June 17th 1946, Born on this day, Barry Manilow, (born Barry Alan Pincus) US singer, songwriter, (1975 US No.1 & UK No.11 single 'Mandy', also wrote 'Could It Be Magic', and 'Copacabana.' Has scored over 25 US Top 40 singles selling over 75 million records...
June 17th 1976, Blondie released their debut single 'X Offender'. Written by Gary Valentine and Debbie Harry, the title of the song was originally 'Sex Offender', written about an 18-year-old boy being arrested for having sex with his younger girlfriend....
16th June 1972, David Bowie released his fifth studio album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars a concept album telling the story of a fictional bisexual alien rock star named Ziggy Stardust. The album which reached No.5 in the...
16th June 1986, The Smiths released their third studio album The Queen Is Dead. The album spent twenty-two weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number two. The album is considered to be a defining album of the 1980s, as well as one of the greatest...
June 16th 1941, Born on this day, American songwriter and record producer Lamont Dozier, (Holland/Dozier/Holland), who wrote many hits for Motown records, (14 US Billboard No.1 hits), including The Supremes, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves & The...
15th June 1996, US jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, California, aged 79. Already blinded by the effects of diabetes, Fitzgerald had both her legs amputated in 1993. Winner of 13 Grammy Awards, the 1956 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole...
15th June 1941, Born on this day, Harry Nilsson, US singer, songwriter, (1972 UK & US No.1 single with his version of The Badfinger song 'Without You', 1969 US No.6 single 'Everybody's Talkin' from the film Midnight Cowboy'). The Monkees, Three Dog Night...
June 15th 1933, Born on this day Waylon Jennings. Jennings worked as a DJ, played bass with Buddy Holly, Jennings unintentionally missing flying with Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens on the flight on which they died. In 1976 he released the album...
14th June 1995, Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher died after a chest infection set in following a liver transplant. Had been a member of Taste before going solo, sold over 30m albums worldwide. Voted Melody Maker's Top Musician of the Year in 1972, auditioned...
June 14th 1949, Born on this day, Jim Lea, English musician, bass, piano, violin with Slade who scored the 1971 UK No.1 single 'Coz I Luv You', plus five other UK No.1 hits and 18 UK Top 40 hit singles. Lea has since released a number of singles under...
June 13th 1970, The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Long And Winding Road', the group's 20th US No.1. The album 'Let It Be' started a four-week run at No.1 the US album chart on the same day. The 12th and final...
June 13th 1975, Peter Frampton played the first of two nights at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, California. Recordings from these two shows were used as part of his No.1 double album 'Frampton Comes Alive'. It became the best-selling album of...
June 13th 1995, Alanis Morissette released her studio album, Jagged Little Pill. The album went on to sell over 30 million copies world-wide, and made Morissette the first female Canadian to score a US No.1 album. 'Jagged Little Pill' featured the massive...
12th June 1964, The Beatles arrived in Adelaide, Australia and were greeted by an estimated 250,000 fans, (the biggest welcome the band would ever receive), who lined the ten mile route from the airport to the city centre. The group gave their first four...
12th June 1941, Born on this day, Reg Presley, singer, The Troggs, (1966 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Wild Thing'). Wrote ‘Love Is All Around’, covered by Wet Wet Wet in 1994, which stayed at No.1 in the UK Singles Chart for fifteen weeks. In 1990 Presley...
June 12th 1967, Bob Dylan's album Greatest Hits peaked at No.10 in the US chart. The cover photograph of the album was taken by Rowland Scherman at Dylan's November 28th, 1965, concert in Washington, D.C., winning the 1967 Grammy award for Best Album...
June 12th 1970, David Bowie released the single 'Memory of a Free Festival', which featured guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer Mick Woodmansey's studio debut with Bowie's band, bringing together the line-up that would shortly record The Man Who Sold the...
June 10th 2009, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page was inducted into the Mojo Hall Of Fame at the magazine's award ceremony. Singer Richard Hawley won the best album prize, while Kasabian's single ‘Fire’ was named song of the year. Mojo had become the...
Happy birthday to Frank Beard, born on 11th June 1949, American drummer with ZZ Top, (1984 US No.8 & 1985 UK No.16 single 'Legs'). Beard is notable as being the only musician in the band without a long beard, an ironic fact considering his last name....
11th June 1967, Printed in this week's music weekly Melody Maker's ad's pages, 'Freaky lead guitarist, bass and drummer wanted for Marc Bolan's new group. Also any other astral flyers like with car's amplification and that which never grows in window...
June 11th 1960, Drummer Tommy Moore made the fateful decision to quit The Beatles and return to his job of driving a forklift at Garston bottle works. He was briefly replaced by Norman Chapman, who was called into National Service after just three gigs....
28th July 1960, Roy Orbison entered the UK chart with 'Only The Lonely', which went on to give Roy his first of 3 UK chart toppers. As an operatic rock ballad, it was a sound unheard of at the time, and is seen as a seminal event in the evolution of Rock...
July 28th 1956, Gene Vincent made his first appearance on national TV in the US on The Perry Como Show. Vincent had released ‘Woman Love’ the previous month, but it was the B-side, ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula,’ that eventually made the top 10. The song had been purchased...
28th July 1945, Born on this day, Rick Wright, keyboards, vocals, Pink Floyd (1973 US No.1 & UK No.2 album 'Dark Side Of The Moon', spent a record breaking 741 weeks on the US chart. 1979 UK and US No.1 single 'Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)'. Pink...
10th June 2004, US singer, songwriter Ray Charles died aged 73. Glaucoma rendered Charles blind at the age of six. He scored the 1962 UK & US No.1 single 'I Can't Stop Loving You' plus over 30 other US Top 40 singles and the 2005 US No.1 album 'Genius...
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