Music Almanac: April 3

Tony Orlando

Birthdays:

• 1924 - Doris Day (88)
• 1928 - Don Gibson (d. 2003)
• 1936 - Jimmy McGriff (d. 2008)
• 1938 - Jeff Barry (74)
• 1941 - Jan Berry (Jan & Dean) (d. 2004)
• 1941 - Philippé Wynne (Spinners) (d. 1984)
• 1942 - Billy Joe Royal (70)
• 1942 - Wayne Newton (70)
• 1943 - Richard Manuel (Band) (d. 1986)
• 1943 - Joe Canzano (Duprees) (69)
• 1944 - Tony Orlando (68)
• 1944 - Barry Pritchard (Fortunes) (d. 1999)
• 1946 - Dee Murray (Elton John Band) (d. 1992)
• 1949 - Richard Thompson (63)
• 1950 - Curtis Stone (Highway 101) (62)
• 1961 - Eddie Murphy (51)
• 1962 - Mike Ness (Social Distortion) (50)
• 1962 - Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins) (50)
• 1962 - John Gruffith (Red Rockers) (50)
• 1968 - Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) (44)
• 1970 - Mathew Priest (Dodgy) (42)
• 1974 - Drew Shirley (Switchfoot) (38)
• 1985 - Leona Lewis (27)

Deaths:

• 1950 - Kurt Weill - Heart attack (50)
• 1990 - Sarah Vaughan - Lung cancer (66)
• 1993 - Red Allen (63)
• 1996 - Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes - Cancer (60)
• 1999 - Lionel Bart - Cancer (69)
• 2001 - Lester "Big Daddy" Kinsey - Prostate cancer (74)
• 2003 - Homer Banks (Stax records songwriter) - Cancer (61)
• 2006 - Martin Gilks (Wonder Stuff) - Motorcycle crash (41)

On This Day:

• 1959 - The BBC banned the Coasters' Charlie Brown for its use of the word spitball.
• 1960 - The Everly Brothers began their first U.K. tour.
• 1966 - Peter Tork played at the Troubadour. He was already signed but had not started his stint on The Monkees.
• 1969 - Jim Morrison of the Doors turned himself in to the Los Angeles office of the FBI over charges of lewdness at a Miami concert.
• 1969 - Billy Preston signed with Apple Records.
• 1975 - Steve Miller was charged with setting fire to a friend's dress and resisting arrest.
• 1975 - Emmylou Harris played her first concert with The Hot Band.
• 1979 - Kate Bush started her only tour at Liverpool's Empire Theatre.
• 1984 - Producer Jack Douglas wins $3 million from Yoko Ono for his work on John Lennon's Double Fantasy.
• 1987 - U2 opened an American tour in Arizona. 
• 1989 - Several thousand people tried to crash the gates at a Pittsburgh Grateful Dead concert, leading to the arrest of 23.
• 1989 - Madonna was removed from being a spokesperson for Pepsi after the Vatican objected to her song Like a Prayer.
• 1994 - A Nirvana and Hole tour was cancelled, possibly (but not confirmed) due to Kurt Cobain's drug addiction.
• 1996 - Paul McCartney said again that there was no interest in reforming the Beatles.
• 1996 - Jerry Garcia's ashes are spread in the Ganges River in India by his widow, Deborah, and Bob Weir.
• 1996 - M.C. Hammer filed for bankruptcy
• 1998 - Dave Navarro left the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
• 2000 - Five people are stabbed and another is hit with a marble bench backstage at a DMX/Eve concert in Boston.
• 2000 - Mariah Carey was admitted to a Massachusetts hospital due to dehydration and food poisoning. 
• 2007 - Keith Richard's manager told MTV News that his claim of snorting his father's ashes was "in jest."
• 2008 - Morrissey won an apology from Word Magazine for suggesting that he was a racist and hypocrite.

Recorded:

• 1952 - Harry Belafonte had his first recording session at RCA Victor in New York. 
• 1960 - Are You Lonesome Tonight, Fever, It's Now or Never - Elvis Presley
• 1991 - Unplugged - Paul McCartney

Released:

• 1965 - Wooly Bully - Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
• 1973 - Beatles 1962-1966 & Beatles 1967-1970 - Beatles (U.K. release)

Broadcast:

• 1948 - The Louisiana Hayride (KWKH, Shreveport, LA) (premier) - Hank Williams, Kitty Wells
• 1956 - The Milton Berle Show - Elvis Presley
• 1978 - Cher special (ABC) - Rod Stewart
• 1983 - Top of the Pops (BBC) - U2
• 1999 - Happy Hour (USA Network) (premier) - Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa (hosts)

Number Ones - U.S. Singles:

• 1961 - Blue Moon - Marcels (3 weeks)
• 1971 - Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) - Temptations (2 weeks)
• 1976 - Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor (4 weeks)

Number Ones - U.S. Albums:

• 1948 - Down Memory Lane - Vaughan Monroe (6 weeks)
• 1993 - The Bodyguard - Whitney Houston / Soundtrack (1 week, 13 weeks previous)

Number Ones - U.K. Albums

• 1971 - Home Lovin' Man - Andy Williams (2 weeks)
• 1993 - Songs of Faith and Devotion - Depeche Mode (1 weeks)