Tag Archives: guitarist

July 21 ~ This Day in Music History

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• 1748 ~ Louis-Henry Paisible, Composer

• 1779 ~ Gottlob Wiedebein, Composer

• 1782 ~ Placidus Cajetan von Camerloher, Composer, died at the age of 63

• 1797 ~ Franz Schoberlechner, Composer

• 1865 ~ Robert Kahn, Composer

• 1870 ~ Josef Strauss, Austrian composer, died at the age of 42

• 1896 ~ Jean Rivier-Villemomble France, Composer

• 1898 ~ Ernest Willem Mulder, Composer

• 1898 ~ Sara Carter, Vocalist/guitarist with the Carter Family

• 1903 ~ Theodore Karyotakis, Composer

• 1906 ~ Daniel Ayala Perez, Composer

• 1915 ~ Floyd McDaniel ~ blues singer/guitarist

• 1920 ~ Isaac Stern, American concert violinist
Read quotes by and about Stern
More information about Stern

• 1920 ~ Manuel Valls Gorina, Composer

• 1921 ~ Billy Taylor, Orchestra leader on the David Frost Show

• 1922 ~ Kay Starr (Katherine Starks), Pop Singer

• 1925 ~ Lovro Zupanovic, Composer

• 1926 ~ Albert Fuller, American harpsichordist

• 1926 ~ Norman Jewison, Director of Jesus Christ, Superstar, Fiddler on the Roof

• 1927 ~ Stefan Niculescu, Composer

• 1931 ~ Leon Schidlowsky, Composer

• 1931 ~ Ted Husing was master of ceremonies for the very first CBS-TV program. The gala show featured singer Kate Smith, composer George Gershwin and New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker.

• 1935 ~ Kaye Stevens, Singer and comedienne on the Jerry Lewis Show

• 1938 ~ Anton Emil Kuerti, Composer

• 1938 ~ Paul Hindemith and Leonide Massines ballet premiered in London

• 1947 ~ Cat Stevens (Steven Demitri Georgiou) (Muslim name: Yusuf Islam), British folk-rock singer and songwriter

• 1948 ~ Donald Nichols Tweedy, Composer, died at the age of 58

• 1950 ~ Albert Riemenschneider, Composer, died at the age of 71

• 1958 ~ The last of Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts programs aired on CBS-TV. Many artists got their start on Talent Scouts, including Tony Bennett, Pat Boone, The McGuire Sisters and a singer named Connie Francis, who not only sang, but played the accordion, as well.

• 1962 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his 13th Symphony

• 1964 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his 10th String quartet

• 1969 ~ Just one day after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Duke Ellington and a portion of his band performed a 10-minute composition on ABC-TV titled Moon Maiden. The work featured piano, drums, bass and vocals.

• 1973 ~ Bad, Bad Leroy Brown reached the top spot on the Billboard pop-singles chart, becoming Jim Croce’s first big hit. Croce died in a plane crash two months later (September 20, 1973).

• 1976 ~ “Guys & Dolls” opened at Broadway Theater New York City for 239 performances

• 1994 ~ Dorothy Collins, Singer on Your Hit Parade, died at the age of 67

• 1995 ~ Edwin “Russell” House, Saxophonist, died at the age of 65

• 2000 ~ Iain Hamilton, the Scottish composer who turned Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” into an opera at the age of 78. Hamilton wrote four symphonies and dozens of orchestral and chamber works but is known best for his vocal music, which includes a cantata based on the poems of Robert Burns. “Anna Karenina” premiered at the English National Opera in 1981 to critical acclaim. His other operas include “Agamemnon”, “The Catiline Conspiracy”, based on a Ben Jonson play, and an adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play “The Royal Hunt of the Sun”. From 1961 to 1978 he was a professor of music at Duke University in North Carolina.

• 2000 ~ Barbra Streisand announced final concerts

• 2001 ~ Norman Hall Wright, the last surviving writer who worked on the Disney film Fantasia 2000, died at the age of 91. Wright studied at the University of Southern California before being hired by Walt Disney Productions. He started as an animator but later became a writer, producer and director. Wright developed the story of The Nutcracker Suite sequence for Fantasia 2000. He also was responsible for a sequence in Bambi. He wrote several cartoon shorts for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy and also produced several Wonderful World of Disney television programs.

• 2002 ~ Gus Dudgeon, a respected music producer who worked on many of Elton John’s hit recordings, died in a car crash in western England. He was 59. Dudgeon produced Rocket Man, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Your Song, Daniel and Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. Dudgeon also produced David Bowie’s Space Oddity and worked with other stars, including Chris Rea and Joan Armatrading. But it was his partnership with Sir Elton in the 1970s for which he will be best remembered. Dudgeon began his career in the early 1960s as a tea boy, running errands at Olympic Studios in London before joining Decca Records. He engineered the Zombies’ classic She’s Not There and the groundbreaking Blues Breakers album by John Mayall with Eric Clapton, before moving into producing.

• 2015 ~ Theodore Meir Bikel,  Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, and activist, died at the age of 91.

July 20 ~ This Day in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1872 ~ Déodat de Séeverac, French composer

• 1913 ~ Sally Ann Howes, Singer

• 1932 ~ Nam June Paik, Korean-born American avant-guarde composer

• 1938 ~ Jo Ann Campbell, Singer

• 1940 ~ Billboard magazine published its first listing of best-selling singles. 10 tunes were listed.

• 1943 ~ John Lodge, Guitar with Justin Hayward, singer with the Moody Blues

• 1944 ~ T.G. Shepherd (William Bowder), Country Singer

• 1946 ~ Kim Carnes, Grammy Award-winning singer, co-wrote score to Flashdance

• 1946 ~ John Almond, Reeds, keyboards, vibes with Johnny Almond and the Music Machine

• 1947 ~ Carlos Santana, Mexican-born American rock guitarist

• 1958 ~ Mick McNeil, Keyboards with Simple Minds

• 1961 ~ Stop the World, I Want to Get Off opened in London. The show went to Broadway in 1962.

