Tag Archives: singer

December 3 ~ On This Day in Music

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Christmas Countdown: Angels We Have Heard On High

• 1596 ~ Nicola Amati, Italian violin maker, teacher of Guarneri and Stradivari

• 1729 ~ Padre Antonio Francisco Javier Jose Soler, Spanish composer whose works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras. He is best known for his keyboard sonatas, an important contribution to the harpsichord, fortepiano and organ repertoire.

• 1876 ~ Hermann Goetz died.  He was a German composer.

• 1883 ~ Anton Webern, Austrian composer and conductor
Read quotes by and about Webern
More information about Webern

• 1907 ~ Connie (Connee) Boswell, Singer Connie or Connee (a spelling she preferred later in life), who also played several musical instruments, arranged vocals for herself and her two sisters. Although she was stricken with polio and worked from her wheelchair, she never let this get in the way of being part of her jazz-singing trio. The Boswell Sisters’ talent was quickly recognized and by the time Connee was 24 years old, the sisters were doing vaudeville, radio, playing New York’s Paramount Theatre, recording with the Dorsey Brothers: You Oughta Be in Pictures; making films and appearing on the U.S.A.’s first public TV broadcast. One thing led to another and Connie went solo, entertaining World War II troops, making films, appearing on Broadway and recording with big names like Woody Herman’s; even a duet classic with Bing Crosby: Basin Street Blues. Her musical influence spanned many generations and music styles. If you’d have asked Ella Fitzgerald, she would have told you, “They just don’t make ’em like Connee Boswell anymore.”

• 1911 ~ Nino Rota, composer (Torquemada)

•  1923 ~ Maria Callas (Calogeropoulous), American soprano
More information about Callas
Read quotes by and about Callas

• 1925 ~ The first jazz concerto for piano and orchestra was presented at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Commissioned by Walter Damrosch, American composer George Gershwin presented Concerto In F, and was also the featured soloist playing a flugelhorn in a slow, bluesy style as one of his numbers.

• 1927 ~ Phyllis Curtin, Singer: soprano with the New York City Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, La Scala, Teatro Colon; coordinator of Voice Dept and Opera at Yale School of Music, Dean Emerita of Boston Univ School for the Arts

• 1927 ~ Ferlin Husky (aka: Simon Crum, Terry Preston), Singer

• 1930 ~ Andy (Howard Andrew) Williams, American Emmy Award-winning entertainer, singer

• 1931 ~ Jaye P. (Mary Margaret) Morgan, Singer, performer

• 1941 ~ Johann Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer

• 1944 ~ Frank Sinatra was in the Columbia Records studio recording Old Man River.

• 1948 ~ Ozzy (John) Osbourne, Songwriter, singer

• 1949 ~ Mickey Thomas, Singer with Jefferson Starship

• 1953 ~ Kismet opened on Broadway in New York. The show ran for 583 performances.

• 1955 ~ Elvis Presley’s first release on RCA Victor Records was announced. No, it wasn’t Hound Dog or Heartbreak Hotel. The first two sides were actually purchased from Sam Phillips of Sun Records: Mystery Train and I Forgot to Remember to Forget. Elvis was described by his new record company as “The most talked about personality in recorded music in the last 10 years.”

• 1960 ~ Camelot opened at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. Richard Burton and Julie Andrews played the leading roles in the musical written by Lerner and Loewe. Robert Goulet got rave reviews for his songs, If Ever I Would Leave You, Then You May Take Me to the Fair and How to Handle a Woman, among others. Camelot had a run of 873 performances. Broadway went Hollywood in the 1967 film version of Camelot. Its run was not quite as successful.

 

. 1965 ~ The Beatles sixth studio album Rubber Soul was released. Often referred to as a folk rock album, Rubber Soul incorporates a mix of pop, soul and folk musical styles. The title derives from the colloquialism “plastic soul”, which referred to soul played by English musicians.

