 ~ La Scala, one of the world's great opera houses, opened on this day. They premiered William Tell • 1823 ~ Francisco Asenjo Babieri, Spanish composer • 1884 ~ Louis Gruenberg, Polish-born American composer • 1902 ~ Ray Bloch, Conductor and orchestra leader • 1917 ~ Charlie Shavers, Trumpeter with the John Kirby Sextet and composer of Undecided • 1918 ~ Les Elgart, Lead trumpet, bandleader for Les and (brother) Larry Elgart • 1921 ~ Richard Adler, Broadway Composer, lyricist • 1926 ~ Tony Bennett (Benedetto), Grammy Award-winning American singer of popular music    • 1941 ~ Beverly Lee, Singer with The Shirelles • 1949 ~ B.B. (Morris) Dickerson, Bass and singer with War • 1951 ~ Johnny Graham, Guitarist with Earth, Wind and Fire • 1963 ~ The Beatles made their final appearance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England. The group was about to leave its hometown behind for unprecedented world- wide fame and fortune. • 1963 ~ The Beach Boys’ Surfer Girl, was released on Capitol Records. It became one of their biggest hits. Surfer Girl made it to number seven on the hit music charts  on September 14, 1963 • 1963 ~ Comedian Allan Sherman’s summer camp parody, Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp) was released on Warner Brothers Records. The melody was based on the Dance of the Hours from Ponchielli's opera La Giaconda. This dance was also performed in the original Disney movie Fantasia. • 1971 ~ Paul McCartney formed a new band called Wings. Joining McCartney in the group were Denny Laine, formerly of The Moody Blues, Denny Seilwell and McCartney’s wife, Linda. • 1998 ~ Alfred Schnittke, one of the most original and influential composers to emerge from the Soviet Union, died. He was 63. • 2001 ~ Jeanne Loriod, the leading performer of an electronic instrument used in film scores and symphonic works to produce mysterious glassy tones, died in southern France. She was 73. Loriod, who played the ondes martenot - invented by the French musician Maurice Martenot - died of a stroke in Juan-les-Pins, Le Monde newspaper reported. She was the younger sister of pianist Yvonne Loriod, who was married to composer Olivier Messiaen. The three musicians often collaborated. The ondes martenot - which translates as "Martenot waves" - produces electronic waves from a system of transistors, a keyboard and a ribbon attached to a ring on the performer's forefinger. Loriod's career took her all over the world. She performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic, among others. Composers such as Tristan Murail, Jacques Charpentier and Michael Levinas wrote works for her, according to Le Monde. Loriod had also been planning to collaborate with the pop group Radiohead, the paper wrote. 4    1910 ~ William Howard Schuman, Pulitzer Prize-winning American  composer, President of Julliard School of Music, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, educator and music administrator • 1921 ~ Herb (Mitchell) Ellis, Guitarist, singer with Soft Winds • 1927 ~ Radio station 2XAG, later named WGY, the General Electric station in Schenectady, NY, began experimental operations from a 100,000-watt transmitter. Later, the FCC regulated the power of AM radio stations to not exceed 50,000 watts on ‘clear channels’ (where few, if any, stations would cause interference with each other). • 1927 ~ Singer Jimmie Rodgers recorded his first sides for Victor Records in Bristol, TN. He sang Sleep Baby Sleep and Soldier’s Sweetheart. • 1929 ~ Gabriella Tucci, Italian soprano • 1938 ~ Simon Preston, British organist • 1939 ~ Frankie Ford (Guzzo), Singer • 1940 ~ Timi (Rosemarie) Yuro, Singer • 1943 ~ David Carr, Keyboards with The Fortunes • 1978 ~ Frank Fontaine passed away • 2000 ~ Jerome Smith, founding guitarist of KC & The Sunshine Band, died after being crushed in a construction accident. He was 47. KC & The Sunshine Band reached the top of Billboard Magazine's charts in 1975 with Get Down Tonight. Before Smith left the group, it had five No. 1 songs, including Boogie Shoes and That's the Way (I Like It), and three Grammys. 5       1397? ~ Guillaume Du Fay, French composer. Considered the leading composer of the early Renaissance. More information about Du Fay • 1694 ~ Leonardo Leo, Italian composer and organist • 1811 ~ Ambrose Thomas, French composer, primarily of operas • 1890 ~ Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor • 1924 ~ The comic strip Little Orphan Annie debuted in the New York Daily News. Annie and her little dog, Sandy, were creations of cartoonist Harold Gray. His work would come to life in the Broadway and film adaptations of Annie a half-century later, with great success. • 1926 ~ Jeri Southern (Genevieve Hering), Singer • 1940 ~ Damita Jo (DuBlanc), Singer • 1942 ~ Rick Huxley, Bass with Dave Clark Five • 1943 ~ Sammi Smith, Singer • 1947 ~ Rick Derringer (Zehringer), Singer, songwriter with The McCoys, record producer • 1953 ~ Samantha Sang, Singer • 1957 ~ Dick Clark's American Bandstand caught the attention of network executives at ABC-TV in New York, who decided to put the show on its afternoon schedule.  Many artists, acts and groups of the rock ’n’ roll era debuted on American Bandstand - Simon and Garfunkel, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker - catapulting Clark into the spotlight as one of TV’s most prolific producers and hosts. • 1975 ~ Singer Stevie Wonder signed the recording industry’s largest contract: $13 million over a seven-year period. Wonder stayed with his original label, Tamla/Motown, while other major Motown artists, including Diana Ross, Gladys Knight and The Four Tops had left the label over creative differences and financial accounting disputes. 6    1834 ~ Hermann Mendel, German music lexicographer • 1909 ~ Karl Urlrich Schnabel, German pianist and composer • 1912 ~ Marina Koshetz, who followed her famous Russian diva mother Nina to the opera and concert stage and into the movies, was born. Koshetz was born in Moscow, trained in France and came to the United States as a teen-ager. She made her debut substituting for her mother Nina Koshetz on radio's "Kraft Music Hall." Using her father's surname, she began appearing in films in the early 1930s as Marina Schubert. Among her early films were "Little Women," "All the King's Horses" and "British Agent." Marina concentrated more on her voice in the 1940s. Adopting the professional name Marina Koshetz, she went on to sing with the New York Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Koshetz made her Los Angeles recital debut at the old Philharmonic Auditorium in 1947. • 1921 ~ Buddy (William) Collette, Musician. reeds, piano and composer • 1939 ~ After becoming a success with Ben Bernie on network radio, Dinah Shore started her own show on the NBC Blue radio network. Dinah sang every Sunday evening. Dinah also had a successful TV career spanning over two decades. • 1940 ~ Columbia Records cut the prices of its 12-inch classical records. The records were priced to sell at $1. Within two weeks, RCA Victor did the same and ended a record-buying slump brought on by disinterested consumers. • 1958 ~ Randy DeBarge, Musician, bass, vocals with DeBarge • 1966 ~ The Beatles' "Revolver" LP was released. • 1973 ~ Stevie Wonder came close to losing his life, following a freak auto accident. Wonder, one of Motown’s most popular recording artists, was in a coma for 10 days. Miraculously, he recovered and was back in the recording studio in less than eight weeks. • 1976 ~ Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian-born cellist, died More information about Piatigorsky • 1981 ~ Stevie Nicks’ first solo album, Bella Donna, was released. The lead singer for Fleetwood Mac scored a top-three hit with Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around from the album. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were featured on the track. Nicks went on to record a total of 11 hits for the pop-rock charts through 1988. 