1928 - Pioneering honky-tonk singer Lefty Frizzell is born William Orville Frizzell in Corsicana, Texas.

1934 - Shirley Jones, Mom of the Partridge Family

1935 - Herb Alpert, Trupeter with The Tijuana Brass

1935 - Richard Chamberlain, Dr. Kildare

1947 - Jon Jon Poulos - drummer for The Buckinghams (”Don’t You Care”)

DEATHS

1931 - Knute Rockne, football coach (b. 1888)

1980 - Jesse Owens, American Olympic athlete (b. 1913)

1986 - O’Kelly Isley of the Isley Brothers died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 48. As a trio, the Isleys started as a Gospel group in the early 1950s, switching to R&B in the latter half of the decade. Their first big hit was “Shout” in 1959, followed in 1962 by the original version of “Twist and Shout”, later covered by the Beatles. The Isley Brothers’ biggest hit came in 1969, with the million-selling “It’s Your Thing.”

1993 - Mitchell Parish, who wrote the lyrics to “Volare” and “Stardust,” dies.

2005 - Terri Schiavo, American figure in right to die case (b. 1963)

HISTORY
1889 - In Paris, the Eiffel Tower officially opened.

1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States was founded to set rules in amateur sports. The organization became the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910.

1917 - The U.S. purchased and took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million.

1918 - For the first time in the U.S., Daylight Saving Time went into effect.

ENTERTAINMENT
1949 - RCA Victor introduces the 45 rpm single record, which had been in development since 1940. The 7 inch disc was designed to compete with the 33 1/3 LP introduced by Columbia a year earlier. Both formats offered better fidelity and longer playing time than the 78 rpm platter that was currently in use. Advertisements for new record players boasted that with 45 RPM records, the listener could hear up to ten records with speedy, silent, hardly noticeable changes. Remember that the next time you load your iPod.

1956 - Brenda Lee made her first network television appearance on ABC’s Ozark Jamboree.

1957 - Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Obie Wheeler and Glen Douglas open a tour of the South in Little Rock, Arkansas.

1958 - Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” is released. It would enter the Billboard chart six weeks later and rise to number 8.

1959: NBC-TV’s Jimmie Rodgers Show — featuring a regular performer by the name of Connie Francis — debuts.

1960: Hank Ballard and the Midnighters record “Finger Poppin’ Time”

1961 - Clarence “Frogman” Henry performed “(I Don’t Know Why) But I Do” and “Ain’t Got No Home” on “American Bandstand.”

1962 - The Shirelles’ “Soldier Boy” is released in the US on Sceptor Records. The tune becomes the group’s biggest hit, reaching number one, selling over a million copies and earning a Gold record.

1962 - Connie Francis had the #1 song on the Billboard singles chart with “Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You”. In the UK, it stalled at #33.

1966 - The movie “Frankie and Johnny,” starring Elvis Presley and Donna Douglas, premiered in Baton Rouge, LA.

1924 - Sarah Vaughan, one of the music’s greats, ranking up there with Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. (d. 1990)

1939 - Cale Yarborough, American race car driver

HISTORY
1860 - The corkscrew was patented by M.L. Byrn.

1917 - The Seattle Metropolitans, of the Pacific Coast League of Canada, defeated the Montreal Canadiens and became the first U.S. hockey team to win the Stanley Cup.

1964 - An earthquake in Alaska killed 114 people and registered 8.4 on the Richter Scale.

ENTERTAINMENT
1945 - Ella Fitzgerald and the Delta Rhythm Boys recorded “It’s Only a Paper Moon.”

1952 - Sun Records of Memphis, Tennessee began releasing records. The label would later become the home of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and many others.

1955 - Steve McQueen made his network TV debut on “Goodyear Playhouse.”

1958 - CBS Laboratories announces the invention of stereophonic records. Although the new format would be playable on ordinary phonographs, when used on the proper equipment, a new rich and fuller sound would be heard.

1959 - Annette (Funicello) performed “Tall Paul” and “Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy” on “American Bandstand.”

1960 - Two anti-payola bills are introduced in US Congress by Representative Emanuel Celler of New York. He blames payola for “the cacophonous music called Rock and Roll” and says that Rock and Roll would never have gained popularity, “especially among teenagers,” if not for the result of payola.

1962 - Elvis Presley recorded his single “Return To Sender.”

1965 - Jackie Wilson performed “Baby Workout” and “Danny Boy” on “American Bandstand.”