• 1968 ~ The O’Kaysions received a gold record for Girl Watcher. The song had a promotional reprise in the 1990s as a theme for Merv Griffin’s Wheel of Fortune, with the revamped lyrics, I’m a Wheel Watcher…

. 1969 ~ The Rolling Stones recorded ‘Brown Sugar’ at Muscle Shoals studios. The single went on to be a UK and US Number 1.

.1972 ~ The Temptations earn their final #1 hit with “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”

• 1977 ~ After 29 weeks in the #1 position on the album charts (a record, literally…), Rumours, by Fleetwood Mac, was replaced at the top spot by the album Simple Dreams, sung by Linda Ronstadt.

• 1999 ~ Handel’s Messiah Gets Modern Makeover in Ireland

• 2000 ~ Kevin Mills, a member of the Christian rock groups Newsboys and White Heart, died after a motorcycle accident in Hollywood. He was 32. Mills, of Louisville, Ky., was a singer and bass player, his family said. He also was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and appeared on TV in “An Inconvenient Woman” in 1991. White Heart started in 1982. Newsboys, an Australian band now based near Nashville, was formed four years later. Newsboys have sold nearly 3 million records and earned three Grammy nominations on the religious rock circuit.

• 2000 ~ Washington Honored Eastwood, Baryshnikov, Others

• 2002 ~ Rich Dangel, credited with creating the opening guitar chords of garage band staple Louie Louie, died of an aneurysm at his home. He was 60. Dangel was a member of the seminal Northwest rock band the Wailers, who introduced the nation to the Northwest sound – raw, unpolished and catchy. He may be best known for coming up with the power chords that opened the Wailers’ 1961 regional hit, Louie, Louie, written by rhythm-and-blues singer Richard Berry and taken to the top of the national charts by another Northwest band, the Kingsmen from Portland, Ore. Dangel co-wrote his first chart hit, “Tall Cool One” with fellow Wailer John Greek when he was still in high school. The song resulted in the group’s first album, “The Fabulous Wailers,” a cross-country tour and a 1959 appearance on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand.”

December 2 ~ On This Day in Music

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Christmas Countdown: Joy To The World

• 1774 ~ Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music.

• 1856 ~ Robert Kajanus, Finnish conductor and composer

• 1899 ~ Sir John Barbirolli, British conductor and cellist

• 1914 ~ Eddie Sauter, Drummer, trumpeter, composer, orchestra leader of the Sauter- Finegan Orchestra, arranger for Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw

• 1916 ~ Charlie Ventura, Tenor sax, played with Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, band leader

• 1917 ~ Sylvia Syms, Singer, ‘world’s greatest saloon singer’

• 1918 ~ Milton DeLugg, Bandleader on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; Milton DeLugg and His Orchestra: Abe Burrows’ Almanac, The Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show, Dagmar’s Canteen, Doodles Weaver, The Gong Show, Judge for Yourself, Your Hit Parade; played accordion in The Milton DeLugg Quartet and songwriter

• 1928 ~ Jörg Demus, Austrian pianist

• 1934 ~ Billy Paul (Paul Williams), Singer

• 1941 ~ Tom McGuinness, Bass, guitar with Manfred Mann; McGuinness Flint; and Blues Band

• 1942 ~ Ted Bluechel, Jr., Singer, drummer with The Association

• 1944 ~ Eric Bloom, Singer, guitarist

• 1945 ~ John Densmore, Musician with The Doors

• 1950 ~ Dino Lipatti, classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short from causes related to Hodgkin’s disease, died at the age of 33

• 1952 ~ Michael McDonald, Singer, songwriter, keyboard with The Doobie Brothers

• 1960 ~ Rick Savage, Bass with Def Leppard

• 1972 ~ Motown’s Temptations reached the #1 spot on the top 40 charts with Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone. It was the fourth #1 hit for the Temptations, joining My Girl, I Can’t Get Next to You and Just My Imagination.