7    1818 ~ Henry Charles Litolff, French pianist, composer and music publisher • 1921 ~ Karel Husa, Czech-born American composer and conductor • 1921 ~ Warren Covington, Bandleader, trombone, played with Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights • 1925 ~ Felice Bryant, Songwriter with husband Boudleaux • 1931 ~ Bix Beiderbecke, U.S. Jazz musician and composer, died. The first white musician to make an impact on jazz, he died from pneumonia aged 28. • 1936 ~ Rahsaan Roland Kirk, American jazz musician  • 1937 ~ Bunny Berigan and his orchestra recorded I Can’t Get Started for Victor Records. The song became Berigan’s longtime theme song. • 1939 ~ Ron Holden, Singer • 1942 ~ B.J. (Billy Joe) Thomas, Singer • 1943 ~ Lana Cantrell, Entertainer and singer • 1952 ~ Andy Fraser, Musician: bass with Free • 1958 ~ Bruce Dickenson, Singer with Iron Maiden • 1970 ~ Christine McVie joined Fleetwood Mac as the group’s first female member. McVie was married to bass player John McVie. She quit touring with the group in 1991. • 1971 ~ Homer (Henry D. Haynes) passed away • 1975 ~ The Rolling Stones received a gold album for Made in the Shade. • 1987 ~ Back to the Beach opened at theatres around the country. The film reunited Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, who played middle-aged parents with rebellious kids -- kids like Frankie and Annette had played in their Bikini Beach movies in the 1960s. • 2001 ~ Larry Adler, acknowledged as the king of the harmonica, died at the age of 87 at a London hospital after a long illness. Adler, born in Baltimore in February 1914, was a musical prodigy whose career covered seven decades during which he worked with a veritable who's who of the 20th century's entertainment industry. From George Gershwin to Elton John, the classically trained Adler had worked with and inspired generations of musicians, touring as late as 1994 and even planning an update of his 1985 biography "It Ain't Necessarily So." "He was without doubt one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century" said musical agent Jonathan Shalit. "Larry was a man who believed the show must always go on, even to the point of playing from his wheelchair," he added. Adler learned to play the piano and mouth organ by ear from listening to records and could not actually read music until 1941. He won the Maryland Harmonica Championship in 1927 after being expelled from a music conservatory and promptly ran away to New York and got a job playing in film theaters between features. In 1936 he played harmonica on George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, prompting the composer to exclaim that it sounded as though he had written the haunting melody specially for Adler. During World War Two Adler toured extensively in Africa and the Middle East, entertaining troops, and insisting on a non-segregation policy between whites and blacks at concerts. He also entertained in the South Pacific with artists including comedian Jack Benny, and worked consistently for the war effort and the Allied forces. In 1945 he went to Berlin where he played The Battle Hymn of the Republic on harmonica on the balcony of Adolf Hitler's ruined chancellery after Germany capitulated. He left the U.S. for Britain in the early 1950s after being blacklisted during the McCarthy communist witch hunt. Adler's most familiar composition is the music for the film comedy "Genevieve," but he composed the music for other films. In 1967 and 1973, gave his services to Israel in aid of those affected by the Six Day and Yom Kippur wars. After Adler guested on Sting's 1993 album "Ten Summoner's Tales," the rock singer returned the compliment and appeared on Adler's 80th birthday celebration, The Glory Of Gershwin. They were joined by other stars from the rock world such as Meat Loaf, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Sinead O'Connor. A tennis fanatic, Adler once played in a doubles match with Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo and Salvador Dali. • 2001 ~ Billy Byrd, who once played lead guitar for Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours, died at the age of 81. William Lewis Byrd was born in Nashville, and taught himself guitar by copying the records of Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt. In the 1940s, Byrd backed the Oak Ridge Quartet (predecessor of the Oak Ridge Boys), Little Jimmy Dickens, George Morgan and others. In 1949, Byrd succeeded Tommy "Butterball" Paige as lead guitarist in Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours. On many of Tubb's hit records, Tubb would introduce Byrd's tight melodic solos by exclaiming, "Aw, Billy Byrd now," or "Play it pretty, Billy Byrd." Byrd played on scores of Tubb hits, including Jealous Loving Heart, Two Glasses Joe and Answer the Phone. Byrd also drove Tubb's bus during his first tenure with the Texas Troubadours, which lasted a decade. He returned twice to the band, from 1969-70 and 1973-74. Byrd released three solo instrumental albums, and during a brief stint in California backed Tab Hunter and Tex Ritter. In 1950, Byrd and guitarist Hank Garland designed the popular Byrdland guitar for Gibson Guitars. 8       1886 ~ Pietro Yon, Italian composer More information about Yon • 1899 ~ Russell Markert, Choreographer, founded and directed the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes • 1905 ~ André Jovilet, French composer and conductor • 1907 ~ Benny Carter, American jazzjazz solo saxophonist, trumpeter, composer and arranger  • 1921 ~ Roger Nixon, Americn composer • 1921 ~ Webb Pierce, Singer • 1923 ~ Jimmy Witherspoon, Singer • 1923 ~ Benny Goodman was 14 years old as he began his professional career as a clarinet player. He took a job in a band on a Chicago-based excursion boat on Lake Michigan. • 1926 ~ Urbie (Urban) Green, Musician, trombonist who played with Cab Calloway • 1932 ~ Mel Tillis, Singer, songwriter • 1933 ~ Joe Tex (Arrington, Jr.), Singer • 1934 ~ Bing Crosby became the first singer to record for the newly created Decca Records. His songs, Just A-Wearyin’ For You and I Love You Truly, were recorded as Decca number D-100. • 1938 ~ Connie Stevens (Concetta Ingolia), Singer • 1939 ~ Philip Balsley, Singer with The Statler Brothers • 1941 ~ Les Brown and His Band of Renown paid tribute to baseball’s "Yankee Clipper", Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees, with the recording of Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio on Okeh Records. From that time on, DiMaggio adopted the nickname, Joltin’ Joe. • 1949 ~ Keith Carradine, Actor and composer, whose recording of I'm Easy reached No. 17 on the U.S. charts in 1976. • 1950 ~ Andy Fairweather-Low, Musician, guitar, singer with Amen Corner • 1958 ~ Harry (Harry Lillis III) Crosby, Singer and actor, son of Bing Crosby and Kathryn Grant • 1958 ~ Chris Foreman, Musician, guitar with Madness • 1960 ~ Tell Laura I Love Her, by Ray Peterson, wasn’t a big hit in Great Britain. Decca Records in England said the song was "too tasteless and vulgar for the English sensibility." They destroyed 25,000 of the platters this day. • 1961 ~ The Edge (David Evans), Musician, guitar with U2 • 1974 ~ Roberta Flack received a gold record for the single, Feel Like Makin’ Love. Flack, born in Asheville, NC and raised in Arlington, VA, was awarded a music scholarship to Howard University in Washington, DC at the age of 15. One of her classmates became a singing partner on several hit songs. Donny Hathaway joined Flack on You’ve Got a Friend, Where is the Love and The Closer I Get to You. She had 10 hits on the pop charts in the 1970s and 1980s. • 1975 ~ Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderly passed away 9    1874 ~ Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor and music critic • 1902 ~ Solomon Cutner, Classical pianist. A virtuoso performer, he played Tchaikovsky's First Concerto at the age of 10. His career was stopped after a stroke in 1965. • 1902 ~ Zino (Rene) Francescatti, French concert violinist; passed away in 1991 • 1910 ~ A.J. Fisher of Chicago, IL received a patent for an invention that moms, grandmas and single guys certainly came to appreciate: the electric washing machine. Previous to Mr. Fisher’s invention, washing machines were cranked by hand (not easily done) - or you used a washboard (also sometimes used as a musical instrument). • 1919 ~ Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Italian composer and librettist, died. He is famous for the single opera "Pagliacci" but never repeated the success with his other works. More information about Leoncavallo • 1932 ~ Helen Morgan joined the Victor Young orchestra to record Bill, a popular tune from Broadway’s Showboat. • 1934 ~ Merle Kilgore, Songwriter