Friday, June 30, 2006

JUNE 30

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1917 - Singer, actress and United Artists (whose catalog is now owned by Capitol Records) recording artist (1965-1966) Lena Horne is born Lena Mary Calhoun Horne in Brooklyn, New York

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1944 - It's a busy day for drummer Zutty Singleton as he and his Creole Band (Norman Bowden on trumpet, Shorty Haughton on trombone, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Fred Washington on piano, Bud Scott on guitar, and Ed Garland on bass) record the tracks "Oh, Didn't He Ramble" and "Crawfish Blues", and at the same session, with his trio (Singleton on drums, Bigard on clarinet, and Washington on piano), record a couple of takes of "Barney's Bounce" and "Lulu's Mood"
1971 - George Harrison's Apple Records single "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)", with "Miss O'Dell" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, knocking Paul McCartney and Wings' Apple Records single "My Love", with "The Mess" on the flip side, out of the top spot after a 4 week stay, and will itself be knocked out of the following week by Billy Preston's A&M single "Will It Go Round In Circles" with Preston's version of Lennon and McCartney's "Blackbird" on the flip side.
2002 - Rosemary Clooney, singer, actress, and Capitol Records artist (1964-1965 during which she recorded the album "Travelin' Two Step" with Bing Crosby) dies from complications of lung cancer at her home in Beverly Hills (that was previously owned by the Ira Gershwins) which, since Miss Clooney's death, has been sold and demolished
2003 - An article in the Los Angeles Times states that Capitol Records pays a dime per square foot in property taxes for The Capitol Tower with an annual tax payment of $11,000. Doing the math, it works out that the total "official" square footage of The Capitol Tower is 110,000 square feet.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
2006 - "The Beatles LOVE", the latest Cirque du Soleil production which celebrates the musical legacy of The Beatles, will hold it's Gala Premiere tonight at The Mirage in Las Vegas and Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison are expected to attend. This joint artistic venture marks the first time that The Beatles' company, Apple Corps Ltd., has agreed to a major theatrical partnership. Sir George Martin, The Beatles' original producer, and his son Giles Martin have been working with the entire archive of Beatles recordings to create the musical component for "LOVE". Apple Corps Ltd. is planning to release the album through EMI Music later this year. For more info go to issue 60 of Beatlefan online.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

JUNE 29

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1950 - Mel Blanc records the tracks "Yosemite Sam" and "I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat" for the double disc Capitol Records children's record "Bugs Bunny Sings". The two tracks will also be released as a single with a picture sleeve in 1951 and "I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat" would peak at #9 on Billboard's singles chart and be one of the top 20 songs of the year. The song was produced by Alan Livingston. Livingston, with Billy May and Warren Foster, would also write the lyrics and May would write, arrange and conduct the music.
1960 - Tenor saxophonist and arranger Bill Holman and his Big Band (Al Porcino, Conte Candoli, Lee Katzman, and Ray Triscari on trumpet, Bill Perkins and Richie Kamuca on tenor saxophone, Charlie Kennedy, Joe Maini, and Richie Kamuca on alto saxophone, Frank Rosolino, Lew McGreery, and Vern Friley on trombone, Jack Nimitz on baritone saxophone, Jimmy Rowles on piano, Joe Mondragon on bass, John Cave and Vincent DeRosa on french horn, Kenny Shroyer on bass trombone, and Mel Lewis on drums) start recording tracks for their Capitol Records album "Bill Holman's Great Big Band" at The Capitol Tower Studios
1964 - Capitol Records releases Nat "King" Cole's single "Marnie" based on music from the soundtrack of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, with "More And More Of Your Amour" on the flip side
1967 - Wanda Jackson records the track "No Place To Go But Home" with producers Ken Nelson and Kelso Herston for her album "Cream Of The Crop" and "You Created Me" with Nelson, Herston and George Richy producing for her album "Wanda Jackson Country!" at Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee
1968 - Capitol Records subsidiary Tower Records releases Pink Floyd's second album "A Saucerful Of Secrets"
1989 - Capitol Records releases Paul McCartney's "Flowers In The Dirt" album
1999 - Capitol Records releases Grand Funk Railroad's anthology album "Thirty Years Of Funk"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1919 - Actor ("Blazing Saddles", "Dr. Strangelove...", "1941", etc.) Slim Pickens is born Louis Bert Lindley Jr., in Kingsburg, California. Let the whoopin' and a hollerin' commence! :)
1940 - Victor Records releases "I'll Never Smile Again", Tommy Dorsey's first big hit with future Capitol Records artists Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers as vocalists with his orchestra, with the instrumental "Marcheta" on the flip side. The track had been recorded on May 23, 1940 in New York City and will become the first #1 on Billboard's first top 10 selling chart on July 20, 1940 as well as both Sinatra and The Pied Piper's first #1 on any charts.
1967 - Jayne Mansfield, singer and actress on Broadway and in films is killed at age 34 in an auto accident on U.S. Highway 90 on her way from a engagement at a supper club in Biloxi, Misssissippi to a TV interview in New Orleans, Louisiana. Also killed is Mansfield's driver and her divorce lawyer, and suffering minor injuries are three of Manfield's children including future "Law & Order S.V.U." actress Mariska Hargitay.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

JUNE 28

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1923 - Pete Candoli, Capitol Records session trumpet player (with arrangers Billy May, Nelson Riddle, Don Costa, Gordon Jenkins, and Axel Stordahl on albums by Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Stan Kenton, and more) and husband of Capitol Records artist Betty Hutton (1960-1971) is born Walter Joseph Candoli in Mishawaka, Indiana. There's a great biographic article about Candoli on the Jazz Professional website.
1936 - Tom Drake, guitarist, singer, songwriter and founder of the Capitol Records group The Good Time Singers, is born Thomas Y. Drake in Vancouver, B. C. Canada

