What Happened Today In Music

May 9th

1959 - Melody Maker

UK music paper Melody Maker introduced a Juke Box Top 20 Chart compiled from 200 Juke Boxes around the UK.

1964 - Gene Vincent

Gene Vincent and the Shouts appeared at The Rhodes Centre, Bishop's Gate, England. The poster advertised that the first 50 girls would be admitted free; tickets cost six shillings and six pence, ($0.94).

1964 - Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry began his first ever UK tour at The Astoria Theatre, London, supported by The Animals, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Karl Denver and the Nashville Teens.

1964 - Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Hello Dolly' making him the oldest artist to hit No.1 at the age of 62. In 2011, 85 year-old Tony Bennett broke this record when his Duets album topped the US album chart.

1965 - Bob Dylan

During a UK tour Bob Dylan played the first of two sold out nights at London's Royal Albert Hall. All four members of The Beatles were in the audience.

1966 - The Doors

The Doors played at the Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, California auditioning for the position of the venue's house band.

1967 - Sandie Shaw

Sandie Shaw was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Puppet On A String'. This week's two highest new entries were Jimi Hendrixwith 'The Wind Cries Mary' and The Kinks 'Waterloo Sunset'.

1969 - George Harrison

Beatles guitarist George Harrison's experimental album Electronic Sound was released on Zapple records.

1970 - Guess Who

Guess Who started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'American Woman', it was the group's sixth Top 30 hit and only chart topper. The song was born by accident when guitarist Randy Bachman was playing a heavy riff on stage after he had broken a string, the other members joined in on the jam. A fan in the audience who had recorded the gig on tape presented it to the group after the show and they developed it into a full song.

1973 - Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger added $150,000 of his own money to the $350,000 by The Rolling Stones January benefit concert for victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.

1974 - Bruce Springsteen

Bonnie Raitt played two shows at Harvard Square Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts; opening act was Bruce Springsteenand the E Street Band. Rolling Stone critic John Landau saw Springsteen and wrote 'I have seen rock & roll's future and his name is Bruce Springsteen'.

1978 - Fee Waybill

Fee Waybill of The Tubes, broke a leg after falling from the stage at the Hammersmith Odeon, London whilst wielding a chainsaw during the bands set. See - Accidents Will Happen 

1980 - Ivor Novello

'I Don't Like Mondays' by The Boomtown Rats won the best pop song and outstanding British lyric categories at the 25th Ivor Novello Awards. And Supertramp's 'The Logical Song' won Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldoff was inspired to write the song after reading about the tragic shooting spree when 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.

1981 - Adam And The Ants

Adam and the Ants were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Stand And Deliver.' The song enjoyed a five-week run at No.1.

1987 - Starship

Starship started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with a song co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.' At 48, it made lead singer Grace Slick the oldest female to reach No.1 on the UK chart, (later broken by Cher's 'Believe' in 1999).

1992 - Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen made his North American network television debut on Saturday Night Live with host Tom Hanks.

1998 - Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page appeared on US TV's 'Saturday Night Live' with rapper Sean 'Puffy' Combs and performed 'Come With Me' from the 'Godzilla' movie soundtrack. The song sampled the guitar riff from Led Zeppelin's song 'Kashmir'.

2008 - Foxy Brown

Foxy Brown avoided a further spell in prison after pleading guilty in a New York court to menacing her neighbour with a BlackBerry phone. The 28-year-old rapper admitted hitting Arlene Raymond during an argument over the volume of her car stereo last July. The incident landed the star in prison for violating the terms of her probation on a separate assault charge.

2013 - David Bowie

David Bowie's latest video, which starred Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, was temporarily pulled from YouTube over its graphic content. "The Next Day" featured heavy religious imagery, including Cotillard bleeding from stigmata marks. The video sees Bowie performing in a basement bar, surrounded by religious figures, while Oldman, dressed as a priest, punches a beggar before dancing with a prostitute, played by Oscar-winner Cotillard. YouTube admitted making the "wrong call" in removing the video, and reinstated it with an adult content warning.

2017 - Robert Miles

Swiss-born Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ Robert Miles died in Ibiza, Spain at the age of 47 after a 9-month battle with stage 4 metastatic cancer. He was best known for his 1996 hit 'Children' which reached No.1 in more than 12 countries.

Born Today In Music

May 9th

1914 - Hank Snow

Canadian-American country music artist Hank Snow who scored more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980. Snow died on December 20, 1999.

1935 - Nokie Edwards

American musician Nokie Edwards, from The Ventures, who had the 1960 UK No.4 single 'Perfidia', and the 1960 US No.2 'Walk Don't Run'.

