From the MCRFB music calendar:
Events on this date: OCTOBER 31
1952: When his original guitarist has a stroke just before a New Year’s Eve gig, popular St. Louis boogie-woogie pianist Johnnie Johnson hires for his group The Sir John’s Trio a 26-year old hairdresser named Chuck Berry.
1963: The Beatles return from a tour of Sweden to find 50,000 screaming fans waiting for them at London’s Heathrow Airport, the surest proof yet that Beatlemania is a national phenomenon. Waiting at the airport is American TV host Ed Sullivan, who notices the furor. “Who are those guys?” he asks a bystander, who tells him they are “England’s foremost singing group.” Having never heard them, Sullivan nevertheless immediately contacts manager Brian Epstein to book the band for three appearances on his CBS show early in 1964.
1963: In Detroit, low-rated radio station WKMH switches to a top 40 format with new calls, WKNR, “New Radio 13.” Ratings-wise, this transition would become known as the fastest turn-around ever in Detroit radio history — from bottom to No. 1 — within a scant ten week period.
1964: Ray Charles is arrested at Boston’s Logan Airport for possession of heroin, his third drug since 1958. The singer is ordered to rehab in order to avoid jail time.
1964: For the first time since January 1964, the Beatles do not have a song currently on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. No less than 14 singles hit the charts in the previous ten months.
1964: Joan Baez sings three songs with Bob Dylan at tonight’s concert in New York: “Mama, You Been On My Mind,” “With God On Our Side,” and “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”
1965: Lead singer Wayne Fontana leaves his group, The Mindbenders.
1967: The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones is released on 750 pounds’ bail from Wormwood Scrubs prison in London after being charged with marijuana possession. Seven fans are arrested for demonstrating outside the prison gates.
1967: The Stooges make their live debut at a Detroit, MI, Halloween party.
1968: Paul McCartney’s new girlfriend, Linda Eastman, moves into his London home.
1970: Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas marries actor Dennis Hopper, a marriage that is annulled seven days later.
1974: Members of Led Zeppelin launch their new artist-owned label, Swan Song, at the Chislehurst Caves in England, with the Pretty Things, Bill Wyman, and Groucho Marx — not to mention several dozen naked models — attending.
1975: Southern rockers The Marshall Tucker Band headline a fundraising concert for Presidential nominee Jimmy Carter.
1976: Elvis Presley makes his last recording, singing Jim Reeves’ “He’ll Have To Go” over a pre-recorded backing track in the Jungle Room of his Graceland home.
1995: James Brown is charged with assault at his home in Aiken, SC, after allegedly striking his wife Adrienne with a mirror.
2000: Napster announces a deal with entertainment giant BMG to make its illegal file-sharing software into a paid subscription service.
2005: The Isley Brothers’ Ron Isley is sentenced to 26 years in federal prison on tax evasion charges.
2005: The white suit John Lennon wore on the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road sells at a Las Vegas Amnesty International charity auction for $118,000.
2007: Elvis Presley tops the annual Forbes magazine list of most profitable dead celebrities, his estate having taken in $49 million over the past year. John Lennon makes the #2 spot; George Harrison, James Brown, and Bob Marley also make the list.
Deaths
1968: Malcolm Hale (Spanky and Our Gang) 2002: Claude Johnson (Don and Juan) 2005: Skitch Henderson
Births
1912: Dale Evans 1922: Illinois Jacquet 1927: Anita Kerr 1934: Ray Smith 1937: Tom Paxton 1944: Kinky Friedman 1945: Rik Kenton (Roxy Music) 1947: Russ Ballard (Unit 4+2, Argent) 1952: Bernard Edwards (Chic)
Releases
1975: Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Recording
1930: Count Basie, “Somebody Stole My Gal” 1958: The Flamingos, “I Only Have Eyes For You” 1960: The Everly Brothers, “Ebony Eyes”
1960: Elvis Presley: “In My Father’s House,” “Joshua Fit the Battle,” “Swing Down, Sweet Chariot,” “I’m Gonna Walk Dem Golden Stairs,” “If We Never Meet Again,” “Known Only to Him,” “Crying In The Chapel,” “Working On The Building”
1961: Bobby Darin, “Irresistible You”
1963: Bob Dylan, “Restless Farewell”
Charts
1960: Elvis Presley’s LP G.I. Blues enters the charts
1964: The Supremes’ “Baby Love” hits #1
1964: Barbra Streisand’s LP People hits #1
Certifications
1970: James Taylor’s LP Fire and Rain is certified gold
1972: Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead” is certified gold
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history OCTOBER 31
(Source: oldies.about.com)
