Today in Music History for Nov. 29:
In 1880, the 1,100-seat Grand Opera House opened in Hamilton, Ont. It gave the city a proper auditorium for theatrical and musical presentations, and attracted top North American touring companies.
In 1917, Merle Travis, equally influential as both a country songwriter and a guitarist, was born in Muhlenberg County, Ky. Travis’s guitar style had a great influence on Chet Atkins, a debt Atkins acknowledged when the two recorded the Grammy Award-winning LP "The Atkins-Travis Travelling Show" in 1974. Travis’ best-known song is "Sixteen Tons," which Tennessee Ernie Ford turned into a million-seller in 1955. Travis also wrote "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette" with Tex Williams, and had hits of his own in the late 1940s with "Divorce Me C.O.D." and "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed." Travis died in October 1983.
In 1924, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels at the age of 66 before he could complete his final opera, "Turandot." It was finished by Franco Alfano, and produced in 1926. Puccini composed some of the most popular operas of all time, among them "La Boheme," "La Tosca" and "Madame Butterfly."
In 1937, Quebec singer-songwriter Marc Gelinas was born in Montreal. He won prizes for several songs written to mark Expo 67, and is the composer of the theme song for the Montreal Expos. He died Oct. 2, 2001.
In 1940, Denny Doherty of "The Mamas and Papas" was born in Halifax. He performed with several pop-folk groups, including "The Halifax Three." Doherty performed in New York with "The Big Three" and "The Mugwumps," both of which also included Cass Elliott. Doherty, Elliott and John and Michelle Phillips performed from 1965 to ’68 as "The Mamas and Papas," one of the most popular vocal groups of the day. Their hits included "Monday, Monday," "California Dreamin'" and "I Saw Her Again." He died on Jan. 19, 2007 after suffering complications from surgery to deal with an aneurysm in his abdomen.
In 1944, Felix Cavaliere, singer and organist with "The Rascals," was born in Pelham, N.Y. The term blue-eyed soul was coined to describe "The Rascals’" blend of pop and R&B in the mid-1960s. Cavaliere, singer Eddie Brigati and guitarist Gene Cornish had all played with "Joey Dee and the Starlighters" before they formed "The Young Rascals" in 1965 with drummer Dino Danelli. The "young" was dropped from the group’s name in 1967. The band's first big hit came in 1966, when "Good Lovin’" went to the top of the charts. "Groovin'" in 1967 and "People Got to Be Free" in 1968 were other "Rascals’" songs to make it to No. 1. The band broke up in the early 1970s, with Cavaliere continuing as a solo artist.
In 1959, Bobby Darin won the Record of the Year Grammy for "Mack the Knife" and another as Best New Artist. Johnny Horton won the Best Country and Western Performance Grammy for "Battle of New Orleans" and Frank Sinatra’s "Come Dance With Me" was Album of the Year.
In 1967, "The Who" released their third LP, "The Who Sell Out." It featured mock commercials and genuine jingles from British pirate radio stations between songs.
In 1968, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s "Two Virgins" LP was released in Britain, three days after Lennon’s divorce from his wife, Cynthia. The cover featured a frontal nude shot of John and Yoko, causing much controversy and a two-month delay in the North American release. The album was finally shipped in a plain brown wrapper.
In 1969, John Lennon, the first "Beatle" to be tried on drug charges, was convicted of marijuana possession and fined 150 pounds. Yoko Ono was acquitted. The court accepted Lennon’s explanation that he no longer used drugs and that he had forgotten he still had any in his house when it was searched in October 1968.
In 1976, Jerry Lee Lewis shot his bass player, Norman "Butch" Owens, twice in the chest while trying to hit a soda bottle. Lewis was charged with shooting a firearm within the city limits.
In 1979, the four original members of "KISS" performed together for what they thought was the last time. They reunited in 1996.
In 1979, model Anita Pallenberg, Keith Richard’s common-law wife, was cleared of murder charges. Her young male companion had been found shot to death in her home in New York state.
In 1979, rockabilly singer Ray Smith committed suicide at age age 45. His "Rockin’ Little Angel" was a top-25 hit in 1960.
In 1979, singer Paul Simon filed two lawsuits against Columbia Records in a bid to switch to Warner Brothers.
In 1979, "Supertramp" recorded their live double-LP "Paris" in the French capital.
