Today in Rock and Roll History

August 21st
1961 - Marvelettes
Tamla Records released the Marvelettes first single, 'Please Mr. Postman'. The song went on to sell over a million copies and become the group's biggest hit, reaching the top of both the Billboard Pop and R&B charts. The song is notable as the first Motown song to reach the No.1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart.


Who knew? Crossovers are almost as old as I am.

1961 - Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline recorded the classic Willie Nelson song, ‘Crazy’. Cline was still on crutches after going through a car windshield in a head-on collision two months earlier and had difficulty reaching the high notes of the song at first due to her broken ribs. 'Crazy' spent 21 weeks on the chart and eventually became one of her signature tunes.

2005 - Robert Moog
Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesiser died aged 71, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Dr Moog built his first electronic instrument, a theremin - aged 14 and made the MiniMoog, "the first compact, easy-to-use synthesiser" in 1970. He won the Polar prize, Sweden's "music Nobel prize", in 2001. Wendy Carlos' 1968 Grammy award-winning album, Switched-On Bach, brought Dr Moog to prominence.

injinji said:

2005 - Robert Moog
Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesiser died aged 71, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Dr Moog built his first electronic instrument, a theremin - aged 14 and made the MiniMoog, "the first compact, easy-to-use synthesiser" in 1970. He won the Polar prize, Sweden's "music Nobel prize", in 2001. Wendy Carlos' 1968 Grammy award-winning album, Switched-On Bach, brought Dr Moog to prominence.

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Just joking. Here is an example of Mr Moog's equipment put to good use.

2018 - Ed King
American musician Ed King died in his Nashville, Tennessee, home at 68 years of age. He was a guitarist for the psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock and guitarist and bassist for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 to 1975 and again from 1987 to 1996.

1963 - The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones appeared on UK TV show Ready, Steady, Go! for the first time, performing their debut single 'Come On.' The group made a total of 20 appearances on the show between 1963 and 1966.

1967 - Keith Moon
Enjoying a wild birthday party Keith Moon drummer with The Who drove his Lincoln car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool. As the party had become out of control, the police were called to put an end to the festivities. Moon, ever keen to avoid the boys in blue snuck outside and got into a Lincoln Continental Limousine and attempted to make a getaway. Unfortunately, in his inebriated state he released the handbrake, and began rolling towards the pool. Moon simply sat back and waited, as the car crashed through the fence around the pool and into the water.

1969 - Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Johnny Cash At San Quentin'. The album was a recording of a live concert given to the inmates of San Quentin State Prison and was the follow-up to Cash's previous live album, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful At Folsom Prison.

1970 - Lou Reed
Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground performed together for the last time at the New York Club 'Max's Kansas City'. Reed worked as a typist for his father for the next two years, at $40 per week.

At least he was keeping his fingers loose.

August 24th
1963 - Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder became the first artist ever to score a US No.1 album and single in the same week. Wonder was at No.1 on the album chart with 'Little Stevie Wonder / The 12 Year Old Genius' and had the No.1 single 'Fingertips part 2'. This was also the first ever live recording to make No.1.

1977 - Waylon Jennings
Singer, songwriter Waylon Jennings was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine. Jennings had recently been named an honorary police chief.

Just as pop stardom most often depends on possessing abundant talent and a great capacity for hard work, it also can require being in the right place at the right time. This was certainly true for the diminutive, 17-year-old singer named Eva Narcissus Boyd, who scored her first and only #1 hit on August 25, 1962 with “The Loco-Motion.” While “The Loco-Motion” would make a second trip to #1 thanks to an unlikely cover by 1970s rockers Grand Funk, it was the only smash hit in the short singing career of Little Eva. She died in 2003.

1975 - Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen released his third studio album Born to Run. The album peaked at No.3 on the Billboard chart eventually selling six million copies in the United States and has since been considered by critics to be one of the greatest albums in popular music. Two singles were released from the album: 'Born to Run' and 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out'; the first helped Springsteen to reach mainstream popularity.

1970 - Eric Clapton
Recording with Eric Clapton for what would become the double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, producer Tom Dowd took Clapton and his band to an Allman Brothers concert where Clapton, already a fan of the guitarist, first heard Duane Allman play in person. After Clapton invited the whole band back to the studio that night, he and Allman formed an instant bond that provided the catalyst for the Layla album. Over ten days Allman contributed to all the tracks on the album except "I Looked Away," "Bell Bottom Blues," and "Keep on Growing".

From wiki wiki:

Duane Allman's arrival
Veteran producer Tom Dowd was working on the Allman Brothers second album, Idlewild South, when the studio received a phone call that Clapton was bringing the Dominos to Miami to record. Upon hearing this, guitarist Duane Allman indicated that he would love to drop by and watch, if Clapton approved.

Allman later called Dowd to let him know that his band was in town to perform a benefit concert on 26 August. When Clapton learned of this he insisted on going to see their show, saying, "You mean that guy who plays on the back of (Wilson Pickett's) 'Hey Jude'? … I want to see him play … let's go." Stage hands seated Clapton and company in front of the barricade separating the audience from the stage. When they sat down, Allman was playing a solo. As he turned around and opened his eyes and saw Clapton, he froze. Dickey Betts, the Allmans' other lead guitarist, picked up where Allman left off, but when he followed Allman's eyes to Clapton, he had to turn his back to keep from freezing, himself.[7]

After the show, Allman asked Clapton if he could come by the studio to watch some recording sessions, but Eric invited him there directly, saying: "Bring your guitar; you got to play!" Jamming together overnight, the two bonded; Dowd reported that they "were trading licks, they were swapping guitars, they were talking shop and information and having a ball – no holds barred, just admiration for each other's technique and facility."[8] Clapton wrote later in his autobiography that he and Allman were inseparable during the sessions in Florida; he talked about Allman as the "musical brother I'd never had but wished I did".[9]

2000 - Allen Woody
Allen Woody former bass player with The Allman Brothers Band and co-founder of Gov't Mule was found dead in New York aged 44.

BarnBuster said:

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Chicago, Friday night, the 28th, so not exactly thdih, but close enough for government work.

1990 - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed when the helicopter he was flying in, hit a man-made ski slope while trying to navigate through dense fog. Vaughan had played a show at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisconsin with Robert Cray & His Memphis Horns, and Eric Clapton. Vaughan was informed by a member of Clapton's crew that three seats were open on a helicopter returning to Chicago with Clapton's crew, it turned out there was only one seat left; Vaughan requested it from his brother, who obliged. Three members of Eric Clapton's entourage were also killed.

I didn't realize the chopper was for Clapton's crew.

1964 - Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison's 'Oh, Pretty Woman' was released in the US. It went on to reach No.1 four weeks later. The title was inspired by Orbison's wife Claudette interrupting a conversation to announce she was going out; when Orbison asked if she was okay for cash, his co-writer Bill Dees interjected "A pretty woman never needs any money."