17 MARCH
In Music History
1959 Mike Lindup (keyboardist, singer for Level 42) is born in London, England.
1958 The Coasters record "Yakety Yak."
1956 Carl Perkins makes his first TV appearance, on the Ozark Jamboree.
1955 Sarah Vaughan records "Whatever Lola Wants."
1951 Scott Gorham (of Thin Lizzy, Supertramp) is born in Glendale, California.
1948 Fran Byrne (drummer for Ace) is born in Dublin, Ireland.
1946 Harold Ray Brown (percussionist, vocalist for War) is born in Long Beach, California.
1944 Pattie Boyd is born in Taunton, Somerset, England. She would later marry George Harrison and Eric Clapton, and also inspire the song "Layla."
1944 John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful is born in New York City.
1941 Paul Kantner, a founding member of Jefferson Airplane, is born in San Francisco.
1938 Zola Taylor (of The Platters) is born in Los Angeles, California.
1935 Pop singer/drummer Adam Wade is born Patrick Henry Wade in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Known for "Take Good Care Of Her" (1961), among other hits.
1919 Nat King Cole is born Nathaniel Adams Cole in Montgomery, Alabama, but would be raised in Chicago, Illinois.
First Ever Greatest Hits Album Released Courtesy of Johnny Mathis
1958The first "Greatest Hits" compilation is released, and it's by Johnny Mathis. It's a huge hit, and the format catches on quickly. The Mathis album stays in the Billboard 200 album chart for over nine years, a record not broken until Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.
Read more17 MARCH
Featured Events
2010 Big Star lead singer Alex Chilton dies of a heart attack at age 59. Three days later, the group's scheduled performance at SXSW is turned into a tribute to Chilton.
2008 Heather Mills is awarded 23.7 million pounds (about $47 million) in her divorce from Paul McCartney, substantially more than the $32 million Paul offered. Throughout the ordeal, Mills is vilified in the British press as being opportunistic.More
2003 On the very first episode of MTV's practical joke show Punk'd, host Ashton Kutcher stages a prank involving the IRS that makes Justin Timberlake cry.More
1992 After reuniting at their ex-manager's funeral, Spinal Tap issue their 17th album, Break Like The Wind.More
1987 Reacting to a Beastie Boys concert three weeks earlier where the group used a giant inflatable penis as a stage prop and encouraged girls in the crowd to bare their breasts, the city of Columbus, Georgia passes an anti-lewdness law prohibiting nudity, simulated sex, and objectionable language at any show attended by minors.More
1968 Mick Jagger joins a demonstration at Grosvenor Square in London to protest the Vietnam War. When the group, estimated at 25,000, marches to the American embassy, they are met with police resistance and rioting ensues. Jagger leaves the protest before it reaches the embassy, but uses the events as inspiration for the Rolling Stones song "Street Fighting Man."
1958 "Tequila" by The Champs hits #1 in America, becoming one of the most popular saxophone instrumentals of all time.More
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