More About Music History On This Day
29 Jan 1961
Bob Dylan achieved his dream of meeting his idol Woody Guthrie when Guthrie was on weekend release from hospital where he was being treated for Huntington's Chorea. Dylan told him; ‘I was a Woody Guthrie jukebox’. Guthrie gave Dylan a card which said: ‘I ain't dead yet’.
29 Jan 1964
The Beatles spent the day at Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, The Beatles' only studio recording session for EMI held outside the UK. They recorded new vocals for ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, after EMI's West German branch persuaded Brian Epstein that they would be unable to sell large quantities of records in Germany unless they were recorded in the German language. A translator coached John, Paul, and George, although their familiarity with the German language from their Hamburg days made things much easier.
29 Jan 1967
Jimi Hendrix and The Who appeared at The Saville Theatre, London, England. 20 year-old future Queen guitarist Brian May was in the audience.
29 Jan 1968
The Doors appeared at The Pussy Cat A Go Go, Las Vegas. After the show singer Jim Morrison taunts a security guard in the parking lot by pretending to smoke a joint, resulting in a fight. The police arrive who arrest Morrison and charge him with vagrancy, public drunkenness, and failure to possess sufficient identification.
29 Jan 1969
Fleetwood Mac had their only UK No.1 single with the instrumental 'Albatross' which was composed by guitarist Peter Green. 'Albatross' is the only Fleetwood Mac composition with the distinction of having inspired a Beatles song, 'Sun King' from 1969's Abbey Road.
29 Jan 1972
The triple album The Concert For Bangladesh went to No.1 on the UK album chart. Organised by George Harrison to raise funds for the people caught up in the war and famine from the area. The set featured; Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and members from Badfinger.
29 Jan 1979
16-year-old Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine others when she fired from her house across the street onto the entrance of San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School. Spencer fired the shot's from a .22-caliber rifle her father had given her for Christmas. When asked why she did it, she answered 'I don't like Mondays.' The Boomtown Rats went on to write and recorded a song based on the event.
29 Jan 1983
Australian group Men At Work went to No.1 on the British and American singles and album charts simultaneously with 'Down Under' and 'Business As Usual'. The last artist to achieve this was Rod Stewart in 1971.
29 Jan 1989
Marc Almond started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart' with guest vocals from Gene Pitney, (who also had a hit with the song in 1967).
29 Jan 1992
American blues singer and guitarist Willie Dixon died of heart failure. He wrote the classic songs 'You Shook Me', 'I Can't Quit You Baby', 'Hoochie Coochie Man', 'I Just Want to Make Love to You' and 'Little Red Rooster'. Dixon was a major influence on The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.
29 Jan 1996
George Michael had the UK No.1 single with 'Jesus To A Child', the singers sixth UK No.1 as a solo artist and the first single from his come-back album 'Older', (after lengthy litigation with his record company).
29 Jan 2001
A New York based data company issued a chart listing sales of posthumous albums. The idea came about after radio stations wanted to distinguish between proper recordings when the artists were alive and CD's released after they died. Mike Shalett founder of SoundScan said there was only one problem. What to call the chart. The Top 5 chart had The Doors at No.5, Eva Cassidy at 4, Jimi Hendrix at 3, Bob Marley at 2 and 2Pac at No.1.
29 Jan 2006
Arctic Monkeys went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not'. The Sheffield-based bands album became the fastest-selling debut in chart history after shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week of release. The album's title was taken from a line from the novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning written by Alan Sillitoe.
29 Jan 2009
Singer-songwriter John Martyn died in hospital in Ireland at the age of 60. The folk, blues and funk artist was widely regarded as one of the most soulful and innovative singer-songwriters of his generation and had been cited as an influence by artists as varied as U2, Portishead and Eric Clapton.
29 Jan 2009
Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson made the largest ever leap to number one in US chart history, rising 96 places. Her single, My Life Would Suck Without You, rose from 97 to the top of the Billboard chart after selling 280,000 downloads in its first week of release. A clip from the video for the single was premiered in the commercial break of that week's episode of American Idol.
29 Jan 2010
Sly Stone filed a $50m legal claim against his former manager, alleging fraud and 20 years of stolen royalties. The 66-year-old funk musician of the 1970s group Sly and the Family Stone, claimed in the Los Angeles Superior Court that Jerry Goldstein diverted millions in royalties to fund a lavish lifestyle.
29 Jan 2014
More than 100,000 people signed a petition to deport Canadian citizen Justin Bieber out of America. The campaign followed his arrest earlier this month for drunk driving and driving without a valid license. According to US Government protocol, once a petition has over 100,000 signatures, it must be reviewed by White House staff, who will have to respond to it.
29 Jan 2015
American poet, singer-songwriter, and actor Rod McKuen died aged 81. McKuen's translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songwriter to prominence in the English-speaking world. McKuen's songs sold over 100 million recordings worldwide. His songs have been performed by such diverse artists as Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, Petula Clark, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Andy Williams, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra.