Hall of Famer • 1939 ~ Billy Henderson, Singer with Spinners • 1955 ~ Benjamin Orr (Orzechowski), Musician, bass guitar, singer with The Cars • 1963 ~ Whitney Houston, Grammy Award-winning singer • 1963 ~ The TV program Ready, Set, Go! premiered on the BBC in London, England. The show gave exposure to such music luminaries as Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. • 1964 ~ Joan Baez and Bob Dylan shared the stage for the first time when the singers performed in a concert in Forest Hills, NY. • 1969 ~ Hot Fun in The Summertime, by Sly and the Family Stone, and Easy to Be Hard, from the Broadway production Hair, were released on this day. Hot Fun made it to number two on the music charts and Easy to Be Hard climbed to number four. • 1975 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch, Russian composer, died. He wrote 15 symphonies as well as operas, ballets and film and theater scores. More information about Shostakovitch • 1995 ~ Jerry Garcia passed away • 2003 ~ Chester Ludgin, a baritone in the New York City Opera for more than 30 years, died at the age of 78. Ludgin sang a host of lead baritone parts, but was most recognizable in operas including "The Ballad of Baby Doe," "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "Susannah." He debuted at the City Opera in 1957 in Johann Strauss II's "Fledermaus." He also portrayed the part of Sam for Leonard Bernstein's "A Quiet Place" at the Houston Grand Opera in 1983. He also sang for the San Francisco Opera and other North American companies. His last appearance at City Opera was in 1991, but he remained on the stage, singing in musical comedies. His most recent lead was in "The Most Happy Fella." • 2005 ~ News Item:  New Vivaldi work heard for first time in 250 years. 10    1865 ~ Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Russian symphonic composer, conductor and educator. He wrote eight completed symphonies and two piano concertos. One of his last works (1934) was a concerto for saxophone. • 1893 ~ Douglas Stuart Moore, American composer and educator • 1895 ~ The first Promenade concert under conductor Henry Wood took place at Queen's Hall in London. He remained in sole charge of the "Proms", the annual British classical music festival, until 1940. • 1928 ~ Jimmy Dean (Seth Ward), Grammy Award-winning singer, TV host of The Jimmy Dean Show, sausage mogul • 1928 ~ Eddie Fisher, Singer, TV host of Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, father of Carrie Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher • 1940 ~ Bobby Hatfield, Singer with The Righteous Brothers • 1943 ~ Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Spector (Bennett), Singer with The Ronettes • 1947 ~ Ian Anderson, Musician: flute, singer with Jethro Tull • 1954 ~ Eliot Fisk, American guitarist • 1954 ~ Elvis Presley made one of his first professional appearances, at Overton Park, in his hometown of Memphis, TN. He used the occasion to debut his new record, That’s All Right (Mama), and was a big crowd pleaser.  • 1961 ~ Jon Farriss, Musician, drums, singer with INXS  • 1967 ~ Lorraine Pearson, Singer with Five Star • 1968 ~ Michael Bivins, Singer with New Edition, Bell Biv DeVoe • 1985 ~ Madonna’s album Like a Virgin became the first solo album by a female artist to be certified for sales of five million copies. • 1987 ~ A Chorus Line celebrated its 5,000th performance. It was estimated that 25 million theatre goers had seen the musical since it opened in 1975. An estimated 16.7 million people had seen the show on Broadway, with another 8.3 million taking in the touring production. A Chorus Line became the longest-running show on The Great White Way on September 29, 1983 and ended its Broadway run in 1990. • 2003 ~ Gregory Hines, Tony Award winner tap-dancing actor who started on Broadway and in movies including "White Nights" and "Running Scared," died at the age of 57. The dancer, among the best in his generation, won a 1993 Tony for the musical  "Jelly's Last Jam." Hines became internationally known as part of a jazz tap due with his brother, Maurice, and the two danced together in the musical revue "Eubie!" in 1978. The brothers later performed together in Broadway's "Sophisticated Ladies" and on film in 1984's "The Cotton Club." In "The Cotton Club," Hines also had a lead acting role, which led to more work in film. He starred with Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1985's "White Nights" and with Billy Crystal in 1986's "Running Scared," and he appeared with Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett in 1995's "Waiting to Exhale," among other movies. On television, he had his own sitcom in 1997 called "The Gregory Hines Show," as well as a recurring role on "Will and Grace." March 2003, he appeared in the spring television series "Lost at Home." 11    1862 ~ Carrie Jacobs Bond, American composer • 1919 ~ Ginette Neveu, French violinist • 1925 ~ Mike Douglas (Dowd), TV host of The Mike Douglas Show; singer, The Music Show, Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge • 1927 ~ Raymond Leppard, British conductor and harpsichordist  • 1941 ~ Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded Elmer’s Tune on Bluebird Records.  • 1942 ~ Mike Hugg, Musician, drums with Chapter Three, Manfred Mann • 1943 ~ Jim Kale, Musician, bass with The Guess Who • 1943 ~ Guy Vallari, Singer with Regents • 1949 ~ Eric Carmen, Musician, bass, keyboards, songwriter, singer with The Raspberries • 1950 ~ Erik Braunn, Musician, guitar, singer with Iron Butterfly • 1955 ~ Joe Jackson, Singer • 1958 ~ Elvis Presley received a gold record for the hit, Hard Headed Woman. The song was featured in the movie King Creole. • 1987 ~ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles was called "the best album made during the last 20 years" by the respected music publication, Rolling Stone magazine. • 1996 ~ Rafael Kubelik, Czech conductor, died aged 82. He made his debut with the Czech Philarmonic Orchestra in 1934 and went into exile in 1948 and made an emotional return when he conducted the opening concert of the 1990 Prague Spring music festival. 12    1644 ~ Heinrich Biber, Bohemian violinist and composer    1859 ~ Katharine Lee Bates Listen to Katharine Lee Bates's music, America the Beautiful Read about Katharine Lee Bates More information about Bates • 1919 ~ Michael Kidd (Milton Greenwald), Choreographer, dancer • 1926 ~ Joe Jones, Singer, pianist for B.B. King • 1927 ~ Porter Wagoner, Singer, songwriter • 1929 ~ "Buck" (Alvis Edgar) Owens, American country-music guitarist, singer and songwriter • 1941 ~ Jennifer Warnes, Singer • 1944 ~ Peter Hofmann, German tenor and rock singer • 1949 ~ Mark Knopfler, Musician, guitar, songwriter, singer with Dire Straits • 1954 ~ Pat Metheny, Musician, jazz-guitar • 1959 ~ Suzanne Vega, Musician, folk-guitar, singer, songwriter • 1961 ~ Roy Hay, Musician, guitar with Culture Club • 1966 ~ The last tour for The Beatles began at the International Amphitheater in Chicago; and John Lennon apologized for boasting that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. London’s Catholic Herald said Lennon’s comment was "arrogant ... but probably true." • 1967 ~ Fleetwood Mac made their stage debut at the National Blues and Jazz Festival in Great Britain. 13    1820 ~ Sir George Grove, British musicographer and educator.  