BIRTHDAYS

MAY

 

1

Judy Collins (1939)

Rita Coolidge (1944)

Ray Parker Jr (1954)

2

Lesley Gore (1946)

Lou Gramm (1950)

3

Bing Crosby (1903)

James Brown (1933)

Frankie Valli (1937)

Chris Cross (1951)

Englebert Humperdinck

(1936)

Mary Hopkin (1950)

4

Maynard Ferguson (1928)

Randy Travis (1959)

5

Tammy Wynette (1942)

Bill Ward (1948)

6

Bob Seger (1945)

7

Jimmy Ruffin (1939)

Keith (1949)

8

Rick Nelson (1940)

John Fred (1941)

Gary Glitter (1944)

Bonnie Tyler (1953)

Phil Bailey (1951)

9

Billy Joel (1949)

Tommy Roe (1942)

10

Sid Vicious (1957)

Fred Astaire (1899)

 Bono (1960)

Bert Weedon (1921)

Dave Mason (1946)

Donovan (1946)

Graham Gouldman (1946)

Sly Dunbar (1946)

11

Eric Burdon (1941)

12

Steve Winwood (1948)

Burt Bacharach (1928)

Ian Dury (1942)

13

Stevie Wonder (1950)

Ritchie Valens (1941)

Peter Gabriel (1950)

Danny Kirwan (1950)

14

Jack Bruce (1943)

Bobby Darin (1946)

Shanice (1973)

15

Mike Oldfield (1953)

Trini Lopez (1937)

16

Woody Herman (1913)

Liberace (1919)

Billy Cobham (1944)

Robert Fripp (1946)

Jonathan Richman (1951)

Hazel O'Connor (1955)

Janet Jackson (1966)

17

Bill Bruford (1948)

Taj Mahal (1942)

Enya (1961)

18

Perry Como (1912)

Rick Wakeman (1949)

George Strait (1952)

Albert Hammond (1942)

19

Pete Townshend (1945)

Joey Ramone (1952)

Grace Jones (1952)

Dusty Hill (1949)

20

Cher (1946)

Joe Cocker (1944)

Nick Heyward (1961)

21

Fats Waller (1904)

Hilton Valentine(1943)

Leo Sayer (1948)

22

Bernie Taupin (1950)

Charles Aznavour (1924)

Morrisey (1959)

23

Rosemary Clooney (1928)

24

Bob Dylan (1941)

Patti LaBelle (1944)

25

Miles Davis (1926)

26

Stevie Nicks (1948)

Lenny Kravitz (1948)

27

Cilla Black (1943)

28

Gladys Knight (1944)

John Fogerty (1945)

30

Benny Goodman (1909)

31

John Bonham (1948)

Mick Ralphs (1944)

 

 

 

 

 

Look Back In Time, To Music Milestones And Events of the

Month of May.

 

*    In 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. The wedding cake alone cost $3,500. Priscilla was the teenaged daughter of a US Army officer whom Elvis had met in Germany. She had lived at Presley's Graceland Mansion since 1961, ostensibly under the supervision of Presley's father and stepmother. On February 1st, 1968, their only child, Lisa Marie, was born. Four years later, the couple separated, and in 1973, Elvis filed for divorce.

 

 

*    In 1964, bandleader Spike Jones, who specialized in fractured versions of songs like "Cocktails for Two" and the "William Tell Overture," died in Los Angeles at age 53. Jones and his City Slickers worked bells, whistles, pistol shots and other noises into their act. They are probably best known for their chart-topping 1948 hit, "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth."

 

 

*   In 1950, Lou Gramm, lead vocalist with Foreigner, was born in Rochester, New York. By the beginning of the 1980's, their hard rock music had gained them worldwide sales of more than 21-million records. Their 1977 debut album yielded three hit singles - "Feels Like the First Time," "Cold as Ice" and "Long, Long Way From Home." Their subsequent million-sellers included "Hot-Blooded" and "Double Vision," both from 1978, "Waiting For a Girl Like You" from 1981 and 1984's "I Want to Know What Love Is." Gramm departed Foreigner in 1990 to continue a solo career that had begun several years earlier. He had had a top-five hit in 1987 with "Midnight Blue."
48

 

 

*    In 1989, police were called to a jewelry store in Simi Valley, California after employees reported a suspicious person. He turned out to be Michael Jackson, who had donned a wig, fake moustache, false teeth and eyelashes to go shopping. Officers had him remove his disguise and show his identification.

 

 

*   In 1948, John Bonham, drummer with Led Zeppelin, was born in Redditch, England. Led Zeppelin, formed by guitarist Jimmy Page after the demise of the Yardbirds, became the world's premier heavy-metal band in the 1970's. Zeppelin songs, such as "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway to Heaven," are still played heavily on radio. Keith Moon, drummer with the Who, is said to have been responsible for naming the band - he said they would go over like a lead balloon. 
Zeppelin's first album went top-ten in 1969, and their second topped the charts within two months of its release. After that, each of their albums sold a million copies. By 1975, their album and concert ticket sales had made Led Zeppelin the most popular rock band in the world. Their final album was in 1979. A year later, John Bonham died at Jimmy Page's home in Windsor, England. After drinking and falling asleep, he choked to death.

