Keeping the greatest music ever made alive by marking birthdays, anniversaries, news and (sadly) the occasional deaths from the artists that helped shape rock & roll music.
The TEMPTATIONS have lost two members in the last two weeks.
Otis Williams remains the only surviving member of the original five Emperors of Soul, but Richard Street (October 5, 1942 - February 27, 2013) was a member for 25 years and Damon Harris (July 17, 1950 – February 18, 2013) was with the group from 1971-1975.
All three sang on "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". You can read more here and here.
On what would have been his 71st birthday, we also remember ROLLING STONE Brian Jones.
A member of the inaugural class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Antione Dominique FATS DOMINO was born February 26, 1928.
From www.rockhall.com: "Born in the Big Easy in 1928, pianist, singer and songwriter Fats Domino
ultimately sold more records (65 million) than any Fifties-era rocker
except Elvis Presley. Between 1950 and 1963, he made Billboard’s pop chart 63 times and its R&B chart 59 times. Incredible as it may seem, Fats Domino scored more hit records than Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Buddy Holly put together."
Still living in New Orleans, rumors circulated that Fats had been killed when Hurricane Katrina hit the city in 2005. His house was destroyed, but he was rescued and continues to perform occasionally in the Big Easy to this day.
MITCH RYDER was born William Levise, Jr. 2/26/1945. While Motown
brought soul to the Motor City and the world, Mitch and the Detroit
Wheels wanted to rock.
Still living in the Metro Detroit area, Mitch spends much of his time on the road in Europe.
Paul Jones (b Paul Pond, 24 February 1942) was the voice of MANFRED
MANN in the early days. Replaced by Mike d'Abo in 1966, Paul would go
on to fame as a televesion presenter in his native England.
After he sang the song on The Milton Berle Show, "Heartbreak Hotel" would go on to become Elvis' first #1 on the pop charts and the biggest selling single of 1956.
One-hit-wonder ERNIE K-DOE was born Ernest Kador Jr. in New Orleans on Feb 22, 1936 and passed away in the summer of 2001.
"Mother In Law" knocked DEL SHANNON's "Runaway" off the top of the charts in 1961.
William OLIVER Swofford (February 22, 1945 – February 12, 2000) hit the charts twice- once with a song from the Broadway musical "Hair".
After engineering the first several albums by The BEATLES and producing 3
of the first 4 albums by The PINK FLOYD, Norman "HURRICANE" SMITH was
almost 50 years old by the time he got a hit song on his own.
"Fifth Beatle" MURRAY THE K passed away of cancer a week after his 60th birthday on February 21, 1982.
The New York City disc jockey met The BEATLES on their first trip to America in 1964.
The became friends and the lads even invited Murray to the filming of "A Hard Day's Night".
Pete Best, Stu Sutcliffe, Billy Preston, George Martin, Brian Epstein, Eric Clapton and many more would be called the "fifth Beatle", Murray was, perhaps, the first to be christened.
The Mayor of Motown, SMOKEY ROBINSON was born February 19, 1940 in Detroit.
Sure, BERRY GORDY had the dream and took the risk in starting Motown Records, but Smokey made it Hitsville U.S.A.
Not only did he chart more than 25 Top 40 hits with The MIRACLES, William Robinson Jr. also wrote "My Guy" for MARY WELLS, the answer song "My Girl", "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and many of The TEMPTATIONS early hits plus "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar" for MARVIN GAYE and The MARVELETTES "Don't Mess with Bill".
When writer/producers like Holland-Dozier-Holland and Norman Whitfield came along and artists like Marvin Gaye and STEVIE WONDER began writing more of their own material, Smokeys workload decreased. If you doubt he could still write a hit, listen to "Cruisin'" or "Being with You."
A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a National Treasure, Smokey Robinson is 73 today.
Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco was also born February 19; 1943. Better
known as LOU CHRISTIE, he charted 5 Top 40 hits from "The Gypsy Cried"
in 1961 to 1969's "I'm Gonna Make You Mine". Most impressive was
"Lightnin' Strikes", showing off his 3 octave vocal range.
GENE PITNEY (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) performs his first hit and the last he sang before his death. The song charted in 1961, and Gene sang it as the encore at a concert in 2006 before later being found dead in his hotel room in Wales.
One of the few survivors of the British Invasion, Gene Pitney charted 16 Top 40 hits in the U.S. and was also very popular in Europe.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also wrote "He's A Rebel" for The CRYSTALS, Bobby Vee's "Rubber Ball" and "Hello Merry Lou"- she belonged to Gene before Ricky Nelson.
Another East-Coaster (Gene was from Connecticut), Richmond Virginia's TOMMY EDWARDS (February 17, 1922 — October 22, 1969) is most famous for "It's All in the Game".
BOBBY LEWIS (b 2/171933) had a monster #1 hit- the theme song for insomniacs everywhere!
JOHN LENNON got to play with one of his idols when CHUCK BERRY joined him on The Mike Douglas Show, 1972.
Four years earlier, The BEATLES, wives and girlfriends flew to India to meet Maharishi Mahesh.
He
was smarter than he appeared to be.
SONNY
BONO (February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) became famous as a foil
for CHER on their 70's variety show.
He
had been a record producer prior to that, working with PHIL SPECTOR
and Salvatore co-wrote The SEARCHERS hit "Needles & Pins".
A
hippie who followed through on his dreams to change the world, he
served as Mayor of Palm Springs, California before being elected to
the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994.
BRIAN HOLLAND (b 2/15/1941 in Detroit) had some success as a staff writer at MOTOWN, co-writing The MARVELETTES #1 "Please Mr. Postman".
It was when he worked with his brother EDDIE and LAMONT DOZIER that the hits really kept on coming. From 1962-1967, the trio of Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote and produced top 10 singles for MARTH & The VANDELLAS, MARVIN GAYE, The FOUR TOPS, The MIRACLES, and 5 number-ones in a row for The SUPREMES!
Drummer Mick Avoy was with The KINKS for almost 20 years, from just after the band formation in 1964 to 1984.
"We got to live together." SLY & The FAMILY STONE spoke the truth and hit #1 this week in 1969.
The late GENE VINCENT was born Vincent Eugene Craddock on February 2, 1939.
(I want to know what is on the ceiling...)
Songwriter GERRY GOFFIN (b. 2/11/1939) and CAROLE KING wrote some of the 1960's most memorable songs:
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", "Some Kind of Wonderful", "Take Good Care of My Baby", "Up on the Roof", "The Loco-Motion", "I'm Into Something Good" and many more!
Talk about great songs! The BEATLES recorded recorded ten of the fourteen songs which appeared on their
debut album Please Please Me at EMI Studios in London, 1963.
Seventy-four, could it get much higher?