• 1981 Hershy Kay, composer, died at the age of 62. Union Jack is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine to traditional British tunes, hornpipe melodies and music-hall songs, ca. 1890–1914, adapted by Hershy Kay. The premiere took place on 13 May 1976, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, to honor British heritage in the United States its bicentennial with costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, original lighting by Ronald Bates and current lighting by Mark Stanley. At the finale, the ensemble spells out “God Save the Queen” in semaphore code and the Union Jack unfurls. Principal dancer Jock Soto included an excerpt from Union Jack in his farewell performance in June 2005.

December 1 ~ On This Day in Music

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Christmas Countdown: Sleigh Ride

• 1707 ~ Jeremiah Clarke, composer, died

• 1709 ~ Franz Xaver Richter, Austro-Moravian singer, violinist, composer, conductor and music theoretician

• 1879 ~ Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, H.M.S. Pinafore, opened. Arthur Sullivan conducted the orchestra while William Gilbert played the role of a sailor in the chorus and in the Queen’s Nay-vee.

• 1912 ~ Terence Beckles, pianist/teacher

• 1913 ~ Mary Martin, American singer and actress, primarily for the musical theater, Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, mother of actor Larry Hagman

• 1924 ~ Lady Be Good opened in New York City. George Gershwin wrote the music while Fred and Adele Astaire were well-received by the show’s audience for their dancing talents.

• 1936 ~ Lou Rawls (Louis Allen), American Grammy Award-winning singer of popular music, TV regular on Dean Martin Presents

• 1938 ~ Sandy Nelson, Drummer

• 1939 ~ Diane Lennon, Singer with The Lennon Sisters on Lawrence Welk Show, Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters

• 1940 ~ Glenn Miller got a call from ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers). He was informed that he couldn’t use his Moonlight Serenade as his band’s theme song. He had to use Slumber Song instead because of an ASCAP ban.

• 1945 ~ Bette Midler, American Grammy Award-winning pop-rock singer and actress

• 1945 ~ Burl Ives made his concert debut. He appeared at New York’s Town Hall. We lovingly listen every year for the voice of this old-time radio personality as the narrator and banjo-pickin’ snowman in TV’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

• 1946 ~ Gilbert (Raymond) O’Sullivan, Singer

• 1950 ~ John Wesley Ryles, Singer

• 1950 ~ Ernest John Moeran passed away

• 1968 ~ Promises, Promises opened on Broadway. The play ran for 1,281 performances, earning $35,000 in profits each week of 1969. Dionne Warwick had a hit version of the title song.

• 1986 ~ Horace Heidt, orchestra leader (Swift Show Wagon), died at the age of 85

• 1989 ~ Alvin Ailey, US choreographer (Blues Suite, Revelations), died at the age of 58

• 1997 ~ Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, died at the age of 89

• 2012 ~ Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano opera singer, died at the age of 85

November 30 ~ On This Day in Music

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.1634 ~ Andres de Sola, Organist and composer

. 1813 ~ Charles-Henri Valentin Alkan, Composer

. 1859 ~ Sergei Mikhailovich Liapunov, Composer and pianist

. 1915 ~ “Brownie” McGee, American jazz singer and guitarist

. 1931 ~ Thurman ‘Teddy’ Wilburn, Singer with Wilburn Brothers, Grand Ole Opry

. 1932 ~ Bob Moore, Instrumentalist with Moby Grape

. 1924 ~ Allan Sherman, American parody singer and songwriter (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah)

. 1935 ~ Jack Reno, Country singer

. 1937 ~ (Noel) Paul Stookey, American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist, Peter, Paul and Mary

. 1939 ~ Harry James and his big band recorded Concerto for Trumpet on Columbia 78s.

. 1940 ~ Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married. Lucy filed for divorce the day after their final TV show was filmed in 1960.

. 1943 ~ Nat ‘King’ Cole and his trio recorded Straighten Up and Fly Right on Capitol Records. It was the first recording for the King Cole trio.