• 1963 ~ Dino Esposito, Singer

• 1963 ~ Ray Conniff received two gold-record awards – for the albums, Concert in Rhythm and Memories are Made of This – on Columbia Records. Conniff recorded dozens of albums of easy listening music for the label. He had been a trombonist and arranger with Bunny Berigan, Bob Crosby, Harry James, Vaughn Monroe and Artie Shaw.

• 1964 ~ Chris Cornell, Grammy Award-winning musician: drums, singer, songwriter with Soundgarden

• 1966 ~ Stone Gossard, Rock Musician

July 15 ~ This Day in Music History

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• 1738 ~ Antonio Maria Pacchioni, Composer, died at the age of 84

• 1779 ~ Clement Moore, Lyricist, author of ’Twas the Night before Christmas (A Visit from St. Nicholas) born

• 1782 ~ Farinelli, Italian singer, died at the age of 77

• 1782 ~ Richard Wainwright, Composer, died at the age of 33

• 1789 ~ Jacques Duphly, Composer, died at the age of 74

• 1795 ~ Marseillaise became the French national anthem

• 1798 ~ Gaetano Pugnani, Composer, died at the age of 66

• 1810 ~ Jean-Baptiste Rey, Composer, died at the age of 75

• 1854 ~ Wincenty Studzinski, Composer, died at the age of 39

• 1857 ~ Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and Composer, died at the age of 66
More information on Czerny

• 1905 ~ Dorothy Fields born, Composer, lyricist with Cy Coleman of Sweet Charity and Seesaw; with Jimmy McHugh – I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, I’m in the Mood for Love and On the Sunny Side of the Street. She was the daughter of comedian Lew Fields

• 1913 ~ Cowboy (Lloyd) Copas born. He was a country singer who was killed in plane crash with singer, Patsy Cline

• 1915 ~ Ludwik Grossman, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1929 ~ Hugo von Hofmannstahl, Austrian author and librettist, died. He was best known for his collaboration with composer Richard Strauss for whom he wrote the libretto to the opera “Der Rosenkavelier.”

• 1930 ~ Leopold von Auer, Hungarian-American violinist, died

• 1933 ~ Julian Bream, British guitarist and lutenist

• 1934 ~ Harrison Birtwistle, British composer

• 1940 ~ Tommy Dee (Thomas Donaldson) Singer and record company executive

• 1942 ~ Glenn Miller and his band recorded the classic Jukebox Saturday Night for Victor Records.

 

• 1944 ~ Millie Jackson, Rhythm and Blues Singer

• 1945 ~ Peter Lewis, Guitarist, singer with Moby Grape

• 1946 ~ Linda Ronstadt, American singer of rock and popular music

• 1949 ~ “Miss Liberty” opened at Imperial Theater New York City for 308 performances

• 1952 ~ Singer Patti Page made her TV debut in a summer replacement series for Perry Como. The 15-minute program spotlighted Patti three times each week on CBS.

• 1959 ~ Ernest Bloch, Swiss-American Composer, died at the age of 78
More information about Bloch

• 1960 ~ Lawrence Mervil Tibbett, baritone, died after surgery at 63

• 1966 ~ Singer Percy Sledge earned a gold record for When a Man Loves A Woman. It was his only song to make it to number one (5/28/66) and the only one of five to break into the top ten.

• 1967 ~ “Sweet Charity” closed at Palace Theater New York City after 608 performances

• 1972 ~ Elton John landed at the top spot on the Billboard album chart for the first time as Honky Chateau made it to the top for a five-week stay.

• 1978 ~ Bob Dylan performed before the largest open-air concert audience (for a single artist). Some 200,000 fans turned out to hear Dylan at Blackbushe Airport in England.

• 1980 ~ Henri Martelli, Composer, died at the age of 85

• 1982 ~ Bill (William E.) Justis (Jr.) passed away

• 1983 ~ Linda Ronstadt debuted as Mabel “Pirates of Penzance”

• 1984 ~ John Lennon released I’m Stepping Out

• 2000 ~ Canadian baritone Louis Quilico, who sang many of the most famous opera roles, died after complications from surgery. He was 75.

• 2000 ~ Singer Paul Young, who found fame with the band Mike and the Mechanics, died from what might have been a heart attack at the age of 53. The band just finished recording their fifth album and had planned to tour Europe this month.

• 2001 ~ Denes Koromzay, a violist who helped found the Hungarian String Quartet, died at the age of 88. Koromzay studied at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest when composer Béla Bartók was on the faculty. Though trained as a violinist, Koromzay was the violist in the group that founded the Hungarian String Quartet in 1935. He remained with the famed ensemble until it disbanded in 1972. For the next seven years, he performed with the New Hungarian Quartet, an ensemble at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. Koromzay moved to Boulder in 1962, when the Hungarian String Quartet was named resident ensemble at the University of Colorado. He returned to the university to teach viola and coach chamber music in 1980. He retired from the school in 1996.

July 3 ~ This Day in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1801 ~ Johann Nepomuk Went, Composer, died at the age of 56

• 1892 ~ Joseph Labitzky, Composer

• 1809 ~ Joseph Quesne, Composer, died at the age of 62

• 1814 ~ Janis Cimze, Composer

• 1819 ~ Louis Theodore Gouvy, Composer

• 1846 ~ Achilles Alferaki, Composer

• 1850 ~ Alfredo Kiel, Composer

• 1854 ~ Leos Janácek, Czech composer, conductor and collector of Moravian folk songs. He is best known for his operas including “Jenufa” and “The Cunning Little Vixen” as well as for his orchestral piece “Taras Bulba.”
More information about Janácek

• 1855 ~ Piotr Maszynski, Composer

• 1860 ~ William Wallace, Composer

• 1862 ~ Friedrich Ernst Koch, Composer

• 1871 ~ Vicente Arregui Garay, Composer

• 1873 ~ Josef Michal Ksawery Jan Poniatowski, Composer, died at the age of 57

• 1878 ~ George M. Cohan, American songwriter, vaudeville performer, playwright and producer
Listen to Cohan’s music
More information about Cohan

• 1879 ~ Philippe Gaubert, Composer

• 1880 ~ Carl Schuricht, Composer

• 1891 ~ Stefano Golinelli, Composer, died at the age of 72

• 1930 ~ Carlos Kleiber, German conductor

• 1930 ~ Pete Fountain, Jazz clarinetist

• 1940 ~ Fontella Bass, Singer

• 1941 ~ Cab Calloway and his orchestra recorded the standard, St. James Infirmary, for Okeh Records.

