Let’s get right to it!  It’s This Week in Rock History:

Born This Week in Rock History

 
Syd Barrett: January 6, 1946. (guitar & vocals, Pink Floyd)
Tampa Red: January 8, 1904. (Blues Musician: guitar, singer, kazoo)
Elvis Presley: January 8, 1935. (The King of Rock and Roll)
Robby Krieger: January 8, 1946. (guitar, The Doors)
David Bowie: January 8, 1947. (Rock Singer-Songwriter: keyboards and guitar)
Jimmy Page: January 9, 1944. (guitar, Led Zeppelin)
Katie Webster: January 11, 1936. (Blues and Soul musician: keyboards)
Mississippi Fred McDowell: January 12, 1904. (Blues Musicians: guitar & vocals)
Long John Baldry: January 12, 1941. (Blues vocalist)

Died This Week in Rock History

Dizzy Gillespie: January 6, 1993. (Jazz musician, trumpet)
Peter Joe Clayton AKA Doctor Clayton: January 7, 1947. (Blues musician, vocals)
Cyril Davies: January 7, 1964. (vocals & harmonica, Blues Incorporated & Cyril Davies All-Stars)
Larry Williams: January 7, 1980. (Rhythm & Blues musician, vocals & piano)
Howlin’ Wolf: January 10, 1910. (Blues Vocalist & Guitarist)
Spencer Dryden: January 11, 2005. (drums, Jefferson Airplane)

Music releases and top of the charts…

The Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out” hit the top of the charts on January 8, 1966.
Muddy Waters 12th studio album Hard Again is released on January 10, 1977.
Muddy Waters’ “I’m Ready” is released on January 10, 1978.
The Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” hit #1 on January 12, 1974.

This Week In Rock History:

Led Zeppelin’s In Through The Out Door is certified Platinum. This would be the last Led Zeppelin album released before the passing of drummer John Bonham: January 7, 1980.

Led Zeppelin’s “In Through The Out Door” is certified Platinum on January 7, 1980. This would be the last Led Zeppelin album released before the passing of drummer John Bonham.

 

Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath by the end of 1977 because of irreconcilable differences, prompting the band to get Dave Walker (Fleetwood Mac) to replace him on vocals. Dave Walker did his one and only performance with Black Sabbath on January 8, 1978, and soon after Ozzy rejoined the band.

 

Charlie Watts met the Rolling Stones gang in 1962 and joined the lineup on January 9, 1963 to be its drummer, role he has kept up to this day.

 

The Rolling Stones’ performance in Japan on January 9, 1973 gets cancelled because of legal issues caused by Mick Jagger’s drug abuse from previous years. He almost gets banned from Australia as well.

 

Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” is certified Gold on January 10, 1968, and “See Saw” is certified Gold on January 13, 1969.

 

Berry Gordy Jr. founded the American record company Tamla Records on January 12, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan with the help of an $800 loan from his family. A bit over a year later he changes the name to Motown Records.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its induction ceremonies for the years of 1993, 1995, and 1998 on January 12. The inductees were Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Etta James, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Ruth Brown, The Doors, Van Morrison, Sly and the Family Stone, Dick Clark, Milt Gabler, and Dinah Washington in 1993; Neil Young, The Allman Brothers Band, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Al Green, Frank Zappa, Martha and the Vandellas, The Orioles, and Paul Ackerman in 1995; and The Eagles, Santana, Fleetwood Mac, Gene Vincent, The Mamas and the Papas, Lloyd Price, Allen Toussaint, and Jelly Roll Morton in 1998.

– J&R Adventures 

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Scott Macaluso