Sports Audio Archives

1962, Bob Dylan’s debut album Bob Dylan was released in the Untied States. Initially poor sales led the record to be known around Columbia Records as “Hammond’s Folly.” John Hammond was producer of Dylan’s early recordings and the man responsible for signing Dylan. The album was praised by the New York City weekly newspaper Village Voice as an “explosive country blues debut,” but featured only two Dylan original compositions, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song To Woody,” with the rest being old folk standards.

1965, The Tailor And Cutter magazine ran an article asking The Rolling Stones to start wearing ties. The current fashion did not include wearing ties with shirts and many tie-makers were facing financial disaster. Mick Jagger said of the appeal, “The trouble with a tie is that it could dangle in the soup. It is also something extra to which a fan can hang when you are trying to get in and out of a theatre.”

1966, The Who played Kings Hall in Stoke-On-Trent, England.

1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played two shows at The Capitol Theatre, Ottawa, Canada.

1968, Donovan goes to India to study under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

1969, during a UK tour, Fleetwood Mac appeared at the Top Rank Club in Cardiff, Wales.

1970, Pink Floyd played at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden.

1971, Humble Pie performs at the Fillmore East in New York. In attendance are members of The Who.

1971, T Rex were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hot Love.’ The group’s first of four UK No.1’s spent six weeks at the top of the charts.

1974, Jefferson Airplane re-named the group and became Jefferson Starship. The new line-up included Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, drummer Johnny Barbata, David Freiberg, Peter Kaukonen, Craig Chaquico and Papa John Creach.

1975, Tommy: The Movie has its Los Angeles premiere at Mann’s Wilshire Theater. Pete Townshend, Keith Moon, John Entwistle, Ann-Margret, Tina Turner, Elton John, and Robert Stigwood attend. All are interviewed by David Frost for an ABC Wide World Special. Other celebrities interviewed by Army Archerd going into the theater or the afterwards party held at the Studio One Club include Paul and Linda McCartney, Ron Wood, Kenney Jones, Sally Kellerman, Dean Martin, Tommy Smothers, and Ryan and Tatum O’Neal. The special airs on U.S. television on the 26th.

1975, During a North American tour Led Zeppelin appeared at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada. Tickets cost $7.50 in advance.

1976,  Gary Thain bass player with Uriah Heep died of a drug overdose aged 28.

1976, Paul Kossof guitarist with Free and Back Street Crawler died aged 25, of heart failure during a flight from Los Angeles to New York, Kossof had a long history of drug abuse.  His first band was Black Cat Bones alongside drummer Simon Kirke, (later of Free), and he formed Back Street Crawler after leaving Free.

1978, Billy Joel made his UK live debut at London’s Dury Lane Theatre.

1979, Elton John appeared at the Odeon Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland. Tickets £5.00

1980, Elvis Presley’s autopsy report is a part of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners’ case against Dr. George Nichopoulos. Presley’s former personal physician is accused of over prescribing drugs to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. He later has his medical license revoked.

1980, Pete Townshend is filmed miming to his single “Rough Boys” for the Kenny Everett Video Show accompanied by Kenney Jones.

1981, The J Geils Band were at number one on the US singles chart with “Centerfold.” Roxy Music had the UK’s top single with “Jealous Guy,” a John Lennon cover.

1982, Ozzy Osbourne guitarist and former Quiet Riot member Randy Rhoads was killed when the plane he was riding in crashed. After driving much of the night, the band had stopped near a small airstrip. The tour bus driver, Andrew Aycock, talked the band’s keyboardist, Don Airey, into taking a test flight in a ’55 Beechcraft Bonanza, the joyride ended, and the plane landed safely. Then Aycock took Rhoads and Rachel Youngblood on another flight and attempts were made to “buzz” the tour bus. The left wing clipped the bus, which sent the plane spiralling into a nearby house and bursting into flames. All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and were identified by dental records.

1996, The second Beatles Anthology series was released. The album featured “Real Love,” a track the remaining members of the Beatles recorded using an old demo track of John Lennon’s The song was first recorded by Lennon in 1977 with a handheld tape recorder on his piano at home, it originated as part of an unfinished stage play that Lennon was working on at the time entitled The Ballad of John and Yoko.

1999, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band played the second night at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, New Jersey as warm up dates for their forthcoming Reunion Tracks tour.

2001, Keith Richards inducted Johnnie Johnson and James Burton at the 16th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame award ceremonies at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Richards also took part in the closing jam with Bono, Paul Simon, Kid Rock, Solomon Burke, Robbie Robertson and others.

