This Week In Rock – April 12th – 18th
This Week’s Trivia Answer:
4/12/1973 – Stevie Wonder becomes one of the first rock stars to appear on PBS-TV’s Sesame Street.
BORN THIS WEEK IN ROCK
4/12/1940 – Herbie Hancock (Jazz Pianist)
4/12/1915 – Hound Dog Taylor (pivotal blues musician)
4/12/1921 – Shakey Jake Harris (Blues Singer/Harp player)
4/12/1944 – John Kay (Lead Vocals & Guitar, Steppenwolf)
4/13/1944 – Jack Casady (Bass, Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna)
4/13/1945 – Lowell George (guitarist/singer, Little Feat)
4/13/1946 – Al Green (Soul Singer-Songwriter)
4/14/1945 – Ritchie Blackmore (Guitar, Deep Purple)
4/15/1894 – Bessie Smith (Blues Vocalist)
4/16/1947 – Gerry Rafferty (Rock singer-songwriter Stealers Wheel)
4/16/1971 – Selena Quintanilla – (Tejano singer)
DIED THIS WEEK IN ROCK
4/12/1999 – Boxcar Willie (Country Singer)
4/13/2005 – Johnnie Johnson (Blues and Rock and Roll Pianist)
4/13/2004 – Ritchie Cordell (Songwriter)
4/14/2015 – Percy Sledge (RNR Inductee- Singer Songwriter
4/15/2001 – Joey Ramone (lead vocals, The Ramones)
4/15/2017 – Allan Holdsworth (British jazz fusion & prog rock guitarist and composer)
4/15/2001 – Joey Ramone (lead vocals, The Ramones)
4/16/1999 – Skip Spence (guitar, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Moby Grape; drums, Jefferson Airplane)
4/17/1998 – Linda McCartney (vocals & keyboards, Wings)
4/17/2008 – Danny Federici (organist, accordionist / (E Street Band)
4/18/1996 – Bernard Edwards (bass guitarist for Chic)
4/18/2013 – Cordell “Boogie” Mosson (bassist for Parliament-Funkadelic)
MUSIC RELEASES AND TOP OF THE CHARTS:
4/12/1954 – Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle, And Roll” was released.
4/15/1977 – Lynyrd Skynyrd’s LP One More For The Road is certified gold.
4/16/1964 – The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones was released.
4/16/1964 – Fleetwood Mac, “Dreams” was released.
4/16/1971 – The Rolling Stones release “Brown Sugar”
4/17/1970 – Paul McCartney releases his first solo album, McCartney, in the U.K.
4/17/1971 – Three Dog Night’s “Joy To The World” hits #1
4/17/1973 – Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon is certified gold.
4/18/1980 – “Another Brick In the Wall (Part II)” becomes Pink Floyd’s only #1 single in the U.S.
THIS WEEK IN ROCK HISTORY:
4/12/1973 – Stevie Wonder becomes one of the first rock stars to appear on PBS-TV’s Sesame Street.
4/15/1964 – After a long day of filming for their first movie, which is still titled Beatlemania! The Beatles relax as Ringo Starr declares, oddly, that it’s been “a hard day’s night.” John immediately begins writing the song of the same name on the back of an old greeting card; it will eventually become the title track for the film.
4/15/1966 – The Buffalo Springfield play their first gig, opening up for The Byrds in San Bernadino, California.
4/15/1971 – The Illinois Crime Commission releases a list of “drug-oriented rock records” that include Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” and Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” but also, for some reason, The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “Puff The Magic Dragon,” by Peter, Paul, and Mary
4/15/1971 – The Beatles win their one and only Oscar, Best Score, for the movie Let It Be.
4/15/1992 – Queen reunites for a tribute charity concert dedicated to their fallen former leader, vocalist Freddie Mercury, who’d passed away from AIDS some six months earlier. Robert Plant, David Bowie, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Paul Young, Ian Hunter and Roger Daltrey, among others, show up to sing Freddie’s and their own hits.
4/16/1955 – A young Roy Orbison sees Elvis for the first time, performing at the Sportatorium in Dallas. No word on whether or not Roy Orbison was “Crying.”
4/16/1974 – Queen make their US live debut at Regis College in Denver, CO. The encore included covers like “Jailhouse Rock” and “Hey Big Spender.”
4/16/1996 – At tonight’s Grammy Awards ceremonies in New York, KISS, back again in full makeup, announce their reunion and upcoming tour, the first time all four original members have taken the stage together since 1981. The audience was so excited they rock and rolled all night.
4/17/1969 – Bob Dylan’s former backing group, which has come to be known simply as “The Band,” plays its first show alone and under its own name at the Winterland Auditorium in San Francisco. Getting that gig over with certainly took “the weight” off their shoulders.
4/17/1970 – Richard Nixon invites Johnny Cash to perform at the White House, then surprises the singer by requesting Merle Haggard’s reactionary “Okie From Muskogee.” Cash declines but does perform “A Boy Named Sue” instead.
4/18/1975 – The Alice Cooper television special Welcome To My Nightmare airs on ABC, inspiring lots, and lots of actual nightmares.
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