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1950 - Jess Stacy and his Trio (Jess Stacy on piano, George Van Eps on guitar, Morty Corb on bass, and Nick Fatool on drums) record the tracks "Careless", "I'll Be Seeing You", "Can't We Be Friends", and "Imagination" for release as singles on Capitol Records
1957 - The Andrews Sisters finish recording tracks for their Capitol Records album "Fresh And Fancy Free" with arrangements and orchestra conducted by Billy May
1965 - Cornet player, band leader and Capitol Records artist (1956-1960) Red Nichols dies after a sudden heart attack in his suite at the Mint Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada where he and his band were performing. His ashes are interred in the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills cemetery. There's a nice biographic article by "Dr. Progresso" on the Hole In The Web site.
1965 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' album "Summer Days (And Summer Nights), produced by Brian Wilson
1965 - Merle Haggard records the tracks "Longer You Wait", "I Can't Stand Me", and "Bottle Let Me Down" at the Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California with producers Ken Nelson and Fuzzy Owen and The Strangers (Roy Nichols, Glen Campbell, Lewis Talley, and Jack Collier on guitar, James Burton on guitar/dobro, Ralph Mooney on steel guitar, Bob Morris, Bert Dodson, Jerry Ward on bass, Helen Price and James Gordon on drums, George French, Glenn D. Hardin on piano, Bonnie Owens and Billy Mize on additional vocals) for Haggard's Capitol Records album "Swinging Doors And The Bottle Let Me Down"
1965 - After the recording session, Capitol Records recording artists Bonnie Owens and Merle Haggard marry in Tijuana, Mexico
1966 - Jackie Gleason conducts the orchestra as they record the track "A Taste Of Honey" for Gleason's Capitol Records album "A Taste Of Brass - For Lovers Only"
1967 - Wanda Jackson records the track "Girl Don't Have To Drink To Have Fun" at Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producers Ken Nelson & Kelso Herston for Jackson's Capitol Records album "Cream Of The Crop"
1988 - Capitol Records band Poison's album "Open Up And Say Ahh!" is certified Gold and Platinum by the R.I.A.A.
1992 - Howard Roberts, guitarist and Capitol Records artist (1963-1969), dies in Seattle, Washington at age 62
1993 - The first recording session for Frank Sinatra's "Duets" album is held at The Capitol Tower Studios, but slight case of laryngitis and anxiety about being isolated in a sound booth causes Sinatra not to be able to perform. But four days later, after a special platform is built amongst the musicians and a hand mike is used for his vocals, Sinatra feels at ease and records nine tracks in five hours.
1997 - Elva Ruby Connes, aka Capitol Records artist Mrs. Miller, dies at age 89 in Vista, California
2005 - Capitol Records releases Megadeth's greatest hits album "Back To The Start"
2006 - Corinne Bailey Rae will appear on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."



ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS
1902 - Composer Richard Rodgers is born Richard Charles Rodgers in New York City

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

JUNE 27

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1924 - Lloyd George, singer, guitarist, banjo and mandolin player, who recorded with Capitol Records (1949) as the first Lonzo in the Country duo Lonzo and Oscar and as a solo artist on Capitol (1949) using the name Ken Marvin and on Imperial Records (1962) using his own name, is born Lloyd Leslie George in Cordova, Walker County, Alabama. Peter J. Gossett runs a comprehensive site on the life of Lloyd George.
1944 - Bruce Johnston, Grammy award winning songwriter, keyboardist, bass player and vocalist with The Capitol Records band The Beach Boys, is born Benjamin Baldwin in Peoria, Illinois

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - Jo Stafford records the tracks "Fuedin' And Fightin'" with The Starlighters and Paul Weston's Mountain Boys and "Love And The Weather with Paul Weston and His Orchestra
1957 - Composer and arranger Johnny Richards begins sessions (with musicians Burt Collins, Jerry Kail, Paul Cohen, and Doug Mettome on trumpets; Jimmy Cleveland, Jim Dahl, and Frank Rehak on trombones; Al Antonucci on French horn; Jay McAllister on tuba; Gene Quill on alto saxophone; Frank Socolow on tenor saxophone; Billy Slapin on baritone saxophone and piccolo; Shelly Gold on bass saxophone; Hank Jones on piano; Chet Amsterdam on bass; Maurice Marks on drums; and Willie Rodriguez on tympani) for his Capitol Records album "Wide Range" in New York City.
1962 - Jackie Gleason received two gold records for his Capitol Records albums "Music, Martinis and Memories" and "Music for Lovers Only"
1963 - Paul McCartney drops by a recording session of Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, who are recording two Lennon-McCartney songs, "Bad to Me" and "I Call Your Name"
1966 - Jack Gleason conducts his orchestra as they record "The Shadow Of Your Smile" for his album "How Seet It Is - For Lovers" with PeeWee Erwin on trumpet
1966 - Capitol Records subsidiary Tower Records releases Mae West's album "Way Out West"
1969 - More than 22,000 people pay their respects to Judy Garland at a memorial service at Campbell's Funeral Chapel in New York. She was laid to rest at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York
1986 - Queensrÿche's EMI America album, "Rage For Order", is released. Capitol Records has taken over manufacture and distribution EMI America's catalog.
2000 - The Kottonmouth King's second Capitol Records album, "High Society", is released
2006 - MTV proclaims today "Headly Sucks Day" as they premiere an "MTV Diary" at 7PM EDT on the Canadian band who recently signed with Capitol Records and whose debut disc for the label is due out on August 29, 2006
2006 - Capitol Records releases a special deluxe CD single of The Beach Boy's "Good Vibrations" with 5 versions of the song and the original flip side "Let's Go Away For Awhile" to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the song's release. Check out Michael deMartin's Pet Blog for more info and a lot of fun stuff.
2006 - Capitol was also to release a 30th anniversary edition of The Steve Miller Band's album "Fly Like An Eagle" on DVD with 5.1 surround sound coming as close as currently possible to (and maybe even surpassing) the album's original quadrophonic mix, but as of 5:00 PM 06-28-06 it still hasn't shown up at the Virgin Megastore at Sunset and Crescent Heights or Tower Records in Glendale, CA.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1964 - The Beatles' Swan Records single "Sie Leibt Dich", with "I'll Get You" on the flip side, peaks at #97 on Billboard's singles chart
1971 - The Filmore East closes
1976 - John Lennon receives his "Green Card", number A17-597-321
2002 - John Entwistle, bassist for the band The Who, dies in Las Vegas, Nevada of a heartattack induced by cocaine one day before the scheduled first show of the band's 2002 US tour

Monday, June 26, 2006

JUNE 26

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1969 - Colin Greenwood, bass player and keyboardist for the Capitol Records band Radiohead, is born Colin Charles Greenwood in Oxford, England

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1964 - The Beatles' soundtrack of "A Hard Day's Night", as well as the single "And I Love Her", with "Ringo's Theme" on the flip side, are released by United Artists Records. Capitol Records eventually buys the UA catalog and re-releases the album on Capitol.
1964 - Peggy Lee records the tracks "After You've Gone", "C'est Magnifique", "My Sin', and "In The Name Of Love" at The Capitol Tower Studios for her album "In The Name Of Love" with producer Dave Cavanaugh and Robert Bain, John Pisano, and Howard Roberts on guitars, Chuck Berghofer on bass, Lou Levy on piano, Stan Levey on drums, and Francisco Aguabella on bongos and conga drum
1967 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens' single "Your Tender Loving Care" with "What A Liar I Am" on the flip side
2000 - Edmund E. Nielsen, manager for Capitol Records and record distributor in Hawai‘i, died in San Antonio, Texas, at age 80

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1956 - Clifford Brown, trumpet player and Blue Note Records solo artist, dies in an auto accident at age 25. Also killed in the accident is pianist Richard Powell (brother of Bud Powell), and Richard's wife.
2003 - The R.I.A.A. starts to identify individual computer users who are, "illegally offering to 'share' substantial amounts of copyrighted music over peer-to-peer networks" to bring suit against them

Sunday, June 25, 2006

JUNE 25

REST IN PEACE
2006 - Arif Mardin, record producer and arranger for artists from The Young Rascals to Nora Jones, and labels from Atlantic Records to most recently Blue Note Records, has died at his home in New York City of pancreatic cancer. The Los Angeles Times ran a very good overview of Mardin's eventful life and career with comments by Bruce Lundvall, president of EMI Jazz & Classics.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1952 - Tim Finn, Capitol Records solo artist (1989) and member the bands Split Enz (1972-1984) and Capitol Records band Crowded House (1992), is born Brian Timothy Finn in Te Awamutu, New Zealand

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1953 - Tommy Collins, at his first Capitol Records recording session, waxes the tracks "You Gotta Have A Licence", "Let Me Love You", "There Will Be No Other", and "I Love You More And More Each Day". All songs were written by Collins.
1966 - The Beatles' single “Paperback Writer” hits #1 on Billboard's singles chart and stays for two weeks
1967 - The Beatles' "All You Need is Love" is recorded during "Our World", a two hour worldwide live television broadcast from EMI Studios, London, England.
1976 – "...and the angels sing" - John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer, lyricist, singer and co-founder of Capitol Records and The Songwriters Hall of Fame, dies in Los Angeles, California of complications after surgery for brain cancer, which had left him paralyzed and unable to speak. His body was cremated and his ashes buried in the family plot in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.
1988 - Hillel Slovak, guitarist for EMI America Records band The Red Hot Chili Peppers, dies of a heroin overdose at age 26 and is interred in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California
1990 - Enigma Records releases Poison's single "Unskinny Bop" which shares the a side with "Swamp Juice (Soul-O)", with "Valley Of The Lost Souls" on the flip side, and is distributed by Capitol Records
2006 - Capitol Records Nashville artist Keith Urban marries fellow Australian and actress, Nicole Kidman, in Sydney, Australia

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1950 - The Korean War begins
1960 - Tenor Saxophonist Tina Brooks records his only solo album, "True Blue", at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey for for Blue Note Records

Saturday, June 24, 2006

JUNE 24

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1944 - Bruce Johnston, keyboardist, drummer, bass player, singer, and member of The Beach Boys, is born in Chicago, Illinois

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1958 - Frank Sinatra records the tracks "Blues In The Night", "Gone With The Wind", "One For My Baby", "What's New" with producer Voyle Gilmore and arrangements and orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle for the album "Only The Lonely"
1963 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens and Rose Maddox's single "We're The Talk Of The Town" with "Sweethearts in Heaven" on the flip side
1964 - Instrumental tracks using a 41 piece orchestra conducted by orchestra master Benjamin Barrett and arranged by Dick Reynolds, are recorded in The Capitol Tower Studios for The Beach Boys' songs "Frosty The Snowman" and "I'll Be Home For Christmas" with vocal tracks recorded on June 30 at Western Studios in Hollywood, California
1968 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' album "Friends"
1972 - Capitol Records releases Helen Reddy's single "I Am Woman" with "More Than You Could Take" on the flip side. The track would go hit #1 on Billboard's singles chart on December 9, 1972 (Capitol's first non-Beatles #1 since "Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" peaked on August 29, 1967) and would win Reddy a Grammy for Female Pop Vocal Performance for which, at the televised ceremony, she would thank God because "...She makes everything possible".
1974 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' album "Endless Summer" that contains the band's early hits
1974 - Capitol Records releases Tennessee Ernie Ford's single "Come On Down" with "Bits And Pieces Of Life" on the flip side
1978 - A Taste of Honey's debut Capitol Records single, "Boogie Oogie Oogie" with "World Spin" on the flip side, enters Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart at #82 and will hit #1 in 11 weeks and stay #1 for 3 weeks. The track got it's initial release as the a side of a promotional 12" single for clubs that had Gloria Jones' "Bring on The Love (Why Can't We Be Friends Again)" on the flip side.
1987 - Composer, conductor, comedian, actor, and Capitol Records recording artist Jackie Gleason dies of colon and liver cancer at Inverrary, Florida home at age 71 and is interred in the Our Lady Of Mercy Cemetery, Miami Beach, Florida
2003 - Capitol Records releases the album "Songs For Life", whose proceeds will go to a U.S. non-profit group, The Royal Initiative to Combat AIDS, which is helping fight the epidemic in Southern Africa. The album, supervised by producer Phil Ramone, features tracks from John Lennon, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Pattie LaBelle, Carole King, Judy Collins and Lennon with Yoko Ono.
2003 - Liz Phair's self-titled album is released by Capitol Records
2004 - Stanley M. Gortikov, former president of Capitol Records (1968-1969), president and CEO of Capitol Industries (1969-1971), and president of the Recording Industry Association of America (1972-1987) dies of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles at age 85.
2005 - Capitol Records releases OK Go's 3 song EP "Do What You Want"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1904 - Phil Harris, bandleader, singer, radio, television and motion picture actor, husband of actress Alice Faye, with whom he had a popular sitcom radio show, and voice actor (Baloo in Walt Disney's "The Jungle Book") is born Wonga Philip Harris in Linton, Indiana

Friday, June 23, 2006

JUNE 23

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1940 - Stuart Sutcliffe, artist and original bassist for The Beatles, is born Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sarah Sutcliffe runs a very comprehensive site about Stuart.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1951 - Nat "King" Cole's Single "Too Young", with "That's My Girl" hits #1 on Billboard's singles chart and will stay for 5 weeks
1956 - Gene Vincent and His Blue Cap's single "Be-Bop-A-Lula" enters the top 40 of Billboard's singles chart
1960 - The Kingston Trio records "The White Snows Of Winter" and "Sing We Noel" at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California with producer Voyle Gilmore and engineer Pete Abbot for their album "The Last Month Of The Year"
1962 - The Kingston Trio perform a live concert at The Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, California
1969 - The Beach Boys' single "Break Away" (written by Murry Wilson), with "Celebrate The News" on the flip side, is released by Capitol Records
1979 - The Knack's debut Capitol Records single "My Sharona", with "Let Me Out" on the flip side, enters Billboard's Hot 100 chart
1984 - Duran Duran's single “The Reflex“ with "New Religion" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's singles chart
2000 - Singer Carnie Wilson of the SBK/Capitol Records recording group "Wilson Phillips", and daughter of Brian Wilson, marries Rob Bonfiglio
2003 - The JVC Jazz Festival New York presents "There'll Be Another Spring: A Tribute To Miss Peggy Lee" at Carnegie Hall in New York City

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1957 - Tenor saxophonist records the tracks "Mighty Moe And Joe", "News", "Bag's Groove", "Double Exposure" and "Falling In Love With Love" with Bill Hardman on trumpet, Curtis Porter (aka Shafi Hadi) on alto and tenor saxophone, Sonny Clark on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums for Mobley's self titled Blue Note Records album. The session was produced by Alfred Lion and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey

Thursday, June 22, 2006

JUNE 22

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1944 - Peter Asher, producer and singer with Capitol Records duo Peter and Gordon (1964-1968), is born in London, England
1948 - Todd Rundgren, producer of Capitol Records artists Grand Funk Railroad and The Tubes, is born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
1960 - Nelson Riddle records the tracks "Suspenseful-Ness", "Linda", "30-30", "Ebony And Ivory", "Reckless-Ness", "Dauntless-Ness", "Speakeasy Blues", Elliot Ness", Dejected-Ness", and "The Loop" for his Capitol Records television soundtrack album "The Untouchables"
1964 - Mike Edwards, songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of the Capitol (1989) and SBK Records (1990-1993) band Jesus Jones, is born Michael James Edwards in London, England

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1955 - Guitarist Hank Thompson and The Brazos Valley Boys (Merle Travis on guitar and steel guitar, Bobbie White on steel guitar, Billy Stewart on bass, Paul McGhee on drums, Amos Hedrick, Billy Peters and Curly Lewis on fiddles, Donald McDaniel on piano, and Dubert Dobson on trumpet) record the instrumental tracks "Westphalia Waltz", "Red Skin Gal", and "Don't Be That Way" with producer Ken Nelson at Capitol Records' Melrose Studios in Hollywood, California
1962 - Maurice Cameron Hill (aka Cameron Hill) guitarist with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, and who also recorded with Capitol Records band Tommy Duncan and His Western All Stars, Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan, and Merrill Moore, dies in Houston Texas and is buried at Rosewood Park Cemetery near Humble, Texas
1969 - Judy Garland dies in the Chelsea section of London, England at age 47
1987 - Fred Astaire, dancer, actor, singer, and EMI recording artist, dies from pneumonia in Los Angeles, California at age 88 and is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California
2006 - After appearing on "The Late Show With Cragin Ferguson", Capitol Records artist Van Hunt, with special guest, Nikka Costa, performs at The House of Blues at 8430 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1961 - The Beat Brothers (aka The Beatles, with John Lennon on rhythm guitar, George Harrison on lead guitar, Paul McCartney on bass guitar, and Pete Best on drums) are in a professional recording studio for the first time on this day and on June 23, 1961 when they're hired by Polydor Records to back vocalist Tony Sheridan on the tracks "My Bonnie", and "In The School Hall" and also record "Cry For A Shadow" (an original Harrison instrumental composition), and "Ain't She Sweet (with vocal by Lennon)

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

JUNE 21

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1921 - Actress and singer Judy Holiday is born Judith Tuvim at Manhattan's Lying-in Hospital in New York. She would appear with co-star Dean Martin on Capitol Records' original motion picture soundtrack album "Bells Are Ringing".