• 1945 ~ Johnny Lee, Country singer

• 1945 ~ Victor Borge was first heard on NBC radio. The network gave the comedian/pianist the summer replacement slot for Fibber McGee and Molly.
More information about Borge

• 1948 ~ Paul Barrere, Musician, guitarist with Little Feat

• 1952 ~ Daniel Zamudio, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1952 ~ Laura Branigan, Singer

• 1953 ~ Harry Belafonte was shown with actress Janet Leigh and film star Tony Curtis on the cover of Ebony magazine. It was the first time a black person and two Caucasians were seen together on a U.S. magazine cover.

• 1954 ~ “Wonderful Town” closed at Winter Garden Theater New York City after 559 performances

• 1955 ~ Neil Clark, Musician, guitarist with Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

• 1957 ~ Richard Mohaupt, German Composer (Bucolica), died at the age of 52

• 1958 ~ “Andy Williams Show” premiered on ABC (later on CBS & NBC)

• 1960 ~ Alfred Henry Ackley, Composer, died at the age of 73

• 1961 ~ Vince Clarke, Songwriter, keyboards

• 1965 ~ Clarence Loomis, Composer, died at the age of 75

• 1966 ~ Andre Gailhard, Composer, died at the age of 81

• 1966 ~ Joseph Deems Taylor, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1969 ~ Brian Jones, guitarist (Rolling Stones), drowns to death at 25

• 1969 ~ Hermann Grabner, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1971 ~ Jim Morrison, rock singer (Doors), died of heart failure at 27.  He co-wrote some of the group’s biggest hits, including ‘Light My Fire’, ‘Love Me Two Times’, and ‘Love Her Madly.’ On the 25th anniversary of his death an estimated 15,000 fans gathered at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France to pay their respects.

• 1971 ~ The Newport Jazz Festival’s reputation was tarnished as gate crashers stormed the stage. The unruly mob forced the show to leave Newport, Rhode Island and move to New York City. Oh, and the artist the crowd got unruly over? Not Bob Dylan, not Miles Davis, but Dionne Warwick’s! She was singing What the World Needs Now is Love at the time of the incident.

• 1972 ~ Mississippi Fred McDowell, jazz artist, died at the age of 68

• 1973 ~ Charles Ancerl, Czech conductor (Prague/Toronto), died at the age of 63

• 1973 ~ Clint Holmes received a gold record for his hit single, Playground in My Mind.

• 1976 ~ Brian Wilson rejoined The Beach Boys, who were appearing at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, CA (before 74,000 fans). Wilson had been out of the group’s road tour schedule for 12 years.

• 1977 ~ Hugh Le Caine, Composer, died at the age of 63

• 1986 ~ Rudy Vallee, singer (Vagabond Dreams), died at the age of 84

• 1986 ~ Mikhail Baryshnikov, considered by many to be the world’s greatest ballet dancer, became a U.S. citizen in ceremonies at Ellis Island, New York Harbor.

• 1991 ~ Irina Nijinska, Russian/US dancer, died at the age of 77

• 1995 ~ Brad Lee Sexton, bass guitarist, died at the age of 47

• 2001 ~ Country guitar player Roy Nichols, who played in Merle Haggard’s band for 22 years and helped create the Bakersfield Sound, died after being hospitalized with kidney inflammation and a bacterial infection. He was 68. Nichols began recording with Haggard’s band The Strangers in 1963 and played with some of country music’s biggest names from the time he was 16 years old. “A lot of people may or may not know that he played for Johnny Cash on Tennessee Flat Top Box, the original version, and also on The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” Haggard told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. Haggard credits Nichols with jump-starting his own career and playing a key role in developing The Stranger’s distinctive sound.

• 2001 ~ Grand Ole Opry star Johnny Russell, whose song Act Naturally was recorded by Buck Owens and The Beatles, died of leukemia, diabetes and other ailments at the age of 61. Russell once said that it took him two years to get someone to recordAct Naturally, co-written with Voni Morrison. When Owens recorded a version in 1963, it went to No. 1 on the country charts. Two years later, it was recorded by the Beatles, with Ringo Starr singing the vocal. In 1989, Starr and Owens recorded a duet of the song that was nominated for Grammy and Country Music Association awards. Russell’s own recording career took off in the 1970s. His biggest hit was the working class anthem Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer, which went to No. 4 in 1973 and was nominated for a Grammy. Russell joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1985, and over the years became its regular closing act. A jolly, 275-pound man, he would joke to audiences in his opening line: “Can everybody see me all right?” Russell also wrote the No. 1 hit Let’s Fall to Pieces Together, recorded in 1984 by George Strait, and Making Plans, which was recorded by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt on their Trio album in 1987.

June 26 ~ This Day in Music History

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• 1284 ~ The Pied Piper exacted his revenge upon the German town of Hamelin this day. The townspeople had promised to pay the piper a large fee if he could rid their town the nasty rats running all over the place. He had played his trusty pipe and the rats had followed him out of town and into the River Weser. But once the rodents were eliminated, the local folks decided not to pay after all. The piper was not pleased and repaid the townspeople by playing his pipe for the children of Hamelin, just like he had done for the rats. And just like the rats, the children followed him out of town.

 

• 1582 ~ Johannes Schultz, Composer

• 1657 ~ Tobias Michael, Composer, died at the age of 65

• 1661 ~ Lazaro Valvasensi, Composer, died at the age of 76

• 1747 ~ Leopold Jan Antonin Kozeluh, Composer

• 1778 ~ Angelo Antonio Caroli, Composer, died at the age of 77

• 1798 ~ Eugene Godecharle, Composer, died at the age of 56

• 1823 ~ Frederick Bowen Jewson, Composer

• 1824 ~ Moritz Furstenau, Composer

• 1836 ~ Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, author and composer of the Marseillaise, died

• 1870 ~ Wagner’s opera “Valkyrie” premiered in Munich

• 1874 ~ Mikhail Vladimirovich Ivanov-Boretsky, Composer

• 1875 ~ Camille Zeckwer, Composer

• 1878 ~ Albert Siklos, Composer

• 1891 ~ Heinrich Lemacher, Composer

• 1893 ~ “Big Bill” Broonzy, American blues singer and guitarist

• 1894 ~ Bill Wirges, American orchestra leader

• 1901 ~ William Busch, Composer

• 1902 ~ Antonia Brico, Conductor and pianist. Because there were so few opportunities for female conductors, she organized the Woman’s Symphony Orchestra in 1935.

