From the MCRFB music calendar:
Events on this date: NOVEMBER 24
1950: The musical comedy Guys and Dolls premieres on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre.
1957: Harry Belafonte’s “Mary’s Boy Child” becomes the first single to sell a million copies in the UK. It stayed at Number One for an unheard-of seven weeks and has since become a perennial UK Christmas favorite.
1959: Teen heartthrob Johnnie Ray is arrested in London for soliciting an undercover officer in a gay bar. (He is later found not guilty.)
1961: In yet another important development for British blues-rock, Chicago blues legend Howlin’ Wolf makes his first appearance in the UK, touring behind his latest single, “Little Baby.”
1962: Ex-Beatles drummer Pete Best, sacked from the group three months previously, nevertheless receives a birthday telegram from the band and manager Brian Epstein wishing him “all the best.”
1964: The Who, until recently the High Numbers, perform their first gig under the new name at London’s Marquee Club, promising what the posters famously call “Maximum R&B.”
1964: The UK’s first commercial radio station, Radio Manx, begins broadcasting from the Isle of Man.
1965: NBC-TV airs the musical special Frank Sinatra: A Man And His Music.
1966: Kansas City, MO police lock horns with rioting teenagers at a James Brown concert after officials stop the show due to Brown’s “obscene dances.”
1972: ABC-TV’s Don Kirshner-produced In Concert, the network’s weekly late-night answer to NBC’s Midnight Special, debuts. The initial episode features musical performances by Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Blood, Sweat and Tears, The Allman Brothers, and Poco.
1974: In the midst of his infamous “Lost Weekend,” John Lennon rehearses with Elton John for Elton’s upcoming Madison Square Garden performance, at which Lennon will make a surprise cameo.
1978: In a clear prelude to his coming “Christian” direction, the Jewish-born Bob Dylan plays tonight’s gig in Fort Worth, TX wearing a large gold cross around his neck.
1991: An ordained Little Richard marries singer Cyndi Lauper and actor David Thornton in New York, then sticks around to play at the reception.
2003: Glen Campbell is arrested for drunk driving and hit-and-run charges in Phoenix, AZ, after crashing his BMW into another car at another intersection and continuing on. The 67-year-old Campbell, who is sentenced to ten days in jail, allegedly knees an officer’s groin during the arrest.
Birthdays: 1932: Tommy Allsup (The Crickets) 1939: Jim Yester (The Association) 1941: Donald “Duck” Dunn (Booker T. and the MGs) 1941: Pete Best (The Beatles) 1944: Bob Lind 1944: Bev Bevan (The Move, Electric Light Orchestra) 1945: Lee Michaels
Releases: 1958: Jackie Wilson, “Lonely Teardrops” 1958: Ritchie Valens, “Donna” b/w “La Bamba”
Recording: 1965: The Young Rascals, “Good Lovin'” 1966: The Beatles, “Strawberry Fields Forever”
Charts: 1958: The Kingston Trio’s LP ‘The Kingston Trio’ hits No. 1 on the LP charts; 1973: Ringo Starr’s “Photograph” hits No. 1 on the charts; 1978: Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer’s “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” hits No. 1 on the charts.
Deaths: 1985: Big Joe Turner 1991: Freddie Mercury 1993: Albert Collins 1995: Junior Walker (Jr. Walker and the All Stars).
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this date . . . . N O V E M B E R 2 4
