This Day In Music - July 27

 This Day In Music – 27 July

1922 - Record producer Bob Thiele is born in New York City. Co-wrote Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" under the pseudonym George Douglas - https://youtu.be/VqhCQZaH4Vs .

1930 - Scottish session drummer Andy White born. He was affectionately christened 'the fifth Beatle' as he was best known for replacing Ringo Starr on drums on the The Beatles' first single, 'Love Me Do'. White was featured on the American 7inch single release of the song, which also appeared on the band's debut British album, Please Please Me. He also played on 'P.S. I Love You', which was the B-side of 'Love Me Do'. White also worked with Chuck Berry, Billy Fury, Herman's Hermits and Tom Jones. He died on 9 November 2015 died aged 82 - https://youtu.be/e3Oc67FdcpY .

1933 - Nick Reynolds born in San Diego, California. From The Kingston Trio, (1958 & US No.1 & UK No.5 single 'Tom Dooley' plus nine other US Top 40 hits) - https://youtu.be/S3zdE8bliGI .

1940 - Billboard issues its first chart detailing what records are selling the most copies. Titled "National List of Best Selling Retail Records," it's a precursor to the Hot 100 and the first to count record sales (the existing charts are for sheet music sales, jukebox play and radio plugs). It's not an exact science, as Billboard polls record stores to find out what is selling - a practice that stays in effect until the '90s, when call-a-clerk is replaced with Soundscan technology. The first chart is dominated by big band hits, with "I'll Never Smile Again" by Tommy Dorsey (featuring Frank Sinatra on vocals) at #1 and three songs by Glenn Miller in the Top 10.

1941 - Scottish songwriter Andrew McMaster born. From British pub rock band The Motors who had the the 1978 UK No.4 single 'Airport' (No.21 in ) - https://youtu.be/nAN-LvFOGus .

1943 - Al Ramsey born. From American 1960s era pop and rock group Gary Lewis and the Playboys who scored the 1965 US No.1 single 'This Diamond Ring' (No.8 in ) and 11 other US Top 40 hits - https://youtu.be/07LyClUlhqM .

1944 - Bobbie Gentry is born Roberta Lee Streeter in Chickasaw County, Mississippi. US singer, songwriter, notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. Gentry rose to international fame with her intriguing Southern Gothic narrative 'Ode to Billie Joe' in 1967. The track spent four weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold over three million copies all over the world, including peaking at No.4 in - https://youtu.be/CZt5Q-u4crc .

1949 - Maureen McGovern born in Youngstown, Ohio. Singer best known for the 1973 & US No.1 single 'The Morning After' - https://youtu.be/FcTUM_lWG7M .

1950 - Paper Lace rhythm guitarist Michael "Mick" Vaughan is born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. They scored the 1974 & UK No.1 single 'Billy Don't Be A Hero', and the 1974 & US No.1 single 'The Night Chicago Died' - https://youtu.be/p-L0NpaErkk .

1953 - Suzi Carr (Will To Power) born. Singer, who had the 1989 UK No.6 & No.10 single 'Baby I Love Your Way / Freebird'. They also peaked at No.19 with the 10cc song, ‘I’m Not In Love’ - https://youtu.be/g_OYC1XBpjc .

1958 - Fans of rock & roll music were warned that tuning into music on the car radio could cost you more money. Researchers from the Esso gas company said the rhythm of rock & roll could cause the driver to be foot heavy on the pedal, making them waste fuel - https://youtu.be/enqNl7tdLR4 .

1959 - Santo and Johnny saw their No.12 AU hit record, the instrumental "Sleepwalk", released - https://youtu.be/YBRCvVpknvg

1960 - - Conway Savage was born in Victoria. Savage joined Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds in 1990 on piano, organ and backing vocals to promote their sixth album, The Good Son (April 1990). He has since appeared on their studio albums including Henry's Dream (April 1992), Let Love In (April 1994), Murder Ballads (February 1996), The Boatman's Call (March 1997), No More Shall We Part (April 2001), Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus (September 2004) and the 2013 No.1 Push the Sky Away. In October 1995 Conway contributed lead vocals for "The Willow Garden", a B-side of the single, "Where the Wild Roses Grow". Through the late 1980s and into the 1990s, he also guested on albums and singles for various fellow musicians, including Kim Salmon, Dave Graney (My Life on the Plain, 1989), David McComb (The Message EP, 1991), Spencer P. Jones (Rumour of Death, 1994), and Robert Forster (I Had a New York Girlfriend, 1995). Savage started to record his own solo material from late 1992, when he released a self-titled four-track EP. He provided lead vocals, piano and organ; and was assisted by fellow Bad Seeds members, Martyn P. Casey on bass guitar; and Mick Harvey on drums, guitar and backing vocals. Savage underwent medical treatment for a brain tumour in 2017. He died, aged 58, on 2 September 2018. Ghosteen (2019), the Bad Seeds' seventeenth album, was dedicated to Savage - https://youtu.be/8RkNvv5yPTE .

1962 - Karl Mueller born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bassist with American alternative rock band Soul Asylum, who had the 1993 US No.5, UK No.7 and No.12 single 'Runaway Train' - https://youtu.be/ooutlWLE0js .

1967 - Juliana Hatfield born in Wiscasset, Maine. American musician and singer-songwriter from the Boston area formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies, Some Girls, and The Lemonheads - https://youtu.be/EHWFMuFwnBA .

