 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
|
