I'm ready for the weekend. Hope everyone had a good week. All post other stuff throughout the weekend that has happened this week through the weekend. Have a great one!
It wasn't the start of Rock and Roll by any means, but it was the start of "Big Time" Rock and Roll…
On July 18, 1953, an eighteen-year-old truck driver went to the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue to record a novelty 45 for his mother's birthday.
The young truck driver was Elvis Presley. He made two recordings, "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," saying they were a birthday present for his Mother. Elvis later admitted that he made the records to see "what I sounded like," as his mother's birthday was actually in April.
It cost Elvis $3.98 to do the recordings. Marion Keisker, the studio owner Sam Phillips assistant, liked what she heard and took down Presley's information and notes that he is a "good ballad singer."
As she recalled years later: "I said, 'What kind of singer are you?' He said, 'I sing all kinds.' I said, 'Who do you sound like?' He said, 'I don't sound like nobody.'"
And so it began, 69 years ago today.
This really is an important date in the overall scheme of this stuff.
Guns N' Roses released their debut LP "Appetite for Destruction" on July 21, 1987. The record debuted at number 182 on the Billboard 200 in the week of August 29, 1987, but it did not top the chart until August 6, 1988, after the band had toured and received radio and music video airplay with singles such as "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Paradise City".
The record cost about $370,000.00 to make with a large portion of that spent in extra studio time because lead singer Axl Rose recorded the words one line at a time. Originally, Paul Stanley of KISS was going to produce the record, but the band didn't like that he wanted to change a lot of the music and mainly the drum sound.
Happy 35th Birthday to "Appetite for Destruction"!!!
So when he's not playing with one of the biggest bands in the history of Rock and Roll, he's working with NASA on one of their projects..
We are talking about Queen's Brian Harold May, CBE who has 75 candles on his birthday cake today. Besides being a guitarists / singer / songwriter, he is also an astrophysicist. He uses a home-built electric guitar, called the Red Special. His compositions for the band include "We Will Rock You", "Tie Your Mother Down", "I Want It All", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Prophet's Song", "Flash", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "The Show Must Go On".
Brian May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, became regarded as a virtuoso musician and he was identified with a distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work. Following the death of Mercury in 1991, Queen were put on hiatus for several years but were eventually reconvened by May and Taylor for further performances featuring other vocalists. In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked at No. 26 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2012, May was ranked the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time by a Guitar World magazine readers poll.
He was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for "services to the music industry and for charity work". Brian attained a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007 and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013. He was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. He is also a co-founder of the awareness campaign, Asteroid Day.
Yeah, he's stayed busy. Happy Birthday Brian!!!
Today would have been the 70th birthday of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Allen Collins.
Allen Collins joined Skynyrd in Jacksonville, Florida just two weeks after Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington, along with Bob Burnsand Larry Junstrom. So came the birth of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the summer of 1964. Allen Collins and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant co-wrote many of the biggest Skynyrd hits, including "Free Bird", "Gimme Three Steps", and "That Smell".
In 1986, Collins was involved in a car accident, claiming the life of his girlfriend and leaving the guitarist paralyzed from the waist down, with limited use of his arms and hands. He would never play guitar on-stage again.
Allen's last time of playing with Lynyrd Skynyrd was at the very first Lynyrd Skynyrd reunion (after the plane crash) at the 1979 Volunteer Jam V in Nashville TN. All remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited to perform in 1987, but due to his injury Collins only served as musical director.
Collins founded Roll For Rock Wheelchair Events and Benefit Concerts in 1988 to raise awareness and to provide opportunities for those living with spinal cord injury and other physical challenges.
Allen died January 23, 1990 from chronic pneumonia, a complication of the paralysis. He is buried beside his wife in Jacksonville, Florida.
Happy Birthday Allen. RIP. You're as free as a bird now.
One of the most under appreciated people in the history of Rock and Roll, Dion DiMucci is celebrating his 83rd birthday today. Dion started with Dion & The Belmonts in the 50's and later became a solo star. He sang songs like "Runaround Sue", "Ruby Baby", "Donna the Prima Donna", "The Wanderer" and "Abraham, Martin and John".
Dion was on the Winter Dance Party tour "The Night The Music Died". He was first offered a seat on the ill-fated plane but he has said he just couldn't justify the cost as it was the same as a month’s rent.
The Beatles loved his work to the point that they put him on the cover of "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" LP.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
He's been there, done that, and is an incredible singer / performer.
