This Day In Music - August 3

 This Day In Music – 3 August

1924 - Gordon Stoker of Elvis Presley's backing group, The Jordanaires, is born in Gleason, Tennessee. Known for providing background vocals for Elvis Presley, in live appearances and recordings from 1956 to 1972. He died on 27 March 2013. The Jordanaires other credits include providing backing vocals for artists such as Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Ricky Nelson, Ringo Starr & Johnny Cash - https://youtu.be/E_yt6w_Hrcc .

1926 - American singer Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known as Tony Bennett, born in Astoria, Queens, New York. He had the 1955 & UK No.1 single 'Stranger In Paradise' and the 1965 single 'I Left My Heart In San Francisco'. Bennett and Amy Winehouse recorded the duet 'Body and Soul' in March 2011 - the final recording made by Winehouse before her death on July 23, 2011 at the age of 27. When the song charted on the Billboard Hot 100 it made Bennett, at age 85, the oldest living artist ever to chart on the Hot 100 - https://youtu.be/_OFMkCeP6ok .

1939 - Jimmy Nicol born in London, United Kingdom. He is best known for temporarily replacing Ringo Starr in the Beatles for nine gigs in 1964, after Ringo Starr collapsed and was hospitalised on 3 June 1964 with tonsillitis. George Martin suggested Nicol, as he had recently played on a budget label album called "Beatlemania" and knew the songs. Over the decades, Nicol increasingly shied away from media attention, preferring not to discuss his connection to the Beatles nor seeking financial gain from it. He has a son, Howard, who is a BAFTA award-winning sound engineer - https://youtu.be/o7dDPC5HEmA .

1941 - Beverly Lee born in Passaic, New Jersey. The singer with American girl group The Shirelles, notable for their popularity in the early 1960s. They were the first all-female group to have a No.1 hit record with 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' in 1961 - https://youtu.be/1NYw83uAQig .

1946 - John York born in White Plains, New York. Bass guitarist for The Byrds, (1965 UK & US No.1 & No.4 single 'Mr Tambourine Man'). Also known in AU for the modest 1965 hit, ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ - https://youtu.be/W4ga_M5Zdn4 .

1949 - B.B. Dickerson (Morris Dickerson) born in Torrance, California. American bassist with funk band War. Their album The World Is a Ghetto was the best-selling US album of 1973. They also scored the 1973 US No.2 single 'Cisco Kid'. Best known in for their 1970 No.1, ‘Spill The Wine’ - https://youtu.be/espD_-Z-SaY .

1953 - Ian Bairnson is born in Lerwick, Shetland Isles, Scotland. Guitarist for Pilot with the 1975 & UK No.1 single 'January' and The Alan Parsons Project with the 1982 No.29, ‘Eye In The Sky’ - https://youtu.be/WdcrTUcdO0Q .

1961 - American double bass player Lee Rocker born in Long Island, New York, U.S.A. From The Stray Cats who spearheaded the neo-rockabilly movement of the early 1980s. They scored the 1980 No.15 single 'Runaway Boys', and the 1983 No.19 single '(She’s) Sexy And 17'. The Stray Cats sold nearly 10 million albums - https://youtu.be/ZynIhCs27Xs .

1963 - Allan Sherman released "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadda", his biggest hit single. A comic novelty, in which a boy describes his summer camp experiences to the tune of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours, which peaked at No.4 - https://youtu.be/er50h8W8vWg .

1963 - Ed Roland (lead vocalist for Collective Soul) is born in Stockbridge, Georgia. Best known for the 1994 No.12, ‘Shine’ and the 1996 AU No.37 ‘The World I Know’ - https://youtu.be/_m0bI82Rz_k .

1963 - James Hetfield of Metallica is born in Downey, California. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Metallica's current line-up comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine (who went on to form Megadeth after being fired from the band) and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton (who died in a bus accident in Sweden in 1986) and Jason Newsted are former members of the band. Between 1991 and 2010, they have had 20 Top 40 hits in , with ‘Until It Sleeps’ hitting No.1 on debut in June 1996, but only holding the spot for 1-week - https://youtu.be/iG5v_qx9q6M .

1963 - The Beatles played their last ever performance at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. They played the first of their 292 shows there in 1961 when they made their debut performance. During their set a power cut silenced their instruments and plunged the Cavern into temporary darkness. Lennon and McCartney performed an acoustic version of 'When I'm Sixty-Four', a song they wouldn't release until 1967, while waiting for the electricity to return. The Beatles, whose fee for their first performance at the Cavern had been £5, received a fee of £300 for this performance - https://youtu.be/HjxqlUkL6g0 .

1966 - Dean Sams born. Keyboardist with American country group Lonestar who had the 2000 US No.1 No.19 & UK No.21 single 'Amazed'. Lonestar has charted more than 20 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart, including 9 that reached No.1 - https://youtu.be/x-skFgrV59A .

