Today in Music History for March 13:
In 1910, Sammy Kaye, one of the most successful bandleaders of all time, was born in Rocky River, Ohio. Although the syrupy sweet romantic sounds were denounced by critics and music purists, the "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye" formula was so successful, that his orchestra stayed together long after the big band era had ended. His hit records in the 1940s included "Daddy," "Harbor Lights" and "It Isn't Fair." Kaye died on June 2, 1987.
In 1939, singer-songrwriter Neil Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He began writing songs with his lifelong musical partner, Howard Greenfield, at age 13, and in 1958 sold his first song, "Stupid Cupid," which became a hit for Connie Francis. The following year, Sedaka began his own recording career, scoring hits with such songs as "Oh Carol," written for Carole King, "Calendar Girl" and "Breaking Up is Hard to Do," which went to No. 1 in 1962. For much of the 1960s, Sedaka concentrated on songwriting, composing chart successes such as "Working on a Groovy Thing" for "The 5th Dimension" and "Puppet Man" for Tom Jones. In 1975, Elton John helped Sedaka get back on the charts by having him record an LP for his Rocket label. From "The Hungry Years" came the No. 1 hit single "Laughter in the Rain." Sedaka topped the charts for a second time that year with "Bad Blood," and also wrote "The Captain and Tennille" hit "Love Will Keep Us Together."
In 1960, Canadian pop singer Denyse Ange appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show." That year, the Quebec City native was also named Canada's best female vocalist by "Liberty" magazine. Ange appeared on all the major Canadian TV variety programs in the late 1950s and early '60s.
In 1964, Motown Records released Mary Wells' "My Guy," written and produced by Smokey Robinson. It was her only No. 1 hit.
In 1965, "The Beatles" began filming the Austrian sequences of their second movie, "Help." The rest of the movie was shot in England and the Bahamas. It opened in North America in August.
In 1965, guitarist Eric Clapton left the British rock group "The Yardbirds," eventually forming the power-rock trio "Cream." Clapton's replacement in "The Yardbirds" was Jeff Beck.
In 1971, producer Phil Spector and George Harrison teamed up to help Ronnie Spector record a comeback single, "Try Some, Buy Some." Ronnie, at the time married to Phil, was a former member of the 1960s girl group, "The Ronettes," who had hits with "Be My Baby" and "Walking in the Rain." Ronnie Spector's comeback attempt was not a success.
In 1971, "The Allman Brothers Band" recorded their "Live at the Fillmore East" album in New York.
In 1975, country singers George Jones and Tammy Wynette were divorced. They had a stormy six-year marriage, which is chronicled in both Wynette's autobiography, "Stand By Your Man," and Jones' "I Lived to Tell It All."
In 1980, "Pink Floyd's" album "The Wall" reached platinum status.
In 1987, "Heat of the Night" by Bryan Adams became the first commercially released cassette single in the U.S.
In 1991, cornettist Jimmy McPartland, one of the prime architects of the Chicago style of traditional jazz, died in New York two days shy of his 84th birthday.
In 1993, "Informer" by Toronto rapper Snow reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained in the top spot for seven weeks, making it one of the most successful Canadian songs ever on the U.S. chart. Snow's debut album, "12 Inches of Snow," also was a million-seller.
In 1994, guitarist and banjoist Danny Barker, whose 60-year career spanned the entire history of jazz, died in New Orleans of cancer at age 85. He played with many of the giants of jazz, from King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton, to Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis.
In 1995, Carly Simon launched her first tour in 15 years with a show at a Boston nightclub.
In 1996, state legislators in Mississippi withdrew a resolution to honour songwriter Glen Ballard. They were upset with the lyrics to "You Oughta Know," the sexually explicit Alanis Morissette hit that Ballard co-wrote.
In 1997, singer Joni Mitchell was reunited with Kilauren Gibb, the daughter she had given up for adoption 32 years earlier. The reunion took place at Mitchell's Los Angeles home after both mother and daughter had searched for each other. Gibb said she knew she had found her mother after studying a picture of Mitchell on the singer's Web site.
In 1998, British reggae singer Judge Dread died shortly after collapsing on stage at the end of a show in Canterbury, England. Dread, who was 53, apparently suffered a heart attack. He was a burly, blond Englishman whose real name was Alex Hughes and performed with a backing band of Jamaican musicians. Dread had two top-10 records in Britain in the 1970s -- "Big Seven" and "Je T'aime (mon non plus)," a remake of the heavy-breathing 1969 hit by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.
In 1998, James Brown was ordered to complete a 90-day drug treatment program after pleading no contest to firing a rifle in his South Carolina home while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Police found shell casings and a rifle when they arrived to take him to hospital under a court order. Brown said his daughter hospitalized him against his will after he became upset while watching a TV show about poverty in South America.
In 2002, Marc Moreland, the lead guitarist of the 1980s new wave band "Wall of Voodoo," died at age 44 from liver transplant complications. The band's biggest hit album was "Call of the West." The video for their 1984 hit "Mexican Radio" was an MTV staple during the U.S. cable network's early days.
In 2004, classical tenor Luciano Pavarotti performed what he said was his last opera on stage after more than four decades in the business. He performed "Tosca" before 4,000 fans at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
In 2006, "Blondie" refused to allow former guitarist Frank Infante and bassist Nigel Harrison to perform with them during their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They had unsuccessfully sued "Blondie" in 1999 when the band reformed without them. Other inductees included "Black Sabbath," "Lynyrd Skynyrd," Miles Davis and the "Sex Pistols," who refused to attend the ceremony and turned down their induction.
In 2006, soul singer Isaac Hayes quit the cast of "South Park," saying he could not tolerate the show's take on his Scientology religion.
In 2009, Alan Livingston, the music executive who created Bozo the Clown and signed "The Beatles" during his tenure as president of Capitol Records, died in his Beverly Hills home at age 91.
In 2010, neosoul singer Erykah Badu performed a walking striptease in front of tourists and pedestrians at Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas during the video shoot for her song "Window Seat." The performance ended with a nude Badu acting out receiving a fatal gunshot to the head at the spot where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. In April, she was charged with disorderly conduct. In August, she paid a $500 fine and was to serve six months of probation.
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The Canadian Press
