7 JANUARY
In Music History
1980 Doo-wop singer Carl White (lead vocalist for The Rivingtons) dies of acute tonsillitis in Los Angeles, California, at age 48.
1974 Carly Simon and James Taylor welcome their first child, Sally Taylor.
1973 Sean Paul is born Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques in Kingston, Jamaica.
1972 Bread's soft rock classic "Baby I'm-A Want You" is certified Gold.
1971 The film Performance, starring Mick Jagger, premieres in London two years after its completion.
1970 Max Yasgur, whose farm in upstate New York hosted the original Woodstock Festival, is sued for $35,000 in property damages by neighboring farmers.
1964 Blues musician Cyril Davies (of Blues Incorporated) dies of endocarditis, an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, at age 31, a year after contracting pleurisy, an inflammation of the lining of the lungs.
1963 Gary U.S. Bonds sues Chubby Checker, claiming that Checker's "Dancing Party" is essentially a rewrite of Bonds' hit "Quarter To Three." The case is settled out of court.
1959 Go-Go's guitarist/bassist Kathy Valentine is born in Austin, Texas.
1955 Marian Anderson is the first African-American singer to appear at the Metropolitan Opera. Her performance as Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera breaks barriers for black artists in the States.
1954 Muddy Waters records "Hoochie Coochie Man" at Chess Records in Chicago. It becomes a blues standard, with a feral energy that influences a new sound that's emerging: rock and roll.
1950 Gene Autry's "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," based on a children's book written in 1939, hits #1 on the Billboard singles chart.
1950 Ernest Tubb makes his first appearance at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.
1946 Andy Brown (drummer for The Fortunes) is born in Birmingham, England.
1945 Dave Cousins (lead singer for The Strawbs) is born David Joseph Hindson in Hounslow, Middlesex, England.
Charley Pride Plays The Grand Ole Opry
1967Charley Pride becomes the first African American solo singer to perform at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville. He is invited to perform at the venerable country music mecca after the success of his hit "Just Between You and Me," which makes it to #9 on the Country music chart.
Read more7 JANUARY
Featured Events
2012 Beyoncé and Jay-Z have their first child: a daughter named Blue Ivy Carter.More
1992 Debbie Gibson makes her Broadway debut, playing Eponine in Les Miserables. It's the beginning of a long stage career for Gibson, who goes on to perform in productions of Grease and Beauty and the Beast.
1980 Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door is certified Platinum; it is the last Zep album issued while drummer John Bonham is alive.
1972 The St. Cleve Chronicle reports that a "Major Beat Group" will put music to the epic poem "Thick As A Brick," written by 8-year-old Gerald Bostock. The Society for Literary Advancement and Gestation (SLAG) had disqualified Bostock's poem from their competition, citing an "extremely unwholesome attitude towards life, his God and Country."
1956 Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" hits #1 in America for the first of six weeks, proving there's still room for crooners in the rock era.
1948 Kenny Loggins is born in Everett, Washington, but eventually settles with his family in Alhambra, California.
1946 Magazine magnate Jann Wenner, most famous for his work with Rolling Stone and for his role in establishing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is born in New York City.
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