bmusic - Newsletter No. 62

In 1759, George Frideric Handel made his last public performance, conducting his oratorio "The Messiah." He died eight days later.

In 1949, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific" opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. It enjoyed an impressive ran for 1,925 performance run.

In 1954, Bill Haley and the Comets recorded "Rock Around the Clock," which became the first rock 'n' roll hit to top the charts. Bill Haley performed sporadically throughout the 1960's and '70s until his death in 1981.

In 1956, singer Nat King Cole was beaten up on stage by six anti-black vigilantes in Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1962, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met future Rolling Stone Brian Jones at a London blues club.

In 1968, guitarist Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd, the British psychedelic group he founded. Dave Gilmour was his replacement, and Pink Floyd went on to become one of the world's most popular bands.

In 1970, Paul McCartney announced what he called a temporary break with the Beatles. But the split proved to be permanent.
McCartney cited personal differences and a week after McCartney's announcement he released his first solo album, spelling the end of the Beatles.

In 1970, guitarist and vocalist Peter Green, one of the founders of Fleetwood Mac, announced he was leaving the group to follow his religious beliefs.

In 1975, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple after seven years to form his own band, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.

In 1981, Eddie Van Halen married actress Valerie Bertinelli. The couple had met eight months earlier when Bertinelli's brother dragged her to a Van Halen concert.

In 1985, Wham sold out the 12,000-seat Workers' Gymnasium in Peking, becoming the first Western rock group to appear in China.

In 1985, guitarist Little Steven Van Zandt announced he was leaving Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

In 1988, Alice Cooper simulated hanging himself during a London concert. A safety rope snapped, and Cooper dangled by the neck for several seconds before being rescued by a member of his stage crew.

In 1990, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee suffered a mild concussion after falling during a concert in New Haven, Connecticut. Lee fell while swinging down a rope from on-stage scaffolding.

In 1991, Kiss drummer Eric Carr had a malignant tumor removed from his heart at a New York hospital. Two months later, he began chemotherapy for a cancerous growth in his lungs. He died the following November. Carr joined Kiss in 1980, replacing original drummer Peter Criss.

In 1992, Guns N' Roses cancelled a concert in Chicago after lead singer Axl Rose fled town to avoid arrest on charges stemming from a riot at the band's show in St. Louis the previous July.

In 1995, a concert featuring Sting, Jon Bon Jovi, Elton John, James Taylor and Bruce Springsteen at Carnegie Hall in New York raised US1.3 million dollars for the Rainforest Foundation.

In 1997, Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher married actress Patsy Kensit in a civil ceremony in London.

In 1997, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis became the first jazz composer to win a Pulitzer Prize for music. He won for "Blood on the Fields," a three-hour work for big band and three singers.

In 1997, Soundgarden, one of the leading bands in the grunge movement, announced it was breaking up after releasing five albums that sold a total of 20 million copies. The band got together in Seattle in 1984 and shot to the top of the Billboard album chart a decade later with "Superunknown."

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Births In 1915, Billie Holliday, probably the greatest jazz singer who ever lived, was born in Baltimore. Her personal and professional life was marked by tragedy, despair and frustration, and she turned to alcohol, marijuana and finally heroin in an attempt to ease her problems. She served a prison sentence for a narcotics offence in 1948.
Holliday died in a New York City hospital under police guard in July, 1959, while awaiting trial on another narcotics possession charge.

In 1920, Indian musician Ravi Shankar, the father of current popular jazz star Norah Jones.

In 1929, composer, conductor and pianist Andre Previn.

In 1930, Herbert Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim, was born in New York City. "Tip Toe Through the Tulips," a Top-20 hit in 1966, is the Tiny Tim record most people remember. He died of a heart attack on November 29th, 1996, after performing his signature song at a benefit in Minneapolis.

In 1932, rock 'n' roll pioneer Carl Perkins was born in Jackson, Tennessee. He wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" which Elvis Presley turned into a hit record in 1956.Throughout his interrupted career he never had another hit of the magnitude of "Blue Suede Shoes." Perkins died in January, 2000.

In 1937, country singer Merle Haggard.

In 1938, jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.

In 1940, jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock.

In 1944, Gene Parsons, formerly of the Byrds.

In 1944, John Kay, leader of Steppenwolf, was born in Germany. His real name is Joachim Krauledat.

In 1944, Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas was born in Long Beach, California.

In 1946, drummer Bill Kreutzmann, also known as Bill Sommers, of the Grateful Dead.

In 1949, John Oates of the duo Hall and Oates, was born in New York City.

In 1959, record producer and singer Babyface, whose real name is Kenneth Edmonds.

In 1960, Brian Setzer, lead singer/guitarist of the rockabilly trio the Stray Cats, and now the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

In 1962, rock guitarist Izzy Stradlin, formerly of Guns n' Roses.

In 1963, Julian Lennon, the son of John and Cynthia, was born in Liverpool.

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Deaths In 1962, Stu Sutcliffe, guitarist with The Quarrymen, a Liverpool group formed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, died of a brain hemorrhage in Hamburg, West Germany. Sutcliffe left the Quarrymen before they became the Beatles.

In 1971, Igor Stravinsky, considered by many the greatest and most versatile composer of the 20th century, died at the age of 88.

In 1976, folk singer and songwriter Phil Ochs hanged himself in the bathroom of his sister's home in Far Rockaway, New York. His suicide came only two days after his last performance - with Bob Dylan at a benefit show for victims of Chile's military junta.

In 1981, Kit Lambert, The Who's first manager, died.

In 1988, Dave Prater, one-half of the soul duo Sam and Dave. Prater died in a car crash in Georgia. He was 50.

In 1994, Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the pioneering grunge rock band Nirvana, was found dead in his Seattle home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. A suicide note was found nearby. He was 27.

In 1994, a 28-year-old Seattle man, despondent over the suicide of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain a few days earlier, blew his head off with a shotgun. It was the first of several such incidents.

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