This Day In Music - June 24

 This Day In Music - 24 June

1942: Arthur Brown is born Arthur Wilton in Yorkshire, England. Making a name for himself in the world of performance art, he has a huge hit with "Fire" with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - https://youtu.be/RLG1ys2CGcI .

1944: Chris Wood (flautist/saxophonist/keyboardist for Traffic) is born in Quinton, Birmingham, . He's best known as a founding member of the British rock band Traffic, along with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Dave Mason. Wood died of pneumonia on 12th July 1983 - https://youtu.be/dRH0CGVK7ic .

1944: Rock guitarist Jeff Beck (Geoffrey Arnold Beck) is born in Wallington, England. He was ranked fifth in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and the magazine, upon whose cover Beck has appeared three times, has described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock". Beck had also formed Beck, Bogart and Appice with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice, and later recorded with The Honeydrippers, (alongside Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Nile Rodgers), who had the 1984 No.3 single Sea Of Love - https://youtu.be/GX7xxs11Si4 .

1944: John "Charlie" Whitney (Family) born in Skipton, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. A founder member of the rock bands Family, Streetwalkers and Axis Point. Family, scored the 1971 No.4 single 'In My Own Time' and the 1973 single 'My Friend The Sun' - https://youtu.be/1tWNZUfS5uM .

1945: Colin Blunstone (lead singer of The Zombies) is born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. With The Zombies he had four hits, 'She's Not There', 'Tell Her No', 'She's Coming Home', and 'Time of the Season'. His solo hits include 'Say You Don't Mind', 'I Don't Believe in Miracles' and 'What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted' - https://youtu.be/_2hXBf1DakE .

1947: Mick Fleetwood (Michael John Kells Fleetwood) was born in Redruth, Cornwall. The initial incarnation of Fleetwood Mac performed its first gig in August 1967 at the seventh annual Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival, playing a Chicago-style blues. John McVie, initially hesitant to commit, was later prompted to leave the Bluesbreakers and join Fleetwood Mac full-time when the former adopted a horns section with which he disagreed. He replaced the initial bassist, Bob Brunning. McVie, Fleetwood, Green and guitarist Jeremy Spencer thus formed the first fixed line-up of Fleetwood Mac - https://youtu.be/E0sha1XfHxw .

1948: Patrick Moraz (Patrick Philippe Moraz) keyboardist for Yes, The Moody Blues is born on an aeroplane, though Morges, Switzerland has been cited as his hometown. In May 1978, Moraz visited a convention held by the Audio Engineering Society in Los Angeles, where "Herbie Hancock taught me how to use the vocoder" and he agreed to represent Aphex Systems in Brazil. On his way back to Brazil, Moraz stopped in Miami where, at his hotel, he received a call asking him to join the Moody Blues after Mike Pinder left the band. Moraz proceeded to sing "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon" on the phone, and accepted an audition in London in July 1978. The audition with the Moody Blues was successful, and Moraz "Got the gig that very afternoon" - https://youtu.be/MjUqfRrWwcM .

1949: John Illsley (bass guitarist for Dire Straits) is born in Leicester, England. Illsley is best known as bass guitarist of the rock band Dire Straits who had the 1985 No.1 single 'Money For Nothing' the 1986 No.2 single 'Walk Of Life' and the 1985 world wide No.1 album Brothers In Arms. Illsley owns a local pub, the 'East End Arms', between Lymington and Beaulieu, which has been listed by critics as one of the "Fifty Best Pubs Around Britain" - https://youtu.be/BUavFsfbFv8 .

1957: Terence "Astro" Wilson (percussionist, trumpet player for UB40) is born in Birmingham, England. With UB40, he had the 1983 No.1 & 1988 No.1 single 'Red Red Wine' and over 30 other top 40 hits - https://youtu.be/vUdloUqZa7w .