. 1943 ~ Leo Lyons, Bass with the Jaybirds

. 1944 ~ Rob Grill, Singer with The Grass Roots

. 1944 ~ Luther Ingram, Singer

. 1945 ~ Radu Lupu, Rumanian pianist

. 1945 ~ Roger Glover, Bass with these groups: Episode Six, Rainbow, Deep Purple

. 1952 ~ Mandy Patinkin, American actor and singer

. 1953 ~ Shuggie (Johnny) Otis, Jr., Guitarist, bass, harmonica and keyboards

. 1954 ~ George McArdle, Bass guitarist with Little River Band

. 1954 ~ June Pointer, Singer with The Pointer Sisters

. 1955 ~ Billy Idol (Broad), Guitarist, singer, songwriter

. 1957 ~ John Aston, Guitarist with these groups: Photons, Psychedelic Furs

. 1957 ~ Richard Barbieri, Drummer with Japan, composer

. 1968 ~ Diana Ross and The Supremes hit the #1 spot on the music charts with Love Child. The somewhat controversial tune (for the times) stayed at the top for two weeks.

. 1971 ~ ABC-TV presented Brian’s Song as the ABC Movie of the Week. The touching story was about Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo and his friendship with Gayle Sayers, who watched Brian die a tragic death. The theme song, Brian’s Song, was performed by Michel Legrand.

. 1974 ~ The Eagles hit, Best of My Love, was released. It would take until March 1, 1975 for it to reach the #1 spot on the top 40 charts.

. 1970 ~ Des’ree, Singer

. 1996 ~ Tiny Tim died performing Tiptoe Through the Tulips to an audience at a benefit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He cut the song short, commenting to his wife, Miss Sue, that he felt ill. As he was making his way with Sue to her table, amidst the applause of his loyal fans, he collapsed, was taken to a Minneapolis hospital and died without regaining consciousness.

. 2017 ~ Jim Nabors, American comedian, actor and singer (Gomer Pyle, Back Home Again in Indiana), died from health complications at the age of 87

. 2019 ~ Mariss Jansons, one of today’s most respected and in-demand conductors, died t the age of 76.

Jansons had been suffering from heart disease and had canceled several concert appearances this year as a result. In October 2019, after a six-month hiatus, he returned to the podium with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

November 28 ~ On This Day in Music

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. 1632 ~ Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer
More information about Lully

. 1829 ~ Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer and pianist.  He founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.
More information about Rubinstein

. 1895 ~ Joseé Iturbi, Musician, pianist, conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra

. 1915 ~ Dick Vance, Trumpeter

. 1929 ~ Berry Gordy, Jr., Founder of Motown Records

. 1934 ~ Ethel Ennis, Singer with Benny Goodman Orchestra

. 1939 ~ Gary Troxel, Singer with The Fleetwoods

. 1940 ~ Bruce Channel, Singer

. 1943 ~ Randy (Randall Stuart) Newman, American pop-rock songwriter, singer and pianist
More information about Newman
Grammy winner

. 1945 ~ R.B. Greaves, Singer

. 1948 ~ Beeb Birtles, Guitarist with The Little River Band

. 1949 ~ Alexander Godunov, Ballet dancer, actor

. 1949 ~ Paul Shaffer, Bandleader on Late Show with David Letterman, comedian

. 1956 ~ Holding the #1 spot on the music charts: Guy Mitchell singing Singing the Blues. The song remained at the top of the Hit Parade for 10 weeks. Here’s a bit of trivia: Ray Conniff whistled the intro to Singing the Blues.

. 1966 ~ The New Vaudeville Band received a gold record for Winchester Cathedral this day.

. 1974 ~ John Lennon appeared in concert for the last time, at NYC’s Madison Square Garden. Lennon joined Elton John to sing Whatever Gets You Through the Night as well as I Saw Her Standing There.

November 27 ~ On This Day in Music

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. 1471 ~ Guillaume Du Fay, French composer, died. Considered the leading composer of the early Renaissance.

