Good Tuesday morning and welcome to This Day In The History Of Music. Enjoy the read. 1. A). 1926 George Gershwin's musical "Oh, Kay" premieres in NYC. B) In 1928 George and Ira Gershwin's musical "Treasure Girl" premieres in NYC. Gershwin Of Russian and Jewish heritage, George Gershwin grew up in the tenements of New York to become one of the 20th century's most important composers. Gershwin worked as a "song plugger" from the age of 15, his first big hit was the song "Swanee" with words by Irving Caesar. He went on to produce the classical work, "Rhapsody in Blue" in 1924, establishing his ability to mix different musical styles, from classical to jazz to popular music. A number of musicals followed which have become classics including "Funny Face" (1927), "An American in Paris (1928), and "Girl Crazy" (1930), which made stars Ginger Rogers. Many of his musicals were written with his older brother Ira Gershwin as the lyricist, including the opera "Porgy and Bess" which premiered in 1935. In 1936 Gershwin moved to Hollywood to write music for films, winning his sole Academy Award (with brother Ira) for "They Can't Take That Away from Me" from the 1937 film "Shall We Dance". The honor came posthumously, as he died of brain tumor complications before the film's release. George Gershwin was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. The US Postal Service honored George by himself with a commemorative stamp in 1973, and together with his brother Ira in 1999. In 2007, the US Library of Congress established the "Gershwin Prize for Popular Song" in honor of the brothers, awarded to a composer or performer for their lifetime contributions to popular music. 2. On this day in 1952 Al Martino the first ever UK pop chart was published by the New Musical Express after staff asked 53 record shops to divulge their sales returns. ‘Here In My Heart by Al Martino was the first No.1. The song stayed at No.1 for nine weeks. 3. On this day in 1958, The soundtrack to the movie South Pacific went to No.1 on the UK album chart. The film was based on the 1949 musical South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The composers had much say in this recording, with many of the songs performed by accomplished singers rather than the actors in the film. Mitzi Gaynor and Ray Walston (who had played Luther Billis in the original national tour and in the original London production) were the only two leading performers who did their own singing in the film (and on the soundtrack album). The roles of Emile DeBecque, Bloody Mary, and Joe Cable were sung by Giorgio Tozzi, Muriel Smith (who had played the role in the original London production), and Bill Lee, respectively. The album became a major success, reaching No.1 in both the US and UK. In the US, the album stayed at No.1 for seven months - the fourth longest run ever. In the UK, the album remained in the top five for 27 consecutive weeks before reaching No.1 in November 1958. It stayed at the top for a record-breaking 115 weeks (the first 70 of these consecutively—including the whole year of 1959) and remained in the top five for 214 weeks. As of 2006, the album has sold 1,803,681 copies in the United Kingdom. 4. On this day in 1969 ’Something’ the first Beatles A-side composed by George Harrison entered the UK singles chart, it peaked at No.4 in the UK and went on to be a No.1 on the US chart. The song has been covered by over 150 artists, making it the second-most covered Beatles song after 'Yesterday'. 5. On this day in 1971 The untitled fourth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV, was released on 8 November 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was produced by guitarist Jimmy Page and recorded between December 1970 and February 1971, mostly in the country house Headley Grange. The album is notable for featuring "Stairway to Heaven", which has been described as the band's signature song. The informal setting at Headley Grange inspired the band, allowing them to try different arrangements of material and create songs in various styles. After the band's previous album Led Zeppelin III received lukewarm reviews from critics, they decided their fourth album would officially be untitled and would be represented instead by four symbols chosen by each band member, without featuring the name or any other details of the cover. Unlike the prior two albums, the band was joined by some guest musicians, such as vocalist Sandy Denny on "The Battle of Evermore", and pianist Ian Stewart on "Rock and Roll". As with prior albums, most of the material was written by the band, though there was one cover song, a hard rock re-interpretation of the Memphis Minnie blues song "When the Levee Breaks". The album was a commercial and critical success and is Led Zeppelin's best-selling album, shipping over 37 million copies worldwide. It is one of the best-selling albums in the US, and critics have regularly placed it highly on lists of the greatest albums of all time. In 2010, Led Zeppelin IV was one of ten classic album covers from British artists commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail. 6. On this day in1975 David Bowie made his US TV debut performing 'Fame', on the Cher CBS-TV show. Bowie who was living in New York at the time had written the song with John Lennon during a jamming session. 