1959: Andy McCluskey (vocalist, bass guitarist for OMD) is born in Heswall, Cheshire, England. OMD released their debut single, 'Electricity', in 1979, and gained popularity throughout Europe with the 1980 anti-war song 'Enola Gay'. They have scored over 15 other Top 40 singles. In 1998, McCluskey founded the pop group Atomic Kitten. Their song 'Whole Again', co-written by McCluskey, was his first No.1 - https://youtu.be/GH7MwYBdSvM .

1961: Curt Smith (bass guitarist, vocalist) is born in Bath, Somerset, England. With Tears For Fears, he scored the 1985 No.1 & No.2 single 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World', plus over 12 other top 40 singles. Their second album, Songs from the Big Chair, released in 1985, reached No.1 on the Billboard 200 - https://youtu.be/aGCdLKXNF3w .

1961: A Scottish Soldier (Andy Stewart) becomes the #1 song in - https://youtu.be/wn7QzveIIDs .

1965: John Lennon's second book of poetry and drawings, "A Spaniard In The Works", was published in Britain.

1965: The Hollies were at No.1 on the singles chart with 'I'm Alive', the group's first of two No.1's and over 25 other Top 40 singles. The Hollies originally passed the song over to another Manchester band, the Toggery Five, before changing their mind and recording the song - https://youtu.be/i0KykiHXhB4 .

1966: The final Beatles world tour begins in Munich. Moving forward, they concentrate on studio efforts, resulting in the landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - https://youtu.be/GooL7-iPMYI .

1967: This Is My Song (Petula Clark) remains the #1 song in this week.

1969: Led Zeppelin recorded 'Whole Lotta Love', 'What Is And What Should Never Be', 'Travelling Riverside Blues' and 'Communication Breakdown' for BBC Radio 1 at Maida Vale Studios, London - https://youtu.be/HibBnC6SVk8 .

1970: Glenn Allan Medeiros born in Lihue, Hawaii, . He scored the 1988 UK No.1 single 'Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You', and the 1990 No.1 single 'She Ain't Worth It' - https://youtu.be/mUg5aEy-8CQ .

1974: Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" was released - https://youtu.be/ye5BuYf8q4o .

1975: Billy Don't Be A Hero (Paper Lace) remains the #1 song in this week - https://youtu.be/6RvG5bJsu5Q .

1985: Angel / Into The Groove (Madonna) becomes the #1 song in this week - https://youtu.be/52iW3lcpK5M .

1986: American singer, songwriter, Solange Knowles (younger sister of singer Beyoncé) born. She had the 2016 No.1 album A Seat at the Table.

1990: Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids On The Block) was badly hurt, spending two days in hospital spent two days in hospital after falling through an unlocked trapdoor mid-concert in Saratoga Springs, New York.

1991: Grease Megamix (John Travolta / Olivia Newton-John) becomes the #1 song in this week - https://youtu.be/WTAg7aolyCY .

1993: The California band Severe Tire Damage pull off the first webcast in history, live streaming a concert from the Xerox Research Centre in Palo Alto to an extremely small audience. The next year, The Rolling Stones become the first major artist to do a webcast.

1996: Killing Me Softly (Fugees) went straight to the #1 song in this week - https://youtu.be/yYBBaww8AMM .

2002: A Little Less Conversation (Elvis vs JXL) went straight to the #1 song in this week - https://youtu.be/Zx1_6F-nCaw .

2010: JoJo Billingsley (backing vocalist for Lynyrd Skynyrd) dies of cancer at age 58.

2012: Billboard.com named Olivia Newton-John's 1982 hit, 'Physical' as The Sexiest Song Of All Time. Other classic Rock songs that made the top ten were Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's The Night', Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On', Donna Summer's 'Hot Stuff' and another Rod Stewart contribution, 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy' - https://youtu.be/O0e1Y5FXNWs .

2013: Former Devo drummer Alan Myers died aged 58 in Los Angeles, California, following a long bout with cancer. Myers drummed for Devo between 1976 and 1986.