1937 - Dave Prater

American Southern soul and rhythm & blues singer Dave Prater, from Sam & Dave who had the 1967 US No.2 and UK No 24 & 1967 US No.2 single 'Soul Man'. Prater was killed on 9th April 1988 when his car left the road and hit a tree in Syracuse, Georgia.

1937 - Sonny Curtis

Sonny Curtis, from American rock and roll band The Crickets, who had the 1957 US No.1 single 'That'll Be The Day', the 1959 UK No.1 single 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles. He wrote 'Walk Right Back', which was a 1960 hit for the Everly Brothers.

1941 - Danny Rapp

Danny Rapp, American musician and the frontman from doo-wop and rock and roll vocal group Danny and the Juniors famous for their 1958 US No.1 & UK No.3 single 'At The Hop'. Rapp shot himself dead in a hotel in Arizona on 5th April 1983 a few weeks short of his 42nd birthday.

1941 - Pete Birrell

Pete Birrell, from the 1960s pop band Freddie and the Dreamers. They scored the 1963 UK No.3 single 'You Were made For Me', and the 1965 US No.1 single 'I'm Telling You Now'.

1942 - Mike Millward

Mike Millward, from English Merseybeat band The Fourmost who had the 1964 UK No.6 single 'A Little Loving'. He died on 7th April 1998.

1943 - Tommy Roe

American pop singer, songwriter Tommy Roe, singer, who scored the 1962 hit 'Sheila' and the 1969 UK & US No.1 single 'Dizzy' as well as 10 other US Top 40 hits.

1944 - Richie Furay

American singer, songwriter Richie Furay who with Buffalo Springfield had the 1967 US No.17 single 'For What It's Worth', with Poco the 1979 US No. 17 single 'Crazy Love', and with The Souther, Hillman, Furay Band the 1974 US No.27 single 'Fallin' In Love'.

1944 - Don Dannemann

Don Dannemann, from American rock and roll band Cyrkle who had the 1966 US No.2 single 'Red Rubber Ball'. They were signed by Brian Epstein and supported The Beatles on their 1966 US tour.

1945 - Steve Katz

Steve Katz, guitarist from jazz-rock American music group Blood Sweat & Tears. They scored the 1969 US No.2 single 'Spinning Wheel', and the 1969 US No.12 single 'You've Made Me So Very Happy'. They had a US No.1 with their second album Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1968.

1949 - Billy Joel

American singer-songwriter Billy Joel who had the 1980 US No.1 single 'It's Still Rock And Roll To Me', the 1983 UK No.1 single 'Uptown Girl', plus over 20 other US & UK Top 40 singles and 4 US No.1 albums.

1950 - Tom Petersson

Tom Petersson, bassist from American rock band, Cheap Trick, who had the 1979 hit single 'I Want You To Want Me', and the 1988 US No.1 single 'The Flame'.

1953 - John Edwards

John Edwards, bassist with Status Quo. The group have had over 60 chart hits in the UK, more than any other rock band, including 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' in 1967, 'Whatever You Want' in 1979 and 'In the Army Now' in 2010. Twenty-two of these reached the Top 10 in the UK. In July 1985 the band opened Live Aid at Wembley Stadium with 'Rockin' All Over the World'.

1960 - Marc Duncan

Marc Duncan, from British punk rock band The Vibrators who had the 1978 UK No.35 single 'Automatic Lover'.

1962 - Dave Gahan

Dave Gahan, singer, songwriter with English electronic band Depeche Mode. The group have had 50 songs in the UK Singles Chart and seventeen top 10 albums in the UK chart and have sold over 100 million records worldwide.

1962 - Paul Heaton

Singer, songwriter Paul Heaton from English alternative rock band The Housemartins. The group's a cappella cover version of 'Caravan of Love' (originally by Isley-Jasper-Isley) was a UK No.1 single in December 1986. And with The Beautiful South had the 1990 UK No.1 single 'A Little Time' plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles.

1965 - Charley Drayton

Charley Drayton American multi-instrumentalist known primarily as a drummer. Artists he has worked with include Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Johnny Cash, Chaka Khan, Mariah Carey, Seal, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Janet Jackson and Courtney Love. Drayton played with Australian rock band Divinyls from 1991–2008. He married Divinyls front woman Chrissy Amphlett who died on April 21, 2013 after a long battle with breast cancer.

1971 - Paul McGuigan

English musician Paul 'Guigsy' McGuigan, one of the four founder members of Oasis. He was the group's bassist from 1991 to 1999. Their 1994 UK No.1 album Definitely Maybe became the fastest selling UK debut album ever.

1975 - Ryan Vikedal

Ryan 'Nik' Vikedal, drummer from Canadian rock band, Nickelback who had the 2002 US No.1 & UK No. 4 single 'How To Remind You', and the 2001 album Silver Side Up. Nickelback is one of the most commercially successful Canadian groups, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide.