Calendar Search Results: on the mar
April 6, 1956 The Capitol Tower, new home of Capitol Records, opens on the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles. The 13-story building, which resembles a stack of records, houses three new recording studios where Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Linda Ronstadt, and many other stars will lay down tracks. The building becomes an LA landmark, with the red light at the top flashing "HOLLYWOOD" in Morse Code.
March 15, 1956 The musical My Fair Lady opens on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
March 12, 1956 Steve Harris is born in London, England. After giving up dreams of playing pro soccer, he forms Iron Maiden, becoming the group's bass player and a primary songwriter.
September 26, 1955 Pop singer Eddie Fisher weds actress/singer Debbie Reynolds. The marriage will last just four tumultuous years before Fisher leaves America's Sweetheart for Elizabeth Taylor. Fisher and Reynolds had one child together, actress Carrie Fisher.
July 9, 1955 Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" becomes the first Rock song to hit #1 on the Billboard Pop chart, where it stays for eight weeks. The song was originally released as a the B-side of "Thirteen Women," but became a massive hit after it appeared in the film Blackboard Jungle.More
September 9, 1954 Rising young star Elvis Presley performs at the opening of Memphis' Lamar-Airways shopping mall, and, afterward, meets audience member Johnny Cash for the first time.
July 2, 1954 Pete Briquette (bassist for The Boomtown Rats) is born Patrick Martin Cusack in Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland. His stage name is a nod to his homeland, where peat briquettes were burned for heat.
February 4, 1954 The Drifters record "Bells Of Saint Mary's," "White Christmas," "Honey Love," and "What'cha Gonna Do."
December 10, 1953 The first issue of Playboy magazine is published (Marilyn Monroe is on the cover). Over the next two decades, "playboy" shows up in several hit songs:
"Playboy" by Marvelettes (1962)
"He's Just A Playboy" by The Drifters (1964)
"Playboy" by Gene & Debbe (1968)
"International Playboy" by Wilson Pickett (1973)More
July 14, 1953 Bebe Buell is born in Portsmouth, Virginia. Though she later rejects the description, she becomes one of the most famous "groupies" of all time, hooking up with a host of stars including Todd Rundgren, to whom she is married from 1972 to 1979. Rundgren brings up her daughter Liv - later revealed to be the biological child of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler.
March 23, 1953 Chaka Khan (of Rufus) is born Yvette Marie Stevens in Chicago, Illinois.
March 4, 1953 Emilio Estefan is born in Cuba; he moves to Miami as a teenager. In 1977 Gloria Fajardo (also Cuban-born) joins his group Miami Sound Machine. A year later they get married, and after building a huge following in the South Florida Latin scene, they break through in 1985 with the hits "Conga" and "Words Get In The Way." Gloria Estfan goes solo in 1989 with Emilio her producer and manager.
January 19, 1953 Desi Arnaz Jr. is born to Hollywood powercouple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, stars of the wildly popular sitcom I Love Lucy. The birth is a pop culture milestone as the couple's fictional counterparts, Lucy and Ricky, welcome "Little Ricky" at the same time (a smart, but controversial, decision to write Ball's pregnancy into the show). Shortly after, Desi Jr. appears on the very first cover of TV Guide. He goes on to form a band with Dean Martin's son Dean Paul and schoolmate Billy Hinsche (Dino, Desi & Billy).
December 27, 1952 Guitarist David Knopfler is born in Glasgow, Scotland. Along with his older brother Mark, he forms Dire Straits in 1977, but leaves the band after their second album in 1980 to launch a solo career.
June 21, 1952 Marcy Levy is born in Detrot. She co-writes and sings on Eric Clapton's "Lay Down Sally," and using the name Marcella Detroit, forms the duo Shakespears Sister with Siobhan Fahey (ex-Bananarama). Levy's year of birth is often incorrectly listed as 1959.
May 18, 1952 George Strait is born in Poteet, Texas. The "King Of Country," he lands a record 44 #1 hits on the Country chart in a remarkable run from 1982-2008.
November 12, 1951 The musical Paint Your Wagon opens at the Shubert Theater, New York City. In 1969, it's turned into a movie musical starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin.
November 7, 1951 Frank Sinatra marries his second wife, actress Ava Gardner. The marriage, her third, lasts six years and is credited for moving Sinatra into his "mature" phase as a singer, with Nelson Riddle stating: "It was Ava who did that, who taught him how to sing a torch song. That's how he learned. She was the greatest love of his life and he lost her."
October 7, 1951 John Mellencamp is born in Seymour, Indiana. He has Spina bifida, but survives thanks to an experimental surgery performed at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.More
November 24, 1950 The musical comedy Guys and Dolls premieres on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre. Two years later, it spawns a film adaptation starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.
November 11, 1950 Jim Peterik is born in Berwyn, Illinois. He fronts The Ides of March and later joins Survivor, co-writing their hit "Eye of the Tiger."
June 11, 1950 Singer/guitarist Graham Russell is born Cyril Graham Russell in Nottingham, England. He moves to Australia in 1968 and forms Air Supply with Russell Hitchcock. Graham is the primary songwriter in the group, penning their hits "All Out Of Love" and "The One That You Love."
May 13, 1950 Stevie Wonder is born Stevland Morris in Saginaw, Michigan.More
May 3, 1950 Mary Hopkin is born in Pontardawe, Wales. She signs with The Beatles' Apple Records in 1968 after a winning performance on the UK TV competition show Opportunity Knocks, and releases her first single, "Those Were The Days," later that year.
March 3, 1950 Rock singer Re Styles (of The Tubes) is born Shirley Marie MacLeod.
December 3, 1949 Nicky Stevens (Brotherhood of Man vocalist) is born Helen Thomas in Carmarthen, Wales.
November 8, 1949 Bonnie Raitt is born in Burbank, California. She becomes a headline act in the '70s but ebbs in the '80s until a remarkable resurgence with her 1989 album Nick Of Time, which wins four Grammy Awards and goes to #1 in America.
July 10, 1949 Greg Kihn, known for his '80s hits "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" and "Jeopardy," is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
May 9, 1949 Billy Joel is born in The Bronx, New York, raised in Hicksville on Long Island.More
December 31, 1948 Donna Summer, the "Queen of Disco," is born LaDonna Adrian Gaines in Boston, Massachusetts. She earns her new surname when a record label misprints her married name, Sommer, as Summer.
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