 

 

 

 

*    In 1983 Meat Loaf filed for bankruptcy. His Bat Out of Hell release sold millions of copies in the late 1970s, and many years later, Back Into Hell, brought him back to the charts with the hit single, I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That). At the time of his bankruptcy, he was doing well in the U.K. with his latest album, Midnight at the Lost and Found sitting at number 7. The album’s single, If You Really Want To stalled at number 59.

 

 

 

 

*   In 1997, the hit-making Fleetwood Mac lineup of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks reunited for their first full-fledged public performance in 15 years. The show, on a soundstage at Warner Brothers studio in Burbank, California, was one of two taped for an MTV special and a live album. Nicks stopped the concert - twice - because she forgot the words to "Dreams," Fleetwood Mac's only number-one single.

 

 

 

 

 

*   In 1961, Bob Dylan made his first professional appearance at Gerde's Folk City in New York's Greenwich Village, sharing the bill with bluesman John Lee Hooker. Dylan sang an arrangement of "House of the Rising Sun" and his own composition, "Song to Woody," a tribute to Woody Guthrie. Dylan took much of his inspiration from Guthrie, whom he had visited in a New Jersey hospital soon after he arrived in the New York area in early 1961. From his traditional folk music beginnings, Dylan went on to become one of rock music's superstars.



 

*   In 1904, pianist and songwriter Thomas (Fats) Waller, one of jazz's most colorful personalities, was born in New York City. More than 40 years after his death, he remains one of the most popular of all jazz musicians, admired even by those who say they don't like jazz. Many of his tunes, such as "Honeysuckle Rose," "Ain't Misbehavin' " and "Blue Turning Grey Over You," are considered popular music standards. Waller's commercial success and international fame did not begin until 1934, although he began recording 12 years earlier. It was in '34 that he formed the first of the "Fats Waller and His Rhythm" bands. The five-piece group provided the setting for Waller's lighthearted and often humorous vocals, which by then overshadowed his piano playing. Fats Waller died of natural causes on December 15th, 1943 while travelling aboard the Sante Fe Express train.

 

 

 

*   In 1968 Jim Morrison once again incited a riot at one of The Doors’ concerts. This time it was in Chicago. They were promoting The Unknown Soldier single from the upcoming, Waiting for the Sun LP. It would just scrape into the top 40 at number 39, but Hello I Love You, also from Waiting for the Sun, would become their second number 1 hit a few months later.


 

*   In 1945, guitarist and vocalist Pete Townshend, leader of the Who, was born in London. The Who were one of the most widely respected rock groups of the 1960's and '70s, apparently winding up their career with a farewell tour in 1982. But there were to be a couple of reunions, including a world tour in 1989. Formed in 1963, they had only one personnel change in their entire career. Kenny Jones replaced original drummer Keith Moon, who died of a sedative overdose in 1978. The other two members of the Who were vocalist Roger Daltry and guitarist John Entwistle.  
Pete Townshend was the group's main songwriter, responsible for such early hits as "My Generation" and "I Can See For Miles." The Who later expanded their songs into the rock operas "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia."

 

 

*   In 1977 The Eagles’ masterpiece, Hotel California, was at number 1 on the singles chart in the U.S. for its only week. It followed 10 weeks after New Kid in Town went to the top and soon Life in the Fast Lane would hit number 11. The Hotel California album saw the introduction into the band of guitarist and crazy man, Joe Walsh. He trades licks with Don Felder throughout Hotel California’s six and a half minutes.

 

 

*   In 1943, Jack Bruce, one of the most influential bass guitarists in rock, was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Bruce's bass playing and tenor vocals with the group Cream in the 1960's were a great influence on the heavy metal groups that followed. He began developing his style with the British rhythm-and-blues pioneers Graham Bond and Alexis Korner. Bruce later played with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Manfred Mann before forming Cream with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker in 1966. The three virtually invented the hard-rock trio style, before breaking up in 1968.  
Bruce later played in a variety of styles, including hard rock and fusion, with several groups, such as West, Bruce and Laing, Jack Bruce and Friends, and BLT.

 

 

 

FAREWELLS

MAY

 

1

Spike Jones 1964

4

Paul Butterfield 1987

6

 Marlene Dietrich 1992

8

Graham Bond 1974

11

Bob Marley 1981

Noel Redding 2003

12

Perry Como 2001

14

Keith Relf1976

Frank Sinatra1998

16

Sammy Davis Jr1990

19

Freddie Garrity 2006

24

 Duke Ellington 1974

Gene Clark 1991

25

Desmond Dekker 2006

29

Jeff Buckley 1997

30

Mickie Most 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 LIVEMUSICMAGAZINE.COM 2008