• 1909 ~ “Col Tom” Parker (Dries Van Kruijk), Elvis Presley’s manager

• 1912 ~ Gustav Mahler’s 9th Symphony premiered in Vienna

• 1914 ~ Richard Maltby, Bandleader

• 1914 ~ Wolfgang Windgassen, German tenor with the Stuttgart Opera

• 1916 ~ Guiseppe Taddei, Italian baritone

• 1924 ~ Syd Lawrence, Bandleader

• 1924 ~ Ziegfeld Follies opened on Broadway

• 1928 ~ Jacob Druckman, American composer

• 1931 ~ Lucien Goethals, Composer

• 1933 ~ Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor
More information about Abbado

• 1933 ~ The Kraft Music Hall debuted. It turned out to be one of radio’s longest- running hits. The first program presented Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. SingerAl Jolson became the host of the show shortly thereafter. Several years later, crooner Bing Crosby was named the host. The Kraft Music Hall continued on NBC radio until 1949 and then on TV for many more years; the first year as Milton Berle Starring in the Kraft Music Hall, then Kraft Music Hall Presents: The Dave King Show followed by Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall for four seasons. From 1967 on, The Kraft Music Hall featured a different host.

• 1934 ~ Dave Grusin, Composer of film scores

• 1934 ~ Luis Felipe Pires, Composer

• 1940 ~ Billy Davis, Jr., Singer with The 5th Dimension

• 1942 ~ Larry Taylor, Musician, bass with Canned Heat

• 1943 ~ John Allen Strang, Composer

• 1943 ~ Georgie Fame (Clive Powell), Singer

• 1945 ~ Barry Schrader, Composer

• 1945 ~ Erno Rapee, Composer, died at the age of 54

• 1945 ~ Nikolay Nikolayevich Tcherepnin, Composer, died at the age of 72

• 1953 ~ Ralph Ezell, American singer

• 1954 ~ Robert Davi, American opera singer/actor

• 1956 ~ Clifford Brown, American jazz trumpeter, died at the age of 25

• 1964 ~ A Hard Day’s Night was released by United Artists Records. The album featured all original material by The Beatles and became the top album in the country by July 25, 1964.

• 1965 ~ Mr. Tambourine Man, by The Byrds, reached the number one spot on the pop music charts. The song was considered by many to be the first folk-rock hit. The tune was written by Bob Dylan, as were two other hits for the group: All I Really Want to Do and My Back Pages. The group of James Roger McGinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Mike Clarke charted seven hits. The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

• 1966 ~ “Time for Singing” closed at Broadway Theater New York City after 41 performances

• 1971 ~ Inia Te Wiata, opera singer, died

• 1971 ~ Juan Manen, Composer, died at the age of 88

• 1971 ~ “Man of La Mancha” closed at ANTA Washington Square Theater New York City after 2329 performances

• 1972 ~ David Lichine (Lichtenstein), Russian/American choreographer, died at the age of 61

• 1973 ~ Arnold Richardson, Composer, died at the age of 59

• 1973 ~ London production of “Grease” premiered

• 1977 ~ Lou Reizner, Rock vocalist/producer, died at the age of 43

• 1977 ~ Elvis Presley sang the last performance of his career, in Indianapolis. He died two months later.

• 1981 ~ Peter Kreuder, German composer, died

• 1982 ~ André Tchaikowsy, Pianist and composer, died

• 1983 ~ Walter O’Keefe, Songwriter and TV host, died at the age of 82

• 1983 ~ “Show Boat” closed at Uris Theater New York City after 73 performances

• 1984 ~ Barbra Streisand recorded Here We Are at Last

• 1991 ~ Carmine Coppola, Composer and conductor (Godfather II), died at the age of 80

• 1994 ~ Thomas Henry Wait Armstrong, Organist, died at the age of 96

• 2001 ~ French soprano Gina Cigna, famed for singing Puccini’s “Turandot”, died at the age of 101. Born in Paris in 1900, Cigna made her stage debut at Milan’s La Scala opera house at age 27 under the name Ginette Sens. Her breakthrough came two years later when she performed in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at La Scala under her own name. Arturo Toscanini, the conductor, was particularly fond of Cigna’s expressive voice, which received widespread acclaim. An auto accident ended Cigna’s performing career in 1947. Until 1965, she coached opera singers in Milan, Siena and Canada.

June 25 ~ This Day in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1522 ~ Franchinus Gaffurius, Composer, died at the age of 71

• 1709 ~ Francesco Araja, Composer

• 1735 ~ Benvenuto Robbio San Rafaele, Composer

• 1767 ~ Georg Philipp Telemann, German late-baroque Composer, died at the age of 86
More information about Telemann

• 1785 ~ Pierre Talon, Composer, died at the age of 63

• 1796 ~ Ferdinando Giorgetti, Composer

• 1860 ~ Gustave Charpentier, French composer

• 1862 ~ Vasily Georgiyevich Wrangell, Composer

• 1870 ~ Opera “Die Walküre” by Richard Wagner was produced in Munich

• 1876 ~ John Patton, Trumpeter, died at Little Bighorn

• 1878 ~ Jean Gallon, Composer

• 1884 ~ Hans Rott, Composer, died at the age of 25

• 1886 ~ Nineteen-year-old Arturo Toscanini moved from the cello section to the conductor’s stand of the Rio de Janeiro Orchestra. The maestro conducted Verdi’s opera, Aida, this day.

• 1887 ~ George Abbott, Director: Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game

• 1889 ~ Ethel Glenn Hier, Composer

• 1897 ~ Hans Barth, German pianist and composer

• 1901 ~ Adolf Brunner, Composer

• 1910 ~ The first performance of “The Firebird”, a ballet by Igor Stravinsky, took place in Paris.