In 1985, Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin were awarded five million pounds in back royalties from music publisher Dick James. But the duo failed in a London court to regain ownership of 169 of their songs.
In 1988, 23-year-old James Vance, who sued heavy metal rockers "Judas Priest" after his 1985 suicide attempt, died in Reno, Nev., six days after lapsing into a coma. A drug overdose was blamed for his death. Vance and his parents sued "Judas Priest," alleging subliminal messages in the band’s music caused Vance and Raymond Belknap to make a suicide pact. Belknap died instantly when he shot himself in the head with a shotgun. Vance was disfigured after shooting away part of his face.
In 1989, Lou Reed and avant-garde composer John Cale’s tribute to Andy Warhol, "Songs for Drella - A Fiction," opened in New York. Reed and Cale jointly composed the work, with Reed performing most of the 15 songs. Both were members of the late ’60s group "Velvet Underground," which Warhol recruited for his multi-media organization known as "The Factory."
In 1995, singer Sammy Hagar married Kari Karte on a mountain in northern California.
In 1996, a new version of Bob Dylan’s "Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door" was released in Britain to honour 16 first-graders and a teacher gunned down in a classroom in Dunblane, Scotland. Dylan authorized the addition of a verse calling for gun control. The recording was done by a 14-voice children’s choir, made up of classmates and siblings of the victims. They were backed by "Dire Straits" guitarist Mark Knopfler and other professional musicians.
In 1997, singer Whitney Houston cancelled an appearance at the last minute at a Unification Church mass wedding in Washington, citing illness. She had said earlier she didn’t know the Unification Church was behind it when she agreed to the event.
In 1998, Butch McDade, drummer for the Memphis country-rock group "The Amazing Rhythm Aces," died in Maryville, Tenn., of cancer. He was 52. The band is best known for "Third Rate Romance," which made the top-20 in 1975.
In 2001, "Beatles" lead guitarist and songwriter George Harrison died in Los Angeles at age 58 after a long battle with cancer. Known as the quiet Beatle, Harrison wrote such songs as "Here Comes the Sun," "Taxman" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" while with the Fab Four. He also introduced the sitar to the group. As a solo artist, he charted with "My Sweet Lord," "Got My Mind Set On You" and "When We Was Fab." Later he helped form supergroup "The Traveling Wilburys." Harrison was also a film producer. He also organized one of the first rock ’n’ roll benefit extravaganzas, the Concert for Bangladesh, and he was generous with advice when Bob Geldof was putting together Live Aid.
In 2009, Susan Boyle's debut album, "I Dreamed A Dream," entered atop the British album chart, selling 410,000 copies. The 48-year-old Scottish singer, who famously finished second on "Britain's Got Talent," set a record for the largest first-week sales for a debut album in U.K. chart history.
In 2010, Madonna opened her first Hard Candy Fitness gym in Mexico City and taught a dance class with music by Paul Oakenfold, the DJ who opened for her on her last tour.
In 2010, Alfred (Al) Masini, the Hollywood producer who created "Entertainment Tonight," ''Star Search," ''Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," ''Solid Gold," and numerous other TV shows, died in Honolulu. He was 80.
In 2011, Dr. Conrad Murray, convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson, was sentenced to the maximum term of four years behind bars. (He was released in October 2013).
In 2011, the polka-dot chiffon dress worn by Amy Winehouse on the cover of the late singer's Grammy-winning "Back to Black" album sold at auction for US$67,120 to a fashion museum in Santiago, Chile. The dress's designer, Disaya, agreed to donate the proceeds to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
In 2012, a Moscow court ruled that the video of punk band Pussy Riot's performance in Russia's main cathedral was extremist and ordered it to be removed from the web. The band was protesting President Vladimir Putin's impending third term as the country's president. Three members of the band were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. Two of them received two-year sentences while the third was given a suspended sentence. (The two members were released from prison in December 2013 as part of a Russian parliament amnesty bill.)
In 2012, Elvis Presley was among the first 25 artists inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. Also inducted were: B.B. King, "Three 6 Mafia," Al Green, Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, "Booker T. and the MGs," Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Howlin' Wolf, "The Staples Singers," "ZZ Top" and Sun Records founder Sam Phillips.
----
(The Canadian Press)
The Canadian Press