Born on March 19: Paul Atkinson, The Zombies (1946); Jack Schaeffer, American singer, saxophonist, producer, Royale Monarchs (1946); Derek Longmuir, Bay City Rollers (1952); Ricky Wilson, The B-52’s (1953); Terry Hall, English singer-songwriter, The Specials, Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield, Vegas (1956); Brann Dailor, American drummer, songwriter, Mastodon, Lethargy, Today Is the Day (1975)

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1965, Excerpts from six numbers performed by The Who at The Marquee Club in February appear on a French Television programme called Seize Millions de Jeunes on ORTF TV 2. It is part of documentary about Mods shot by two French acquaintances of the band’s co-manager Chris Stamp. A scheduled appearance that day at the Civic Hall in Crawley is postponed until April 18th.

1966, that morning, The Who are filmed miming to “I Can’t Explain,” “Bald Headed Woman,” and “Substitute” at Tower Pier, London for Dick Clark’s ABC-TV U.S. program Where The Action Is. That evening they head out to Wembley’s Studio One to perform “Substitute” and “Barbara Ann” on Ready, Steady, GO!, then zip off to Basildon to play the Locarno Ballroom.

1967, The UK music magazine New Musical Express announced that former Spencer Davis Group member Steve Winwood was planning to form a new group with Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. The ensemble would choose the name Traffic.

1967, Pink Floyd played at Enfield College of Technology, Enfield, England.

1967, Jimi Hendrix played at the Star Club, Hamburg, Germany.

1967, The Beatles scored their 13th chart topping single with “Penny Lane.” The title refers to the name of a street near Lennon’s house, in Liverpool. McCartney and Lennon would meet at Penny Lane junction in the Mossley Hill area to catch a bus into the center of the city.

1969, Jimi Hendrix performed at Ellis Auditorium AmphiTheater, Memphis, Tennessee.

1970, Tommy: The Movie has its world premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. A morning press conference is attended by all the movie’s stars except Oliver Reed, Jack Nicholson, Roger Daltrey, and director Ken Russell. Daltrey and Russell are back in England working on his next film, Lisztomania. The film receives a standing ovation despite occasional sound problems. Afterwards, The Who and celebrities attend a midnight party designed by new Hollywood hotshot Allan Carr in a sealed-off section of a New York subway station located under the IND Station at 57th Street and Sixth Avenue.

1971, Led Zeppelin played at the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle, England during their “Back to the Clubs” tour.

1972, Yes appeared at the Sports Arena, San Diego, California.

1972, Neil Young started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Heart Of Gold.” It was his only Top 20 hit as a solo artist.

1972, Paul Simon scored his first solo number one album when his self-titled debut went to the top of the charts. The album featured the singles “Mother And Child Reunion,” and “Me And Julio Down By The School Yard.”

1972, T Rex played the first of two sold out nights at Wembley’s Empire Pool. Ringo Starr filmed the shows for the Born To Boogie Apple documentary.

1973, Paul McCartney and Wings played a benefit gig for the drug charity, Release at The Hard Rock Cafe in England.

1973, King Crimson played at the Rainbow Theatre, London.

1974, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the first of eight shows over four nights at Gertie’s in Dallas, Texas.

1976, The Film The Man Who Fell To Earth featuring David Bowie premiered in London.

1976, Bob Dylan played at theLakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.

1976, The Who perform at the Salt Palace Convention Center, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1977, The Clash released their debut single “White Riot.” It peaked at number 38 on the UK charts.

1977, The Grateful Dead played at Winterland Arena in San Francisco, California.

1977, AC/DC performed at Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, England.

1978, The brothers Gibb had a role in the top three songs on the singles charts, the Bee Gees’ “Night Fever” at number one; “(Love is) Thicker Than Water” by Andy Gibb (the previous week’s chart topper) was at number two, co-written by Barry Gibb, and “Emotion” by Samantha Song, written and produced by The Bee Gees, sat at the third position.

1978, Aerosmith, Santana, Heart, Dave Mason, Ted Nugent and Mahogany Rush all appeared at the California Jam II festival, Ontario, California.

1978, Rush played at the Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina.

1979, Roxy Music performed at Eissporthalle, Berlin, Germany.

1981, Tom Waits appeared at the Victoria Apollo, London, England.

1984, Van Halen played at the Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island.