• 1921 ~ Peter Charles Arthur Wishart, Composer

• 1922 ~ Johnny Smith, Jazz musician, guitarist

• 1925 ~ Clifton Chenier, American blues singer

• 1925 ~ Ziggy Talent, American singer

• 1928 ~ William Joseph Russo, Composer

• 1935 ~ Kurt Schwertsik, Composer

• 1935 ~ Eddie Floyd, Singer with Falcons

• 1936 ~ Harold Melvin, American singer

• 1938 ~ A Tisket A Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb hit #1

• 1940 ~ Clint Warwick (Eccles), Musician, bass with The Moody Blues

• 1945 ~ Carley Simon, American Grammy Award-winning singer – Best New Artist in 1971; Academy Award-winning song, Let the River Run, 1988

• 1946 ~ Allen Lanier, Musician, guitarist, keyboards with Blue Oyster Cult

• 1946 ~ Ian McDonald, Musician, instrumentalist with Foreigner

• 1952 ~ “Wish You Were Here” opened at Imperial Theater New York City for 597 performances

• 1955 ~ “Can Can” closed at Shubert Theater New York City after 892 performances

• 1961 ~ Pat Boone spent this day at number one for one last time with Moody River. Boone, a teen heart-throb in the 1950s, had previously walked his way up the music charts, wearing white buck shoes, of course, with these other hits: Ain’t That a Shame, I Almost Lost My Mind, Don’t Forbid Me, Love Letters in the Sand and April Love.

• 1963 ~ George Michael (Yorgos Panayiotou), Singer

• 1966 ~ The Beatles’ Paperback Writer, single went #1 & stayed #1 for 2 weeks

• 1967 ~ 400 million watched The Beatles “Our World” TV special

• 1969 ~ The Guess Who from Canada received a gold record for their hit single, These Eyes.

• 1971 ~ Stevie Wonder released Where I’m Coming From

• 1976 ~ Johnny Mercer, American songwriter, died at the age of 66 He wrote the lyrics for a number of award-winning songs including Moon River.

• 1977 ~ Endre Szervanszky, Composer, died at the age of 65

• 1977 ~ Petko Staynov, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1983 ~ “Evita” closed at Broadway Theater New York City after 1568 performances

• 1987 ~ Boudleaux Bryant, Song writer for the Everly Brothers, died at the age of 67

• 1990 ~ Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Australian Composer, died at the age of 77

• 1992 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at Vinorhady Theatre, Prague

• 2000 ~ Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, the longest-running production in Broadway history, closed after 7,397 performances.

• 2000 ~ Arnold Black, a composer and violinist who started a beloved classical music program in the rural Berkshires, died at the age of 77.
More information on Arnold Black

• 2002 ~ Nellie Monk, wife and muse of the jazz musician Thelonious Monk, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. She was 80. Born Nellie Smith in St. Petersburg, Fla., she moved to New York with her family and met Thelonious Monk at the age of 16 at a neighborhood basketball court. Throughout their nearly four-decade relationship, Thelonious Monk, who was known as an eccentric absorbed in his work, depended on his wife for financial and emotional support. Nellie Monk worked as a seamstress during World War II, and afterward occasionally made clothes for her husband and others. While she was never her husband’s official manager, she paid musicians, collected money from promoters, and made sure band members had plane tickets. Thelonious Monk wrote a famed ballad, Crepuscule With Nellie, when she was undergoing surgery for a thyroid problem in 1957. The couple was together from about 1947 until Thelonious Monk died in 1982.

June 24 ~ This Day in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1572 ~ Jan Campanus, Composer

• 1724 ~ Johann Theile, German Composer, died at the age of 77

• 1746 ~ Jean Baptiste Rochefort, Composer

• 1747 ~ Johann Melchior Dreyer, Composer

• 1724 ~ Johann Paul Wessely (1762) Composer

• 1803 ~ George James Webb, Composer

• 1808 ~ Anna Caroline Oury, Composer

• 1838 ~ Lowell Cross, Composer

• 1840 ~ Louis Brassin, Composer

• 1724 ~ Thomas Carl Whitmer (1873) Composer

• 1882 ~ Joseph Joachim Raff, German opera Composer, died at the age of 60

• 1891 ~ Ann Sheppard Mounsey, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1900 ~ Gene Austin, Singer

• 1901 ~ Harry Partch, American composer and inventor of musical instruments

• 1904 ~ Phil Harris, American bandleader. He achieved stardom providing voices for Disney cartoons notably “The Jungle Book.”

• 1906 ~ Pierre Fournier, French cellist

• 1907 ~ Jose de Lima Siquiera, Composer

• 1908 ~ Hugo Distler, Composer

• 1909 ~ Milton Katims, American conductor and violist

• 1910 ~ Denis Dowling, Baritone

• 1913 ~ Frank Lynes, Composer, died at the age of 55

• 1920 ~ Bernhard Krol, Composer

• 1922 ~ Manny Albam, Composer, music educator at Eastman School of Music

• 1933 ~ Sissieretta Joyner Jones, “Black Patti”, American singer, died at about 64

• 1935 ~ Terry Riley, American avant-garde composer

• 1936 ~ Nandor Zsolt, Composer, died at the age of 49

• 1942 ~ Mick Fleetwood, Musician, drummer with Fleetwood Mac

• 1942 ~ Michele Lee, Singer

• 1944 ~ Jeff Beck, Singer, guitarist with The Yardbirds

• 1944 ~ John ‘Charlie’ Whitney, Musician, guitarist with Family

• 1944 ~ Rio Gebhardt, Composer, died at the age of 36

• 1945 ~ Colin Blunstone aka Neil MacArthur, Singer with The Zombies

• 1949 ~ John Illsley, Musician, bass with Dire Straits

• 1961 ~ The Beatles recorded If You Love Me Baby

• 1972 ~ I Am Woman, by Helen Reddy, was released by Capitol Records. The number one tune (December 9, 1972) became an anthem for the feminist movement. Reddy, from Australia, made her stage debut when she was only four years old. She had her own TV program in the early 1960s. Reddy came to New York in 1966 and has appeared in the films Airport 1975, Pete’s Dragon and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Reddy also had four million-sellers: I Am Woman, Delta Dawn, Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) and Angie Baby. She had a total of 14 hits on the pop music charts.