. 1750 ~ Anton Thadaus Johann Nepomuk Stamitz, composer

. 1804 ~ Sir Julius Benedict, Musician, composer

. 1813 ~ Michele Puccini, Composer

. 1867 ~ Charles (Charles-Louis-Eugèn) Koechlin, French composer. He studied under Massenet and Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire. He excelled in colorful and inventive orchestration in his symphonies, symphonic poems, choral-orchestral works (including seven based on Kipling’s Jungle Book), film music, and works inspired by Hollywood, such as the Seven Stars Symphony. He also wrote prolifically for a wide range of vocal and chamber combinations. His writings included studies of recent French music and treatises on music theory.

. 1898 ~ Nelly Steuer-Wagenaar, Dutch pianist

. 1900 ~ Leon Barzin, Belgian conductor (NY City Ballet 1948-58)

. 1904 ~ Sir Julius Benedict, German-born English conductor and composer

. 1912 ~ David Merrick (Margulois), Broadway producer of Gypsy, Hello, Dolly!,Beckett, Oliver, Fanny, Stop the World: I Want to Get Off, 42nd Street

. 1926 ~ Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong recorded You Made Me Love You on Okeh Records.

. 1935 ~ Al Jackson, Jr., Dummer with Booker T. and the M.G.’s; Roy Milton Band

. 1935 ~ Eeny Meeny Miney Mo was recorded by Ginger Rogers and Johnny Mercer. The tune was recorded at Decca Records in Los Angeles.

. 1942 ~ Jimi (James Marshall) Hendrix, American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter

. 1944 ~ Dozy (Trevor Davies), Bass with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich

. 1944 ~ Eddie Rabbitt, Songwriter, Kentucky Rain for Elvis Presley; singer, his 17 albums garnered 26 #1 country hits and 8 pop hits

. 1953 ~ Boris Grebenshikov, Russian rock musician

. 1959 ~ Charlie Burchill, Guitarist with Simple Minds

. 1967 ~ The Association, a California group, earned a gold record for the hit Never My Love, on Warner Bros. Records. The group also earned worldwide fame for other hits including Windy, Cherish and Along Comes Mary.

. 1979 ~ Hilary Hahn, American violinist

. 1982 ~ The #1 song in the U.S. was former Commodore Lionel Richie’s Truly. The love song stayed at the top of the charts for two weeks. The song was his first solo hit and followed Endless Love, a duet with Diana Ross in 1981.

. 2000 ~ Walter Bailes, a member of the popular 1940s-era Grand Ole Opry duo The Bailes Brothers, died at the age of 80. Walter Bailes, a West Virginia native, and his brother Johnny were the classic Bailes Brothers duo. Brothers Kyle and Homer also performed with the group over the years in varying combinations. Walter wrote much of the group’s material, including popular songs like Dust on the Bible and I Want to be Loved. During their run on the Grand Ole Opry from 1944 to 46, they were among the show’s most popular acts. Kitty Wells, Flatt & Scruggs, and The Everly Brothers all recorded songs written by Walter Bailes. The Bailes Brothers left the Opry in 1946 and moved to Shreveport, La., where they helped launch the Louisiana Hayride radio show. They continued to occasionally perform throughout the 1950s.

November 23 ~ On This Day in Music

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. 1585 ~ Thomas Tallis, English composer, died at the age of 80

. 1666 ~ Giuseppe Guarneri, Italian violin maker

. 1876 ~ Manuel de Falla, Spanish composer and conductor
More information about de Falla

. 1889 ~ The first ‘Nickel-in-the-Slot’ (jukebox) was placed in service in the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco, California. Juke, at the time, was a slang word for a disorderly house, or house of ill repute. The unit, developed by Louis T. Glass, contained an Edison tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes. There was a coin slot for each tube. 5 cents bought a few minutes of music. The contraption took in $1,000 in six months!

. 1903 ~ Enrico Caruso, famed Italian tenor, made his debut in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. He sang in the role of the Duke in Rigoletto.

. 1920 ~ Herman Nieland, Dutch organist/pianist/composer

. 1924 ~ Vincent Lopez and some 40 jazz musicians presented a concert of upbeat music at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC.

. 1928 ~ Jerry Bock, American songwriter for the musical theater

. 1933 ~ Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer and conductor
More information about Penderecki

. 1935 ~ Ethel Leginska became the first woman to write an opera and conduct it. Her original work, titled Gale, opened at the Chicago City Opera Company.

. 1938 ~ Bob Hope and Shirley Ross recorded a song for the film, The Big Broadcast of 1938. Thanks for the Memory became Decca record number 2219. It also became Hope’s theme song.

. 1955 ~ Ludovico Einaudi, Italian composer and pianist

. 1974 ~ Billy Swan reached the #1 spot on the singles charts for the first and only time. I Can Help was the most popular song in the U.S. for two weeks.

November 20 ~ On This Day in Music

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•  1894 ~ Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer and pianist, died at the age of 64.

•  1925 ~ June Christy (Shirley Luster), Singer, sang with Stan Kenton band

•  1929 ~ Leo Reisman and his orchestra recorded Happy Days are Here Again for Victor Records. The classic was recorded just three weeks after the stock market crash that plunged the nation into the Great Depression.

• 1937 ~ Ruth Laredo, American pianist

• 1940 ~ Tony Butala, Singer with The Lettermen

•  1942 ~ Norman Greenbaum, Singer

• 1943 ~ Meredith Monk, American composer, dancer, choreographer and singer

• 1946 ~ Duane Allman, Guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band

• 1946 ~ Ray Stiles, Bass, singer with Mud

• 1947 ~ George Grantham, Drummer, singer with Poco

• 1947 ~ Joe Walsh, Guitarist, singer with the Eagles; James Gang

• 1948 ~ Barbara Hendricks, American soprano

• 1957 ~ Jimmy Brown, Drummer with UB40

• 1959 ~ One of America’s great rock jocks was fired from WABC radio in New York. The ‘Moondoggy’ himself, Alan Freed, was axed in the midst of the payola music scandal.

• 1966 ~ Cabaret opened on Broadway for the first of 1,166 stellar performances. Joel Gray starred in the hugely successful musical that is an adaptation of both the play, “I Am a Camera”, and the novel, “Goodbye to Berlin”.

• 1971 ~ Isaac Hayes of Memphis, TN got his first #1 hit as the Theme from Shaft began a two-week stay at the top of the charts.

• 1973 ~ Allan Sherman, American parody singer and songwriter (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah), died from emphysema at the age of 48

• 1984 ~ The largest crowd to see the unveiling of a Hollywood Walk-of-Fame star turned out as Michael Jackson got his piece of the sidewalk right in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. ‘The Gloved One’ became star number 1,793 on the famed walk.

• 2003 ~ Katherine Bidwell, who supported performing arts programs and held positions at the Metropolitan Opera Guild and Lincoln Center, died. She was 66. A musician herself, Bidwell joined the St. Louis Municipal Opera when she was 18. She became a trustee at Sarah Lawrence College, her alma mater, and sponsored performing arts programs there. In 1966, Bidwell joined the board of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She was its president and chief executive from 1979 to 1986, and for the next 10 years, she was director of special projects for Lincoln Center. Bidwell founded the Katherine Bidwell Foundation for Young Singers and the patrons’ program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She was a trustee of several other organizations, including Westminster Choir College and the London School of Music and Dramatic Arts.

November 13 ~ On This Day in Music

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.1817 ~ Louis Lefébure-Wély, French organist and composer

.1854 ~ George Whitefield Chadwick, American composer and conductor

.1868 ~ Gioachino (Antonio) Rossini, Italian composer (Barber of Seville, William Tell), died at the age of 76. “Delight must be the basis and aim of this art,” Rossini wrote. “Simple melody – clear rhythm!” Rossini’s contribution to the development of opera was immense.

