THE YEAR IN ROCK - WEEK 9
February 26 - March 4
February 26
Happy birthday today to Antoine "Fats" Domino, born 1928 in Louisiana, who you will remember for such hits as ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ and ‘Blueberry Hill’ in the fifties and sixties.
Johnny Cash was also born on this day in 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas. The most rock n’ roll of country singers, Cash passed away in 2003
Also born today, in 1945, in California, was Bob "The Bear" Hite, lead singer of American band Canned Heat. Bear died in 1981, aged only 38
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Happy birthday to Mitch Ryder, born William S Levise Jr 1945 in Michigan. Ryder was the leader of Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, who achieved much chart success in the sixties with songs like ‘Devil With A Blue Dress’ and ‘Sock It To Me, Baby!’. Ryder has also enjoyed a long solo career
Born on February 26 in 1950, was Journey’s keyboardist Jonathan Cain, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Cain has also played with The Babys and Bad English
Born on this day in 1954 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, was Michael Bolton (born Michael Bolotin), who had a nice little career as a big haired hard rocker (his band Blackjack even supported Ozzy Osbourne!) before defecting to the enemy and becoming the embodiement of flaccid housewife rock
And on February 26, 1973, Slade’s ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ topped the UK singles chart
February 27
Birthdays today for Neil Schon, born in 1954 on Tinker Air Base, near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. Schon is the only member of Journey to play on all the band’s albums, and has also played guitar with Santana, Bad English, HSAS, Paul Rodgers, Hardline and Soul SirkUS, among others
… Iron Maiden guitarist Adrain Smith, born in East London, England in 1957
... Johnny Van Zant, current Lynyrd Skynyrd singer, born in Jacksonville, Florida, USA in 1959
February 28
Born today in 1940, was Joe South, writer of the classic ‘Hush’, covered to great success by Deep Purple and Kula Shaker. South was born in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. South had a long solo career and even played with Bob Dylan on the legendary 1966 album “Blonde On Blonde”
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Also born today, in 1942, was original Rolling Stone Brian Jones, in Cheltenham, England. In between playing on most of The Stones’ formative recordings and becoming an unlikely fashion icon, Jones found time to father at least 4 illegitimate children; turn his insides into a pharmacy, piss off just about everyone he worked with and beat his girlfriends up, before dying in suspicious circumstances in his swimming pool in 1969, aged a mere 27
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Happy birthday also to Cindy Wilson off The B52's, born in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1957
Billy Thorpe was born on the 29th March, 1946 in Manchester, England, and emigrated to Australia aged 9. He became a child pop star from the age of 11, formed a band called The Aztecs to capitalise on the popularity of British bands such as The Beatles and The Kinks, before learning guitar and forming a completely different version of The Aztecs (often referred to in hindsight as The Sunbury Aztecs) which went on to epitomise and define the Aussie pub rock sound. Thorpie died of a sudden heart attack on 28 February 2007, whilst working on his “Grand Opus”, a magnificent album called “Tangier” which was released in 2010
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March 1
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A very happy birthday today to the great Roger Daltrey, singer with The Who, born in Hammersmith, London, England in 1944 |
Also born on March 1st was Tony Ashton of Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, most remembered for the hit ‘Resurrection Shuffle’. Ashton was born in 1946 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and passed away from cancer on 28 May, 2001
And the last ever Nirvana concert took place in Munich on March 1, 1994
March 2
Happy birthday to Mark Evans, original bassist for AC/DC (well, original after Malcolm Young switched to guitar), born in Melbourne, Australia in 1956 |
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Lou Reed was born on this day, in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York. Born Lewis Allen Rabinowitz, he formed The Velvet Underground and has had a long and immensely influential, though often curmudgeonly, solo career
Also born today was guitar maestro Rory Gallagher. Gallagher was born in 1948 in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland and sadly died 24 June 1995
And happy birthday to Jon Bon Jovi, born John Francis Bongiovi Jr in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, USA in 1962
March 3
Born today in 1944, was Jance Garfat, bassist with Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
And in 1947 in Cardiff, Wales, Derek "Blue" Weaver, keyboard player with The Strawbs, Mott the Hoople, and The Bee Gees
…Re Styles (Shirley Marie MacLeod), backing singer with The Tubes, born in 1950
And Ricky Wilson, original guitarist with The B-52's, born 1953 in Athens, Georgia, USA. Wilson died October 12, 1985 aged 32 of AIDS/HIV related illness
March 4
Happy birthday today to Chris Squire, bass player with Yes, born in London, England in 1948
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…and The Reverend Willy G, aka Billy Gibbons, born in Houston, Texas, USA in 1949, master of the tone and guitarist for ZZ Top and, before that, The Moving Sidewalks |
…and singer/guitarist Chris Rea, born 1951, in Middlesbrough, England. Rea’s major hard rock connection was replacing David Coverdale in Middlesbrough band Magdalene after Cov joined Deep Purple in 1973
…and Lemonhead and occasional train wreck, Evan Dando, born March 4, 1967, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
THE YEAR IN ROCK - WEEK 8
THE YEAR IN ROCK - WEEK 10
Shane Pinnegar
