May 14th: The Biggest Music Headlines

2019
American guitarist, singer and songwriter Mike Wilhelm died aged 77. He was best known as a founding member of the influential Bay Area band The Charlatans, who have been widely credited as starting the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic scene during the 1960s. He later played with the bands Loose Gravel and the Flamin’ Groovies.

2016
The Beatles’ former press officer, Tony Barrow, who coined the term ‘The Fab Four’ to describe the band, died aged 80. Barrow represented the band between 1962 and 1968 and also wrote sleeve notes for their early albums, as well as the strip cartoon for the Magical Mystery Tour booklet.

2015
Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist B.B. King died in his sleep aged 89 from a series of small strokes caused by type 2 diabetes. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time, Rolling Stone magazine placed him behind only Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

06:42

2013
It was reported that Kiss planned to open over 100 restaurants in North America. The band who had just opened the third branch of Rock & Brews in the greater Los Angeles area said that they wished to open 100 more in the next five years. The band planned to open new branches at LAX airport in Los Angeles, Maui in Hawaii and Kansas City in Missouri over the coming year.

2008
Metallica kicked off a 26-date North American and European tour at the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California.

2005
A judge in Springfield, Massachusetts, ordered rapper 50 Cent to stay clean of drugs and take an anger management course to avoid spending time in jail. The rapper appeared in court charged with assaulting three women at a concert in 2004 after leaping into the crowd.

2004
Phil Spector was arrested after getting into a scuffle with his chauffeur at his California mansion. The 64 year old record producer was taken into custody and later released after a court date was set.

2003
Lawyers for Britney Spears and the Skechers footwear company settled a dispute over a deal for the pop star to market a line of roller skates and accessories. Spears had filed a $1.5 million breach of agreement lawsuit against Skechers in December, claiming the company failed to pay her adequately. Skechers had responded with a $10 million lawsuit, accusing Spears of fraud and breach of the three-year licensing agreement she signed in January 2002.

2002
The musical We Will Rock You opened in London, England at the Dominion Theatre. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor. The musical tells the story of a group of Bohemians who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought, fashion, and live music in a distant future where everyone dresses, thinks and does the same. Musical instruments and composers are forbidden, and rock music is all but unknown. WWRY has since become the longest-running musical at the Dominion Theatre.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

02:15

2000
Tom Jones was at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Reload’ making the singer the oldest artist to score a UK No.1 album with new material.

1998
George Michael was fined £500 after being convicted of a “lewd act” in a Los Angeles lavatory. The Los Angeles court also ordered him to undergo psychological counselling and carry out 80 hours community service.

1998
American singer and actor Frank Sinatra died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles aged 82, after suffering a heart attack. Sinatra had his first hit in 1940, working in the Swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1953 film ‘From Here to Eternity’. He went on to score over 25 Top 40 singles including the 1966 No.1 ‘Strangers In The Night’. His 1969 single ‘My Way’, re-entered the UK charts eight times and spent a total of 165 weeks on the UK chart.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

03:44

1994
Scottish band Stiltskin were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Inside’. The song had been used on a Levi’s TV Jeans commercial. The bands only No.1 and only Top 30 hit.

1993
During an auction at Christies in London the acoustic guitar that Elvis Presley used to make his first recordings in 1954, ‘That’s All Right Mama’ and ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’, sold for £130,285, ($152,000).And four ‘Super Hero’, Costumes worn by the group Kiss sold for £20,000, ($35,385).

1988
Led Zeppelin reunited for the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary party at Madison Square Garden, New York, appearing with Jason Bonham the son of John Bonham on drums. Other acts performing included Foreigner, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Wilson Pickett and Ben E. King.

1983
Spandau Ballet scored their first and only UK No.1 album with True. The title track from the album spent four weeks at No.1 on the UK singles charts and reached No.2 in the US. Other singles from the album included ‘Gold’ (a No.2 UK hit and a Top 30 hit in the U.S.), ‘Lifeline’, and ‘Communication’.

1977
During a UK tour, Talking Heads played a gig at The Rock Garden in London where Brian Eno who was in the audience saw the band, who then went on to produce them.

1977
Leo Sayer went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the Albert Hammond and Carole Bayer Sager song ‘When I Need You’, the singers second US No.1, also No.1 in the UK.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

04:02

1976
33 year-old Keith Relf, former lead singer for The Yardbirds, was electrocuted while tuning a guitar which was not properly earthed. The accident happened in his West London home where he was found by his eight year old son, still holding the plugged-in electric guitar. The Yardbirds had the hits ‘For Your Love’, ‘Heart Full of Soul’, and ‘Shapes of Things’.

1969
During a UK tour, Fairport Conventions van crashed on the M1 motorway on the way home from a gig in Birmingham killing the group’s 19 year-old drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson’s girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn.

1968
John Lennon and Paul McCartney appeared on NBC-TV’s Tonight Show with guest-host Joe Garagiola sitting in for Johnny Carson. The conversation included some light hearted banter about meditation, the forming of Apple Corps. and song writing.

1960
The Silver Beats (John Lennon, Paul McCartney George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe, and Tommy Moore) performed at Lathom Hall, Seaforth, Liverpool. They played a few songs during the “interval” to audition for promoter Brian Kelly. Also appearing are Cliff Roberts & the Rockers, The Deltones, and Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes. This is the only occasion on which the group uses the name “Silver Beats”, quickly changing it back to “Silver Beetles”.

1957
Elvis Presley was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital after swallowing a porcelain cap from one of his front teeth, which then lodged its-self in one of his lungs.

Visits: 1