Grove was editor of the Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the latest revised editions of which still carry his name • 1860 ~ Annie Oakley born as Phoebe Anne Oakley Moses. She was a markswoman and member of Buffalo Bill Cody's "Wild West Show" which toured America. The Irving Berlin musical, Annie Get Your Gun, was based on her life. • 1912 ~ Jules Massenet, French composer of the operas Werther and Manon died. More information about Massenet • 1919 ~ George Shearing, British-born American jazz pianist and composer • 1924 ~ The first country music record to sell one million copies reached that point on this day. It was The Prisoner’s Song, recorded by Vernon Dalhart. He became a Country Music Hall of Famer in 1981. • 1930 ~ Don Ho, Singer • 1930 ~ Guy Lombardo and his orchestra recorded Go Home and Tell Your Mother, on Columbia Records. • 1948 ~ Kathleen Battle, American soprano, Metropolitan Opera diva, performed with the NY Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris   • 1949 ~ Cliff Fish, Musician, bassist with Paper Lace • 1951 ~ Dan Fogelberg, Singer • 1958 ~ Feargal Sharkey, Singer with The Undertones • 2001 ~ Neil Cooper, the founder of the ROIR rock and reggae record label, died of cancer. He was 71. Cooper started Reach Out International Records in 1979 and put out his first release - on cassette only - in 1981 by James Chance and the Contortions. He then produced a catalog of cassettes by rock groups such as Bad Brains, Glenn Branca, Television, MC5, G.G. Allin, Johnny Thunders, and New York Dolls. ROIR's reggae releases included Lee "Scratch" Perry, the Skatalites, Prince Far I, and Big Youth among others. The cassette releases were a way to sidestep the artists' exclusive contracts with other record labels. Vinyl album and compact disc versions were later issued. Cooper also worked as an agent for MCA and Famous Artists before starting his label. • 2003 ~ Ed Townsend, who wrote hit songs including 1958's "For Your Love" and Marvin Gaye's controversial "Let's Get It On," died at the age of 74.   Townsend had written more than 200 songs.    Nat King Cole and Etta James were among the stars who recorded Townsend's songs. One of his first hits was "For Your Love" - which Townsend recorded himself. Townsend also wrote and produced the Impressions' 1974 No. 1 R&B hit "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm A Changed Man)." 14    1778 ~ Augustus Toplady, English hymn-writer who wrote Rock of Ages, died. • 1868 ~ Leone Sinigaglia, Italian composer • 1926 ~ Buddy (Armando) Greco, Singer and pianist • 1937 ~ Brian Fennelly, American composer, pianist and conductor • 1940 ~ Dash Crofts, Drums, mandolin and keyboard with Champs; singer is a duo with Seals and Crofts • 1941 ~ David Crosby (Van Cortland), American rock singer, guitarist and songwriter. Performed with The Byrds as well as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young • 1941 ~ Connie Smith (Meadows), Singer • 1946 ~ Larry Graham, Bassist and singer with Sly and the Family Stone as well as Graham Central Station • 1971 ~ Elton John put the finishing touches to his Madman Across the Water LP at Trident Studios, London. Since the album’s release on Feb 2, 1972, it has sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone. • 1981 ~ The BBC recording of the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana reached number one on the album charts in Britain. • 2000 ~ Leonard Kwan, a master of slack key guitar whose composition Opihi Moemoe is considered a classic of the genre, died at the age of 69. Kwan began recording in 1957 and most recently recorded two albums for George Winston's Dancing Cat Records. The second will be released in September. Kwan also was the first slack key guitarist to publicly share his instrument tunings in an instruction book. Hawaiian slack key, or ki ho`alu, is a unique musical style dating to the 1830s, when Spanish and Mexican cowboys arrived in the islands. Some of the guitar strings are slacked from the standard tuning and songs are played in a finger-picking style, with the thumb playing bass. In 1960, he recorded, Slack Key, the world's first all-instrumental slack key album. • 2001 ~ Nicholas Orloff, a dancer and ballet teacher, died at the age of 86. Orloff was known for his performance of the Drummer, a character he originated in David Lichine's 1940 "Graduation Ball." He was a popular teacher with the Ballet Theater and other schools. He continued to teach in Manhattan schools even after suffering from a stroke three years ago. Orloff appeared in the 1950 French film "Dream Ballerina" and on Broadway in the musical "Pipe Dream." He also was the ballet master of the Denver Civic Ballet in the mid- 1970s. Born in Moscow, Orloff trained in Paris. He performed with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the Original Ballet Russe, Ballet Theater, as the American Ballet Theater was known, and the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Ceuvas. • 2001 ~ Daniel Adrian Carlin, an Emmy-winning music editor who worked with soundtrack composers Lalo Schifrin and Ennio Morricone, died of complications from lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis. He was 73. Carlin edited the music for "Scorpio," "The Outlaw Josey Wales," "Ghost," "Gorillas in  the Mist," "Dead Poets Society" and "Cliffhanger." He won a music-editing Emmy in 1987 for his work on the miniseries "Unnatural Causes." He was founder in 1972 of La Da Music. Now known as Segue Music, it is considered the leading film and television editing company. 15    1890 ~ Jacques Ibert, French composer and educator • 1909 ~ Hugo Winterhalter, Orchestra leader • 1922 ~ Lukas Foss, German-born American pianist, conductor and composer • 1925 ~ Oscar Peterson, Canadian Jazz pianist, jazz trios, solos, played with all jazz greats, composer.  He achieved international fame with the touring "Jazz at the Philharmonic".  His biography is Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing • 1925 ~ Bill Pinkney, Musician, bass with The Drifters • 1933 ~ Bobby Helms, Singer • 1941 ~ Don Rich, Country musician, songwriter, one of Buck Owens' Buckaroos • 1941 ~ Au Revoir, Pleasant Dreams was recorded by Ben Bernie and his orchestra. • 1942 ~ Peter York, Musician, drums with Spencer Davis Group • 1946 ~ Jimmy Webb, Grammy Award-winning songwriter • 1961 ~ Matt Johnson, Musician, guitar, singer • 1965 ~ 55,600 people attended a Beatles concert at Shea Stadium, New York, creating world attendance and revenue records for a pop concert. • 1969 ~ The first day of the most famous musical event of 1969, Woodstock. It was originally called The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair and it began in Bethel, New York. • 1969 ~ Three Dog Night (Danny Hutton, Cory Wells and Chuck Negron) were awarded a gold record for the album, Three Dog Night. Where’d the name of the group come from? In Australia, the aborigine tribes of several regions slept outside all year. As the temperatures got colder, the tribesmen would sleep with a dog to keep warm. In colder weather, they would huddle with two dogs. It must have been an extremely cold night when the group was formed! • 1980 ~ I, Me, Mine, an autobiography by former Beatle George Harrison, went on sale. • 1981 ~ Lionel Richie and Diana Ross hit number one on the pop music charts with their beautiful duet, Endless Love. It was a huge success for the two singers. Endless Love was number one for 9 weeks. • 1989 ~ Many groups who had been to Woodstock had a twentieth-anniversary celebration. 16    1795 ~ Heinrich Marschner, German opera composer • 1863 ~ Gabriel Pierné, French composer, conductor and organist • 1929 ~ Bill Evans, American jazz pianist and composer • 1932 ~ Eydie Gorme (Edith Gormezano), Grammy Award-winning singer, married since 1957 to Steve Lawrence. • 1938 ~ Robert Johnson passed away • 1939 ~ The famous vaudeville house, Hippodrome, in New York City, was used for the last time. There were several places called the Hippodrome around the country. They weren’t, generally, theatres, nor true nightclubs. Hippodromes were designed for the wide variety of vaudeville acts available at the time ... dancing, music, comedy and skits. • 1940 ~ Marching Along Together, by Frankie Masters and his orchestra, was recorded for Okeh Records. • 1942 ~ Barbara George, Singer • 1945 ~ Suzanne Farrell (Ficker), Ballerina • 1953 ~ James ‘J.T.’ Taylor, Singer with Kool and The Gang • 1958 ~ Madonna (Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone), Singer • 1962 ~ Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, handed drummer Pete Best his walking papers. Best had been with the group for 2-1/2 years. Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) was picked to take his place. One month later, the group recorded, Love Me Do. • 1977 ~ Elvis Presley was rushed from Graceland to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Doctors’ efforts to revive him were fruitless and he was pronounced dead (coronary arrhythmia) at 3:30 p.m. He was 42 years old. • 1984 ~ Prince was pictured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. He was shown with his left armpit exposed. • 1984 ~ Though it didn’t make the pop music charts, a new single by Elvis Presley was released by RCA Victor Records. The song was originally recorded in 1956 at the Tupelo (MS) Fairgrounds. It was called, Baby, Let’s Play House. • 2000 ~ Sally Amato, who founded the Amato Opera Theater with her husband, Anthony Amato, in 1948, died at the age of 82. Amato, who performed under her maiden name, Serafina Bellantone, was born in Little Italy in 1917. As a child she appeared in vaudeville skits in local movie theaters. She met her husband when they were both appearing in an operetta at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse, and they founded the Amato Opera Theater to provide young singers with a chance to perform. • 2000 ~ Alan Caddy died 17    1686 ~ Nicola Porpora, Italian composer • 1838 ~ A total of 138 singing teachers traveled to Boston, MA to attend the first music convention. • 1903 ~ Abram Chasins, American pianist, composer, writer and educator • 1909 ~ Larry Clinton, Bandleader, composer • 1920 ~ Georgia Gibbs (Fredda Lipson or Gibson), ‘Her Nibs’, Singer • 1932 ~ Duke Pearson, Composer, band leader, pianist • 1947 ~ Gary Talley, Guitarist with Big Star as well as The Box Tops • 1948 ~ John Cheek, American bass-baritone • 1953 ~ Kevin Rowland, Guitarist, singer with Dexy’s Midnight Runners • 1954 ~ The Newport Jazz Festival opened at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island. It featured jazzjazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan and Ella Fitzgerald. • 1955 ~ Kevin Moulding, Songwriter, singer, bass with XTC • 1958 ~ Belinda Carlisle, Guitarist, singer with The Go-Go’s • 1965 ~ Steve Gorman, Drummer with The Black Crowes • 1970 ~ Donnie Wahlberg, Singer with New Kids on the Block and brother of Marky Mark • 1983 ~ Ira Gershwin, U.S. lyricist and elder brother of George, died in Beverly Hills at the age of 86. • 1984 ~ On this, the first night of his Breaking Hearts Tour, Elton John announced that he was retiring from touring. • 1990 ~ Pearl Mae Bailey passed away. She had entertained two generations with her stage and record performances. 18       1750 ~ Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor More information about Salieri • 1873 ~ Leo Slezak, Austrian tenor • 1907 ~ Howard Swanson, American composer • 1937 ~ The first FM radio construction permit was issued. It went to W1X0J (later to become WGTR) in Boston, MA. The station went on the air two years later. • 1939 ~ Johnny Preston, Singer • 1944 ~ Carl Wayne, Singer with The Move • 1949 ~ Ralph Flanagan and his orchestra recorded their first tune on wax, You’re Breaking My Heart. • 1950 ~ Dennis Elliott, Drummer with Foreigner • 1957 ~ Ron Strykert, Guitarist with Men at Work • 1958 ~ Perez Prado, the ‘Mambo King’, received one of the first gold records awarded by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). The single, Patricia, was certified as having sold over one million copies. • 1973 ~ Jazz drummer Gene Krupa played for the final time with members of the original Benny Goodman Quartet. Krupa, a jazz and big band legend, died on October 6, 1973. • 1981 ~ Robert Russell Bennett passed away • 1981 ~ Rex Harrison brought the award-winning My Fair Lady back to Broadway as he recreated the role of Henry Higgins. The play had originally opened in 1956. • 2001 ~ Jack Elliott, a composer and conductor who worked on numerous hit television shows and movies, died of a brain tumor. He was 74. Elliott came to Los Angeles in the early 1960s to work as a musical arranger on Judy Garland’s television show. He gained a reputation as one of the top composers and arrangers in Hollywood. If a television show was popular in the 1970s, it most likely had the music of Elliott and his frequent collaborator Allyn Ferguson. They worked on such shows as: "Police Story," "Barney Miller," "Starsky and Hutch," "Charlie's Angels" and "The Love Boat." He also worked in films and teamed with director Carl Reiner on several projects, including: "The Comic," "The Jerk" and "Oh God." Elliott served as music director for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, writing the music for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as conducting the orchestra. • 2003 ~ Tony Jackson, bass player for The Searchers, a Liverpool band best known for the 1964 song "Needles and Pins," died at the age of 63. Jackson sang and played bass for The Searchers, a Liverpool band that briefly rivaled The Beatles for popularity in the early 1960s. "Needles and Pins" made the top 20 in the United States after it was released in 1964. Jackson was lead singer on the band's first two British hits, "Sweets for My Sweet" and "Sugar and Spice," but played bass only on the enduring "Needles and Pins" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away." Feeling sidelined, Jackson quit the group in 1964. His follow-up band, Tony Jackson and the Vibrations, failed to score a hit and he drifted out of the music business. 19    1881 ~ Georges Enesco, Rumanian composer, violinist and conductor • 1918 ~ Sgt. Irving Berlin’s musical about army life in World War I opened at the Century Theatre in New York City. Yip Yip Yaphank included songs, such as Mandy and Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning. • 1939 ~ Ginger (Peter) Baker, Trumpeter, drummer with Cream • 1939 ~ The Dick Jurgens Orchestra recorded Day Dreams Come True at Night on Okeh Records. Eddy Howard was the vocalist on the piece. It became Jurgens’ theme song. • 1940 ~ Johnny Nash, American pop-reggae singer, songwriter and guitarist • 1943 ~ Billy J. Kramer (William Ashton), Singer with The Dakotas • 1945 ~ Ian Gillan, Singer with Deep Purple • 1947 ~ Gerard Schwarz, American trumpeter and conductor   • 1951 ~ John Deacon, Bass with Queen, score of Flash Gordon   • 1964 ~ The Beatles began their first North American concert tour. They would visit 26 cities. • 1972 ~ NBC-TV presented The Midnight Special for the first time. John Denver was the host for the first show. Wolfman Jack was the show’s announcer. The Midnight Special proved to be a ratings success. • 1991 ~ Richard Maltby passed away • 2001 ~ Singer Betty Everett, whose recording of The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) made Billboard's Top 10 in 1964, died Sunday. She was 61. Everett is remembered primarily for one huge hit song in the 1960s, but she  also recorded many other songs and was recognized as one of the top soul singers of her time. Starting at age 9, Everett played the piano and sang in church. She continued to sing in gospel choirs before moving to Chicago in 1957, where she recorded a string of hits on local record labels such as C.J. Cobra and OneDerful that included I'll Be There and I've Got a Claim On You. Everett signed a contract in the early 1960s with VeeJay, a record label that was then issuing recordings by The Beatles. Everett recorded The Shoop Shoop Song in the spring of 1964, and it soared to Billboard's Top 10. The song was later recorded by Cher in the soundtrack for the 1990 movie Mermaids and more recently by Vonda Shepard of the Fox television show Ally McBeal. 20       1561 ~ Jacopo Peri, Italian composer More information about Peri • 1882 ~ Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" first performed in Moscow.  A MIDI of the "1812 Overture" can be found in the Listening Center • 1885 ~ The Mikado, by Gilbert and Sullivan, opened at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City. • 1905 ~ Weldon Leo 'Jack' Teagarden, Jazz musician, trombonist and singer whose relaxed, melodic instrumental style was highly influential More information about Teagarden • 1923 ~ Jim (James Travis) Reeves • 1926 ~ Frank Rosolino, Musician: trombone, played with Stan Kenton, Harold Land, Bob Cooper, Clarke-Boland Big Band • 1927 ~ Joya Sherrill, Singer • 1931 ~ Frank Capp, Musician, drummer with the big jazzjazz band, Capp-Pierce Juggernaut • 1935 ~ Justin Tubb, Singer, Ernest Tubb's son • 1939 ~ Orrin Tucker’s orchestra recorded Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny, Oh!, on Columbia Records. • 1942 ~ Issac Hayes, Grammy and Academy Award-winning American rhythm-and-blues singer, songwriter and arranger • 1947 ~ Jim Pankow, Trombonist, song writer with Chicago • 1948 ~ Robert Plant, British rock singer with Honeydrippers and composer • 1951 ~ Phyl Lynott, Musician: bass, singer with Thin Lizzy • 1952 ~ Doug Fieger, Musician, guitar, singer with The Knack • 1952 ~ Rudy Gatlin, Singer with The Gatlin Brothers • 1969 ~ Andy Williams received a gold record for the album Happy Heart on Columbia   Records.  • 1977 ~ Best of My Love, by the Emotions, topped the pop charts. It had a number one run of four weeks. • 2001 ~ Frank C. "Papa" Mangione, father of jazzjazz musicians Chuck and Gap Mangione, died Monday at age 91. Mangione worked at Eastman Kodak Co., ran a grocery store for about two decades and returned to the photography company until his retirement in 1975. For the next 15 years, he sold music and merchandise on worldwide tours with his more famous son, Chuck, a flugelhorn ace. A son of Italian immigrants, Mangione's childhood was chronicled by his brother, Jerry, in a best-selling 1942 memoir called "Mount Allegro: A Memoir of Italian American Life."    Three of Chuck Mangione's songs, 60 Miles Young, 70 Miles Young and Papa Mangione, were dedicated to his father. 21       1904 ~ (William Allen) Count Basie, Bandleader More information about Count Basie • 1928 ~ Art Farmer, Trumpeter, flugelhorn, worked with Horace Henderson, Johnny Otis, Lionel Hampton Band; recorded be-bop classic Farmer’s Market; developed musical instrument called ‘flumpet’    1933 ~ Dame Janet Baker, British mezzo-soprano Read quotes by and about Baker More information about Baker • 1938 ~ Kenny (Kenneth Donald) Rogers, Grammy and CMA Award-winning singer; groups: The Kirby Stone Four, The New Christy Minstrels, The First Edition • 1938 ~ A classic recording was made this day when Fats Waller performed Ain’t Misbehavin. • 1939 ~ Harold Reid, Singer with The Statler Brothers • 1944 ~ Jackie DeShannon (Sharon Myers), Singer, songwriter • 1947 ~ Carl Giammarese, Guitarist with The Buckinghams • 1952 ~ Joe Strummer (John Mellors), Guitarist and singer More information about Joe Strummer (John Mellors) • 1957 ~ Kim Sledge, Singer with Sister Sledge • 1976 ~ RCA Victor Records announced that sales of Elvis Presley records had passed the 400 million mark. • 1980 ~ Linda Ronstadt debuted on Broadway in the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's, The Pirates of Penzance. 22    Studio Events Fairfax County School Closings and Delays, from WTOP Fairfax County Emergency Announcements Thought For the Day Remember to log your practice time today!    1862 ~ Claude Debussy, French composer More information about Debussy • 1906 ~ The Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey began to manufacture the Victrola (record player). The hand-cranked unit, with horn cabinet, sold for $200. Records sold separately. • 1917 ~ John Lee Hooker, American blues guitarist and singer, born in Clarksdale, Miss. He began his career in Detroit in 1948 with the release of Boogie Chillun, the biggest of his several hit records and a staple of both the blues and rock repertoires. He toured continually, and among "deep blues" artists, enjoyed an unusually successful career, appearing in concerts and on recordings with many of the leading figures in rock. He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.       1928 ~ Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer More information about Stockhausen Read quotes by and about Stockhausen • 1926 ~ Bob Flanigan, Singer with The Four Freshmen • 1932 ~ The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began its first experimental TV broadcast in England. • 1938 ~ Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared, dancing, on the cover of LIFE magazine, published on this day. • 1938 ~ Count Basie recorded the classic swing tune, Jumpin’ at the Woodside, for Decca Records. • 1942 ~ Joe Chambers, Musician: guitar, singer with The Chambers Brothers • 1950 ~ Sam Neely, Singer • 1960 ~ Debbi Peterson, Drummer, singer with Bangles • 1961 ~ Roland Orzabal, Singer, guitarist • 2002 ~ Frederick Selch, an advertising executive and magazine publisher who collected  hundreds of antique musical instruments, died at the age of 72. Selch began collecting almost 50 years ago and owned more than 300 musical instruments by 1977. In that year, he founded the Federal Music Society, an organization dedicated to performing music from the Colonial-Federal period. The group's 26 players used instruments in Selch's collection to perform in more than 70 concerts. Selch was also the owner, editor and publisher of Ovation, a monthly magazine about classical music, from 1983 to 1989. He produced the Broadway musical "Play Me a  Country Song" in 1982, and in the past 10 years was involved in a series of American  Music Festivals at Illinois Wesleyan University. Selch, who received a master's degree in radio-television production from Syracuse University, worked at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency from 1955 to 1974. He is to be awarded a posthumous doctorate from the American Studies program at New York University. • 2002 ~ Richard Lippold, a sculptor whose abstract works are featured at New York's Avery Fisher Hall and at Harvard University, died. He was 87. Lippold created giant metal abstractions, many of which are suspended by wires so  they appear to be hovering or moving through space. His piece World Tree, a • 27-foot structure of straight and circular metal tubes that resembles a radio antenna, stands on the Harvard University campus. He is also known for Ad Astra, a double spire that rises 115 feet in front of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, and Orpheous and Apollo, a constellation of bronze bars connected by wires in the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. Lippold studied industrial design, piano and dance at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago. He worked as a freelance industrial designer for several years before teaching art at the University of Michigan. He later taught at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt., and Hunter College in New York. 23       1854 ~ Moritz Moszkowski, Polish-born German pianist and composer More information about Moszkowski • 1900 ~ Ernst Krenek, Austrian-born American composer, conductor and pianist • 1905 ~ Constant Lambert, British composer, conductor and writer • 1912 ~ Gene (Eugene Curran) Kelly, Dancer, actor: Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, Anchors Aweigh, The Three Musketeers, Marjorie Morningstar, Inherit the Wind, North and South Book I; director: Singin’ in the Rain, Hello, Dolly!, A Guide for the Married Man, The Cheyenne Social Club • 1917 ~ Tex (Sol) Williams, Singer • 1923 ~ Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, The Happiness Boys, were heard on radio for the first time. The two were billed as radio’s first comedians and were also credited with creating and performing the first singing commercial. • 1936 ~ Rudy Lewis, Singer with Drifters • 1942 ~ Patricia McBride, Ballerina: New York City Ballet. For many years she was Mikhail Baryshnikov's only partner • 1943 ~ LIFE magazine spotlighted a dance craze that was sweeping the U.S.A., the Lindy Hop • 1947 ~ Keith Moon, Singer, drummer with The Who • 1947 ~ Margaret Truman, daughter of U.S. President Harry S Truman, presented her first public concert.  Margaret sang before 15,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl. The concert did not get great reviews. In fact, the critics didn’t like Margaret’s singing at all. And Margaret’s dad didn’t like the critics, and said so, from the White House. • 1949 ~ Rick Springfield, Singer • 1951 ~ Mark Hudson, Singer with The Hudson Brothers • 1951 ~ Jimi Jamison, Singer with Survivor • 1953 ~ Bobby G. (Gubby), Singer with Bucks Fizz • 1960 ~ Oscar (Greeley Clendenning) Hammerstein II passed away More information about Hammerstein • 1962 ~ Shaun Ryder, Singer with Happy Mondays • 1966 ~ The U.S. premiere of the motion picture Help!, starring The Beatles, was held for thousands of moviegoers wanting to see the group’s first, color, motion picture. Their first film, A Hard Day’s Night, had been produced in black and white.  • 1990 ~ David Rose passed away • 2001 ~ Kathleen Freeman, a veteran character actress whose face if not her name was known to audiences from television sitcoms, the film classic "Singin' in the Rain" and Broadway's "The Full Monty," died of lung cancer at the age of  82. Freeman gave her final performance in "The Full Monty" last Saturday. She played a sassy piano player in the hit musical and earned a Tony nomination in May 2001. Big, brash and funny were Freeman's trademarks in playing recalcitrant maids, demented nuns, mouthy housekeepers, battle-ax mothers, irate landladies and nosy neighbors. Starting in the Golden Age of television, Freeman appeared in such shows as "Topper," "The Donna Reed Show," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Hogan's Heroes," "The Lucy Show," "The Golden Girls," "Murphy Brown" and "Married ... With Children." "This will sound very corny and I'm sorry," Freeman said last year in an Associated Press interview, "but I have always had the sense I was put here to do this: I am somebody who is around to help the world laugh. I have always had that sense. Corny but absolutely true." In "Singin' in the Rain," considered by many to be the best movie musical ever made, she played Jean Hagen's frustrated voice teacher. Among Freeman's other films were the sci-fi thriller "The Fly," "The Rounders" with Henry Fonda, "Far Country" with Jimmy Stewart, and "North to Alaska" starring John Wayne. More recently she appeared in "Dragnet," "Gremlins II," "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" and both "Blues Brothers" comedies. Freeman was born in Chicago and was propelled into show business at age 2. Her parents had a vaudeville act, Dixon and Freeman, in which their daughter did a little dance. Freeman attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where she majored in music and was going to be a classical pianist. Then, she said, "A terrible thing happened. I got in a play and got a laugh. I just said a line and, `boom."' Freeman then worked in many small theater groups, including the Circle Players, acting for such eminent directors - and actors - as Charles Laughton, Charlie Chaplin and Robert Morley. At the same time, the early 1950s, the television explosion took over Los Angeles. From her first regular sitcom role, as the maid in "Topper," Freeman went on to do just about every sitcom of the last 50 years. For all her voluminous credits, Freeman's stage credits were mostly on the road - touring as Miss Hannigan in "Annie" for 18 months, then in "Deathtrap" and later with Lauren Bacall in "Woman of the Year." Her only other Broadway appearance was for five months in the 1978 production of "13 Rue de l'Amore" starring Louis Jordan. • 2001 ~ Frank Emilio Flynn, a blind pianist and Latin jazzjazz pioneer who performed with many great American jazz artists, died at the age of 80. Flynn lost his sight at age 13 but continued to study and perform classical works, transcribed into Braille, with the Symphonic Orchestra of Havana. Flynn's great passion was jazz, and in the 1950s he developed his own jazz-influenced ballad style, known in Cuba as "feeling." Performing with the Quinteto Cubana de Musica Moderno, or Cuban Quintet of Modern Music, he developed into one of the most important Cuban jazz musicians of his era. More recently, he played at New York's Lincoln Center in 1998 with trumpeters Alfredo Armenteros and Wynton Marsalis. 24    1837 ~ Théodore Dubois, French organist and composer • 1856 ~ Felix Mottl, Austrian conductor, composer and arranger • 1919 ~ Neils Viggo Bentzon, Danish composer • 1924 ~ Louis Teicher, Pianist with the duo, Ferrante and Teicher • 1938 ~ David Freiberg, Bass guitar with Jefferson Starship • 1938 ~ Mason Williams, Guitarist, Emmy Award-winning writer • 1941 ~ Ernest Wright, Singer with Little Anthony and the Imperials • 1943 ~ John Cipollina, Guitarist with Quicksilver Messenger Service • 1944 ~ Jim Brady, Singer with The Sandpipers • 1945 ~ Ken Hensley, Musician, guitar, keyboard, composer, with Uriah Heep • 1955 ~ Jeffrey Daniel, Singer with Shalamar • 1969 ~ Arlo Guthrie's Alice’s Restaurant premiered in both New York and Los Angeles. • 1979 ~ B.B. King celebrated his 30th year in show business at a special celebration held at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. • 1985 ~ Huey Lewis and The News reached the top. The Power of Love was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. 25    1879 ~ New York’s Madison Square Garden displayed a real floating ship in a gigantic water tank as Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, H.M.S. Pinafore, was performed. • 1902 ~ Stefan Wolpe, German-born American composer • 1909 ~ Ruby (Ethel Hilda) Keeler, Dancer, actress • 1913 ~ Bob Crosby, Bandleader with The Bob Cats, brother of Bing Crosby    1918 ~ Leonard Bernstein, American conductor, composer and pianist Read quotes by and about Bernstein Links to more information about Bernstein Grammy winner • 1941 ~ Skinnay Ennis and his orchestra recorded the tune Don’t Let Julia Fool Ya. • 1942 ~ Walter Williams, Singer with The O’Jays • 1955 ~ Elvis Costello (Declan McManus), Musician, songwriter • 1961 ~ Billy Ray Cyrus, Singer • 1964 ~ The Beatles received a gold record for their hit single A Hard Day’s Night. It was the third gold record for the Fab Four. They would collect 18 more through 1970. • 1971 ~ Ted Lewis passed away • 1982 ~ The group, Fleetwood Mac, received a gold record for the album Mirage. • 2001 ~ Aaliyah died at the age of 22. She was a R&B singer and budding actress who made her film debut in "Romeo Must Die" and was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas. • 2001 ~ Jazz musician John Nelson, the father of pop star Prince, died at the age of 85. Nelson was the model for a character in the 1984 Prince movie "Purple Rain." He also co-wrote songs on several of his son's hit albums. In the 1950s, Nelson was a pianist in the jazz group Prince Rogers Trio featuring singer Mattie Shaw. Shaw and Nelson married, and they named their son Prince Roger Nelson. Nelson left the household when Prince was about 10 and his sister Tyka was 8. The father and son reconciled after Prince began his climb to fame. Nelson co-wrote Computer Blue on the Purple Rain album, The Ladder on Around the World in a Day; Christopher Tracy's Parade and Under the Cherry Moon on Parade and Scandalous on the Batman soundtrack. 26       1873 ~ Lee DeForest, Inventor of the triode vacuum tube, possibly the most significant invention that made radio possible. More information about DeForest • 1894 ~ Arthur Loesser, American pianist and writer • 1915 ~ Humphrey Searle, British composer and writer • 1919 ~ Ronny Graham (Ronald Montcrief Stringer), Singer, actor • 1928 ~ Peter Appleyard, British jazz vibraphonist and drummer • 1939 ~ The radio program Arch Oboler’s Plays presented the NBC Symphony, for the first time, as the musical backdrop for the drama, This Lonely Heart. • 1942 ~ Vic Dana, Singer • 1949 ~ Bob Cowsill, Singer with The Cowsills • 1957 ~ John O’Neill, Musician, guitar with That Petrol Emotion • 1958 ~ Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer, passed away More informationon Vaughan Williams • 1960 ~ Branford Marsalis, Musician, saxophone, bandleader with The Tonight Show, toured with Sting More information about the Marsalis family • 1967 ~ Brian Epstein passed away • 1970 ~ Jimi Hendrix opened his recording studio in New York City. Because of its state-of-the-art 36-track recording capability, it attracted many top rock groups.  • 2000 ~ George Edmund Sandell, a noted violin and viola player, teacher and inventor died at the age of 88. Sandell studied in New York under the viola virtuoso William Primrose and on scholarship at the Royal Swedish Conservatory in Stockholm. Sandell moved to Los Angeles in 1938, where he played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Pasadena and Santa Monica Symphonies. Along with classical music, he performed pop, swing and Latin music, and played with the string sections of big band luminaries Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey and  Xavier Cugat. Sandell also played on some of Frank Sinatra's recordings and worked for most of the big Hollywood studios on orchestral sound tracks, including the sound track for the movie Citizen Kane. In 1947, he invented the Gee-Bee, a kitchen sponge with a plastic handle for washing dishes. He sold the company to DuPont in 1953. • 2001 ~ Alix Williamson, the classical music publicist who suggested to Baroness Maria von Trapp that she write a book about her family's experiences, died at the age of 85. Williamson's suggestion resulted in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music." She represented artists such as André Watts and Frederica von Stade and helped the New York Grand Opera get a citation in the Guinness Book of World Records for its performances of a complete cycle of Verdi's operas in Central Park. Williamson also ghostwrote books. 