| 1960, Returning from Hamburg, The Beatles appeared at the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool. Chas Newby joined The Beatles on bass guitar (to replace Stuart Sutcliffe, who had remained in Hamburg), a position he would hold for only two weeks and four performances. When Newby bowed out to return to college, Paul McCartney became The Beatles' bass player. |
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1962, Bob Dylan arrived in England for the first time; he played his first UK date the following night at the Troubadour Club in London.
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| 1963, James Carroll at WWDC in Washington, DC, became the first disc jockey to broadcast a Beatles record on American radio. Carroll played 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', which he had obtained from his stewardess girlfriend, who brought the single back from the UK. Due to listener demand, the song was played daily, every hour. Since it hadn't been released yet in the States, Capitol Records initially considered court action, but instead released the single earlier than planned. |
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1968, The Who played their Xmas party at the Marquee Club, London. Also on the bill was a new group called Yes. Members 15 shillings, ($1.80) or £1 ($2.40) on the night. Other acts appearing at the club this month included Joe Cocker, Free and Led Zeppelin.
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| 1971, David Bowie released his fourth album Hunky Dory, which was the first to feature all the members of the band that would become known the following year as Ziggy Stardust's Spiders From Mars. |
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| 1973, Slade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Merry Xmas Everybody' their sixth chart topper. The song has re-entered the UK charts on eight other occasions. |
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1977, Mr David Ackroyd purchased the one-millionth copy of 'Mull Of Kintyre', by Wings in the UK and became the first record buyer to receive a Gold Disc.
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1977, Deputising for The Sex Pistols on NBC- TVs 'Saturday Night Live', Elvis Costello stops his performance of 'Less Than Zero', saying ' there's no reason to do this', and launches into 'Radio Radio' which he'd been told not to perform.
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| 1977, George Harrison played an unannounced live set for the regulars at his local pub in Henley-On-Thames near his home in the UK. |
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| 1982, American Delta blues musician and songwriter Big Joe Williams died in Macon, Mississippi aged 79. Wrote 'Baby Please Don't Go', a 1965 UK Top 10 for Them, (featuring Van Morrison). |
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1982, Karen Carpenter made her last live appearance with The Carpenters when she performed in Sherman, California. Carpenter suffered from anorexia nervosa, the eating disorder which was a little-known illness at the time. She died at the age of 32 from heart failure, on February 4, 1983 caused by complications related to her illness.
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1984, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Big Country, Duran Duran, Ultravox, Paul Young and Wham! all appeared on the UK TV show 'Razzmatazz Solid Gold Christmas Special'.
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| 1988, Featured on the front page of the NME, Bros, interviewed for the paper, a quote from Matt, 'We've got the quickest selling debut LP in the history of CBS Records. You don't do that if your talentless'. |
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| 1994, A remixed version of The Four Seasons' "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" re-entered the US Hot 100, where it stayed for another 27 weeks, just as it did when it first charted in 1976. The combined run will establish a record for the longest total chart appearance in US chart history. |
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| 1995, A statue of the late Frank Zappa was unveiled in Vilnius, the capital of the Republic Of Lithuania. It had been organised by Zappa fan club President Saulius Pauksty. |
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1999, American jazz-funk, soul-jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr died of a heart attack aged 56. He collapsed in the green room after taping four songs for The Early Show, at CBS Studios in New York City, He released over 20 solo albums and featured on the 1981 Bill Withers hit ‘Just The Two of Us.’
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| 2000, Bob The Builder started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Can We Fix It'. Taken from the children's television programme Bob the Builder. |
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| 2000, Eminem was the subject of a sick Internet hoax after MTV reported that the rapper had been killed in a car crash en route to a party. |
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2004, Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley agreed to sell 85% of his estate to businessman Robert Sillerman in a deal worth $100m. Sillerman would run Presley's Memphis home Graceland, and own Elvis' name and the rights to all revenue from his music and films. In the deal Lisa Marie would retain possession of Graceland and many of her father's ‘personal effects.’
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2005, U2 had the top-grossing tour of 2005, according to an end-of-year chart compiled by US magazine Billboard. More than three million people watched the band's sell-out 90-date Vertigo tour which grossed $260m (£146.6m). The Eagles, took $117m (£66m) from 77 shows and Neil Diamond grossed more than $71m (£40m). Kenny Chesney was fourth with $63m (£35.5m), Paul McCartney $60m (£33.8m), Rod Stewart with $49m (£27m), Elton John with $45.5m (£25.6m), Dave Matthews Band with $45m (£25.3m), Jimmy Buffett with $41m (£23m) and Green Day with $36.5m (£20.5m).