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1948 - Capitol Records releases Margaret Whiting's single "A Tree In The Meadow" with Whiting's vocals dubbed in Los Angeles over an instrumental track recorded by Frank DeVol in London, getting around the second Petrillo recording ban. The track would eventually hit #1 on Billboard's singles chart on August 21, 1948. "I'm Sorry, But I'm Glad" is on the flip side.
1966 - The Beatles record "She Said She Said" at Abbey Road Studios between 7 PM and 3:45 AM
1971 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens' album "Buck Owens, Ruby"
1975 - Glen Campbell's single version of Larry Weiss' "Rhinestone Cowboy", with "Lovelight" on the flip side enters Billboard's singles chart and will hit #1 on September 6, 1975
1989 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens & Ringo Starr's single "Act Naturally", with "The Key's In The Mailbox" on the flip side, that was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London England with producers Jerry Crutchfield and Jim Shaw
1990 - Poison's album "Flesh And Blood" is released on Enigma Records and distributed by Capitol Records

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

JUNE 2O

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1942 - Brian Wilson, composer, singer, musician, producer and member of Capitol Records band The Beach Boys, is born Brian Douglas Wilson at 3:45am at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California
1945 - Singer and Capitol Records recording artist (1969-1991) Anne Murray is born Morna Anne Murray in Springhill, Nova Scotia
1960 - John Taylor, solo artist and bass player for the Capitol Records bands Duran Duran and Power Station and Maverick Records band Neurotic Outsiders, is born Nigel John Taylor in Solihull, Warwickshire, England

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1948 - Producer, actress and daughter of Frank Sinatra, Tina Sinatra is born Christine Diane Sinatra in Los Angeles, California
1961 - EMI Records moves from Blyth Road and now operates from EMI House, 20 Manchester Square, London W1.
1965 - Heading home after finishing a show in Kansas City, Missouri, Capitol Records recording artist (solo and in a duo with his brother Charlie as the Louvin Brothers) Ira Louvin (born Lonnie Ira Loudermilk) and his fourth wife, Anne Young, are killed when the car they were riding in was hit head on by a drunk driver in Williamsburg, Missouri
1966 - Capitol Records officially releases The Beatles' album "Yesterday And Today" in the U.S. with the "trunk" cover art. Some copies, because of the rush to release, have the new art pasted over the original "butcher" cover art. Let the steaming begin! :)
1976 - After recording for the label for 27 years and 2 months, Capitol Records releases Tennessee Ernie Ford's last single, "I Been To Georgia On A Fast Train", with "Baby's Home" on the flip side
1994 - Members of the Capitol Records band The Smithereens hold an online conference with fans on Compuserve
2005 - Capitol Records Nashville recording artist Dierks Bently performs “Come A Little Closer” on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America"
2005 - Capitol Records Nashville recording artist Trace Adkins voices the role of the Cowboy on The Disney Channels' CGI cartoon series "Higglytown Heroes"
2005 - An article in Billboard magazine reports that Capitol Records Nashville CFO Tom Becci has been promoted to COO for the label, where he’ll oversee Capitol Records Nashville's financial operations as well as overall label operations
2006 - Capitol Records releases in the U.S. the debut self-titled album of Leeds, UK singer, songwriter and musician Corrine Bailey Rae

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1844 - Tom Dula, on whose life and death the song "Tom Dooley" is based, is born Thomas C. Dula in Reedy Branch, Wilkes County, North Carolina
1948 - Ed Sullivan's CBS television series "The Toast Of The Town" debuts with guests Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who will sign with Capitol Records in exactly two months on August 20, 1948
1960 - WGN-TV Chicago's "Bozo" show debuts as a live half-hour program weekdays at noon, starring Bob Bell as Bozo (Chicago's Bozo until 1984) who performs comedy sketches and introduces cartoons

Monday, June 19, 2006

JUNE 19

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1902 - Bandleader, hydroplaner, and Capitol Records artist (1957-1958) Guy Lombardo is born Gaetano Alberto Lombardo in London, Ontario, Canada
1950 - Singer, songwriter, musician, and founding member of the Capitol Records band Heart, Ann Wilson is born Ann Dustin Wilson in San Diego, California

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1948 - Nat "King" Cole's single "Nature Boy" is still #1, The Pied Piper's "My Happiness" is still #8, and The Sportsmen's a capella version "You Can't Be True, Dear" is #11, up from #17 the previous week, on Billboard's singles chart
1957 - Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps record the track "Dance To The Bop" at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California
1958 - The Kingston Trio's version of "Tom Dooley" is first played on air by DJ Paul Colburn at radio station KLUB in Salt Lake City, Utah
1960 - Gene Vincent boards a plane to leave the U.K. for home after recovering sufficiently from the April 17, 1960 auto accident that injured his leg (and also killed Eddie Cochran), to travel
1963 - The Beatles record the tracks "Some Other Guy" and "Thank You Girl" for BBC Radio
1972 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owen's single "Looking Back To See" with "Cryin' Time", a duet with Susan Raye, on the flip side
2001 - Guitarist and singer Dave Navarro's solo album "Trust No One" is released by Capitol Records
2005 - JVC Jazz Festival New York presents "All For Paul: Les Paul 90th Birthday Salute" that has Les Paul performing with John Coliani,, Lou Pallo, & Nicki Parrott and features Tommy Emmanuel, José Feliciano, Peter Frampton, Steve Lukather, Pat Martino, Steve Miller, Bucky Pizzarelli, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Derek Trucks, Eumir Deodato, Neal Schon, Edgar Winter, and vocalist Madeleine Peyroux with Will Lee & Omar Hakim
2006 - The latest movers and shakers at Capitol Records:
MELANIE SCULL is the new Senior Director of Pop Promotion at Capitol Records, Los Angeles. MELANIE was National Director of AAA.
PATTY MORRIS-CAPERS has added AAA duties to her Hot AC, AC and Smooth Jazz callings at Capitol.
MARK BURGER is now Capitol Regional Director of Promotion in Dallas. BURGER formerly was National Promotions at Kirtland Records, also at Geffen, Polydor, Lava and DGC.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1962 - Singer, dancer, choreographer, and Virgin Records (1987-1995) artist Paula Abdul is born Paula Julie Abdul in San Fernando, California
1964 - Organist John Patton records the tracks "The Rock", "The Way I Feel", "Jerry", "Davene", and "Just ¾" (with Richard Williams on trumpet, Fred Jackson on tenor and baritone saxophone, Grant Green on guitar, and Ben Dixon on drums) with producer Alfred Lion and engineer Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studios in Englewood, New Jersey for Patton's Blue Note Records album "The Way I Feel"
1978 - Hide your lasagna, the comic strip Garfield makes it debut.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

