19th
19th March 1982, Ozzy Osbourne guitarist and former Quiet Riot member Randy Rhoads was killed when the plane he was riding in crashed. After driving much of the night, the band had stopped near a small airstrip. The tour bus driver, Andrew Aycock, talked the band's keyboardist, Don Airey, into taking a test flight in […]
19th December 1941, Born on this day, Maurice White, American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger and bandleader with Earth, Wind & Fire, who had the 1975 US No.1 single 'Shining Star', and the 1981 UK No.3 single 'Let's Groove'. The band has received 20 Grammy nominations and were the first African-American act to sell out […]
19th November 2004, Record producer Terry Melcher, who was behind hits by the Byrds, Ry Cooder and the Beach Boys, died aged 62 after a long battle with skin cancer. The son of actress Doris Day, he co-wrote ‘Kokomo’ for The Beach Boys, produced ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ for the Byrds, as well as hits for […]
19th November 1964, The Supremes became the first all girl group to have a UK No.1 single when 'Baby Love' went to the top of the charts. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, it was also the second of five Supremes songs in a row to go to No.1 in the United […]
19th Oct 2014, Raphael Ravenscroft who played the sax riff on the Gerry Rafferty hit 'Baker Street' died aged 60 of a suspected heart attack. He was only paid £27.50 for the 'Baker Street' session, and it has been reported that the cheque bounced and that it was kept on the wall of Ravenscroft's solicitors; […]
19th August 1967, The Beatles scored their 14th US No.1 single with ‘All You Need Is Love’. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Marianne Faithfull and Walker Brother Gary Leeds all sang backing vocals on the track. Read it here
19th July 1967, The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘All You Need Is Love’ the group’s 12th UK No.1 single. The Beatles had been selected to represent the UK for the first-ever global-wide satellite broadcast. The group agreed to be shown in the studio recording a song written especially for […]
19th June 2014, Gerry Goffin, who penned chart-topping songs with his then-wife Carole King died at the age of 75 in Los Angeles. He wrote dozens of hits over two decades, including ‘The Loco-Motion’, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ and ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’. After their divorce in 1968, Goffin continued […]
19th June 1948, Born on this day, English singer-songwriter and musician, Nick Drake. He signed to Island Records when he was 20 years old and released his debut album, Five Leaves Left, in 1969. By 1972, he had recorded two more albums, Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. Drake committed suicide on November 25th 1974 aged […]
Happy birthday to Pete Townshend, born on 19th May 1945, musician, singer, songwriter with The Who. Had the 1965 UK No.2 single ‘My Generation’ and the 1967 US No.9 single ‘I Can See For Miles’ plus over 20 other UK Top 40 hit singles, 16 US Top 40 singles and rock opera albums ‘Tommy’ & […]