Rock History February 16
1964, The Beatles made their second live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, exactly one week after the first. Before an audience of 3,500 at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.
1965, The Who perform at the Marquee Club where they are filmed for French television performing “Heatwave,” “Tell Me More,” “Shout and Shimmy,” and “Smokestack Lightning.” The footage is later broadcast on the ORTF TV 2 program Seize Millions De Jeunes on March 18th. Pete and manager Kit Lambert are both interviewed, the latter in French. Sticking to English, Pete expresses his doubts about marriage and mocks religious belief.
1967, Pink Floyd played at Guildhall in Southampton, Hampshire, England.
1967, Petula Clark was at number one on the singles chart with the Charlie Chaplin penned “This Is My Song,” the singers second and last chart topper.
1968, Jimi Hendrix played back to back shows during his US tour at the Music Hall at Fair Park, as well as at McFarlin Memorial Auditorium in Dallas, Texas.
1972, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watt’s wife Shirley was arrested after an incident at Nice Airport for swearing and hitting customs officials.
1972, Genesis played at Greens Playhouse, Glasgow, Scotland.
1972, Led Zeppelin made their Australian live debut when they kicked off a six-date tour at the Subiaco Oval, Perth. Police battled with over 500 fans who rammed locked gates trying to get into the concert. Over 4,000 fans stood outside the venue without tickets and local residents jammed police phone lines to complain about the noise.
1973, Grand Funk Railroad played at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee.
1974, Bob Dylan started a four week run at number one on the album chart with Planet Waves. The album was originally set to be titled Ceremonies Of The Horsemen, a reference to the song “Love Minus Zero / No Limit,” from the 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. When Dylan decided to change the title at the last minute, the release was delayed for two weeks.
1974, During a tour of America the members of Emerson, Lake & Palmer were arrested in Salt Lake City after swimming naked in the hotel pool.
1974, Winners in the UK music weekly Disc Readers Awards Poll included: Slade for Top UK group. Top musician, Roy Wood; David Bowie won UK and World male singer, as well as Top single with “Jean Genie,” and album with Aladdin Sane. Top female singer was Lynsey De Paul, and Brightest hope was won by David Essex.
1975, Cher started her own weekly hour of a music and comedy show on CBS-TV. The singer had co-hosted The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour with her former husband. Cher’s new show featured a female guest each week.
1976, David Bowie appeared at the Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1977, ZZ Top performed at the Dane County Coliseum, Madison, Wisconsin.
1978, Santana played at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.
1980, Rush appeared at the University Of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio.
1982, The Grateful Dead performed at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco.
1985, Bruce Springsteen went to number one on the album chart with Born In The USA, The singer’s seventh studio album. It was the best-selling album of 1985 in the United States, and Springsteen’s most successful album ever. The album produced a record-tying string of seven top ten singles.
1991, The Simpsons were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Do The Bartman.” The song was written by Michael Jackson and Bryan Lorenand. The Simpsons became the first cartoon characters to reach number one since the Archies hit “Sugar Sugar” in 1969. Jackson was a massive fan of The Simpsons and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a number one single and do a guest spot on the show.
2004, Singer Doris Troy died. She had been a session singer with Dionne Warwick, sang on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, and released an album on The Beatles’ Apple label. She had also had a 1964 UK number 37 single with “Whatcha Gonna Do About It” and a 1963 US number ten hit “Just One Look.”
2005, Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens, was awarded substantial damages from The Sunday Times and The Sun, after they had printed articles alleging he was involved in terrorism. Both newspapers apologized to the 56 year-old musician for the “false and highly defamatory allegations.” The papers also paid his legal bills and pledged not to repeat the allegations. The money awarded was given to Tsunami relief projects.
Born on this day: Otis Blackwell, songwriter (1932); Sony Bono (1935); Lynn Paul, singer, The New Seekers (1949); Tracy Morrow, aka Ice-T, rapper, actor (1959); Andy Taylor, Duran, Duran (1961)
Link to Today in Rock History main page
Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Cher, David Bowie, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Grand Funk Railroad, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Petula Clark, Pink Floyd, Rush, Santana, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, ZZ Top.
