15 APRIL
In Music History
1966 The Rolling Stones release the album Aftermath, which includes "Mother's Little Helper" and "Under My Thumb."
1966 Buffalo Springfield play their first concert when they open for The Byrds in San Bernardino, California.
1966 Samantha Fox, known for her ti... we mean, hits, "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" and "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)," is born in London.
1965 Songwriter Linda Perry, whose compositions include "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera and "Superwoman" by Alicia Keys, is born in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1948 UFO frontman Phil Mogg is born in Wood Green, London.
1947 Mike Chapman is born in Queensland, Australia. After moving to England and teaming up with Nicky Chinn, he becomes a top songwriter and producer, responsible for the hits "Devil Gate Drive," "Ballroom Blitz" and "A Touch Too Much." After moving to America in 1975, his hits continue with "Kiss You All Over" and "Love Is A Battlefield."
1944 Dave Edmunds is born in Cardiff, Wales. He forms the band Rockpile with Nick Lowe and has a number of hits as a solo artist, including a #1 UK cover of "I Hear You Knocking."
1940 Saxophonist Clarence Satchell (of The Ohio Players) is born in Cleveland, Ohio.
1939 Pop singer-songwriter Marty Wilde is born Reginald Leonard Smith in Blackheath, South London, England.
1937 Country singer-songwriter Bob Luman ("Let's Think About Living") is born in Blackjack, Texas.
1934 Pop-folk vocalist Tim Feild (of The Springfields) is born in Hascombe, Surrey, England.
1933 Country musician and Hee Haw host Roy Clark is born in Meherrin, Virginia.
1927 15 inches of rain falls on New Orleans in 18 hours, later inspiring the Randy Newman song "Louisiana 1927."
1894 Blues singer Bessie Smith is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1861 Poet William Bliss Carman ("Soft Was The Wind") is born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
15 APRIL
Featured Events
2012 A virtual Tupac Shakur performs at the Coachella festival, rapping "Hail Mary" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" before disappearing in a flash. Often reported as a hologram, the technology used to bring Tupac to life is later revealed to be a system of mirrors, glass and computer animation.
1989 Roy Orbison's posthumous single "You Got It" climbs to #9 in America four months after his death. It's his first Top 10 hit in that country since "(Oh) Pretty Woman" in 1964.
1972 Billy Joel plays a concert at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia which is broadcast by the local radio station WMMR. After the show, the station puts his performance of "Captain Jack" in rotation, and Joel builds a following. This leads to a contract with Columbia Records, which releases Joel's breakthrough album, Piano Man, in 1973.
1972 Roberta Flack's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" hits #1 in America, where it stays for six weeks. The song was written by Ewan MacColl in 1957.
1971 The Beatles win their only Oscar, taking Best Original Song Score for their movie Let It Be.
1967 Nancy and Frank Sinatra's "Somethin' Stupid" goes to #1 in America for the first of four weeks. It's the only father-daughter duet ever to top the Hot 100.
1964 After a long day of filming their first movie, Ringo Starr tells the other Beatles it's been "a hard day's night." John Lennon turns the phrase into a song, and the movie title is changed from Beatlemania! to A Hard Day's Night.
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