.1921 ~ Loonas Kokkonen, Finnish composer

.1943 ~ Leonard Bernstein replaced an indisposed Bruno Walter as conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Thus began a legendary career and worldwide appreciation for Bernstein’s many compositions with the orchestra.

.1951 ~ Nicolai Karlovich Medtner died.  He was a Russian composer and pianist.

.1965 ~ Julie Harris starred in “Skyscraper”, which opened on Broadway in New York City. The musical ran for seven months.

.1968 ~ This was a good day for The Beatles. Their movie, “Yellow Submarine”, premiered in the U.S. and the single, Hey Jude, topped the pop music charts (it was in its 7th of 9 weeks at #1).

.1975 ~ Whoa Whoa Whoa, Feeeelings. One of the great lounge-lizard songs of all time, Feelings by Morris Albert, went gold.

.1988 ~ Antal Dorati, Hungarian-American conductor (Dresden Opera 1928-29), died at the age of 82

.1999 ~ Donald Mills passed away.  He had been one of the Mills Brothers.

.2000 ~ Cecil Blackwood, a gospel singer who was a member of the Blackwood Brothers and crooned with Elvis Presley, of cancer at the age of 66. The Blackwood Brothers, who have won nine Grammys and 20 Dove awards, were a favorite of Elvis Presley, who briefly sang with Cecil Blackwood in a group named the Songfellows. The Blackwood Brothers were formed in 1934, the same year Blackwood was born in Ackerman, Miss. He became the group’s baritone in 1954. The Blackwood Brothers have recorded 300 albums, backed country stars Porter Wagoner and Barbara Mandrell, and are members of the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

.2000 ~ Jimmy Payne Sr., a tap dancer whose rhythm and technique, as well as a mastery of precise steps, attracted Bob Fosse, June Allyson, Gregory Hines, Lena Horne and others to his Chicago studio, died Nov. 13 at the age of 95. The son of a Cuban mother and Barbadian father, Payne grew up in the Panama Canal Zone before moving to New York in 1917. After traveling from New York to Chicago in 1947, Payne helped introduce African and Afro-Cuban rhythms to the dance scene. He taught in a number of Chicago dance studios from the 1950s into the 1970s. He continued to teach some of the city’s top dancers until his regimen was slowed by a number of strokes in his early 90s.

.2000 ~ New York entertainment lawyer and tax expert Joseph Taubman, who wrote how-to books for people working in the business side of show business, died at the age of 81. Taubman’s clients included Lionel Richie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Arlo Guthrie. He also served as counsel to the National Film Board of Canada. Taubman wrote “Financing a Theatrical Production,” and his treatises on various aspects of the entertainment business published in the 1970s remain in print.

.2000 ~ The site, thebeatles.com, went live and is the band’s only official presence on the Internet among a flood of unofficial fan sites.

.2002 ~ Mieke van Hoek, a dance choreographer and teacher, died. She was 56. The Dutch-born van Hoek taught modern-dance choreography and dance improvisation at the Rotterdamse Dansacademie. After emigrating to the United States in 1977, van Hoek worked as a teaching assistant at the American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C., and studied at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute in New York. She founded a center for meditation, healing and the arts in Canones in 2000.

November 12 ~ On This Day in Music

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.1833 ~ Alexander Borodin, Russian composer. His busy life teaching at the Medico-Surgical Academy (& introducing medical courses for women) left him with little time to compose. Henry Hadow said of him: “no musician has ever claimed immortality with so slender an offering”!
More information about Borodin

.1920 ~ Jo Stafford, Singer

.1925 ~ Louis Armstrong recorded “My Heart”, starting a career that brought him worldwide fame.

.1939 ~ Lucia Popp, Czech soprano

.1940 ~ Walt Disney released “Fantasia”. One critic called the film “As terrific as anything that has ever happened on the screen.”

