1965, Tom Jones was at number one on the singles chart with “It’s Not Unusual.”
1965, The Who go into IBC Studios, London to record their first album. Songs known to be recorded on this date are Pete Townshend’s “You’re Gonna Know Me” (later retitled “Out In The Street”), plus covers of James Brown’s “Please Please Please” and “I Don’t Mind,” Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man,” Martha and the Vandella’s “Motoring” and “Heat Wave,” and Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “Louie Go Home” as “Lubie (Come Back Home.)” On the 16th, they meet again with producer Shel Talmy for “L.P. routining” and have another studio session at IBC on the 19th. The album is eventually rejected and some of the tracks are not released for over twenty years.
1966, This week’s ITV music show Ready Steady Go in the UK, was entirely devoted to the music of James Brown.
1966, Marianne Faithfull, Coltrane Union, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Rick & Us, plus Pink Floyd performed for the first of two nights billed as “The Tea Set.” The shows took place at the Rag Ball, on the Concourse Area of the University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, England. It was the first time a film was played on a screen behind the band as Pink Floyd performed their set.
1967, The Supremes had their ninth number one single with “Love Is Here And Now Your Gone.”
1967, Jimi Hendrix appears at the International Club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
1967, music publisher, Dick James, announced that 446 different versions of the Paul McCartney song “Yesterday” had been recorded so far.
1968, The Otis Redding single “Dock Of The Bay,” went gold in the US three months after the singer was killed in a plane crash.
1969, The Jackson 5 sign with Motown.
1970, Winners at the 12th annual Grammy awards included Joe South for song of the year with “Games People Play.” Crosby Stills and Nash won best new artist, and The Fifth Dimension won Record of the year with “Aquarius / Let The Sun Shine In.” Album of the Year went to producer James William Guercio and Blood, Sweat & Tears for Blood, Sweat & Tears.
1970, Led Zeppelin perform at the Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany. The set list: We’re Gonna Groove, I Can’t Quit You Baby, Dazed and Confused, Heartbreaker, White Summer / Black Mountainside, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Organ solo / Thank You, Moby Dick, How Many More Times (medley incl. Let That Boy Boogie, Bottle Up ‘n Go, Long Distance Call, Shake ’em On Down), Whole Lotta Love.
1970, The world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll movie, Jean-Luc Godard’s One Plus One, starring the Rolling Stones, opens in the US. The obtuse film features Godard’s trademark Marxist lecturing interspersed with scenes of the Stones composing “Sympathy for the Devil.” The producers later recut the footage to include more Mick and redub the movie Sympathy for the Devil. Critics remained baffled.
1970, Deja Vu, the first Crosby, Stills, Nash album to also feature Neil Young, was released. It topped the pop album chart for one week and spawned three US Top 40 singles, “Teach Your Children,” “Our House,” and “Woodstock.”
1971, Jim Morrison of The Doors arrived in Paris, where he checked into The Hotel George’s. The following week he moved into an apartment at 17 Rue Beautreillis. Morrison lived in Paris until his death on July 3rd 1971.
1972, Neil Young went to number one on the album chart with Harvest. The album featured the hit single “Heart Of Gold.”
1972, Harry Nilsson was at number one on the singles chart with his version of The Peter Ham and Tom Evans song “Without You.” It was first recorded by Badfinger in 1970. The song was also a number one for Mariah Carey in 1994.
1973, Pink Floyd played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada on the North American leg of the Dark Side of the Moon tour.
1974, Deep Purple performed at the Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Geor
1975, Mick Jagger stops by Record Plant studios in Los Angeles, and ends up getting involved in a jam session with Wings and Ron Wood.
1976, The Who appeared at Madison Square Garden in New York.
1976, David Bowie performed at the Civic Arena, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1977, The Clash appeared at The Roxy Club, London, supported by The Slits, the first all-female punk group who were making their live debut.
1978, Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell, album began a 416-week run on the chart, going on to sell over 2 million copies.
1978, The debut single from Kate Bush, “Wuthering Heights,” a song inspired by the Emily Bronte novel, started a four-week run at number one on the UK singles chart. The record company, EMI, had originally chosen another track, “James and the Cold Gun” as the lead single, but Bush was determined that “Wuthering Heights” would be the first release from the album.
1979, Roxy Music played at the Olympia in Paris.
1981, Rush played at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana.
1983, Blue Oyster Cult performed at the Holiday Star Theatre, Merrillville, Indiana.
1986, Aerosmith appeared at the Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1992, The Grateful Dead performed at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
1993, Oasis recorded their first demos at The Real People’s studio in Liverpool. The set included “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” “Columbia,” and “Fade Away.”
1995, Van Halen kicked off their 131-date Balance World Tour, at the Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola Civic Center, Florida. It was dubbed the “Ambulance” Tour by Eddie Van Halen, due to his hip surgery, and his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, wearing a neck brace for most of the tour.
2006, The Disney Channel Original Movie, High School Musical was at number one on the US album chart. The album went on to break all records for a soundtrack selling over 7 million copies worldwide. A number one album in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
2008, Madonna was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a star-studded ceremony in New York City. John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, The Ventures, and The Dave Clark Five were also among the inductees.
2015, Jimmy Greenspoon, keyboardist with Three Dog Night, died in Potomac, Maryland after a year-long battle with metastatic melanoma at the age of 67. During the course of their career, Three Dog Knight had 21 top 40 hits, including three chart topping singles.
2015, A jury in the United States ruled that the writers of “Blurred Lines” copied a Marvin Gaye track. Jurors in Los Angeles decided that the 2013 single by Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke breached the copyright of Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got To Give It Up.” The family of the late soul singer were awarded $7.3 million in damages.
2024, Amy Carmen, wife of Eric Carmen, former member of The raspberries and a solo artist with a number of hit songs including “All By Myself” posted the following on his official website, “It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passingnof Eric Carmen. Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend.”
Born on March 11: Harvey Mandel, American guitarist, Pure Food and Drug Act, Canned Heat (1945); Mark Stein, Vanilla Fudge (1947); George Kooymans, Dutch singer-songwriter, guitarist, Golden Earring (1948); Jan Schelhaas, keyboardist Caravan, Camel (1948); Bobby McFerrin (1950); Jimmy Iovine, record producer, co-founder Interscope Records (1953); Jimmy Fortune, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, The Statler Brothers (1955); Nina Hagen, German singer, actress (1955); Bruce Watson, guitar, Big Country (1961); Vinnie Paul, drummer, songwriter, producer Pantera, Damageplan, Hellyeah, Gasoline (1964); Andy Sturmer, American singer-songwriter, drummer, producer, Beatnik Beatch, Jellyfish (1965); Benji and Joel Madden, singer-songwriters, Good Charlotte (1979)
