Week in Music History

Composer George Bohm was born.

Composer Alphons Diepenbrock was born.

Composer Laurindo Almeida was born.

Folk and studio musician Alan Jardine was born.

The operetta Rose Marie by Rudolf Friml premiered at the Imperial Theatre in New York.

American bandleader and film music composer Hugo Montenegro was born. In 1968, he had a UK number-one and US number-two hit with a cover of Ennio Morricone’s main theme from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He also composed the music for the 1969 western Charro! starring Elvis Presley.

English pop pianist and composer Russ Conway was born in Bristol as Trevor Hebert Stanford. He became best known for the singles “Side Saddle” and “Roulette”, which reached number one on the charts.

Sophie Tucker recorded her song “Some of These Days”. This version was not released for approximately another 30 years; in the first part of the verse, Tucker tells and explains how the song described the story of her life.

The radio program “15 Minutes with Bing Crosby” premiered on CBS.

American singer Richard “Rick” Lewis of The Silhouettes was born. Their doo-wop and R&B single “Get A Job” reached number one on both the US R&B and pop charts in 1958.

Russ Columbo died after an antique pistol belonging to his friend accidentally discharged and struck him in the eye. The 26-year-old singer died under circumstances that his friends and family concealed from his ill mother because they feared the news would shock her to death. Through a carefully devised system of fake letters and old recordings made to simulate live broadcasts, they created the impression that Columbo was still alive and merely busy. The deception continued until her death ten years later.

American soul singer Sam Gooden of The Impressions was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1965, the group had the US hit “Lilies Of The Field” at number seven.

George Gershwin completed the orchestral score for the opera Porgy and Bess.

Teen idol Jimmy Clanton was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He became known for the swamp pop and R&B hits “Just a Dream” from 1958 and “Venus in Blue Jeans” from 1962.

Bobby Purify, whose real name was Ben Moore, the singer of the American R&B duo James & Bobby Purify, was born. In 1976, the duo had the American hit “I'm Your Puppet” at number six and the British hit at number 12.

One half of the R&B vocal duo James & Bobby Purify was born in Tallahassee, Florida.

American songwriter, producer and musician Allen Toussaint was born.

Soul and R&B singer Joe Simon was born in Simmesport, Louisiana. He is known for the song “The Chokin' Kind”, which won a Grammy Award in 1969.

American soul and R&B singer Rosalind Ashford was born in Detroit, Michigan. She became known as a founding member of Martha and the Vandellas.

Multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger Marty Grebb was born in Chicago, Illinois. He became known as a member of the pop group The Buckinghams.

Billy Preston was born in Houston, Texas. He became known as a keyboardist, singer and session musician who worked with, among others, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, as well as for his successful solo career.

Radio announcer Marty Brennaman was born.

English drummer and percussionist Richard Coughlan was born. In 1968, he was one of the founding members of Caravan and remained a member until his death.

Christa Päffgen, the singer known as Nico and a collaborator with The Velvet Underground, was born.

Guitarist Eric Bell, a founding member of Thin Lizzy, was born.

Singer and frontwoman of The Pretenders Chrissie Hynde was born.

English violinist and keyboardist Mik Kaminski was born in Harrogate. He became best known as a member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra.

American entertainer and occasional singer Jimmy Connors was born.

American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer and conductor John Zorn was born in New York.

Elvis Presley performed at the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium in Texarkana, Arkansas, as part of The Big D Jamboree. The concert was scheduled to begin at 9:00 p.m., but Elvis arrived late because of a traffic accident. While overtaking a truck, Scotty Moore drove the Cadillac Fleetwood into an oncoming vehicle. The repair cost $1,000, and local high school student Carl Nelson entertained the audience until Elvis arrived.

Elvis Presley continued recording at Radio Recorders on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. The session ran from 1:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and produced recordings of “Paralyzed”, “When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again”, “Long Tall Sally”, “Old Shep”, “Too Much” and “Anyplace Is Paradise”. RCA Victor released “Too Much” as a single on January 4, 1957, and Presley sang it two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show. The song reached number two on the Billboard Top 100, number one on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart and number three on the Billboard R&B chart.

Elvis Presley performed at Multnomah Stadium in Portland, Oregon. Before the concert, he gave reporters an interview about love and marriage. The performance lasted approximately 40 minutes, but the crowd nearly rioted and police had to intervene.

On September 2, 1957, Elvis Presley had several chart successes at the same time: the EP “Loving You Vol. II” reached number 18 on the US chart, the soundtrack EP “Love Me Tender” reached number 22, and the song “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear” reached number one on the R&B chart.

Pete Seeger sang “We Shall Overcome” at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee during celebrations of its 25th anniversary. Martin Luther King Jr. was also present and delivered the closing speech. The song later became closely associated with the civil rights movement, in which King and Seeger fought for equality.

Keyboardist, songwriter and film music composer Steve Porcaro was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He became known as a founding member of the rock band Toto.

Fritz McIntyre of Simply Red was born. In 1986, the group had the US number-one and UK number-two hit “Holding Back The Years” and achieved five number-one albums in the UK.

American musician Jerry Augustyniak was born in Sloan, New York. He became best known as the longtime drummer of the rock band 10,000 Maniacs.

Drummer of the American group The Mavericks Paul Deakin was born. The group had the 1998 UK hit “Dance The Night Away”, which reached number four, and won a Grammy Award for the song “Here Comes the Rain”.

The Isley Brothers released the single “Shout”. It was not particularly successful at the time of release and reached only number 47, but became very popular in later years.

Joe Dowell’s version of “Wooden Heart”, originally associated with Elvis Presley, entered the US chart.

The film It Happened at the World's Fair starring Elvis Presley was released.

The Beatles recorded their first proper recording session for EMI at Abbey Road Studios, where they recorded “Love Me Do” and “How Do You Do It”.

The single “Love Me Do” from The Beatles’ first recording session for EMI was released.

The Beatles performed at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during their US tour. The city had experienced race riots several days before the concert, and The Beatles, who supported the civil rights movement, were shocked that their 13,000-member audience was entirely white.

The Rolling Stones began their first US tour with a concert in San Antonio, Texas.

The Rolling Stones recorded a cover version of Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” at Regent Sound Studios in London. Brian Jones’s prominent slide guitar helped create the recording’s distinctive sound, which became the only purely blues song to reach number one on the UK singles chart.

Steam Packet with Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity performed at The Marquee club in London.

The Beatles received a gold record for the song “Help!”. The Recording Industry Association of America certified it as a gold record for sales of one million copies.

The Beatles released “Yesterday”, featuring only Paul McCartney. More than 2,500 cover versions have made it one of the most frequently recorded songs in history.

The Byrds released the album “Turn! Turn! Turn!”.