.1941 ~ Hot Lips Page performed the vocal for Artie Shaw’s very long and very slow version of St. James Infirmary on RCA Victor.

.1943 ~ Brian Hyland, Singer

.1943 ~ John Maus, Bass, singer with the trio, The Walker Brothers

.1944 ~ Booker T. Jones, Musician with Booker T and the MG’s

.1945 ~ Neil Young, Canadian folk-rock singer, songwriter and guitarist, with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

.1948 ~ Errol Brown, Songwriter with Tony Wilson singer with Hot Chocolate

.1950 ~ Barbara Fairchild, Singer

.1955 ~ Leslie McKeown, Singer with The Bay City Rollers

.1967 ~ Pearl Bailey took over the lead in the Broadway musical, “Hello Dolly”. ‘Pearlie Mae’ was a smash hit in the role.

.1970 ~ After a successful London run, Anthony Quayle starred in the Broadway opening of “Sleuth”.

.1980 ~ John Lennon’s “Starting Over” was released. John and Yoko were seen kissing on the record cover.

.1983 ~ Lionel Richie began the first of four consecutive weeks at the top of the music charts as All Night Long (All Night) became the most popular song in the U.S.

.2001 ~ Broadway composer Albert Hague, who won a Tony for his work on Redhead and who played the part of cranky music teacher Benjamin Shorofsky in the Fame movie and television series, died of cancer. He was 81. Hague composed the music for many Broadway shows, including The Fig Leaves Are Falling, Plain and Fancy, Cafe Crown and Miss Moffat, which starred Bette Davis. He won his Tony in 1959. He also wrote the music for the animated TV classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas and appeared in a number of movies, including the Michael Jordan- Bugs Bunny comedy Space Jam, in which he played a psychiatrist. It was his long-running role as white-bearded, German-accented teacher Shorofsky that brought him to Los Angeles. He played the part for five years on TV. Other TV acting credits included guest appearances on such shows as Hotel, Beauty and the Beast and Tales From the Dark Side. Born Albert Marcuse in Berlin, Hague fled his native Germany for Rome with his mother in 1937 after the Nazis came to power. He eventually settled in the United States, where he studied music at the University of Cincinnati and was adopted by Dr. Elliott B. Hague, an eye surgeon. In recent years, he and his late wife, actress Renee Orin Hague, had a successful cabaret act, appearing at Carnegie Hall two years ago.

.2003 ~ Guy Livingston, a theater maven and journalist who reviewed stage performances for Variety, died. He was 92. After serving in World War II, Livingston became a drama critic for Variety, traveling between Boston and New York reviewing musicals. Later, he became a press agent for many musicals, as well as for musical artists, among them Judy Garland, Nat ‘King’ Cole and Ray Charles.

.2003 ~ Tony Thompson, the driving force behind such groups as Chic and the Power Station, and a drummer whose effortless ability to move from jazz to rock to funk made him a prized session man, died of renal cell cancer. He was 48. The drummer was noted not only for keeping perfect time but also for subtle cymbal syncopation and raw power, talents that kept him in demand as a session player for such stars as Madonna, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle and Sister Sledge. By the late 1970s, Chic was one of the most popular groups of the disco era. The group sold millions of records beginning with the hit single Dance, Dance, Dance in 1977. Other hits included the singles Le Freak and Good Times and the albums C’est Chic and Risque. After the group disbanded in 1983, Thompson kept busy as a session player, appearing on Sister Sledge’s We Are Family album in 1979, Bowie’s Let’s Dance in 1983 and Madonna’s Like a Virgin in 1984. He also appeared on Mick Jagger’s solo album She’s The Boss in 1985. That same year, Thompson and others formed Power Station. The group’s hits included Some Like it Hot.

2013 ~ John Tavener, British composer, dies from complications from Marfan syndrome at the age of 69

2017 ~ Eric Salzman, American composer (New Musical Theater), died at the age of 84