Music Almanac: January 24

Neil Diamond

Birthdays

• 1933 - Zeke Carey (Flamingos) (d. 2001)
• 1936 - Doug Kershaw (76)
• 1936 - Jack Scott (76)
• 1939 - Ray Stevens (73)
• 1941 - Aaron Neville (71)
• 1941 - Neil Diamond (71)
• 1941 - Michael Chapman (71)
• 1945 - Curtis Burch (New Grass Revival) (67)
• 1947 - Warren Zevon (d. 2003)
• 1948 - Michael Des Barres (Power Station) (64)
• 1949 - John Belushi (Blues Brothers) (d. 1982)
• 1950 - Becky Hobbs (62)
• 1958 - Jools Holland (54)
• 1963 - Keech Rainwater (Lonestar) (49)
• 1967 - John Myung (Dream Theater) (45)
• 1970 - Sleepy Brown (producer) (42)
• 1974 - Chris Hesse (Hoobastank) (38)
• 1975 - Paul Marazzi (A1) (37)
• 1989 - Calvin Goldspink (S Club 8) (23)

Deaths

• 1963 - Otto Harbach (songwriter, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes) (90)
• 1970 - James Sheppard, (Shep & the Limelites, Heartbeats) - Murdered
• 1992 - Ken Darby (songwriter, Love Me Tender) (82)
• 1995 - David Cole (C+C Music Factory) - Spinal meningitis (official, possible complication of AIDS) (32)
• 1998 - Justin Tubb (son of Ernest Tubb) - Aortic aneurysm (62)

On This Day

• 1958 - Elvis Presley became the first artist to debut at number 1 on the U.K. singles chart with Jailhouse Rock.
• 1958 - The Quarry Men appeared at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. It was their only appearance at the venue under that name but would return three years later as the Beatles.
• 1960 - Bob Dylan got to New York with friend Fred Underhill. He played Cafe Wha? his first night in town.
• 1962 - Brian Epstein signed on as manager of the Beatles.
• 1965 - The movie Ferry Cross the Mercy, starring Gerry & the Pacemakers, premiered in Liverpool.
• 1969 - The state of New Jersey warned record dealers that they would be charged with distributing pornography if they sold the John Lennon/Yoko Ono album Two Virgins.
• 1969 - Jethro Tull began their first U.S. tour, opening for Led Zeppelin.
• 1978 - The workers in an EMI pressing plant in England refused to press copies of the Buzzcocks' single What Do I Get because they were offended by the flip-side, Oh Shit.
• 1979 - The Clash released their first U.S. single, a cover of the Bobby Fuller Four's I Fought the Law.
• 1980 - A billboard was put up in Los Angeles advertising Pink Floyd's The Wall. Workers added one brick everyday until the wall was complete.
• 1981 - Steven Tyler of Aerosmith crashed his motorcycle and ended up in the hospital.
• 1982 - Diana Ross sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XVI.
• 1992 - Greg McPherson filed a lawsuit against New Kids on the Block, saying that he was owed for his work on their Hangin' Tough Live album and stating that they only sang twenty percent of the concert and lip synced the rest. The suit is eventually dropped.
• 1993 - Keith Richards and his group X-Pensive Winos played Las Vegas for the first time.
• 2000 - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young played a concert together for the first time in 25 years.
• 2002 - Freddy Fender had a kidney transplant.
• 2002 - The Spice Girls lost a court case brought by an Italian scooter maker, forcing them to pay the manufacturer $1.5 million.
• 2004 - Madonna received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the NRJ French Music Awards in Cannes.
• 2005 - Lynn Anderson was arrested for shoplifting a Harry Potter DVD from a New Mexico supermarket.
• 2006 - British all-girl group All Saints announced they were reforming.
• 2008 - Amy Winehouse entered rehab to try and kick her addiction to drugs.

Recorded

• 1955 - Bob Wills had his first Decca recording session.
• 1957 - (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley
• 1957 - Mel Tillis had his first recording session for Columbia Records.