27       1521 ~ Josquin Desprez, French/Franco-Flemish composer, died. Generally acknowledged as the greatest composer of the High Renaissance. More information about Desprez    1886 ~ Eric Coates, British composer and violist More information about Coates • 1889 ~ Charles G. Conn of Elkhart, IN patented the metal clarinet. More than 100 years later the name, Conn, still represents one of the most popular musical instrument names, especially for clarinets. • 1909 ~ Lester Willis "Prez" Young, American jazz tenor and saxophonist • 1927 ~ Jimmy ‘Cajun’ Newman, Singer • 1937 ~ Tommy (Adrian) Sands, Singer • 1939 ~ Singer Allan Jones recorded I’m Falling in Love with Someone on Victor Records. • 1942 ~ Daryl Dragon, Grammy Award-winning musician, songwriter, duo in The Captain and Tennille • 1944 ~ Barry Conyngham, Australian composer • 1944 ~ Tim Bogert, Bass with these groups: Showmen, Cactus, Vanilla Fudge • 1949 ~ Jeff Cook, Singer, guitar with Alabama • 1953 ~ Alex Lifeson, Guitarist with Rush • 1970 ~ The Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA was the venue of singer Elton John's first concert appearance in America and a record company executive for UNI records (a division of MCA) signed Elton to a recording contract. • 1984 ~ The Menetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village opened. It was the first new off-Broadway theatre to be built in 50 years in New York City. The ribbon cutting was done by "America’s First Lady of the Stage", Helen Hayes. • 1990 ~ Stevie Ray Vaughan, killed in helicopter crash 28    1850 ~ Wagner’s opera, Lohengrin, was performed for the first time. • 1894 ~ Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor    1913 ~ Richard Tucker, American tenor More information about Tucker • 1924 ~ Dinah Washington, American rhythm-and-blues singer. She popularized many, many great songs, including What a Diff’rence a Day Makes, Unforgettable, and several hits with Brook Benton. • 1925 ~ Billy (William Wayne) Grammer, Singer • 1931 ~ You Rascal You was recorded by Henry Allen, with the Luis Russell Band, for the Victor label. • 1939 ~ Clem Cattini, Drummer with Tornados • 1948 ~ Daniel Seraphine, Drummer with Chicago • 1951 ~ Wayne Osmond, Singer with The Osmond Brothers • 1964 ~ The Beatles appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine. • 1965 ~ Shania Twain (Eilleen Regina Edwards), Grammy Award-winning singer • 1984 ~ The Jacksons’ Victory Tour broke the record for concert ticket sales. The group surpassed the 1.1 million mark in only two months. • 2002 ~ Kay Gardner, whose last musical work with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra memorialized the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, died of a heart attack. She was in her early 60s. On hearing of her death, symphony officials scheduled Gardner's work, "Lament for Thousand," for the orchestra's season-opening concert Oct. 13 at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. Gardner was a pianist, flutist and conductor who performed in 46 states and several countries. More than 20 years ago, she sued the Bangor Symphony, unsuccessfully, for sex discrimination after she had applied for a conducting position and learned that orchestra members had been asked how they felt about working with a female conductor. In 2000, she was the guest conductor for a 40-member orchestra of women from the Bangor Symphony, playing a repertoire written by women. Gardner studied music at the University of Michigan and at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In 1972, she helped found a feminist and openly lesbian women's band, Lavender Jane. By the 1990s she was serving as music director at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bangor. 29       1920 ~ Charlie Parker, American jazz alto saxophonist Read quotes by and about Parker More information about Parker • 1924 ~ Dinah Washington (Ruth Lee Jones), Singer, Lionel Hampton's band from 1943 to 1946 • 1928 ~ Thomas Stewart, American baritone • 1942 ~ Sterling Morrison, Bass, guitar, singer with The Velvet Underground • 1943 ~ Paul Whiteman Presents, a summertime radio replacement show, was heard for the last time. The hostess for the show was Dinah Shore. Whiteman’s 35-piece orchestra serenaded listeners on the NBC radio network. Whiteman’s well~known theme song was Rhapsody in Blue, composed by George Gershwin. • 1946 ~ Ella Fitzgerald and The Delta Rhythm Boys recorded It’s a Pity to Say Goodnight on Decca Records. The song turned out to be one of Lady Ella’s most popular. • 1958 ~ Michael Jackson, American rock singer  • 1964 ~ Roy Orbison's Oh, Pretty Woman was released. It hit number one (for 3 weeks) on September 26th and became the biggest of his career. Oh, Pretty Woman was Orbison’s second #1 hit. The other was Running Scared on 6/05/61.  • 1966 ~ The Beatles performed at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA. It was the group’s last live appearance before they disbanded in 1970. • 1986 ~ The former American Bandstand studio, at the original home of WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, PA, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The studio is located at 4548 Market Street. We expect that any day now, Bandstand host Dick Clark will also be placed on the National Register. 30    1853 ~ Percy Goetschius, American music teacher and critic • 1919 ~ Kitty Wells (Muriel Ellen Deason),‘The Queen of Country Music’, Country Music Hall of Fame, married to Johnny Wright • 1922 ~ Regina Resnik, American mezzo-soprano • 1922 ~ The New Orleans Rhythm Kings recorded Tiger Rag, one of the most familiar ragtime jazzjazz tunes ever. It was released on the General record label. • 1935 ~ John Phillips, Singer with The Mamas & The Papas, actress MacKenzie Phillips’ father • 1941 ~ John McNally, Singer, guitarist with The Searchers • 1945 ~ Van Morrison, Irish blues-rock singer, songwriter and instrumentalist • 1968 ~ The Beatles recorded their first songs for their own Apple label. The initial session included the big hits Revolution and Hey Jude. • 1968 ~ The stars came out for charity as John and Yoko Lennon hosted the One on One concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Among the music greats appearing were Stevie Wonder and Roberta Flack. Over $250,000 was raised to aid mentally  retarded children. • 1984 ~ Beatles fans paid $271,180 dollars for memorabilia at an auction in London, England. An unpublished manuscript by John Lennon brought the largest amount - $23,056. A snare drum belonging to Ringo Starr brought $1,440. 31       1834 ~ Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer More information about Ponchielli • 1903 ~ Arthur (Morton) Godfrey, Ukulele playing, TV/radio entertainer       1918 ~ Alan Jay Lerner, American lyricist for the musical theater Read quotes by and about Lerner More information about Lerner • 1939 ~ Jerry Allison, Drummer with The Crickets • 1939 ~ Frank Sinatra recorded All or Nothing at All with the Harry James Band. The tune failed to become a hit until four years later - after Ol’ Blue Eyes had joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. • 1945 ~ Itzhak Perlman, Israeli-born American violinist, recorded with André Previn and Scott Joplin • 1945 ~ Van Morrison, Songwriter, singer with Them • 1955 ~ Anthony Thistlethwaite, Saxophone with The Waterboys • 1957 ~ Glenn Tilbrook, Guitar, singer, songwriter with Squeeze • 1959 ~ Tony DeFranco, Singer with The DeFranco Family • 1970 ~ Debbie Gibson, Singer • 1976 ~ A judge ruled that George Harrison was guilty of copying from the song He’s So Fine (a 1963 Chiffons hit). The judge said that the chorus to Harrison’s My Sweet Lord was identical to He’s So Fine and it eventually (appeals went on for about five years) cost the former Beatle over half a million dollars. • 1987 ~ This day saw the largest preorder of albums in the history of CBS Records. 2.25 million copies of Michael Jackson's Bad album were shipped to record stores. The LP followed in the tracks of the Jackson album, Thriller, the biggest Jackson-seller of all time (35 million copies sold). The Bad album was successful, but sold only 13 million copies.