• 1992 ~ Billy Joel, American pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer, received an honorary diploma from Hicksville HS at 43

• 2000 ~ British actor David Tomlinson, who starred as father George Banks in the classic 1964 musical movie “Mary Poppins”, died at the age of 83.

• 2002 ~ Dolores Gray, a Tony-winning actress and singer, died of a heart attack at her Manhattan apartment. She was 78. Gray began performing in Hollywood clubs when she was 14, and at 15 she was discovered by Rudy Vallee and given a guest spot on his national radio show. She landed her first major theater success in 1947 as Annie in “Annie Get Your Gun” in London. In 1954, she won a Tony award for best musical actress in “Carnival in Flanders.” After signing a contract with MGM in 1955, Gray began to star in musical movies, including “Kismet,” and “The Opposite Sex.” She performed alongside Gene Kelly in “It’s Always Fair Weather” and with Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in “Designing Women.” Gray continued to perform in clubs, on stage, and on television variety shows, including the Bell Telephone Hour. She returned to Broadway for several productions, including “Destry Rides Again,” during which the stage curtain once caught fire as she sang “Anyone Would Love You.” As the theater’s firefighters and stagehands battled the blaze backstage, Gray kept singing, and was credited with keeping the audience calm until they could evacuate the theater. The show resumed after a 40-minute intermission.

• 2002 ~ Joe Derise, a musician, cabaret artist and former big band vocalist, died. He was 76. Derise sang with Tommy Dorsey at the age of 21 and performed as a singer, guitarist and arranger with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. He went on to form his own group, Four Jacks and a Jill, which performed around the country. Derise made several records and composed some of his own songs with the lyricist Marcia Hillman. His last major performance was at the Algonquin Hotel in New York in 1999.

June 4 ~ This Day in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

 

• 1585 ~ Marc-Antoine de Muret, Composer, died at the age of 58

• 1770 ~ James Hewitt, Composer

• 1846 ~ Josef Sittard, Music writer

• 1872 ~ Stanislaw Moniuszko, Composer, died at the age of 53

• 1585 ~ Erno Rapee (1891) Hungarian conductor

• 1899 ~ Leo Spies, Composer

• 1905 ~ Carl Albert Loeschhorn, Composer, pianist and Royal Professor died at the age of 85

• 1907 ~ Marjan Kozina, Composer

• 1907 ~ Agathe Grondahl, Composer, died at the age of 59

• 1909 ~ Paul Nordoff, American composer of the Frog Prince

• 1913 ~ Bruno Bettinelli, Composer

• 1915 ~ William Charles Denis Browne, Composer, died at the age of t 26

• 1919 ~ Robert Merrill (Moishe Miller), Metropolitan Opera singing star, baritone

• 1922 ~ Irwin Bazelon, American composer

• 1916 ~ Mildred J Hill, Composer/musician (Happy Birthday To You), died at the age of 56

• 1927 ~ Gerry Mulligan, American jazz baritone saxophonist and arranger

• 1930 ~ Morgana King, Jazz singer

• 1930 ~ Pentti Raitio, Composer

• 1931 ~ Cesar Bolanos, Composer

• 1934 ~ The Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, recorded Annie’s Aunt Fanny on the Brunswick label. The track featured trombonist Glenn Miller, who also vocalized on the tune.

• 1937 ~ Freddie Fender, Guitarist

• 1940 ~ Dorothy Rudd Moore, Composer

• 1942 ~ Glenn Wallichs did what was called ‘promotion’ for Capitol Records in Hollywood. He came up with the idea that he could send copies of Capitol’s new records to influential radio announcers all around the U.S. and, maybe, add to the chances that stations would play the records. The practice would soon become common among most record labels.

• 1944 ~ Roger Ball, Musician, saxophonist and keyboards with Average White Band

• 1945 ~ Anthony Braxton, Jazz musician Read more about Braxton

• 1945 ~ Michelle Phillips (Holly Michelle Gilliam), Singer with The Mamas and the Papas

• 1945 ~ Gordon Waller, Singer with Peter and Gordon

• 1951 ~ Conductor Serge Koussevitsky died. Born in Russia, he conducted the State Symphony Orchestra in Petrograd before moving to the U.S. to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Read more about Serge Koussevitsky

• 1956 ~ Max Kowalski, Composer, died at the age of 73

• 1961 ~ “Wildcat” closed at Alvin Theater NYC after 172 performances

• 1963 ~ First transmission of Pop Go The Beatles on BBC radio

• 1964 ~ The Beatles “World Tour” begins in Copenhagen Denmark

• 1972 ~ Godfried Devreese, Composer, died at the age of 79

• 1978 ~ 32nd Tony Awards: Da and Ain’t Misbehavin’ won

• 1988 ~ “Cabaret” closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 262 performances

• 1988 ~ 42nd Tony Awards: M Butterfly and Phantom of the Opera won

• 1989 ~ Vaclav Kaslik, Czech opera Composer/conductor, died at the age of 71

• 1994 ~ Derek Lek Leckenby, rock guitarist (Herman’s Hermits), died at the age of 48

• 1994 ~ Earle Warren, Alto sax player, died at the age of 79

• 1995 ~ 49th Tony Awards: Love! Valour! Compassion! and Sunset Boulevard won

• 1997 ~ Ronnie Lane, bassist (Faces), died at the age of 50 of multiple sclerosis