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| 2006, English saxophonist Denis Payton died. Member of Dave Clark Five who had the 1964 UK No.1 single 'Glad All Over', 1965 US No.1 single 'Over And Over', plus over 15 other UK top 40 singles. |
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| 2006, The first winner of American Idol Leona Lewis started a 4 week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'A Moment Like This', also a US No.1. |
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| 2010, Captain Beefheart died aged 69 from complications from multiple sclerosis. The American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet born Don Glen Vliet in Glendale, California recorded 13 studio albums. |
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| 2010, Sir Paul McCartney performed an intimate lunchtime gig at the 100 Club on London's Oxford Street, the historic music venue threatened with closure. Around 300 fans were treated to a set lasting almost two hours, in what was McCartney’s smallest gig in the UK for nearly 10 years. A campaign to keep the 100 Club open had attracted support from Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and Sir Mick Jagger. |
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| December 17th: Born on this day |
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| 1936, Born on this day, Tommy Steele, singer, actor, (1957 UK No.1 single 'Singing The Blues', plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles). |
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| 1937, Born on this day, Art Neville, vocals, piano, The Neville Brothers, (1989 UK No.47 single 'With God On Our Side') |
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| 1939, Born on this day, Eddie Kendricks, vocals, The Temptations, (1971 US No.1 & UK No.8 single 'Just My Imagination' and re- issued 'My Girl' UK No.2 in 1992, solo US No.1 & UK No.18 single 'Keep On Truckin'). Died on 5th October 1992. |
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| 1942, Born on this day, Paul Butterfield, blues singer, harmonica player, (1965 album 'Paul Butterfield Blues Band'). Appeared at The Bands, 'Last Waltz'. Died on 4th May 1987. |
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| 1943, Born on this day, David Dee, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, (1968 UK No.1 single 'Legend Of Xanadu'). Dee died on 9th Jan 2009 at the age of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer. The singer, whose real name was David Harman, was originally a police officer and as a police cadet was called to the scene of the car crash that killed Eddie Cochrane during a UK tour in 1960. |
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| 1948, Born on this day, Jim Bonfanti, The Young Rascals, (1967 US No.1 and UK No.8 single 'Groovin'). The Raspberries, (1972 US N.5 single 'Go All The Way'). |
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1949, Born on this day, Paul Rodgers, singer, guitarist, Free, (1970 UK No.2 & US No.4 single 'All Right Now'). Bad Company, (1974 UK No.15 single 'Can't Get Enough'). Also a member of The Firm, with Jimmy Page.
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1950, Born on this day, Carlton Barrett, The Wailers, (1983 UK No.4 single with Bob Marley, Buffalo Soldier', plus 10 other UK Top 40 singles). Barrett was shot dead outside his home on 17th April 1987.
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| 1951, Born on this day, Wanda Hutchinson, The Emotions, (1977 US No.1 & UK No.4 single 'Best Of My Love'). |
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| 1958, Born on this day, Mike Mills, bass, R.E.M. (1991 UK No.6 & US No.10 single 'Shiny Happy People', plus over 20 Top 40 UK singles, 1992 UK No.1 & US No.2 album 'Automatic For The People'). |
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| 1959, Born on this day, Bob Stinson, guitar, The Replacements died of an accidental drug overdose, (1984 album 'Let It Be'). |
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1962, Born on this day, Sarah Dallen, singer Bananarama, (1984 UK No.3 single 'Robert De Niro's Waiting', plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles, 1986 US No.1 single 'Venus').
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| 1964, Born on this day, David Walls, 'Ginger', vocals, guitar, The Wildhearts, (1996 UK No.14 single 'Sick Of Drugs'). |
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| 1969, Born on this day, Micky Quinn, bass, Supergrass, (1995 UK No.2 single 'Alright', 1995 UK No.1 album 'I Should Coco' spent 35 weeks on the UK chart). |
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| 1970, Born on this day, DJ Homicide, Sugar Ray, (1999 UK No. 10 single 'Every Morning'). |
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| 1978, Born on this day, Neil Christopher, drummer, Three Days Grace. |
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| 1989, Born on this day, Taylor York, guitarist, Paramore, 2009 UK No.1 album ‘Brand New Eyes’. |