1966 - Roy Orbison fell off a motorbike during a UK tour, fracturing his foot. He played the remaining dates sitting on a stool and walking on crutches.

1917 - Rufus Thomas. In 1953 he recorded an “answer record” to Big Mama Thornton’s hit, “Hound Dog” called “Bear Cat” and released on Sun Records. Although the song was the label’s first hit, a copyright-infringement suit ensued and nearly bankrupted Sam Phillips’ record label. Later, Rufus was one of the African American artists released by Sam Phillips as he oriented his label more toward white audiences and signed the likes of Elvis Presley in the place of the dismissed musicians. The prime of Rufus’s recording career came in the 1960s and early 1970s, when he was on the Stax roster, having one of the first hit sides at that historic label (”Walking the Dog”, 1963).

1919 - Strother Martin, “What we have here is a lack of communication” in Cool Hand Luke (d. 1980)

1931 - Leonard Nimoy, American actor and director

1936 – Freddie Paris, who wrote the doo-wop classic “In the Still of the Nite” and recorded it with the Five Satins in a New Haven, Conn., church basement, is born in Connecticut.

1940 - James Caan, American actor

1944 - Diana Ross, The Diva of Divas, is born in Detroit as Diana Earle. As leader of the Supremes she had an amazing string of hits for the Motown label during the 1960s.

1946 - Johnny Crawford is born in Los Angeles. He was a child actor on the hit TV series The Rifleman and a top 10 hit-maker with 1962’s “Cindy’s Birthday.”
1962 - John Stockton, basketball player for Gonzaga & Utah Jazz

1968 - Kenny Chesney, my wife’s favorite singer.

DEATHS
2004 - Jan Berry, one-half of the duo of Jan & Dean, died after suffering a seizure at his home. Together, the pair sold more than 10 million records and placed 14 hits in the US Top 40. Jan was a week away from his 63rd birthday. Jan & Dean’s career was curtailed when Berry was paralyzed following a 1966 car crash that eerily paralleled their hit “Deadman’s Curve”.

HISTORY
2000 - The Seattle Kingdome was imploded to make room for a new football arena.

ENTERTAINMENT
1953 - Elvis Presley visited the Tennessee State Employment Security Office. The interviewer noted that Elvis was “rather flashily dressed ‘playboy’ type.”

1956 - After Bob Neal’s management contract with Elvis Presley expired on March 15th, Colonel Tom Parker takes over. His position of personal representative and manager will pay him 25 percent of Presley’s earnings.

1957 - Ricky Nelson records his first tunes, “I’m Walkin’” and “A Teenager’s Romance”.

1958 - Eddie Cochran records his only US Top Ten hit, “Summertime Blues”, which will rise to #8 in the US next Fall.

1958 - Don Gibson performed “Oh Lonesome Me” on “American Bandstand.”

1960 - The TV special Welcome Home Elvis, hosted by Frank Sinatra, is recorded at Miami Beach, Fla.’s Fontainebleau Hotel. The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll had recently been discharged from the Army. Presley duets with Sinatra on “Love Me Tender” and “Witchcraft” and performs “It’s Nice to Go Traveling” in his Army duds. It’s the last time Elvis appears on TV for eight years.

1962 - Elvis Presley reported to the studio to begin work on the “Girls! Girls! Girls!” soundtrack.

1962 - Ronnie & the Hi-Lites performed “I Wish That We Were Married” on “American Bandstand.”

1968 - Blues artist Little Willie John died in prison under mysterious circumstances after being convicted of manslaughter two years earlier. He had fourteen hits on the US R&B charts and the same number on the Pop charts, including “Fever”, “Sleep”, and “Talk To Me, Talk To Me”.

1925 - Paul Mauriat (”Love Is Blue”)

1934 - John Joseph “Johnny” Burnette. In 1952, Johnny and brother Dorsey and friend Paul Burlison formed a group called The Rhythm Rangers at the time. Johnny Burnette sang the vocals and played acoustic guitar, Dorsey played bass and Paul Burlison played lead guitar. In 1956 the three young men moved to New York, where they managed to get an audition with the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. They won the competition three times in a row, which gained them a place in the finals, a recording contract with Coral Records and they officially became The Rock and Roll Trio.
Promotional appearances were arranged on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, Steve Allen’s Tonight Show and Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall, together with a summer tour with Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent. On Sunday September 9, 1956, they appeared as finalists in the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour at Madison Square Garden. Despite all of this activity, however, the three singles, which were released over this period failed to make the national charts.
The Burnettes went to California and found Ricky Nelson’s home where they sat in an effort to get their songs to him. This persistence worked and Ricky was sufficiently impressed with their work, that he wound up recording many of their songs including “Believe What You Say You Say”, “It’s Late” and “Waitin’ In School” amongst others.
Johnny’s fourth Liberty single “You’re Sixteen”/”I Beg Your Pardon” was released on October 5, 1960 and reached #8 on the Hot 100 and earned him a gold record.