JUNE 18

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1926 - Bill N. Muster, Capitol Records merchandising manager (1953-1959) is born William N. Muster in Valapraiso, Illinois
1942 - Sir Paul McCartney is born James Paul McCartney in Walton Hospital, in Liverpool, England

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1942 - Capitol Records' first reviews in Billboard Magazine appear with praises for "Cow Cow Boogie" and "Strip Polka" two weeks before their official release.
1964 - With Brian Wilson producing using arrangements by Dick Reynolds, intrumental tracks for The Beach Boys songs "We Three Kings Of Orient Are", "Blue Christmas", "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and "White Christmas" are recorded at The Capitol Tower Studios for the album "The Beach Boys' Christmas Album". Vocals will be recorded later in June at Western Studios in Hollywood.
1964 - The Beatles perform live at Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1968 - Wanda Jackson records the tracks "Together Again", "Hurtin's All Over", "Swinging Doors", "There Stands The Glass", and "I Betcha My Heart I Love You" at Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producers Ken Nelson and Kelso Herston
1991 - Capitol Records releases the 1961 album "Nat 'King" Cole Sings, George Shearing Plays", on CD for the first time
1991 - Curb Records releases Merle Haggards "18 Rare Classics" using songs from Haggard's time at Capitol Records
2002 - Capitol Records announces the release, re-mixed in 96kHz/24-bit PCM surround-sound at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood using the original multi-track master tapes, of Richard Thompson's 1991 album "Rumor and Sigh", Crowded House's 1986 album "Crowded House", Queensryche's 1990 album "Empire" and Bonnie Raitt's 1989 album "Nick Of Time"
2006 - Paul McCartney turns 64 (Woo!)

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1938 - Chick Webb and His Orchestra's Decca single "A-Tisket, A-Tasket", with vocals by Ella Fitzgerald, written (using his birth name Al Feldman) and arranged by Van Alexander and with "Liza" on the flip side, enters the top 10
1983 - George Russell and The Living Time Orchestra record tracks that will make up the 1984 Blue Note album "The African Game" and the 1987 Blue Note album "So What"

Saturday, June 17, 2006

JUNE 17

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1944 - Andy Russell's single "Amor" with orchestra conducted by Al Saks peaks at #5, and Jo Stafford's single "Long Ago (And Far Away) with Paul Weston and His Orchestra stays at #7 for the 2nd week on Billboard's singles chart
1951 - After 40 performances, the curtain comes down on the Broadway musical "Flahooley", with songs written by Sammy Fain and E.Y. Harburg and with Yma Sumac in the cast as well as first-timer Barbara Cook. Capitol Records will release the soundtrack album which will also be Cook's recording debut.
1960 - Judy Garland records the tracks "I've Confessed to the Breeze (I Love You)", "Old Devil Moon", and "That's Entertainment" with producer Jack Marshall at The Capitol Tower Studios for her album "Judy/That's Entertainment!"
1960 - The Kingston Trio record the tracks "We Wish You A Merry Christmas", "All Through The Night", "Follow Now, Oh Shepards", and "Somerset Glouchestershire Wassail" with producer Voyle Gilmore and engineer Pete Abbot at The Capitol Tower Studios for their album "The Last Month Of The Year". I wonder if Judy Garland and The Kingston Trio met each other and/or listened in to each other's sessions.
1963 - The Beatles record the track "Boys" for BBC Radio which will later be released by Capitol Records on The Beatles' "Live At The BBC" CD released in 1994
1963 - The Kingston Trio, with lead vocal by John Stewart, record the track "Ballad Of The Thresher" for their album "Sunny Side"
1966 - The Beatles hold the final sessions to record the tracks "Here There And Everywhere" and "Got To Get You Into My Life" for their album "Revolver" at Abbey Road Studios in London
1967 - Future Capitol Records artists Quicksilver Messenger Service and The Steve Miller Band perform at The Monterey Pop Jazz Festival
1967 - The Kingston Trio ends their final three-week engagement at the hungry i in San Francisco and enters retirement. The last songs of their final set were "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" and "Scotch And Soda."
1968 - Wanda Jackson records the tracks "Little Boy Soldier" for her 1968 album "Cream Of The Crop" and "As The Day Wears On" for her 1969 album "The Happy Side Of Wanda" at the Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producers Ken Nelson and Kelson Herston
1972 - Capitol Records artist (1972) Paul Pena performs with The T-Bone Walker Blues Band at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland
1979 - The Motels record the track "People, Places and Things" for their first Capitol Records album at The Capitol Tower Studios
1988 - Garth Brooks signs with Capitol Records
2005 - "Dateline NBC" airs an "in-depth...profile" of Capitol Records Nashville artist Keith Urban
1997 - Megadeth's album "Cryptic Writings" is released by Capitol Records
2004 - The first of two sessions (the next will be on June 28, 2004) is held at The Capitol Records Studios for a benefit single for children and families affected by the Iraq War. The track is a cover of the 1971 hit (#3 on R&B chart & 12 on pop chart) single "Bring The Boys Home" with Bad Boy Records artist Carl Thomas providing lead vocals with Morris Day, Juvenile, Wyclef Jean, Freda Payne (who sang the original version) and a children's chorus. Proceeds will be donated to the charity Children Uniting Nations.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1946 - Barry Manilow is born Barry Alan Pincus in Brooklyn, New York
1960 - The Shadows record the track "Apache" in Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios, London, England

Friday, June 16, 2006

JUNE 16

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1939 - Billy "Crash" Craddock, Capitol Records artist (1978-1983) is born William Wayne Craddock in Greensboro, North Carolina