29 Jan 2015
Taylor Swift was seeking to trademark phrases including "this sick beat" and "we never go out of style", in the United States. If granted, the trademark would stop others from using her lyrics on items such as t-shirts, stickers and bags. Other phrases she wants to protect included "nice to meet you, where you been" and "party like it's 1989".
29 Jan 2016
Three weeks after his death, David Bowie lodged 12 albums in the UK top 40, equalling a record set by Elvis Presley in 1977. His last album Blackstar, spent a third week at No.1 with Best of Bowie, Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust all in the Top 10. Bowie's other albums in the top 40 include: Nothing Has Changed (5), Heroes (28), Diamond Dogs (30), Station to Station (32) and Scary Monsters (36).
29 Jan 2019
American singer, songwriter James Ingram died after a long battle with brain cancer age 66. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and charted eight Top 40 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. He had two No.1 singles, the first, a duet with fellow R&B artist Patti Austin, 1982's ‘Baby, Come to Me’ and ‘I Don't Have the Heart’, which became his second No.1 in 1990. He also recorded the song ‘Somewhere Out There’ with Linda Ronstadt for the animated film An American Tail.
29 Jan 2021
American electric blues, Texas blues and jazz blues tenor saxophonist, Grady Gaines died age 86. He performed and recorded with Little Richard in the 1950s and later worked with Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Joe Tex.
29 Jan 2021
Ed Sheeran had paid $28.2 million in tax in the past year according to The Sunday Times Tax List 2021, which features the UK’s 50 biggest taxpayers. The singer had earned a total of $70 million through his various companies in 2020.
29 Jan 2021
Hilton Valentine, original guitarist and founding member of The Animals, died at the age of 77. In 1963 he was recruited to join The Animals alongside Chas Chandler, Alan Price and John Steel. He went on to play on classics like ‘Baby Let Me Take You Home’, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’, ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’, ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’, and on the band's landmark, trans-Atlantic number one cover of the traditional folk song ‘The House of the Rising Sun’.
29 Jan 2021
Grammy-winning English pianist, orchestrator, music producer and songwriter Jeremy Lubbock died aged 89. He moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1977, and worked on Joni Mitchell's album Mingus, and Minnie Riperton's final album Minnie. In following years, he worked with David Foster, Quincy Jones, Chicago, and many others. He won Grammy Awards for his arrangements on Chicago's ‘Hard Habit to Break’ in 1984, and for Celine Dion's ‘When I Fall in Love’.
Bob Dylan achieved his dream of meeting his idol Woody Guthrie when Guthrie was on weekend release from hospital where he was being treated for Huntington's Chorea. Dylan told him; ‘I was a Woody Guthrie jukebox’. Guthrie gave Dylan a card which said: ‘I ain't dead yet’.
29 Jan 1964
The Beatles spent the day at Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, The Beatles' only studio recording session for EMI held outside the UK. They recorded new vocals for ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, after EMI's West German branch persuaded Brian Epstein that they would be unable to sell large quantities of records in Germany unless they were recorded in the German language. A translator coached John, Paul, and George, although their familiarity with the German language from their Hamburg days made things much easier.
29 Jan 1967
Jimi Hendrix and The Who appeared at The Saville Theatre, London, England. 20 year-old future Queen guitarist Brian May was in the audience.
29 Jan 1968
The Doors appeared at The Pussy Cat A Go Go, Las Vegas. After the show singer Jim Morrison taunts a security guard in the parking lot by pretending to smoke a joint, resulting in a fight. The police arrive who arrest Morrison and charge him with vagrancy, public drunkenness, and failure to possess sufficient identification.
29 Jan 1969
Fleetwood Mac had their only UK No.1 single with the instrumental 'Albatross' which was composed by guitarist Peter Green. 'Albatross' is the only Fleetwood Mac composition with the distinction of having inspired a Beatles song, 'Sun King' from 1969's Abbey Road.
29 Jan 1972
The triple album The Concert For Bangladesh went to No.1 on the UK album chart. Organised by George Harrison to raise funds for the people caught up in the war and famine from the area. The set featured; Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and members from Badfinger.
29 Jan 1979
16-year-old Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine others when she fired from her house across the street onto the entrance of San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School. Spencer fired the shot's from a .22-caliber rifle her father had given her for Christmas. When asked why she did it, she answered 'I don't like Mondays.' The Boomtown Rats went on to write and recorded a song based on the event.
29 Jan 1983
Australian group Men At Work went to No.1 on the British and American singles and album charts simultaneously with 'Down Under' and 'Business As Usual'. The last artist to achieve this was Rod Stewart in 1971.
29 Jan 1989
Marc Almond started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart' with guest vocals from Gene Pitney, (who also had a hit with the song in 1967).
29 Jan 1992
American blues singer and guitarist Willie Dixon died of heart failure. He wrote the classic songs 'You Shook Me', 'I Can't Quit You Baby', 'Hoochie Coochie Man', 'I Just Want to Make Love to You' and 'Little Red Rooster'. Dixon was a major influence on The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.
