Breakups... Debuts... and a Few Firearms
This is the week that was in matters musical...
1929, bluesman Blind
Lemon Jefferson dies in Chicago...the exact date and circumstances
have never been established but two legends refer to a blizzard...one
story has the famous bluesman freezing to death on the street...in
the other, he dies of a heart attack in the back of a car and is
abandoned by his driver...
1961, The Beach Boys make their live debut
under that name at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Concert in Long Beach,
California...previously, they had gone under several names including
The Pendletones, Kenny & The Kadets, and Carl And The Passions...
1963, The Animals perform their first radio broadcast on the BBC show
"Saturday Club"...also in 1963, The Weavers play their last concert in
Chicago...1964, The Supremes make their first appearance on the Ed
Sullivan Show...
1967, David Bowie makes his debut with the Lindsay
Kemp mime troup in "Pierrot In Turquoise" at the Oxford New Theatre
...
1968, Led Zeppelin gives its U.S. debut performance in Boston and
the Miami Pop Festival features performances by Procol Harum, Chuck
Berry, Fleetwood Mac, and Canned Heat...
1976, The Cars give their
debut performance at Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire...
1977, Harlem's Apollo Theater re-opens...
1979, Jimmy
Crespo replaces Joe Perry in Aerosmith...also in 1979, Emerson, Lake & Palmer
announce that they've split up...
1982, Jamaica issues a Bob Marley
commemorative stamp...
1984, Def Leppard drummer, Rick Allen, is
involved in a car crash in which one of his arms is so badly damaged
it has to be amputated, but he continues to play drums for the band
...
1986, guests Gary Hart and Donna Rice meet each other at Don
Henley's birthday party...
1992, Harry Connick Jr. is arrested at
Kennedy Airport when guards discover a 9mm in his carry-on...
1999,
Sean "Puffy" Combs is arrested for criminal possession of a weapon...
a gun is found in his vehicle after he leaves a New York club where
three people are shot...Jennifer Lopez is with him at the time of his
arrest but is released after questioning...
1999, former Beatle George
Harrison is stabbed four times in the chest during an attempted
robbery at his home near London...he and wife Olivia struggle with
the intruder and are able to subdue him until police arrive...
2000,
81-year-old Kitty Wells performs her farewell show in Nashville...
and that was the week that was.
Birthdays
December 25: Cab Calloway (1907), Tony Martin (1913), Little Richard
born Richard Penniman (1932), O'Kelly Isley of The Isley Brothers
(1937), Fairport Convention's Trevor Lucas (1943), Canned Heat's
Henry Vestine (1944), Noel Redding of Jimi Hendrix Experience (1945),
Jimmy Buffett (1946), Barbara Mandrell (1948), UB40's Robin Campbell
(1954), Annie Lennox (1954), The Pogues' Shane MacGowan (1957)
December 26: Steve Allen (1921), Abdul "Duke" Fakir of The Four Tops
(1935), Phil Spector (1940), Lars Ulrich of Metallica (1963)
December 27: Marlene Dietrich (1901), Oscar Levant (1906), guitarist
Scotty Moore (1931), Leslie McGuire of Gerry and the Pacemakers
(1941), Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues (1942), The Animals' Dave
Rowberry (1943), Mick Jones of Foreigner (1944), Larry Byrom of
Steppenwolf (1948), David Knopfler of Dire Straits (1952), Karla
Bonoff (1952)
December 28: jazz pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines (1903), Roebuck "Pop"
Staples of The Staple Singers (1915), Johnny Otis (1921), Charles
Neville of The Neville Brothers (1938), Edgar Winter (1946)
December 29: Pablo Casals (1876), Ray Thomas of The Moody Blues
(1942), Marianne Faithfull (1946), Cozy Powell of the Jeff Beck Group
(1947), singer Yvonne Elliman (1951)
December 30: Bo Diddley born Otha Ellis Bates (1928), session picker
Red Rhodes (1930), Skeeter Davis born Mary Pennick (1931), rockabilly
star Dorsey Burnett (1932), singer/songwriter John Hartford (1937),
Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary (1937), Del Shannon born Charles
Westover (1939), Michael Nesmith of the Monkees (1942), Davy Jones of
the Monkees (1945), Jeff Lynne of ELO and The Traveling Wilburys
(1947), Alex Chilton of The Box Tops (1950)
December 31: composer Jule Styne (1905), folk singer Odetta Holmes
(1930), Andy Summers of The Police (1942), John Denver born John
Deutschendorf (1943), Pete Quaife of The Kinks (1943, or 12/27),
Patti Smith (1946), Burton Cummings of The Guess Who (1947), Donna
Summer born LaDonna Gaines (1948), Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith (1951),
George Thorogood (1952), Scott Ian of Anthrax (1963), Joe McIntyre
of New Kids on the Block (1972)
Departures
December 25: Curtis Mayfield (1999), Love's Bryan MacLean (1998),
blues guitarist Eddie Taylor (1981)
December 27: Music mogul and founder of Chance Records, Ewart G.
Abner (1997), Hoagy Carmichael (1981)
December 28: Dennis Wilson (1983), Freddie King (1976)
December 29: conductor Takashi Asahina (2001), French
singer/songwriter Mireille (1996), Tim Hardin (1980)
December 30: longtime member of The Drifters Johnny Moore (1998),
Broadway composer Richard Rodgers (1979)
December 31: guitarist Eddie Shaver (2000), Floyd Cramer (1997),
Ricky Nelson (1985), bluesman Robert Pete Williams (1980), R&B
writer/producer Bert Berns
