More About Music History On This Day
23 Mar 1964
John Lennon's book of verse and rhyme 'In His Own Write' was published in the UK. Some of the content was first published in Lennon's 'Beachcomber' column in the Liverpool weekly paper Mersey Beat.
23 Mar 1967
At a ceremony held at the Playhouse Theatre in London, The Beatles were awarded three Ivor Novello awards for 1966: Best-selling British single ‘Yellow Submarine’, most-performed song ‘Michelle’, and next-most-performed song 'Yesterday'. None of the Beatles attended and the winning songs were played by Joe Loss and his Orchestra. The lead vocal for ‘Michelle’ was sung by Ross MacManus, whose son would go on to become the professional musician Elvis Costello.
23 Mar 1972
The film of The Concert For Bangladesh featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton premiered in New York. The event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history. The concert raised $243,418.51 for Bangladesh relief, which was administered by UNICEF. Sales of the album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.
23 Mar 1974
Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross entered the UK singles chart with ‘You Are Everything’ which was originally recorded by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics. Released as the second UK single from the Diana & Marvin album, the song reached No.5 in the UK Singles Chart in this year.
23 Mar 1977
Elvis Presley appeared at the Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. This was the first date of 49 date US tour over three months and Presley's last ever tour. (His last ever show was on 26th June 1977 at the Indianapolis Indiana Market Square Arena).
23 Mar 1985
Former Creedence Clearwater Revival front man John Fogerty went to No.1 on the US album chart with his third solo studio album Centerfield. This was Fogerty's first album in nine years after he decided to take a long break from the music business because of legal battles with his record company.
23 Mar 1985
Billy Joel married model Christie Brinkley on a boat moored alongside the Statue Of Liberty. They divorced in 1993.
23 Mar 1991
R.E.M. scored their first UK No.1 album with their seventh LP Out Of Time featuring the singles 'Losing My Religion' (which became R.E.M.'s highest-charting hit in the US, reaching No.4), and 'Shiny Happy People.' The video for 'Losing My Religion' won two Grammy Awards and six MTV Awards.
23 Mar 1995
British singer Alan Barton of died aged 41 from injuries incurred when Smokie's tour bus crashed during a hailstorm in Cologne, Germany. With Black Lace he had the 1984 UK No.2 single 'Agadoo.' Black Lace represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 in which they finished in seventh position. ‘Agadoo’ earned them the dubious accolade of being voted as the worst song of all time by a panel of music writers for Q Magazine. Barton replaced Chris Norman in Smokie in 1986, recording six albums with them.
23 Mar 1996
Celine Dion went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Because You Loved Me', her second US No.1, a No.5 hit in UK. The Diane Warren song was taken from the film Up Close And Personal starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. And on the same day her album 'Falling Into You' went to No.1 on the UK album chart.
23 Mar 2005
'(Is This The Way To) Amarillo' by Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay was the No.1 UK single, 'Candy Shop' by 50 Cent was at No.1 on the US chart and 'Almost Here' by Delta Goodrem and Brian McFadden was at No.1 on the Australian singles chart.
23 Mar 2008
Neil Aspinall, who ran the Apple Corps music empire for the Beatles from 1970 - 2007 died at a hospital in New York from cancer aged 66. A school friend of Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he was regarded by some of the band as the 'fifth Beatle' becoming The Beatles road manager in 1961 before becoming their personal assistant. He led the legal battle with Apple computers over the use of the Apple name and a royalties dispute between the Beatles and record label EMI. Aspinall had also played background instruments on Beatles tracks including 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'Within You Without You' and 'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite.'
23 Mar 2011
The Who's Pete Townshend told Uncut magazine that he regretted ever forming the band. 'What would I have done differently? I would never have joined a band. Even though I am quite a good gang member and a good trooper on the road, I am bad at creative collaboration.'
23 Mar 2014
Canadian musician Dave Brockie died. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar. Brockie was found dead, his body sitting upright in a chair in his home, by a band member. The cause of death was determined to be a heroin overdose.
23 Mar 2015
British artist Lil' Chris was found dead in Suffolk at the age of 24. Chris Hardman first rose to fame on the UK reality show Rock School in 2006 when he was just 15 years old. He later released a hit single, 'Checkin' It Out,' which reached No.3 on the UK singles chart.
23 Mar 2016
Gloria Gaynor's hit 'I Will Survive' was selected to enter the US National Recording Registry. It joined Metallica's Master of Puppets and Mahler's Symphony No 9 on the list of culturally significant recordings.
23 Mar 2021
Grammy-winning record producer Ethel Gabriel passed away in New York aged 99. A trailblazer for women in the music industry, she was one of the first women to work as a record producer. “We had a son-of-a-gun president at RCA who was not favorable to women in the industry,” she said in 1992. “He put me in charge of the Camden label, the economy line subsidiary, because it was supposed to fold. I’m sure he thought it was a way to get rid of me. Well, I made a multimillion-dollar line out of it, conceived, programed and produced everything.”