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORS HISTORY
1955 - Walt Disney Pictures releases "Lady And The Tramp", with lyrics and vocals by Peggy Lee. Capitol Records will later release a children's record based on the movie.
1957 - Dave Guard, Neck Reynolds, and Bob Shane form The Kingston Trio in Palo Alto, California
1963 - With John Stewart on vocals, The Kingston Trio records the tracks "Rider" and Stewart's "Those Who Are Wise" for their album "Sunny Side"
1967 - Wynn Stewart's single "It's Such A Pretty World Today" with "Goin' Steady" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Country singles chart and stays at top for two weeks
1967 - Lou Rawls performs at the opening day of The Monterey Pop Festival
1967 - Twiggy's first Capitol Records single "When I Think Of You" with "Over and Over" is released
1969 - The Beatles' single "The Ballad of John & Yoko" is certified Gold by the R.I.A.A.
1976 - The Beatles' album "Rock 'N' Roll Music" is certified Gold by the R.I.A.A.
2004 - Grand Royal Records releases The Beastie Boys album "To The Five Boroughs" with distribution by Capitol Records

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1916 - Comedy movie star Stan Laurel is born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Cumbria, England
1939 - Drummer and band leader Chick Webb, born William Henry Webb, dies in John Hopkins Hospital, Balitmore Maryland after a major operation. The year of his birth is still not confirmed, so he may have been anywher from 30 to 37 years of age at the time of his death.
1959 - George Reeves, TV's Superman, dies of a gunshot wound to the head in his bedroom in Beverly Hills, California at age 45
1971 - Tupac Amaru Shakur is born Lesane Parish Crooks in Brooklyn, NY
1986 - CBS Records announces that former Capitol Records mailroom employee (1969), 36 year old Don Ienner, is the newest, and youngest ever, president of Columbia Records

Thursday, June 15, 2006

JUNE 15

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1909 - Mickey Katz, clarinetist, klezmer player, arranger, member of Spike Jones and His City Slickers, Yiddish song parodist, comedian, Capitol Records artist (1950-1967), father of Broadway, motion picture and television actor and Capitol Records artist Joel Grey, and grandfather of motion picture and television actress Jennifer Grey, is born Meyer Myron Katz in Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks to Mel for letting me know about Katz' birthday.
1917 - Leon Payne, Capitol Records country artist (1949-1953), founder of The Lone Star Buddies, songwriter ("Lost Highway" and "I Love You Because"), singer, musician, is born Leon Roger Payne in Alba, Texas. Payne would also release a Rockabilly single on Capitol ("That Ain't It" with "Little Rock" on the flip side) using the name Rock Rogers.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1952 - Al Martino's debut single for Capitol Records "Here In My Heart", with "I Cried Myself To Sleep" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's singles charts
1953 - Jackie Gleason records the track "Laura" for his album "Music To Remember Her" with Buddy Haskin on trumpet
1963 - Kyu Sakamoto Capitol Records single "Sukiyaki", with "Anoko No Namaewa Nantenkana" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's singles chart, (still the only Japanese language single to do so), knocking Leslie Gore's Mercury Records single "It's My Party", with "Danny" on the flip side, out of the top spot
1964 - Capitol Records releases Peter and Gordon's single "Nobody I Know" (written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon), with "You Don't Have To Tell Me" on the flip side
1966 - The Beatles album "Yesterday And Today" was supposed to be released today (and a few copies may actually have made it to some stores through independent distributors) but its official released is delayed until June 20 when the new "truck" cover art replaces the original "butcher" cover
1967 - Alan Jardine, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys, with vocalist Diane Rovell of The Honeys, record the track "Vegetables" at the Beach Boys Studio
1970 - Grand Funk Railroad's album "Closer To Home" is released on Capitol Records
1972 - Pink Floyd's album "Obscured By Clouds" is released on the Harvest label with distribution by Capitol Records
1996 - Ella Jane Fitzgerald dies in Beverly Hills, California at age 79 from complications brought about by diabetes and is interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California
1996 - Billboard magazine reports that Capitol Records Inc. has paid $10 million to acquire 49% of shares of Matador Records

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1945 - Judy Garland marries Ben Vincent Minnelli in a ceremony performed by Dr. William Roberts of the Beverly Hills Community Presbyterian Church in the home of her mother Ethel Garland, at 1231 Stone Canyon Road, Los Angeles, California. One of Judy's sisters was her attendant and the best man for Minnelli was lyricist Ira Gershwin.
1962 - EMI lauches the Stateside label in Britain "for repertoire licensed from American labels"
1969 - Judy Garland gives her last performance for a live audience when she appears at the Half Note nightclub, Greenwich Village, NYC

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

JUNE 14

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1963 - Chris DeGarmo, songwriter, lead and rhythm guitarist with the Capitol Records band Queensryche (1982-1997, 2003), is born Christopher Lee DeGarmo in Wenatchee, Washington
1969 - MC Ren, Capitol Records Rap artist and vocalist with NWA, is born Lorenzo Patterson in Compton, California