29 Jan 1996
George Michael had the UK No.1 single with 'Jesus To A Child', the singers sixth UK No.1 as a solo artist and the first single from his come-back album 'Older', (after lengthy litigation with his record company).
29 Jan 2001
A New York based data company issued a chart listing sales of posthumous albums. The idea came about after radio stations wanted to distinguish between proper recordings when the artists were alive and CD's released after they died. Mike Shalett founder of SoundScan said there was only one problem. What to call the chart. The Top 5 chart had The Doors at No.5, Eva Cassidy at 4, Jimi Hendrix at 3, Bob Marley at 2 and 2Pac at No.1.
29 Jan 2006
Arctic Monkeys went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not'. The Sheffield-based bands album became the fastest-selling debut in chart history after shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week of release. The album's title was taken from a line from the novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning written by Alan Sillitoe.
29 Jan 2009
Singer-songwriter John Martyn died in hospital in Ireland at the age of 60. The folk, blues and funk artist was widely regarded as one of the most soulful and innovative singer-songwriters of his generation and had been cited as an influence by artists as varied as U2, Portishead and Eric Clapton.
29 Jan 2009
Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson made the largest ever leap to number one in US chart history, rising 96 places. Her single, My Life Would Suck Without You, rose from 97 to the top of the Billboard chart after selling 280,000 downloads in its first week of release. A clip from the video for the single was premiered in the commercial break of that week's episode of American Idol.
29 Jan 2010
Sly Stone filed a $50m legal claim against his former manager, alleging fraud and 20 years of stolen royalties. The 66-year-old funk musician of the 1970s group Sly and the Family Stone, claimed in the Los Angeles Superior Court that Jerry Goldstein diverted millions in royalties to fund a lavish lifestyle.
29 Jan 2014
More than 100,000 people signed a petition to deport Canadian citizen Justin Bieber out of America. The campaign followed his arrest earlier this month for drunk driving and driving without a valid license. According to US Government protocol, once a petition has over 100,000 signatures, it must be reviewed by White House staff, who will have to respond to it.
29 Jan 2015
American poet, singer-songwriter, and actor Rod McKuen died aged 81. McKuen's translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songwriter to prominence in the English-speaking world. McKuen's songs sold over 100 million recordings worldwide. His songs have been performed by such diverse artists as Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, Petula Clark, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Andy Williams, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra.
29 Jan 2015
Taylor Swift was seeking to trademark phrases including "this sick beat" and "we never go out of style", in the United States. If granted, the trademark would stop others from using her lyrics on items such as t-shirts, stickers and bags. Other phrases she wants to protect included "nice to meet you, where you been" and "party like it's 1989".
29 Jan 2016
Three weeks after his death, David Bowie lodged 12 albums in the UK top 40, equalling a record set by Elvis Presley in 1977. His last album Blackstar, spent a third week at No.1 with Best of Bowie, Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust all in the Top 10. Bowie's other albums in the top 40 include: Nothing Has Changed (5), Heroes (28), Diamond Dogs (30), Station to Station (32) and Scary Monsters (36).
29 Jan 2019
American singer, songwriter James Ingram died after a long battle with brain cancer age 66. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and charted eight Top 40 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. He had two No.1 singles, the first, a duet with fellow R&B artist Patti Austin, 1982's ‘Baby, Come to Me’ and ‘I Don't Have the Heart’, which became his second No.1 in 1990. He also recorded the song ‘Somewhere Out There’ with Linda Ronstadt for the animated film An American Tail.
29 Jan 2021
American electric blues, Texas blues and jazz blues tenor saxophonist, Grady Gaines died age 86. He performed and recorded with Little Richard in the 1950s and later worked with Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Joe Tex.
29 Jan 2021
Ed Sheeran had paid $28.2 million in tax in the past year according to The Sunday Times Tax List 2021, which features the UK’s 50 biggest taxpayers. The singer had earned a total of $70 million through his various companies in 2020.
29 Jan 2021
Hilton Valentine, original guitarist and founding member of The Animals, died at the age of 77. In 1963 he was recruited to join The Animals alongside Chas Chandler, Alan Price and John Steel. He went on to play on classics like ‘Baby Let Me Take You Home’, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’, ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’, ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’, and on the band's landmark, trans-Atlantic number one cover of the traditional folk song ‘The House of the Rising Sun’.
29 Jan 2021
Grammy-winning English pianist, orchestrator, music producer and songwriter Jeremy Lubbock died aged 89. He moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1977, and worked on Joni Mitchell's album Mingus, and Minnie Riperton's final album Minnie. In following years, he worked with David Foster, Quincy Jones, Chicago, and many others. He won Grammy Awards for his arrangements on Chicago's ‘Hard Habit to Break’ in 1984, and for Celine Dion's ‘When I Fall in Love’.
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