1940 - Anita Bryant, Miss America, 1959

1942 - Aretha Franklin (”Respect”)
Adept at the piano as well as having a gifted voice, Franklin became a child prodigy. By the age of fourteen, she signed a record deal with JVB/Battle Records, where her father recorded his sermons and gospel vocal recordings, and she issued Songs of Faith in 1956. Teenage pregnancies derailed Franklin’s gospel career when she gave birth to Clarence in 1955 (at age 13) and Edward in 1957 (at age 15). After signing with Columbia records in 1960 her carreer took off. Franklin is one of the most honored artists by the Grammy Awards, with 20 Grammys to date, which include the Living Legend Grammy and the Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

DEATHS
2006 - Country legend Buck Owens dies aged 76. A pioneer of the hard-rocking Bakersfield Sound, his songs were covered by The Beatles and he hosted Hee-Haw for several years.

ENTERTAINMENT
1954 - RCA manufactured its first color TV set and began mass production.

1956 - Alan Freed’s three-day Rock ‘n’ Roll Show in Hartford, Conn., ends in disaster, as police arrest 11 teenagers and take away the Stage Theater’s license to operate.

1958 - Elvis Presley received the regulation short haircut from army barber James Peterson.

1959 - The Flamingos performed “Lovers Never Say Goodbye” on “American Bandstand.”

1960 - The Temptations (not the Motown group) performed “Barbara” on “American Bandstand.”

1960 - Roy Orbison recorded “Only the Lonely.”

1960 - Ray Charles updates Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind”, a song that first became a #10 hit for Frankie Trumbauer in 1931. Charles’ version will become his fifth Billboard Pop chart hit and his first #1 next November.

1961 - Elvis Presley appears in concert at a benefit for the U.S.S. Arizona memorial in Hawaii. Following his 17 song set, the King would not play another live date until July 31, 1969. The show raised $62,000 for the U.S.S. Arizona memorial fund.

1968 - The Monkees 58th and final TV episode was broadcast, ending a two year run. The Fabricated Four would soon start to dissolve as Peter Tork left the group later that year, leaving just Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz on the cover of the group’s next album, “Instant Replay”.

1983 - Motown Records celebrates its 25 anniversary with a concert in Pasadena, featuring The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, Jr. Walker, The Commodores, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and The Jackson 5.

1909 - Clyde Barrow, American crime figure (d. 1934)

1911 - Joseph Barbera, cartoonist, Hanna/Barbera (d. 2006)

1912 - Nervous Norvus (”Transfusion”)

1915 - Gorgeous George, American professional wrestler (d. 1963)

1930 - Steve McQueen, American actor (d. 1980)

DEATHS
1882 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American author (b. 1807)

1997 - 57 year old Harold Melvin, leader of the Philadelphia Soul group Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, died of heart related problems. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were one of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. The group’s repertoire included soul, R&B, doo-wop, and disco. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early 1950s as The Charlemagnes. Despite group founder and original lead singer Harold Melvin’s top billing, the Blue Notes’ most famous member was Teddy Pendergrass, their lead singer during the success years at Philadelphia International.

HISTORY
1878 Fort Coeur d’Alene construction authorized

1898 - The first automobile was sold.

1944 - World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.

1989 - The Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels (11 million gallons) of oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound after it ran aground.

ENTERTAINMENT
1945 - Billboard Magazine published their first album chart with Nat King Cole’s “A Collection of Favorites” named as #1.

1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on “Stage Show” for the sixth time and performed “Money Honey” and “Heartbreak Hotel” on TV’s “Stage Show.”

1958 - Twenty-Three year old Elvis Presley is sworn in as Private 53310761 for a two year hitch in the US army, where he would earn $78 per month.

1958 - Billie & Lillie performed “La-Dee-Dah” on “American Bandstand.”

1966 - The New York State Assembly passes a bill making it a misdemeanor to sell unauthorized copies of records or tapes, commonly known as bootlegs.