Happy Birthday Dion!!! You got it right!
One of our all time favorite singers, Martha Reeves is celebrating her 81st birthday today. Martha was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha Reeves & The Vandellas or just "Martha & The Vandellas". They scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Nowhere to Run", "Jimmy Mack", and their all time classic "Dancing In The Street".
From 2005 until 2009, Reeves served as an elected councilwoman for the city of Detroit, Michigan.
"It doesn't matter what you wear, just as long as you are there…."
Happy Birthday Martha!!!!! You gave us a reason to dance!
The Byrds released their third LP "Fifth Dimension" on July 18, 1966. Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band's principal songwriter Gene Clark so the majority of the songwriting went to guitarists Jim McGuinn and David Crosby. Even with the two writing, they recorded four cover versions and an instrumental. It was however the first by The Byrds not to include any songs written by Bob Dylan, whose material had previously been a mainstay of the band's repertoire.
Fifth Dimension was widely regarded as the band's most experimental album to date and is today considered influential in originating the musical genre of psychedelic rock. It was also the first time the bands logo appeared with the psychedelic artwork.
Happy 56th Birthday to The Byrds LP "Fifth Dimension"!!
The Doors released their fourth LP "The Soft Parade" on July 18, 1969. This album changed their music somewhat from what they had done in the past. They used brass and string arrangements in their songs here. This was being done by them as they had wanted to feature more jazz and blues influences in their work.
The album peaked at number six on the Billboard Top LPs chart. They did release the single "Touch Me" in December 1968, which awarded the Doors an unexpected top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and several other accolades, including a number-one listing in the Cashbox charts.
Happy 53rd Birthday to The Doors' LP "The Soft Parade"!!
Today would’ve been George Frayne IV's 78th birthday. You will know him better with these words.."My papa said son you're gonna drive me ta drinkin' . He used the stage name "Commander Cody" as in "Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen".
Besides music, George was also one hell of an artist and also spent time as a teacher. His book, Art Music and Life was released in 2009 and is a mix of his best work and anecdotal comments and related stories. He also did portraits of famous automobiles for the Saratoga Auto Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York.
We lost George to cancer on September 26, 2021, he was 77 years old.
Happy Heavenly Birthday George. RIP.
It wasn't the start of Rock and Roll by any means, but it was the start of "Big Time" Rock and Roll…
On July 18, 1953, an eighteen-year-old truck driver went to the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue to record a novelty 45 for his mother's birthday.
The young truck driver was Elvis Presley. He made two recordings, "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," saying they were a birthday present for his Mother. Elvis later admitted that he made the records to see "what I sounded like," as his mother's birthday was actually in April.
It cost Elvis $3.98 to do the recordings. Marion Keisker, the studio owner Sam Phillips assistant, liked what she heard and took down Presley's information and notes that he is a "good ballad singer."
As she recalled years later: "I said, 'What kind of singer are you?' He said, 'I sing all kinds.' I said, 'Who do you sound like?' He said, 'I don't sound like nobody.'"
And so it began, 69 years ago today.
This really is an important date in the overall scheme of this stuff.
Guns N' Roses released their debut LP "Appetite for Destruction" on July 21, 1987. The record debuted at number 182 on the Billboard 200 in the week of August 29, 1987, but it did not top the chart until August 6, 1988, after the band had toured and received radio and music video airplay with singles such as "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Paradise City".
The record cost about $370,000.00 to make with a large portion of that spent in extra studio time because lead singer Axl Rose recorded the words one line at a time. Originally, Paul Stanley of KISS was going to produce the record, but the band didn't like that he wanted to change a lot of the music and mainly the drum sound.
Happy 35th Birthday to "Appetite for Destruction"!!!
So when he's not playing with one of the biggest bands in the history of Rock and Roll, he's working with NASA on one of their projects..
We are talking about Queen's Brian Harold May, CBE who has 75 candles on his birthday cake today. Besides being a guitarists / singer / songwriter, he is also an astrophysicist. He uses a home-built electric guitar, called the Red Special. His compositions for the band include "We Will Rock You", "Tie Your Mother Down", "I Want It All", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Prophet's Song", "Flash", "Hammer to Fall", "Save Me", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "The Show Must Go On".
Brian May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, became regarded as a virtuoso musician and he was identified with a distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work. Following the death of Mercury in 1991, Queen were put on hiatus for several years but were eventually reconvened by May and Taylor for further performances featuring other vocalists. In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked at No. 26 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2012, May was ranked the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time by a Guitar World magazine readers poll.