7. On this day in 1986 "Song & Dance" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 474 performances. Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a unifying love story. The "Song" act is Tell Me on a Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York City and Hollywood. The "Dance" act is a ballet choreographed to Variations, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber for his cellist brother Julian, which is based on the A Minor Caprice No. 24 by Paganini. 8. On this day in 1986 Berlin started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Take My Breath Away. The song which was featured in the film Top Gun was written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1986. 9. On this day in 1990 "Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak, released from his third album, Heart Shaped World (1989). Despite being released as a single in July 1989, it did not become a hit until it was featured in the 1990 David Lynch film Wild at Heart, starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. Lee Chesnut, an Atlanta radio station music director who loved David Lynch films, began playing the song, and it quickly became an American top-10 hit in January 1991, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first hit song of Isaak's career. The single also became a number-one hit in Belgium and reached the top 10 in several other nations. "Wicked Game" has been covered by many other artists and has been featured in numerous movies and television series and advertisements, so much so that Dazed magazine questioned whether it might be the most influential love song in modern music. It has subsequently received retrospective critical acclaim, being listed in the 2010 book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, and noted by Dave Marsh in an updated edition of his 1989 book The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. 10. On this day in 1998 Robbie Williams scored his second UK No.1 album with 'I've Been Expecting You. The album, which featured his UK No.1 hit 'Millennium', went on to become the UK's best-selling album for that year with sales now over 2.5m. 11. On this day in 1999 Sacred Arias, is the sixth studio album by Andrea Bocelli. The album, featuring music composed in traditional Christian styles, is not only Bocelli's most commercially successful classical album to date with over 5 million copies sold but also the biggest-selling classical album by any solo artist in history. Bocelli was accompanied by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, conducted by Myung-whun Chung. 12. On this day in 2001 Winners at the MTV Europe Awards included Robbie Williams who won Best male and Best song for 'Rock DJ', Craig David won Best R&B act and Best UK & Ireland act, Dido won Best new act and Anastacia won Best pop act. Gorillaz won Best song for ‘Clint Eastwood’ and Best Dance act and Eminem won the Best Hip Hop award. 13. On this day in 2004 Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by Shania Twain, released by Mercury Nashville. The album contains seventeen hits from each of all of her studio albums, with the exception of her debut album, and three new tracks, with each of them becoming singles; "Party for Two", which hit the top ten in US country, UK and Germany, "Don't!" and "I Ain't No Quitter". Greatest Hits was commercially successful; It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart and at number one on the Top Country Albums chart with 530,000 copies sold, staying there for 11 consecutive weeks. The album was also the highest-selling country album in the US for 2005 and was certified 4× platinum in the US and 2× platinum in the UK. Additionally, Greatest Hits was recognized by Guinness World Records as the fastest-selling greatest hits album by a female artist in the US. As of December 2019, the album has sold 4.4 million copies in the US. 14. On this day in 2007 Four men were arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice after Police raided a house in Camden, London belonging to singer Amy Winehouse. The arrests were in connection with a court case involving Ms. Winehouse's husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who faced charges of causing grievous bodily harm. 15. On this day in 2008 AC/DC started a two-week run at #1 on the US album chart with 'Black Ice' the band's fifteenth studio album and the second-best-selling album of 2008. Black Ice went to #1 in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US. 16. On this day in 2009 Former Smiths frontman Morrissey stopped a concert halfway through his second song after being hit by a beer bottle. The 50-year-old singer who was hit in the eye by a plastic bottle of beer, said goodnight to the 8,000-strong crowd in Liverpool, England before walking off. 17. On this day in 2016 Adele more than doubled how much she's worth to be crowned the richest British celebrity under 30. She knocked One Direction off the top spot after their three-year run in the first place and was now reported to have an estimated £92m in the bank. Last year the 28-year-old was in fourth place on Heat's list of the 30 richest British stars under 30. Born On This Day In The Music World. 1. Born on this day in 1590 Francesco Gonzaga, an Italian composer, was born in Mantua, Italy (d. 1628) 2. Born on this day in 1927 Ken Dodd, was a British singer, and comedian. His 1965 UK No.1 single 'Tears' topped the UK singles chart for five weeks becoming the biggest hit single in Britain that year and selling over a million copies in the UK alone. The recording is the third best-selling song of the 1960s in Britain. In the 1960s, his fame in the UK was such that he rivaled The Beatles as a household name. He died on 11 March 2018 at age 90. 3. Born on this day in 1927 American singer of pop and country music singer Patti Page, was one of the most popular artists of the 1950s. She recorded four US No.1 hits, including 'Tennessee Waltz' and the novelty record '(How Much Is That) Doggie In The Window. Page recorded her first hit single, 'Confess' in 1947. Because of a strike, background singers were not available to provide harmony vocals for the song, so instead, Page decided to overdub her own, thus, Page became the first pop artist to overdub her vocals on a song. Page died on 1 January 2013 at the age of 85. 4. Born on this day in 1929 American songwriter and producer Bert Berns. He wrote many classic songs including 'Twist And Shout, 'Hang On Sloopy', ‘Here Comes the Night, ‘I Want Candy’, ‘Under the Boardwalk’, ‘Everybody Needs Somebody to Love and 'Brown Eyed Girl. Berns died of heart failure on December 30 aged 38. 5. Born on this day in 1944 Bonnie Bramlett, Delaney, and Bonnie, (1971 US No.13 single 'Never Ending Song Of Love, worked with Eric Clapton during the early 70s, acting roles in 'Fame', 'Roseanne' and 'The Doors'). 6. Born on this day in 1946 Roy Wood, guitar, and vocals, with British rock band The Move who had the 1969 UK No.1 single 'Blackberry Way' and hits with 'I Can Hear The Grass Grow', 'Flowers in the Rain' and 'Fire Brigade'. And Wizzard scored the 1973 UK No.1 single 'See My Baby Jive'. Wood sang backing vocals on 'You Got Me Floatin'' a track on The Jimi Hendrix Experience Axis: Bold as Love album. 7. Born on this day in 1946 Australian-born songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist John Farrar has been a member of The Strangers, Marvin, Welch & Farrar, and The Shadows. He wrote the No.1 hit singles for Olivia Newton-John, 'Have You Have Never Been Mellow' and 'You're the One That I Want with John Travolta. 8. Born on this day in 1954 American vocalist, musician, and songwriter, Rickie Lee Jones is a two-time Grammy Award winner. Her 1979 single 'Chuck E.'s In Love was a No.4 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. 9. Born on this day in 1957 Porl Thompson, with English rock band The Cure had the 1989 US No.2 single 'Love Song', the 1992 UK No.6 single 'Friday I'm In Love, plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles. 10. Born on this day in 1958 Terry Lee Miall, from the English rock band Adam and the Ants scored the 1981 UK No.1 single 'Stand And Deliver and 15 other UK Top 40 singles. 11. Born on this day in 1977 Tiffani Wood, Australian singer, and songwriter, from Bardot, winner of the Australian Popstars reality show, had the 2000 Australian No.1 single ‘Poison’, and 2000 Australian No.1 self-titled album. Now solo. 12. Born on this day in 1985 Jack Osbourne, son of Ozzy and star of MTV The Osbournes TV Show. 13. Born on this day in 1990 SZA is an American R&B singer-songwriter ("All the Stars", Ctrl), who was born in St. Louis, Missouri. 14. Born on this day in 1994 Lauren Alaina, American singer-songwriter (American Idol), was born in Rossville, Georgia. Have a great Tuesday, take care, and stay safe.
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