1906: Ozzie Nelson, father of David and Rick, don’t call me Ricky.

1918 - Jack Barry, TV game show host (d. 1984)

1922: Larry Elgart, bandleader, with his brother, Les, recorded the original rendition of “Bandstand Boogie”, theme to the long-running teen dance show, American Bandstand.

1928 – Fred “Mr.” Rogers, PBS children’s TV host (d. 2003)

1937: Jerry Reed

1937: Joe Rivers. As Johnnie & Joe with Johnnie Louise Richardson who began singing together in 1957 and released several singles on Chess Records. Three of the songs hit the U.S. singles charts. “Over the Mountain, Across the Sea” went to #3 on the R&B chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “I’ll Be Spinning”, went Top 10 R&B, both in 1957. “My Baby’s Gone”, a #15 R&B hit, was their last, although “Over the Mountain, Across the Sea” returned to the pop charts in 1960, peaking at #89 the second time around.

1941: Vito Picone of The Elegants, an American doo-wop band, that was started in 1958 by Vito, Arthur Venosa, Frank Tardogano, Carmen Romano and James Mochella in South Beach, Staten Island. Before their nursery rhyme inspired song, “Little Star”, became a number one hit, the band usually performed informally under the boardwalk by their homes. “Little Star” was the only million seller for the group, and was written by Venosa and Picone.

DEATHS
1974 - Chet Huntley, American television journalist (b. 1911)

HISTORY
1868 - Jesse James Gang robbed a bank in Russelville, KY, of $14,000.

1897 - The first intercollegiate basketball game that used five players per team was held. The contest was Yale versus Pennsylvania. Yale won by a score of 32-10.

1916 - Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity.

1976 - Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her role in the hold up of a San Francisco Bank.

ENTERTAINMENT
1957 - Bobby Helms, who is most often remembered for his Christmas classic, “Jingle Bell Rock”, had his biggest single reach the US Country chart. The song was called “Fraulein” and it would eventually hit number 1, spending 52 weeks on the chart, longer than any other Country song of the 1950s. Later in the year, he had another number one record with “My Special Angel”. “Jingle Bell Rock” was first released in November 1957 and would return to the US Top 40 on two other occasions.

1959: Dick Clark protege and teen idol Bobby Rydell makes his first television appearance, naturally enough, on ABC-TV’s American Bandstand.

1960: Elvis Presley enters a Nashville recording studio for the first time since being discharged from the US Army. A 12 hour session will produce “Mess of Blues”, “Stuck On You” and “Fame & Fortune”. Scotty Moore and Bill Black, who had quit Presley’s touring band in 1957, are in the studio with him for the last time.

1961: Ricky Nelson records “Hello Mary Lou” which would climb to number 9 in the US by early May.

1961: Elvis begins filming his ninth movie, Blue Hawaii, on location.

1962 - Solomon Burke performed “Cry to Me” on “American Bandstand.”

1965: After a celebratory formal street parade, Motown’s first UK package tour begins at Finsbury Park Astoria, in London, featuring The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Martha & the Vandellas.

1864 - Charles Marion “Charlie” Russell, American artist (d. 1926)

1894 - Moms Mabley, American comedian (d. 1975)

1914 - Jay Berwanger, the first winner of the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy in 1935 (the following year, though, the award was renamed the Heisman Trophy). (d. 2002)

1928 - Patrick McGoohan, American-born actor, star of TV’s Secret Agent and The Prisoner and well as Edward Longshanks in Braveheart (d. 2009)

1936 - Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
1937 - Clarence “Frogman” Henry. Fats Domino and Professor Longhair were young Henry’s main influences while growing up. When Henry played in talent shows, he dressed like Longhair and wore a wig with braids on both sides. His trademark croak, utilized to the maximum on his 1956 debut hit “Ain’t Got No Home,” earned Henry his nickname and jump-started a career that endures to this day. Henry opened eighteen concerts for The Beatles across the U.S. and Canada in 1964, but his main source of income came from the Bourbon Street strip in New Orleans, where he played for nineteen years. He is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame

DEATHS
1950 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan’s father (b. 1875)

HISTORY
1687 - French explorer La Salle was murdered by his own men while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, in the Gulf of Mexico.

1831 - The first bank robbery in America was reported. The City Bank of New York City lost $245,000 in the robbery.

1931 - The state of Nevada legalized gambling.

ENTERTAINMENT
1953 - The Academy Awards aired on television for the first time.

1954 - Elvis Presley ended his employment at Precision Tool.

1958 - The duo of Tom and Jerry released their first single, “Our Song”. The record will fail to gain much attention, but the pair would eventually find success recording under their real names, Simon and Garfunkel.

1962 - Barbara George performed “I Know” and “You Talk About Love” on “American Bandstand.”

1963 - Timi Yuro performed “Insult to Injury” on “American Bandstand.”

1966 - Gary Leeds of the Walker Brothers is abducted by British students raising money for charity. He is later released unharmed.

1837 - Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (d. 1908)

1877 - Edgar Cayce, American psychic (d. 1945)

1909 - Ernest Gallo, American winemaker (d. 2007)

1911 - Smiley Burnette, American singer and songwriter (d. 1967)

1923 - Andy Granatelli, American motorsports entrepreneur

1936 - Robert Smith - vocalist for The Tams (”What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am”)

1937 - Mark Donohue, American race car driver (d. 1975)

1941 - Wilson Pickett. A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the pop charts as well. Among his best known hits are “In The Midnight Hour” (which he co-wrote), “Land of 1,000 Dances”, “Mustang Sally”, and “Funky Broadway”. The impact of Pickett’s songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (d. 2006)

ENTERTAINMENT
1902 - Italian opera singer Enrico Caruso was paid $50 each to record 10 songs on wax. He would go on to become the world’s first recording star.

1958 - Jerry Lee Lewis performed “You Win Again Breathless” on “American Bandstand.”

1959 - Britain’s EMI Records announces that it has now stopped all production of 78 rpm discs.

1961 - Elvis Presley’s single “Surrender” was the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit.

1962 - Gary “U.S.” Bonds appears on The Ed Sullivan Show performing his latest hit, “Twist, Twist, Senora”, which will reach #9 in April.

1902 - Bobby Jones, American golfer (d. 1971)

1919 - Nat “King” Cole (”Ramblin’ Rose”)

1938 - Zola Taylor [Zoletta Lynn Taylor], the only female member of The Platters from 1954 to 1962 and was the second of Frankie Lymon’s three wives. Zola Taylor was portrayed by Halle Berry in the 1998 historical film Why Do Fools Fall in Love.

1941 - Clarence Collins - vocalist for Little Anthony and The Imperials (”Tears On My Pillow”)

DEATHS
461 or 493 - Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland

1965 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, American football coach, player, and innovator (b. 1862)

1982 - Samuel George Jr., lead singer of the Capitols, who had a 1966 #7 hit with “Cool Jerk”, died in Detroit after being stabbed with knife during a family argument. He was 39 years old.

1996 - Terry Stafford, whose Elvis sound-a-like voice helped make the song “Suspicion” a Billboard #3 hit in 1964, passed away at the age of 54.

HISTORY
1930 - Al Capone was released from jail.

1973 - The first American prisoners of war (POWs) were released from the “Hanoi Hilton” in Hanoi, North Vietnam.

ENTERTAINMENT
1956 - Elvis Presley performed on TV’s “Stage Show.” He performed “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Heartbreak Hotel.”

1956 - Carl Perkins appeared on “Ozark Jubilee.” It was his first television appearance.

1956 - The movie Rock Around The Clock premieres in Washington, DC. The film features performances by Bill Haley, The Platters and Little Richard.

1957 - Elvis Presley buys the Graceland mansion from Mrs. Ruth Brown-Moore for $102,500. The 23 room, 10,000 square foot home, sitting on 13.8 acres of land, would be expanded to 17,552 square feet of living space before the king moved in a few weeks later. The original building had at one time been a place of worship, used by the Graceland Christian Church and was named after the builder’s daughter, Grace Toof.

1958 - Starting out as the “B” side of a single called “Train To Nowhere”, The Champs’ “Tequila” had gained enough attention from radio disc jockeys to rise to the top spot on both the Billboard Pop and R&B charts as well as the Cashbox Best Sellers list. It was also a #5 hit in the UK.

1961 - Filming began on the Elvis Presley movie “Blue Hawaii.”

1962 - Today’s issue of Billboard reports that Ray Charles has started his own Tangerine record label.

1967 - Bobby Vee records “Come Back When You Grow Up”, which will reach number 3 on the Billboard Pop chart next September, becoming the 12th of his 14 Top 40 hits.

1970 - Eddie Holman received a Gold record for the single, “Hey There Lonely Girl”, originally recorded by Ruby and the Romantics under the title, “Hey There Lonely Boy” in the 1960s.