He was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for "services to the music industry and for charity work". Brian attained a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007 and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013. He was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. He is also a co-founder of the awareness campaign, Asteroid Day.
Yeah, he's stayed busy. Happy Birthday Brian!!!
Today would have been the 70th birthday of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Allen Collins.
Allen Collins joined Skynyrd in Jacksonville, Florida just two weeks after Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington, along with Bob Burnsand Larry Junstrom. So came the birth of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the summer of 1964. Allen Collins and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant co-wrote many of the biggest Skynyrd hits, including "Free Bird", "Gimme Three Steps", and "That Smell".
In 1986, Collins was involved in a car accident, claiming the life of his girlfriend and leaving the guitarist paralyzed from the waist down, with limited use of his arms and hands. He would never play guitar on-stage again.
Allen's last time of playing with Lynyrd Skynyrd was at the very first Lynyrd Skynyrd reunion (after the plane crash) at the 1979 Volunteer Jam V in Nashville TN. All remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited to perform in 1987, but due to his injury Collins only served as musical director.
Collins founded Roll For Rock Wheelchair Events and Benefit Concerts in 1988 to raise awareness and to provide opportunities for those living with spinal cord injury and other physical challenges.
Allen died January 23, 1990 from chronic pneumonia, a complication of the paralysis. He is buried beside his wife in Jacksonville, Florida.
Happy Birthday Allen. RIP. You're as free as a bird now.
One of the most under appreciated people in the history of Rock and Roll, Dion DiMucci is celebrating his 83rd birthday today. Dion started with Dion & The Belmonts in the 50's and later became a solo star. He sang songs like "Runaround Sue", "Ruby Baby", "Donna the Prima Donna", "The Wanderer" and "Abraham, Martin and John".
Dion was on the Winter Dance Party tour "The Night The Music Died". He was first offered a seat on the ill-fated plane but he has said he just couldn't justify the cost as it was the same as a month’s rent.
The Beatles loved his work to the point that they put him on the cover of "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" LP.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
He's been there, done that, and is an incredible singer / performer.
Happy Birthday Dion!!! You got it right!
One of our all time favorite singers, Martha Reeves is celebrating her 81st birthday today. Martha was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha Reeves & The Vandellas or just "Martha & The Vandellas". They scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Nowhere to Run", "Jimmy Mack", and their all time classic "Dancing In The Street".
From 2005 until 2009, Reeves served as an elected councilwoman for the city of Detroit, Michigan.
"It doesn't matter what you wear, just as long as you are there…."
Happy Birthday Martha!!!!! You gave us a reason to dance!
The Byrds released their third LP "Fifth Dimension" on July 18, 1966. Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band's principal songwriter Gene Clark so the majority of the songwriting went to guitarists Jim McGuinn and David Crosby. Even with the two writing, they recorded four cover versions and an instrumental. It was however the first by The Byrds not to include any songs written by Bob Dylan, whose material had previously been a mainstay of the band's repertoire.
Fifth Dimension was widely regarded as the band's most experimental album to date and is today considered influential in originating the musical genre of psychedelic rock. It was also the first time the bands logo appeared with the psychedelic artwork.
Happy 56th Birthday to The Byrds LP "Fifth Dimension"!!
The Doors released their fourth LP "The Soft Parade" on July 18, 1969. This album changed their music somewhat from what they had done in the past. They used brass and string arrangements in their songs here. This was being done by them as they had wanted to feature more jazz and blues influences in their work.
The album peaked at number six on the Billboard Top LPs chart. They did release the single "Touch Me" in December 1968, which awarded the Doors an unexpected top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and several other accolades, including a number-one listing in the Cashbox charts.
Happy 53rd Birthday to The Doors' LP "The Soft Parade"!!
Today would’ve been George Frayne IV's 78th birthday. You will know him better with these words.."My papa said son you're gonna drive me ta drinkin' . He used the stage name "Commander Cody" as in "Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen".
Besides music, George was also one hell of an artist and also spent time as a teacher. His book, Art Music and Life was released in 2009 and is a mix of his best work and anecdotal comments and related stories. He also did portraits of famous automobiles for the Saratoga Auto Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York.
We lost George to cancer on September 26, 2021, he was 77 years old.
Happy Heavenly Birthday George. RIP.
