This Day In Music - July 7

 This Day In Music – 7 July (Stories are prevalent today.)

1917 – Special - Horrie Dargie was born on the 7th of July 1917 in Whyalla, SA. Dargie began his musical career as a diatonic harmonica player. In the early 1930s he took up the chromatic harmonica and won a variety competition on a local radio station in 1937. Dargie studied clarinet and orchestration and started his own harmonica school in Sydney. He started a harmonica group, The Rockin' Reeds. In 1938 he moved to Sydney. He joined the Australian Army in 1941, serving in New Guinea and later in the occupational forces in Japan. He returned to Melbourne in 1947 and subsequently formed the famous Horrie Dargie Quintet. By 1952 the Quintet had risen in popularity and played their farewell concert at the Sydney Town Hall in 1952 before leaving for England. By chance, a recording was made of the performance on a wire recorder using just one microphone. The 10″ record of the farewell concert became Australia's first Gold Record, selling 75,000 copies. Whilst on tour in London Horrie contracted polio. The disease affected his diaphragm and legs, at the time he was told he would not be able to play a wind instrument again. With persistence he recovered and the Quintet later performed upon their return at the Tivoli in 1958. In 1958 Dargie returned to Australia and took up a position at Channel 9, where he was in charge of the talent division and Dargie did four or five shows a week. He managed The Go!! Show, a pop music show that regularly featured entertainers such as Johnny Young, Ian Turpie and Olivia Newton-John. Dargie also established Go!! Records in 1964 to promote artists who appeared on the show. In August 1967 Channel 0 Melbourne abruptly cancelled The Go!! Show and the loss of its major promotional outlet led to the demise of the Go!! record label. He died on the 30th of August 1999 aged 82. He had been inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 1996 - https://youtu.be/f-cjP0RhyJM .

1929 – Legend - Reg Lindsay (Reginald John Lindsay) OAM was born in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia. He won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than 500 songs in his 50-year music career. Lindsay recorded over 65 albums and 250 singles. Reg made his first trip to Nashville in 1968 and recorded his first Nashville EP on this historic trip. Best known for his single, "Armstrong" (March 1971), a tribute to the historic 1969 moon landing by American astronauts, particularly Neil Armstrong. It peaked at No. 6 on the Go-Set National Top 60 and remained in the charts for 16 weeks. It is included in a time capsule at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. Lindsay died of pneumonia, aged 79 - Being a July afternoon: https://youtu.be/X-1VtFKiBzo .

1940 - Richard Starkey, (Ringo Starr) born in Dingle, Liverpool, England. Played drums, sang vocals for Rory Storm, The Beatles. He sang lead vocals on one track on most Beatles albums, The Beatles scored 23 No.1, 21 No.1 & 17 No.1 singles. Starr had the solo 1974 No.1 & No.4 single 'You're Sixteen' plus 9 other Top 40 hits. Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band have made many tours and has featured; Joe Walsh, Howard Jones, Ian Hunter, Peter Frampton, Todd Rundgren, Edgar Winter Greg Lake along with other guests - https://youtu.be/vkR7u_sOtHI .

1941 - (Contention this is 1945 in some references) - English musician Jim Rodford born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. He was a founding member of Argent who had the 1972 No.5 single 'Hold Your Head Up'. He was the bass guitarist for The Kinks from 1978 until they disbanded in 1996 In 2004, he joined the reunited Zombies and was also a member of The Swinging Blue Jeans. Rodford died after a fall on 20 January 2018, aged 76 - https://youtu.be/jvfxI9yD2dM .

1948 - American rock guitarist Larry Reinhardt born in Florida. He played with Iron Butterfly and Captain Beyond. At one time Reinhardt was known by the nicknames "El Rhino" and "Ryno". Reinhardt died aged 63 of cirrhosis of the liver. - https://youtu.be/Xv1k4Dug7_8 .

1950 - David Hodo (Village People construction worker) is born in Palo Alto, California. With the American disco group The Village People, had the hit singles 'Macho Man', 'In the Navy', 'Go West, the 1978 No.1 hit 'YMCA' and the 1980 No.1 ‘Can’t Stop The Music’. The group were originally conceived by Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo to target disco's gay audience - https://youtu.be/1wc-AQJ2MYo .

1957 - Elvis Presley scored his first No.1 with 'All Shook Up' (his tenth UK single release). It stayed at No.1 for seven weeks - https://youtu.be/3rQEbQJx5Bo .

1958 - - Mark Langfield was born. Member of Bandanna, The Top Dogs, Joshua Tree, Creedence and Beyond and Mad Gorilla. Mostly Sydney based, the “Gorilla’s” were a well-known band that were a bit of a name - https://youtu.be/buJriTc8LKk .

1962 - Mark White born in New York City. Bassist with American rock band The Spin Doctors who had the 1993 No.3 & No.7 single 'Two Princess' and the hit 'Little Miss Can't Be Wrong' - https://youtu.be/BAEQCA4iYUA .

1963 - Vonda Shepard is born in New York, but will be raised in California. An American singer, songwriter, and actress she appeared as a regular in the television show Ally McBeal, as a resident performer in the bar where the show's characters drank danced and conversed after work.

1966 - The Kinks were at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Sunny Afternoon', the group's third and last No.1 - https://youtu.be/pzSWNEBdsVg .