John Lennon's book of verse and rhyme 'In His Own Write' was published in the UK. Some of the content was first published in Lennon's 'Beachcomber' column in the Liverpool weekly paper Mersey Beat.
23 Mar 1967
At a ceremony held at the Playhouse Theatre in London, The Beatles were awarded three Ivor Novello awards for 1966: Best-selling British single ‘Yellow Submarine’, most-performed song ‘Michelle’, and next-most-performed song 'Yesterday'. None of the Beatles attended and the winning songs were played by Joe Loss and his Orchestra. The lead vocal for ‘Michelle’ was sung by Ross MacManus, whose son would go on to become the professional musician Elvis Costello.
23 Mar 1972
The film of The Concert For Bangladesh featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton premiered in New York. The event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history. The concert raised $243,418.51 for Bangladesh relief, which was administered by UNICEF. Sales of the album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.
23 Mar 1974
Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross entered the UK singles chart with ‘You Are Everything’ which was originally recorded by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics. Released as the second UK single from the Diana & Marvin album, the song reached No.5 in the UK Singles Chart in this year.
23 Mar 1977
Elvis Presley appeared at the Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. This was the first date of 49 date US tour over three months and Presley's last ever tour. (His last ever show was on 26th June 1977 at the Indianapolis Indiana Market Square Arena).
23 Mar 1985
Former Creedence Clearwater Revival front man John Fogerty went to No.1 on the US album chart with his third solo studio album Centerfield. This was Fogerty's first album in nine years after he decided to take a long break from the music business because of legal battles with his record company.
23 Mar 1985
Billy Joel married model Christie Brinkley on a boat moored alongside the Statue Of Liberty. They divorced in 1993.
23 Mar 1991
R.E.M. scored their first UK No.1 album with their seventh LP Out Of Time featuring the singles 'Losing My Religion' (which became R.E.M.'s highest-charting hit in the US, reaching No.4), and 'Shiny Happy People.' The video for 'Losing My Religion' won two Grammy Awards and six MTV Awards.
23 Mar 1995
British singer Alan Barton of died aged 41 from injuries incurred when Smokie's tour bus crashed during a hailstorm in Cologne, Germany. With Black Lace he had the 1984 UK No.2 single 'Agadoo.' Black Lace represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 in which they finished in seventh position. ‘Agadoo’ earned them the dubious accolade of being voted as the worst song of all time by a panel of music writers for Q Magazine. Barton replaced Chris Norman in Smokie in 1986, recording six albums with them.
23 Mar 1996
Celine Dion went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Because You Loved Me', her second US No.1, a No.5 hit in UK. The Diane Warren song was taken from the film Up Close And Personal starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. And on the same day her album 'Falling Into You' went to No.1 on the UK album chart.
23 Mar 2005
'(Is This The Way To) Amarillo' by Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay was the No.1 UK single, 'Candy Shop' by 50 Cent was at No.1 on the US chart and 'Almost Here' by Delta Goodrem and Brian McFadden was at No.1 on the Australian singles chart.
23 Mar 2008
Neil Aspinall, who ran the Apple Corps music empire for the Beatles from 1970 - 2007 died at a hospital in New York from cancer aged 66. A school friend of Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he was regarded by some of the band as the 'fifth Beatle' becoming The Beatles road manager in 1961 before becoming their personal assistant. He led the legal battle with Apple computers over the use of the Apple name and a royalties dispute between the Beatles and record label EMI. Aspinall had also played background instruments on Beatles tracks including 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'Within You Without You' and 'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite.'
23 Mar 2011
The Who's Pete Townshend told Uncut magazine that he regretted ever forming the band. 'What would I have done differently? I would never have joined a band. Even though I am quite a good gang member and a good trooper on the road, I am bad at creative collaboration.'
23 Mar 2014
Canadian musician Dave Brockie died. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar. Brockie was found dead, his body sitting upright in a chair in his home, by a band member. The cause of death was determined to be a heroin overdose.
23 Mar 2015
British artist Lil' Chris was found dead in Suffolk at the age of 24. Chris Hardman first rose to fame on the UK reality show Rock School in 2006 when he was just 15 years old. He later released a hit single, 'Checkin' It Out,' which reached No.3 on the UK singles chart.
23 Mar 2016
Gloria Gaynor's hit 'I Will Survive' was selected to enter the US National Recording Registry. It joined Metallica's Master of Puppets and Mahler's Symphony No 9 on the list of culturally significant recordings.
23 Mar 2021
Grammy-winning record producer Ethel Gabriel passed away in New York aged 99. A trailblazer for women in the music industry, she was one of the first women to work as a record producer. “We had a son-of-a-gun president at RCA who was not favorable to women in the industry,” she said in 1992. “He put me in charge of the Camden label, the economy line subsidiary, because it was supposed to fold. I’m sure he thought it was a way to get rid of me. Well, I made a multimillion-dollar line out of it, conceived, programed and produced everything.”
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