August 19, 1969 Crosby, Stills and Nash appear on the Dick Cavett Show, giving a first-hand account of the Woodstock festival that took place over the weekend. Joni Mitchell, who skipped the festival to make sure she could keep her appearance on the show, performs a song she wrote about it called "Woodstock."
August 18, 1969 Jimi Hendrix closes out Woodstock with an early morning performance of "Hey Joe." The festival headliner, he was supposed to play the previous night, but when it ran long, he ended up taking the stage on a Monday morning. His set includes a scorching rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."More
August 18, 1969 While filming the violent gangster movie Ned Kelly in Australia, Mick Jagger is hit in the hand by a stray bullet from an old gun being used as a prop.
August 18, 1969 Local upstart band Rush see Led Zeppelin perform in Toronto. In 1974, when Rush get airplay in America with the song "Working Man," radio stations field lots of calls asking if it's a new Led Zeppelin song.
August 17, 1969 Woodstock moves into day three, with performances by Joe Cocker; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Blood, Sweat & Tears; and Country Joe & the Fish, who perform their famous "Fish Cheer."
August 16, 1969 Eric Clapton's supergroup Blind Faith release their self-titled album. On the cover is a photo of a naked 11-year-old girl holding a model spacecraft.More
August 16, 1969 It's Day 2 of Woodstock, featuring performances by the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Santana. One memorable moment comes during The Who's set, when the activist Abbie Hoffman interrupts their set and grabs the microphone. After saying a few words about fellow activist John Sinclair, Pete Townshend hits him with his guitar.
August 15, 1969 It's Day 1 of the Woodstock festival on Max Yasgur's 60-acre farm in Bethel, New York (the festival was originally going to be in Woodstock, New York, so they kept the name). Day 1 doesn't have the biggest names, but massive crowds make it clear that something's happening here. Artists to appear this day include Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Tim Hardin and Arlo Guthrie.
August 11, 1969 Motown Records introduces their new signing, The Jackson 5, to tastemakers and industry types at a party in Beverly Hills hosted by Diana Ross. The group lives up to the hype, becoming one of the top acts of 1970.
August 8, 1969 The Beatles shoot the photo for their Abbey Road album cover at the crosswalk outside Abbey Road studios, where they are recording. Fans find many nested clues in the shot of the four band members walking in stride across the street, fuelling rumors that Paul McCartney is dead.More
July 30, 1969 The Beatles, producer George Martin, and the Abbey Road engineers assemble the first rough cut of the proposed Abbey Road medley. Paul McCartney, feeling that the song "Her Majesty" distracts from the flow of the medley, has it removed and orders it erased. Second engineer John Kurlander, not wanting to destroy a Beatles song, instead appends it to the end of the medley tape, adding 15 seconds of leader to make sure it's kept separate. When he finds out, Paul likes the effect so much that he leaves the ending of the album just that way.
July 26, 1969 Brian Jones, who was a founding member of The Rolling Stones, appears on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine following his death on July 3rd.
July 25, 1969 The Beatles work on a slew of songs for their Abbey Road album: "Sun King," "Mean Mr. Mustard," "Come Together," "Polythene Pam" and "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window."
July 24, 1969 Jennifer Lopez is born to Puerto Rican parents in The Bronx in New York City.More
July 21, 1969 The day after the Apollo 11 moon landing (the first time man walked on the moon), Duke Ellington performs a song he wrote for the occasion called "Moon Maiden" as part of ABC's coverage of the historic event.
July 21, 1969 Blind Faith, a group comprised of Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech, release their self-titled debut album in the United States.More
July 20, 1969 When the Apollo 11 spacecraft lands on the moon and Neil Armstrong takes his one giant leap for mankind, it reverberates through the world of music.More
July 12, 1969 Blind Faith, a supergroup with Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, begin their US tour with a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Their album isn't released yet, but the show is still a sellout thanks to Clapton's star power.
July 10, 1969 The funeral is held for The Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones, who was found dead in his swimming pool on July 3rd. His bandmates Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman attend, but Mick Jagger and Keith Richards do not.
July 10, 1969 The Temptations Show, a Motown special featuring the group, airs in syndication. They perform, among other hits, "Get Ready," "Cloud Nine," and "Runaway Child, Running Wild."
July 9, 1969 John Lennon makes his solo debut on the UK charts with "Give Peace A Chance."
July 8, 1969 Singer/actress Marianne Faithfull, girlfriend of Mick Jagger, attempts suicide with barbiturates while on the set of the film Ned Kelly (also starring Mick). She is dropped from the cast of the movie, eventually recovers, and when awaking from her coma, tells friends that "wild horses couldn't drag me away." The Rolling Stones song "Wild Horses" is built around that phrase.
June 30, 1969 Tom Drummond (bass guitarist for Better Than Ezra) is born in Shreveport, Louisiana.
June 29, 1969 The free-to-attend Harlem Cultural Festival kicks off in Mount Morris Park with headliners The 5th Dimension, who perform their #1 hit "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In." Five more shows take place over the summer, but footage doesn't appear until 2021, when it's documented in the movie Summer Of Soul.
June 24, 1969 Written and produced by Sonny Bono, the romantic drama Chastity casts Cher, in her first solo film role, as a hippie runaway who tries to overcome her troubled past. The movie bombs and turns Cher off from acting in films for the next decade.More
June 20, 1969 After working as a music teacher for most of her 20s, Roberta Flack releases her debut album, First Take, at age 32. It doesn't get much attention at first but goes to #1 three years later when the song "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" becomes a surprise hit thanks to its use in the Clint Eastwood movie Play Misty For Me.
June 19, 1969 The singer Gabrielle, who scores UK #1 hits with "Dreams" and "Rise," is born Louise Gabrielle Bobb in Hackney, East London. Her date of birth is often erroneously stated as April 16, 1970.
June 16, 1969 Experimental avant-garde/free-jazz artist Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, releases Trout Mask Replica, a polyrhythmic, polytonal collection of noise that is either an unlistenable mess or a work of genius.More
June 13, 1969 At a press conference in London, Mick Taylor is introduced as the new guitarist of The Rolling Stones, replacing founding member Brian Jones.
June 11, 1969 Dan Lavery (bass guitarist for Tonic) is born.
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