American
Happy birthday to David Crosby, born on 14th August 1941, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. With CS&N he had the 1969 UK No.17 single ‘Marrakesh Express’, 1970 US No.11 single with CSN&Y ‘Woodstock’ Plus the 1970 US No.1 album ‘Deja Vu’ and the 1975 US […]
1st August 1942, Born on this day, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead. He was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” cover story. Garcia also founded a variety of side projects, including the Saunders–Garcia Band, the Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic […]
30th July 1987, David Bowie kicked of the North American leg of The Glass Spider Tour at the Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The tour’s set, described at the time as “the largest touring set ever,” was designed to look like a giant spider. It was 60 feet (18.3m) high, 64 feet (19.5m) wide. A […]
On July 28, 1978, a movie was released that changed part of the American culture, 40 years ago today, National Lampoon’s Animal House was released to an un-suspecting public. Toga party’s became common place and it seemed everyone was up for a food fight. How many times have you seen it? And, is there one […]
Grand Funk Railroad released their single “We’re an American Band”, from the album of the same name on July 28 (again some sources say July 16) 1973. The song was written by Don Brewer and produced by Todd Rundgren. It was sung by Brewer rather than Mark Farner, who usually sang lead vocals. According to […]
Happy birthday to Carlos Santana, born on 20th July 1947, Mexican and American rock guitarist. Santana had the 1977 UK No.11 single ‘She’s Not There’, and their 1999 US No.1 single ‘Smooth’ spent eleven weeks at No.1, (also No.1 in the UK). He won eight Grammy Awards for his Supernatural album at the 2000 awards. […]
18th July 1929, Born on this day, American singer, songwriter, musician Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. A Golden Gloves boxing champion at 16, he was married nine times, fathered over 30 children, spent two years in jail and was temporary blinded by one of his flaming props on stage in 1976. He recorded ‘I Put A Spell […]
Happy birthday to Linda Ronstadt, born on 15th July 1946, American singer who had the 1975 US No.1 single ‘You’re No Good’, and the 1989 UK No.2 single with Aaron Neville, ‘Don’t Know Much’ plus over 15 other US Top 40 hits. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of […]
12th July 1979, American singer songwriter Minnie Riperton died of cancer aged 31. The Stevie Wonder produced ‘Loving You’ gave Minnie a US No.1 single in 1975. She worked at Chess records singing backup for various artists such as Etta James, Fontella Bass, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. She also sang lead for […]
It became an American institution. One of the great parts of a generation and growing up in the USA. On July 9, 1956, Dick Clark made his debut as host of Bandstand on Philadelphia TV station WFIL. He took over from Bob Horn, who had been charged with driving while intoxicated during a highly-publicized police […]