1968 - Cass Elliot released her first solo single following the breakup of The Mamas and Papas. 'Dream a Little Dream of Me' had been around since 1931 and had been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine and many others. Cass' version would be the most successful when it peaked at No.2 in charts, No. 11 in the UK and No.12 in the US - https://youtu.be/ZZ0PZRYin2s .

1973 - Thousands of people hit Watkins Glen, New York, for the "Summer Jam" one day before the music festival is scheduled to begin. The crowd is already so large and so raucous that The Band turn their sound-check into a mini-set. The Allman Brothers Band follows in similar character by rocking through "One Way Out" and "Ramblin' Man." The Grateful Dead come next with a two-set explosion. This impromptu jam tires them not at all, and the next day they still scramble psyches with two long sets - https://youtu.be/Pwu7IbF17NM .

1974 - John Denver started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Annie's Song', the singers second US No.1. The song was a tribute to his wife and was written in 10 minutes while he was on a ski lift. It peaked at No.5 in - https://youtu.be/RNOTF-znQyw .

1974 - Wings started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Band On The Run. Although sales were modest initially, its commercial performance was aided by two hit singles 'Jet' and 'Band on the Run', such that it became the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the UK and ; in addition to revitalising McCartney's critical standing. It remains McCartney's most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works - https://youtu.be/5P_VfLun96o .

1976 - John Lennon ends his four-year fight to stay in the US as a special government hearing grants him a green card (Number A-17-597-321).

1981 - Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry releases her first solo album, KooKoo. Its highest charting single is "Backfired," which hits #24 in & #43 in the US, but the album still sells over 500,000 copies. Her best selling solo hits in were the 1987 No.3 'French Kissin In The USA' and 1989's No.2, 'I Want That Man' - https://youtu.be/Ng3pK-tzuh4 .

1983 - Madonna releases her first album. The self-titled debut doesn't burn up the charts and is derided by Rolling Stone (which calls her voice "irritating as hell"), but gets traction in dance clubs, setting the stage for her breakout second album, Like A Virgin - https://youtu.be/ThHz9wlBeLU .

1984 - Prince stars in the film Purple Rain. The movie, in which he plays as an upstart musician who clashes with his band, parallels his life story, but is not strictly autobiographical, and he didn't write or direct it. Purple Rain is the first of four Prince movies, followed by Under the Cherry Moon (1986), Sign 'o' the Times (1987) and Graffiti Bridge (1990), all of which he directs. The movie is far from a blockbuster, but it finds and audience and serves as a milepost in Prince's career. Far more popular is the soundtrack, which serves as his sixth album. Along with the title track, the album also includes "Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry" - https://youtu.be/aXJhDltzYVQ .

1985 - Paul Young went to No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of the Daryl Hall song 'Every Time You Go Away'. It peaks at No.25 in - https://youtu.be/nfk6sCzRTbM .

1985 - The Eurythmics were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)', the duo's only UK No.1 single; it peaks at No.2 in . The song featured a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder. Along with the prior single, ‘Would I Lie To You’, they are the highest hits in - https://youtu.be/ytvHnY-zWUg .

1986 - Queen became the first western act since Louis Armstrong in 1964 to perform in Easten Europe when they played at Budapest's Nepstadion, Hungary, the gig was filmed and released as 'Queen Magic in Budapest'.

1987 - Rick Astley's first single, "Never Gonna Give You Up," is released in America. It climbs to #1 in March 1988, and in 2008 becomes the basis for the Rickrolling trend. It becomes #1 in in October 1987 - https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ .

1990 - "Rockin' Robin" singer Bobby Day dies of cancer in Los Angeles, California, at age 60 - https://youtu.be/LklFP1IG9KY .

1996 - The Spice Girls scored their first No.1 & UK single with 'Wannabe'. With 11 weeks at No.1 in and 7 in the UK, the song won Best British-Written Single at the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards and Best Single at the 1997 Brit Awards. The Girl Power song became the best-selling single by a female group selling over six million copies worldwide - https://youtu.be/gJLIiF15wjQ .

1999 - Jazz trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison (of Count Basie's orchestra) dies in Columbus, Ohio, at age 83.

2001 - Leon Wilkeson bass player with Lynyrd Skynyrd was found dead in a hotel room in Florida aged 49. Skynyrd scored the 1974 US No. 8 single, 'Sweet Home Alabama' and the 1982 UK No.21 single 'Freebird'. Member of the Rossington-Collins Band - https://youtu.be/D0W1v0kOELA .

2012 - - Darryl Cotton was born on the 4th of September 1949 in Adelaide, SA and died on the 27th of July 2012. An Australian pop, rock singer-songwriter, television presenter and actor. He was a founding member of Australian rock group Zoot in 1965, with Beeb Birtles, and were later joined by Rick Brewer and Rick Springfield. As a solo artist Cotton released the albums, Best Seat in the House (1980), It's Rock 'n' Good Fun (1984) and Let the Children Sing (1994). In April 1980 his biggest solo hit, "Same Old Girl", which was co-written by Cotton, peaked at No. 6 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart. He acted in the TV soap opera, The Young Doctors (1979), and on stage as Joseph in the theatre production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (1983). He presented TV shows, Summer Rock (1979 and 1980) and The Early Bird Show (1985 to 1989). In 1996 he formed Burns Cotton & Morris with fellow 1960s pop singers, Ronnie Burns and Russell Morris. In 2000 Burns retired from the trio and, with Jim Keays, they became Cotton Keays & Morris. In May 2012, Cotton was diagnosed with liver cancer and died on 27 July, aged 62 - https://youtu.be/qKILsYt_xXI .