1989, A radio station in California arranged to have all it’s Cat Stevens Records destroyed by having a steamroller run over them in protest of the singer’s support of Ayatollah Khomeni.

1996, The Sex Pistols announced their comeback at the 100 Club in London, 20 years after they had split.

1997, Rap artist Notorious B.I.G., aka Christopher George Latore Wallace, was cremated in New Jersey. The 24 year-old was gunned down and killed on March 9th as he left a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

2001, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter John Phillips of the Mamas and The Papas died of heart failure aged 65. His first band, The Journeymen, were a folk trio. He also co-promoted the Monterrey Pop Festival with Lou Adler. Phillips was married to Michelle Gilliam, they had one child together, Chynna Phillips, vocalist of the 1990’s pop trio Wilson Phillips.

2002, The Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam and close friend of the Ramones. The ceremony took place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

2011, Jet Harris, bass guitarist for The Shadows, died from throat cancer at the age of 71. Jet played on the hit “Apache” and during their days as Cliff Richard’s backing band, performed on the number one hit “Living Doll.” In 1962, he left the group and had solo hits with “Besame Mucho” and “The Man With The Golden Arm.”

2013, David Bowie’s first album in a decade become the fastest-selling of the year, hitting the top spot in the UK charts in its first week of release. The Next Day was the 66-year-old’s first number one since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise and sold 94,000 copies in the first week.

2017, Chuck Berry died aged 90. The American guitarist, singer and songwriter was one of the pioneers of rock and roll music, writing such songs such as “Maybellene”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Rock and Roll Music”, and “Johnny B. Goode”. Berry guitar work developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll unique.

Born on March 18: Charlie Pride (1938); Wilson Pickett (1941); Dennis Linde, songwriter (1943); Eric Woolfson, Scottish singer-songwriter, pianist,  producer The Alan Parsons Project (1945); B. J. Wilson, English drummer, Procol Harum (1947); John Hartman, Doobie Brothers (1950); Grant Hart, Husker Du (1961); Jeff LaBar, American guitarist, Cinderella and Naked Beggars (1963); Courtney Pine, jazz musician (1964); Jerry Cantrell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, Alice in Chains (1966); Miki Berenyi, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, Lush (1967); Dana Elaine Owens, aka Queen Latifah (1970); Adam Levine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, Maroon 5 (1979)

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1957, Elvis Presley bought the Graceland mansion for $102,500. The 23 room, 10,000 square foot home, on 13.8 acres of land, would be expanded to more than 17,000 square feet before Elvis moved in a few weeks later. The original building had at one time been a place of worship, used by the Graceland Christian Church. It was named after the builder’s daughter, Grace.

1967, Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles finished the recoding of “She’s Leaving Home” after adding backing vocals to the track. Harpist Sheila Bromberg who was part of the string section on the track became the first woman to play on a Beatles recording.

1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience released “Purple Haze” in the UK. It is thought that based the song on Night of Light, a 1966 novel by Philip José Farmer. In the story set on a distant planet, sunspots produced a “purplish haze” which had a disorienting effect on the inhabitants.

1968, The Bee Gees made their US television debut when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1968, A Pink Floyd show to be held at Universiteit Leuven, in Leuven, Belgium was cancelled just as the band was about to take the stage when fighting broke out between French and Flemish members of the audience.

1971, Peter Gabriel married is girlfriend Jill. They were together on and off for 17 years.

1973, Eric Weissberg started a three-week run at number one on the chart with ‘Dueling Banjos.’ Taken from the film Deliverance.

1973, Dr Hook’s single ‘On The Cover Of Rolling Stone peaked at No.6 on the US chart. The single was banned in the UK by the BBC due to the reference of the magazine.

1976, Bob Dylan’s protest song “Hurricane” leads to boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter’s murder case being reopened.

1978, U2 won £500 ($850) and a chance to audition for CBS Ireland in a talent contest held in Dublin. The Limerick Civic Week Pop ’78 Competition was sponsored by The Evening Express and Guinness Harp Lager.

1981, Blues Project, with Al Kooper, Steve Katz and Roy Blumenfeld, reunite for one-off concert at Bonds in New York.

1988, The Grateful Dead performed at the Henry J. Kiser Auditorium in Oakland, California.

1990, Rick Grech who had worked with Family, Blind Faith, Traffic, and Ginger Baker’s Air Force died of renal failure at the age of 43, as a result of alcoholism. Grech also worked as a session musician with Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane, Vivian Stanshall, Muddy Waters, The Crickets, the Bee Gees and Gram Parsons.