• 2001 ~ John Hartford, a versatile and wry performer who wrote the standardGentle on My Mind and turned his back on Hollywood to return to bluegrass music, died Monday at at the age of 63. He was a singer-songwriter, comedian, tap-clog dancer, television performer and riverboat enthusiast. Gentle on My Mind has been broadcast on radio or television more than 6 million times, according to Broadcast Music Incorporated, which collects song royalties. It has been recorded more than 300 times, most prominently by Glen Campbell in 1967. Hartford’s career rambled from Hollywood to Nashville, with stops writing and performing on network television, thousands of shows at bluegrass clubs and festivals, and stints as a licensed steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. At the height of his fame in the early 1970s, Hartford reconsidered his decision to take an offer to star in a detective series on CBS. Instead, he returned to Nashville and resumed his career as an innovative, relatively low-profile bluegrass singer-songwriter. “I knew that if I did it, I would never live it down,” Hartford said of the television series in a 2000 interview. “Because then when I went back to music, people would start saying, `Oh, he didn’t make it in acting so he’s gone country.”‘ Born in New York City and raised in St. Louis, Hartford was enthralled as a youngster by riverboats and bluegrass music, in particular that of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. He moved to Nashville in 1965, and his first album “John Hartford Looks at Life” was released the following year. Hartford’s version of Gentle on My Mind from second album “Earthwords & Music” was a minor hit in 1967. The song is about a hobo whose mind is eased by the thought of a former lover. Hartford moved to California in 1968, landing a job writing and performing on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” His went on to the cast of “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.” Returning to Nashville in 1971, Hartford released the landmark acoustic album “Aereo-Plain” and continued to record until his death. He was one of the performers on the hit soundtrack to the film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

June 1 ~ This Day in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment

 

 

• 1893 ~ Allesandre Spontone, Composer

• 1653 ~ Georg Muffat, Composer

• 1755 ~ Frederico Fiorillo, Italian Violist and composer

• 1757 ~ Ignaz Playel, Austrian Composer and piano builder

• 1763 ~ Johann Caspar Vogler, Composer, died at the age of 67

• 1765 ~ Friedrich Ludwig Seidel, Composer

• 1769 ~ Joseph Antoni Frantiszek Elsner, Composer

• 1771 ~ Ferdinando Paer, Composer

• 1776 ~ John George Schetky, Composer

• 1804 ~ Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer; “The Father of Russian Music”
More information about Glinka

• 1810 ~ Johann Paul Wessely, Composer, died at the age of 47

• 1826 ~ Carl Bechstein, German piano inventor

• 1826 ~ Hermann Zopff, Composer

• 1848 ~ Otto Valdemar Malling, Composer

• 1886 ~ Ernst Kurth, Austrian/Swiss musicologist

• 1892 ~ Samuel L M Barlow, Composer

• 1893 ~ Opera “Falstaff” was produced in Berlin

• 1898 ~ Edgar “Cookie” Fairchild, Bandleader for the Jerry Colonna Show

• 1898 ~ Lieb Glantz, Composer

• 1903 ~ Percy William Whitlock, Composer

• 1905 ~ Dinora de Carvalho, Composer

• 1909 ~ Szymon Goldberg, Polish/American violinist and conductor

• 1909 ~ Giuseppe Martucci, Composer, died at the age of 53

• 1918 ~ Friedrich Richard Faltin, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1918 ~ Jaroslav Novotny, Composer, died at the age of 32

• 1919 ~ Boris Lazarevich Klyuzner, Composer

• 1921 ~ Nelson Riddle, Grammy Award-winning orchestra leader and arranger of popular music for Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole

• 1926 ~ Vasily Mikhaylovich Metallov, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1929 ~ Yehudi Wyner, Composer

• 1934 ~ Pat (Charles Eugene) Boone, Singer, married to Red Foley’s daughter, Shirley

• 1935 ~ Alberto Cametti, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1941 ~ Edo de Waart, Dutch conductor

• 1942 ~ Ernest Pingoud, Composer, died at the age of 53

• 1943 ~ Ely van Tongeren, Dutch guitarist and singer

• 1943 ~ Richard Goode, concert pianist. In 1980 he won the Avery Fisher Award

• 1945 ~ Frederica Von Stade, American mezzo-soprano

• 1945 ~ Linda Scott, Singer

• 1946 ~ Carol Neblett, American soprano with the NYC Opera

• 1947 ~ Ron Wood, Guitar with Rolling Stones after 1975

• 1949 ~ Mike Levine, Rock keyboardist/bassist

• 1950 ~ Graham Russell, Singer with Air Supply

• 1955 ~ F Melius Christiansen, Composer, died at the age of 84

• 1959 ~ Celebrating a solid year at the top of the album charts was “Johnny’s Greatest Hits” on Columbia Records. The LP stayed for several more years at or near the top of the album charts. It became the all-time album leader at 490 weeks.

• 1960 ~ “Finian’s Rainbow” closed at 46th St Theater NYC after 12 performances

• 1961 ~ There was a new sound in the air this day. FM multiplex stereo broadcasting was enjoyed for the first time by listeners to FM radio in Schenectady, NY, Los Angeles and Chicago. The FCC adopted the standard a year later.

• 1964 ~ Rutkowski Bronislaw, Composer, died at the age of 66

• 1966 ~ George Harrison was impressed by Ravi Shankar’s concert in London

• 1967 ~ The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released. One of the first critically-acclaimed rock albums, “Sgt. Pepper’s” became the number one album in the world and was at the top of the U.S. album list for 15 weeks.

• 1968 ~ Simon and Garfunkel’s Mrs Robinson hit #1

• 1970 ~ Everything was Beautiful by Ray Stevens hit #1

• 1971 ~ “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” opened at Golden NYC for 31 performances

• 1972 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch’s 15th Symphony premiered in West Berlin

• 1973 ~ George Harrison’s Living in the Material World went gold

• 1973 ~ Paul McCartney and Wings released Live and Let Die

• 1974 ~ Alanis Nadine Morisette, Singer

• 1974 ~ “My Girl Bill” by Jim Stafford hit #12

• 1975 ~ “Chicago” opened at 46th St Theater NYC for 947 performances

• 1980 ~ Barbra Streisand appeared at an ACLU Benefit in California

• 1988 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at Shubert Theatre, LA

• 1996 ~ Don Grolnick, Jazz musician, died at the age of 48

May 29 ~ This Day in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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• 1680 ~ Abraham Megerle, Composer, died at the age of 73