1968 - The Yardbirds disband immediately after a gig in Luton, England. Jimmy Page begins forming what will become Led Zeppelin - https://youtu.be/L4DdAs0PddQ .

1968 - Elvis Presley releases "Charro" - https://youtu.be/1KInSnntbHw .

1969 - George Harrison recorded his new song 'Here Comes the Sun' with just two other Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Abbey Road in London. John Lennon was absent recovering from a car crash in Scotland - https://youtu.be/H3OhtUtqY7Q .

1971 - 26-year-old pop star Bjorn Ulvaeus and 21-year-old Agnetha Faltskog married in Verum, Sweden. 3000 ABBA fans arrived and in the chaos a police horse stepped on the bride's foot, causing her slight injury.

1973 - Billy Preston started a two-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Will It Go Round In Circles', his first of two chart toppers - https://youtu.be/ghj5V5cUo1s .

1973 - Paul McCartney & Wings release "Live And Let Die" - https://youtu.be/NR0UmZcf89E .

1978 - Talking Heads released their second studio album More Songs About Buildings And Food. The first of three Talking Heads LPs produced by collaborator Brian Eno, featured the group's first Top 30 single, a cover of Al Green's 'Take Me to the River' - https://youtu.be/yFS67lfCXXQ .

1980 - Led Zeppelin played their last-ever concert with drummer John Bonham when they appeared at Eissporthalle, West Berlin at the end of a European tour. The set included: 'Black Dog', 'The Rain Song', 'Hot Dog', 'All My Love', 'Trampled Under Foot', 'Since I've Been Loving You', 'Kashmir', 'Stairway To Heaven' and 'Rock And Roll'. They finished the show with a 17-minute version of 'Whole Lotta Love' - https://youtu.be/yB4qKvGKjJk .

1984 - Bruce Springsteen went to No.1 on the album chart with 'Born In The USA'. The album went on to spend a total of 139 weeks on the chart. It is also one of three albums (Michael Jackson's Thriller and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814) to produce seven Top-ten singles - https://youtu.be/EPhWR4d3FJQ.

1984 - Prince started a five-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'When Doves Cry', his first No.1 which went on to sell over 2 million copies, it made No. 2 in and No. 4 in the . The song is from his upcoming movie Purple Rain - https://youtu.be/UG3VcCAlUgE .

1989 - CD vs Vinyl - It was announced that for the first-time compact discs were out selling vinyl albums.

1994 - - Ashton Irwin born. The drummer with 5 Seconds Of Summer who had a No.1 hit with 'She Looks So Perfect' (No. 4 in ), their debut album was a No.1 and No.2. 5 Seconds of Summer were also the first act to achieve a US No.1 album with their debut album - https://youtu.be/X2BYmmTI04I .

2001 - Fred Neil, a folk singer-songwriter known for writing Harry Nilsson's hit "Everybody's Talkin'," dies during a battle with skin cancer at age 65 - https://youtu.be/55xQu9eIPIA .

2006 - Syd Barrett died from complications arising from diabetes aged 60. The singer, songwriter, guitarist was one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, active as a rock musician for only about seven years before he went into seclusion. He joined Pink Floyd in 1965 but left three years later after one album. Barrett released two solo albums before going into self-imposed seclusion lasting more than thirty years, with his mental deterioration blamed on drugs - https://youtu.be/pgXozIma-Oc .

2007 - The Live Earth concerts took place around the world with The Police closing the day's events in New Jersey. The concerts were organised by former US Vice-President Al Gore, as part of his campaign to "heal the planet". Rock stars from around the world performed to hundreds of thousands of fans to highlight climate change. Concerts were held in Washington, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Shanghai and Sydney. Madonna brought London's Live Earth concert to a close, playing a song she had written for the event. Other major acts who appeared included Snow Patrol, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis, The Beastie Boys, James Blunt, Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, UB40, Snoop Dogg, Enrique Iglesias, Crowded House & Joss Stone - https://youtu.be/jP8vrAkdlYE .

2009 - Michael Jackson's family and fans said farewell to the pop superstar at an emotional memorial service. The singer's coffin was placed in front of the stage during the event at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles after an earlier private funeral. Jackson's daughter Paris, 11, fought back tears to describe him as "the best father you could ever imagine". Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey paid tribute before the family joined a sombre finale on stage. Motown boss Berry Gordy, who signed the Jackson Five, ended his tribute with the words: "Michael, thank you for the joy, thank you for the love. You will live in my heart forever" - https://youtu.be/A0LiYT1tXhA .

2010 - Paul McCartney joined Ringo Starr onstage at a concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall to help celebrate the former Beatle drummer's 70th birthday. With Ringo's All Starr Band joined by Yoko Ono, Joe Walsh, Angus Young and Steven Van Zandt, Paul belted out "Birthday" and Ringo delivered "With A Little Help From My Friends" - https://youtu.be/awBy_K30Pe8 .

2015 - Climate scientists from five leading universities found that 163 of Bob Dylan's 542 songs reference the climate - almost a third - making him the musician most likely to mention the weather in his lyrics. The Beatles came in at number two, mentioning the weather in 48 of the 308 songs they wrote - https://youtu.be/fm-po_FUmvM .