1968 - The Doors hit No.1 in America for the second (and last) time when "Hello, I Love You" reaches the top for the first of two weeks. It was also in the Top 5 at the same time as Jose Feliciano's version of 'Light My Fire', giving The Doors two songs, written by the group, simultaneously in the US Top 5. The song failed to reach the Top 40 and surprisingly, their best outcome here was to reach No.3 with ‘Love Her Madly’ in 1971 - https://youtu.be/hzM71scYw0M .

1969 - Creedence Clearwater Revival released their third studio album and first US No.1 Green River ( No.16 ). It was the second of three albums they released in this year, the first one being Bayou Country and the third Willy and the Poor Boys. The album featured the title track and 'Bad Moon Rising' ( No.4 ) both of which were major hits in the US - https://youtu.be/5BmEGm-mraE .

1971 - Paul McCartney puts Wings in flight, announcing the formation of his first post-Beatles band. Members are Paul, his wife Linda, former Moody Blues singer Denny Laine on guitar, and Denny Seiwell on drums.

1985 – Following its earlier peak at No.1, Tears For Fears' "Shout" hits No1 in the US for the first of three weeks. It's the English synthpop duo's second chart-topper, following "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" (which peaked at No.6 in AU) - https://youtu.be/Ye7FKc1JQe4 .

1985 - Madonna scored her first UK No.1 single with 'Into The Groove'. The track was taken from the movie 'Desperately Seeking Susan' which featured Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. 'Into The Groove' is Madonna's bestselling single in the UK, having sold over 850,000 copies. In , I reached No.1 b/w ‘Angel’, following her 1984 No.1, ‘Like A Virgin’ - https://youtu.be/52iW3lcpK5M .

1986 - The News Of The World breaks the story that Rolling Stones' bass player Bill Wyman, 49, is dating Mandy Smith, 16, and that they had been together since she was 13. No charges are pressed against Wyman, and in 1989, the couple gets married in a union that lasts less than a year.

1987 - After years of delays, Def Leppard's Hysteria album is released in the US. The follow-up to their 1983 album Pyromania proves a struggle . The new year is marked by tragedy when on December 31, 1984, drummer Rick Allen loses an arm after crashing his Corvette. As Allen recovers and learns to play with one arm (using a modified drum kit with electronic foot pedals), Mutt Lange returns after earlier being dismissed and they basically restart their earlier work. Two years later, Hysteria is finally done. It hits No.1 in & the UK and makes a slow climb to the top in America, where it tops the chart in July 1988 after the hot, sticky sweet "Pour Some Sugar On Me" becomes a breakout hit. It's a massive seller, shifting over 25 million copies worldwide. Seven singles from the album make the Hot 100, including "Love Bites," which goes to No.1 ( No. 27 ) - https://youtu.be/im70eF8x14U .

1993 - Boston Ventures, the group to whom Berry Gordy had sold Motown in 1988 for $61 million, sells the label and its holdings to Dutch conglomerate Polygram for $325 million.

1996 - Los Del Rio started a 14-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Macarena' (peaking at No.1). The song which has sold 11 million copies world-wide was ranked the No.1 Greatest One Hit Wonder of all Time by VH1 in 2002 - https://youtu.be/qs1bbJFLLN8 .

1999 - Patsy Cline received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Prior to her death at the age of 30 in a private plane crash, she was at the height of her career. She is considered to be one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century. Some of the more notable hits she had during her lifetime began in 1957 with Donn Hecht's 'Walkin' After Midnight' Harlan Howard's 'I Fall to Pieces', Hank Cochran's 'She's Got You', Willie Nelson's 'Crazy', and ended in 1963 with Don Gibson's 'Sweet Dreams' - https://youtu.be/iuZTk1hdpMs .

2000 - Maurice Kinn died aged 76. The UK publisher launched The New Musical Express in 1953, which instigated the first UK charts based on record sales (first published on 14 November 1952). and organised the annual NME poll-winners concerts between 1963 and 1966.

2007 - Queen guitarist Brian May handed in his astronomy PhD thesis - 36 years after abandoning it to join the band. May had recently carried out observational work in Tenerife, where he studied the formation of "zodiacal dust clouds" - https://youtu.be/3Z_9-ulTd0s .

2008 - Kid Rock was at No.1 on the & UK singles charts with 'All Summer Long'. The song is based on Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London' and Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' - https://youtu.be/aSkFygPCTwE .

2019 - - Damien Lovelock died from cancer at his Bilgola Plateau home on 3 August 2019. Vocalist for the bands The Celibate Rifles and No Dance, he was born on the 21st of May 1954 in Amersham, United Kingdom. In 1980 Lovelock answered a 'Singer Wanted' advertisement for The Celibate Rifles, a recently formed rock group whose members were several years younger than him. "They had", he reminisced, "the sound I was looking for, and I gave them words different enough to match their unique high energy sonic assault - https://youtu.be/0yPDW5NJaRY .