• 1680 ~ Luca Fumagalli (1837) Composer

• 1730 ~ William Jackson, Composer

• 1731 ~ Orazio Mei, Composer

• 1741 ~ Johann Gottfried Krebs, Composer

• 1750 ~ Giuseppe Porsile, Composer, died at the age of 70

• 1753 ~ Joseph Haydn’s “Krumme Teufel,” premiered

• 1791 ~ Pietro Romani, Composer

• 1833 ~ William Marshall, Composer, died at the age of 84

• 1860 ~ Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer
More information about Albéniz

• 1843 ~ Emile Pessard, Composer

• 1862 ~ Franciszek Wincenty Mirecki, Composer, died at the age of 71

• 1881 ~ Frederik Septimus Kelly, Composer

• 1883 ~ William Beatton Moonie, Composer

• 1889 ~ August Strindberg’s “Hemsoborna,” premiered in Copenhagen

• 1890 ~ Francis de Bourguignon, Composer

• 1897 ~ Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian-born American composer
More information about Korngold

• 1897 ~ Ignace Lilien, Composer

• 1899 ~ Frantz Jehin-Prume, Composer, died at the age of 60

• 1903 ~ Bob Hope, Entertainer

• 1905 ~ Fela Sowande, Composer

• 1905 ~ Leon Francis Victor Caron, Composer, died at the age of 55

• 1906 ~ Hans Joachim Schaeuble, Composer

• 1910 ~ Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev, Russian Composer, died at the age of 73

• 1911 ~ Sir William Gilbert, English librettist who together with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan collaborated on many operettas, died of a heart attack after rescuing a woman from drowning. He was 74.

• 1911 ~ Carl M Story (1916) Fiddler

• 1912 ~ Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia, PA — for dancing the Turkey Trot while on the job!

• 1919 ~ (Walter) (Wladziu Valentino) Liberace, American concert pianist and showman. His trade mark was a candelabra on his piano.
More information about Liberace

• 1922 ~ Iannis Xenakis, Rumanian-born French theorist and composer
More information on Xenakis

• 1923 ~ Eugene Wright, Jazz musician, bass with Dukes of Swing, played with Brubeck

• 1935 ~ Josef Suk, Czech violinist and composer, died at the age of 61

• 1930 ~ Eleanor Fazan, Opera and show choreographer

• 1937 ~ Peter Kolman, Composer

• 1941 ~ Roy Crewsdon, Guitarist with Freddie and The Dreamers

• 1942 ~ The biggest selling record of all time was recorded. A little out of season, perhaps, but White Christmas, the Irving Berlin classic, was recorded by Bing Crosby for Decca Records. The song was written for the film “Holiday Inn”. More than 30-million copies of Crosby’s most famous hit song have been sold and a total of nearly 70-million copies, including all versions of the standard, have been sold.

• 1943 ~ Hermann Hans Wetzler, Composer, died at the age of 72

• 1943 ~ “The Million Dollar Band” was heard for the first time on NBC radio. Charlie Spivak was the first leader of the band that featured Barry Wood as vocalist. The unusual feature of the show was the awarding each week of five diamond rings!

• 1945 ~ Gary Brooker, Keyboard player, singer

• 1948 ~ Linda Esther Gray, opera singer

• 1948 ~ Michael Berkley, Composer and broadcaster

• 1949 ~ Francis Rossi, Guitarist

• 1949 ~ Gary Brooker, Rock keyboardist with Procol Harum

• 1950 ~ Rebbie (Maureen) Jackson, Singer, oldest member of the Jackson family

• 1951 ~ Dimitrios Levidis, Composer, died at the age of 66

• 1951 ~ Fanny Brice, Ziegfeld Girl (Baby Snooks Show), died at the age of 59

• 1951 ~ Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Composer, died at the age of 91

• 1951 ~ Robert Kahn, Composer, died at the age of 85

• 1951 ~ Danny Elfman (1953) Singer with Oingo Boingo;, composer of soundtracks to Batman, Beetlejuice and The Simpsons

• 1956 ~ LaToya Jackson, Singer

• 1956 ~ Hermann Abendroth, German conductor (Gewandhausorkest), died at the age of 73

• 1956 ~ Arnold Schoenberg’s “Modern Psalm,” premiered

• 1960 ~ Everly Brothers Cathy’s Clown hit #1

• 1961 ~ Melissa Etheridge, Singer

• 1961 ~ Uuno Kalervo Klami, Composer, died at the age of 60

• 1961 ~ Ricky Nelson reached the top spot on the “Billboard” singles chart withTravelin’ Man. It was was Nelson’s second chart-topping hit. Poor Little Fool made it to the top in August of 1958.

• 1962 ~ Barbra Streisand appeared on “Garry Moore Show”

• 1967 ~ Geronimo Baqueiro Foster, Composer, died at the age of 69

• 1971 ~ Max Trapp, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1972 ~ The Osmonds received a gold record for the album, “Phase III”.

• 1975 ~ Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown, Singer

• 1976 ~ One Piece At A Time by Johnny Cash hit #29

• 1977 ~ Goddard Lieberson, Composer, died at the age of 66

• 1989 ~ Danielle Riley Keough, grand daughter of Elvis Presley

• 1991 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at ACTEA Theatre, Auckland NZ

• 1992 ~ Peter John “Ollie” Halsall, Guitarist, died of a heart attack at 43

• 1994 ~ Oliver “Bops Junior” Jackson, drummer, died at the age of 61

• 1994 ~ “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” closed at Minskoff Theater NYC after 223 performances

• 1996 ~ James George “Jimmy” Rowles, Jazz pianist, died at the age of 77

• 1997 ~ Jeff Buckley, Musician, drowned at age 30

• 2003 ~ Janet Collins, the first black prima ballerina to appear at the Metropolitan Opera and one of a few black women to become prominent in American classical ballet, died. She was 86. In 1951, Collins performed lead roles in “Aida” and Bizet’s Carmen and danced in “La Gioconda” and “Samson and Delilah” at the Met in New York City. That was four years before Marian Anderson made her historic debut as the first black to sing a principal role at the Met. Collins left the Met in 1954. During the 1950s, she toured with her own dance group throughout the United States and Canada and taught. Collins also danced in films, including the 1943 musical “Stormy Weather” and 1946’s “The Thrill of Brazil.” The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1974 paid homage to Collins and Pearl Primus as pioneering black women in dance.