2010, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer, Alex Chilton died in hospital of heart related problems in New Orleans aged 59. As a teenager Chilton had been a member of The Box Tops who had the 1967 hit “The Letter” and later in 1971 co-founded the power-pop group Big Star, with Chris Bell.

Born on March 17: Nat King Cole (1919); Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane (1941); John Sebastian (1941); Harold Brown, War (1944); Billy Corgan (1967)

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1964, The Beatles set a new record for advance sales in the US with 2,100,000 copies of their latest single”Can’t Buy Me Love.”

1964, DJ Alan Freed is charged with tax evasion, the latest plague on the payola-plagued pioneer’s career

1965, The Rolling Stones were at number one on the singles chart with “The Last Time,” the band’s third hart topper and first number one for songwriters Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

1965, The Beatles continue filming in Austria for their second movie, Help! They completed the “ski lift” segment of the film.

1967, Pink Floyd were at Studio 3, EMI Studios in London, recording for the album “Piper at the Gates of Dawn.” They recorded a shrot version on this day of “Interstellar Overdrive” that was released in July on a French EP.

1968, the posthumously released Otis Redding single ‘Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay’, started a five week run at No.1 on the singles chart, Otis was killed in a plane crash on 10th December 1967 three days after recording the song.

1969, Fleetwood Mac, The Move, Amen Corner, Peter Sarstedt, The Tymes, Harmony Grass and Geno Washington all appeared at Pop World 69 at London’s Wembley Empire Pool, England.

1970, The Beatles release Let It Be.

1970, Motown singer Tammi Terrell died of a brain tumor at the age of 24. She had collapsed onstage on October 14, 1967 into Marvin Gaye’s arms during a concert in Hampton, Virginia. Initially Terrell recorded solo, but from 1967 on she recorded a series of duets with Marvin Gaye, including the 1967 US number five “Your Precious Love” and the 1968, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.” Marvin Gaye reacted to her death by taking a four year hiatus from concert performance and went into self-isolation.

1971, winners at this years Grammy Awards included, Simon and Garfunkel who won Record of the year, Song of the year and Album of the year for ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, The Carpenters won Best new act and Best vocal performance.

1971, With Leon Russell sitting in on piano, Bob Dylan cuts “Watching the River Flow” and “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”

1972, Neil Diamond appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London.

1972, John Lennon lodged an appeal with the US immigration office in New York, after he was served with deportation orders arising from his 1968 cannabis possession conviction.

1974, Barbra Streisand started a two-week run at number one on the album chart with The Way We Were‘ the singer’s second US chart topper.

 1974, during a US tour Elvis Presley played the first of four nights at the Midsouth Coliseum in Memphis Tennessee. This was the first time Elvis had played in Memphis since 1961.

 1974, President Richard Nixon opens up the brand-new Grand Ole Opry by playing three songs on a piano.

 1975, London’s Rainbow Theatre, home to many a memorable live album, closes with an all-star concert that includes Procol Harum, John Martyn, Hatfield & the North, Richard & Linda Thompson, Frankie Miller, Sassafras, and the Kevin Coyne Band.

1977, after being with the label for just six days The Sex Pistols were fired from A&M due to pressure from other label artists and its Los Angeles head office. 25,000 copies of “God Save The Queen” were pressed.

1980, The Police record an early version of “Driven To Tears” in Melbourne’s Armstrong Studios (Armstrong’s / Studio 2).

1981, U2 The Woodstock Concert Theater – Anaheim, California on the fourth leg of the North American Boy tour.

1991, Seven members of Country singer Reba McEntire’s band and her road manager were among 10 people who were killed when their private jet crashed in California just north of the Mexican border. McEntire, who had given a private concert in San Diego for IBM employees the night before, was not on the plane.

2010, ABBA were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Genesis and The Hollies. Abba’s Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad accepted their trophies, in New York.

2015, Andy Fraser songwriter and bass guitarist with Free, died in California aged 62. The London-born musician became a founding member of the British group when he was just 15 and went on to write most of the material with Free lead singer Paul Rodgers, including Free’s 1970 hit “All Right Now.”

Born on March 16: Fred Neil (1936); Jerry Jeff Walker (1942);  Nancy Wilson, Heart (1954); Flavor Flav, Public Enemy (1959); Alex Lee, guitarist, Goldfrapp, Suede, Placebo, Strangelove, The Blue Aeroplanes  (1970)

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