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1941 - Future Capitol Records artist Tex Ritter marries actress Dorothy Fay in marriage that will last until his death on January 2, 1974
1946 - The King Cole Trio records the track "The Christmas Song", which Mel Torme and Robert Wells wrote specifically for Nat, at WMCA Studios in New York City. Cole was not happy with this version and persuades Capitol to let him re-record the track with a string section arranged by Charlie Grean with producers Carl Kress and Walter Rivers on August 19, 1946
1949 - Freddie Slack's Quartet (Neal Hefti on trumpet, John Haliburton on trombone, Hank Horn on baritone saxophone, Freddie Slack on piano, Bob Bain on guitar, Paul Moresy on bass, and Maynard Sloate on drums) record the tracks, "Whatever Happened To Ol' Jack?", with Phil Gordon and Bobby Troup on vocals, and an untitled Phil Moore instrumental that went unissued until Mosaic Records released it on their 3 CD set "Mosaic Select: Freddie Slack" in 2005
1957 - Sessions begin for Martin Denny's Liberty Records album "Exotica Volume II" in The Capitol Records Studio
1965 - The Beatles' "Beatles VI" is released
1965 - Capitol Records releases the Buck Owens' EP "Four By Buck Owens'
1966 - Ron Tepper, manager in Capitol Records' press and information services, sends out a letter to reviewers requesting they disregard and "if possible" send back their promotional copy of the "Butcher Cover" version of The Beatles' Yesterday and Today" album. Yeah, Right :)
1968 - Ken Errier, Capitol Records solo artist (1957), member of Capitol Records recording act The Four Freshmen (1953-1955), and second husband to actress Jane Withers, dies in a small plane crash in California
1969 - Vocalist Letta Mbulu is back in The Capitol Tower Studios with arranger and conductor H.B. Barnum, and musicians Tony Terran and Freddie Hill (trumpet and flugelhorn); Charles Loper (trombone); Dick Leith (trombone and bass trombone); Jackie Kelso (tenor saxophone and flute); Jim Horn (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, oboe, and recorder); Dick Houlgate (bass saxophone and flute); Don Randi (piano, electric piano and harpsichord); Mike Melvoin (organ); Al Casey, John Gray, and Les Buie (guitar); Bob West (bass and electric bassb); Earl Palmer (drumps, tympani and bells); Joe Clayton (congas); King Errison (bongos); Gary Coleman (boo bams and tamborine); John Guerin (bells, tympani, and mallets); Ken Watson (mallets, traps, and Latin percussion) recording the tracks "Gumba Gumba", "Kukuchi", "What More Could Be Right", and "Only When You're Mine Again" for her album "Free Soul"
1998 - Capitol Records releases The Beastie Boys album "Hello Nasty"
2000 - Merrill Moore, Capitol Records artist and contract session player (1955-1958), country swing and boogie woogie pianist, dies in San Diego, California of cancer
2003 - On the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, Capitol Records Nashville artist, Trace Adkins is invited by Little Jimmy Dickens to become a member with a formal induction held on August 23, 2003
2005 - A scheduled performance by Capitol Records recording artists Saosin is cancelled due to police reaction to a shooting that occured at the venue a few days earlier

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1909 - Burl Ives, singer, author, actor, and voice of the second best known snowman, is born Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives in Jasper County, Illinois
1942 - Walt Disney releases the animated movie "Bambi"
1977 - Alan Reed, actor and voice of Fred Flintstone dies of a heart attack at age 69 in West Los Angeles, California
1986 - Lyricist Alan Jay Lerner dies of lung cancer in New York City at age 67
1994 - Composer and arranger Henry Mancini, borni Enric Nicoloa Mancini in Cleveland, Ohio, dies at age 70 of cancer of the liver in Beverly Hills, California

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

JUNE 13

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1964 - The Beatles' United Artists soundtrack album "A Hard Day's Night" is released. Capitol Records will eventually buy the United Artists Records catalog and has since re-released the album on the Capitol label.
1968 - Vocalist Letta Mbulu records the tracks "Olu Ati Ayo" and "Welele", with producer David Axlerod, for her album Free Soul. She also records a version of "Gumba Gumba" that will be re-recorded the next day that will be issued on a single (Capitol 4-2152) with the song "Ade" on the flip side. Arranger H.B. Barnum conductes Tony Terran and Freddie Hill on trumpet and flugelhorn; Lew McCreary on trombone and tenor trombone; Jackie Kelso on tenor saxophone, clarinet and flute; Dick Houlgate on saxophone and clarinet; Jim Horn on saxophone, clarinet, flute and recorder; Don Randi on piano, electric piano and harpsichord; Mike Melvoin on organ; Les Buie, Louis Morell, and Carol Kaye on guitar; Bob West on bass; Earl Palmer on drums, tympani, and bells; John Guerin on drums, vibraphone and tympani; Joe Clayton on congas; Gene Estes and Ken Watson on percussion at The Capitol Tower Studios. Copyists for the arrangements were Allen DeRienzo, Leonard Gordon, and Kenneth Mitchell.
1970 - The Beatles' single "The Long And Winding Road" hits #1 on Billboard's singles chart
1970 - Glyn Johns completes a mix of The Band's Capitol Records album "Stage Fright". Many of the tracks will be remixed by Todd Rundgren for the final album release. Dave Hopkins has written reviews of all The Band's 2000 CD reissues.
1986 - Capitol Records artist, clarinetist, and bandleader Benny Goodman dies of cardiac arrest in his Manhattan apartment at age 77 and is buried in Long Ridge Union Cemetery, Stamford Connecticut
1986 - Dean Reed, Capitol Records and Imperial Records artist (1958), best known for his recordings of "Our Summer Romance" and "Whirly Twirly", singer, songwriter, director, actor and socialist activist, dies after disappearing the day before and will be found in two days in a lake near is home in East Berlin, Germany. Tom Hanks is said to be working on a project about Reed's life. The University of Colorado sponsors the Dean Reed Peace Prize, an annual essay contest held in Reed's memory, as part of its Conference on World Affairs.
1997 - Megadeth starts their "Cryptic Writings" tour with a concert in Mesa, Arizona that is broadcast live on the internet
2003 - The film contest for a video for Capitol Records artist Fischerspooner, sponsored by iFilm and Capitol, ends and the winner's entry is placed on iFilm.com
2004 - Capitol Records Nashville artists The Jenkins perform on the Riverfront stage of the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee
2006 - The surviving original members of The Beach Boys reunited in public after 10 years apart when Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine gathered at the Capitol Records in Hollywood to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album "Pet Sounds" and the platinum-certification of the album "Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys" (released in 2003)
2006 - Capitol Records artists Radiohead perform live in concert at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. According to a Capitol Records press release, the set list "will draw heavily on the newer material the band has been working on over the past months", and "will feature appropriately scaled down staging and lighting design, creating a suitably intimate environment for the first ever airings of several new songs".

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1946 - Edward J. "Major" Bowes, producer and host of radio's "Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour", dies on his 72nd birthday at his home in Rumson, New Jersey. Cardinal Spellman performed the last rites at Bowes' home. The amongst the show's most famous winners were Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. A year after Bowes' death, Ted Mack would revive the Amateur Hour and bring it to television.

Monday, June 12, 2006

JUNE 12

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1928 - Capitol Records artist (1961-1965), singer, and actor, Vic Damone is born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York
1938 - Jim Conner, songwriter ("Grandma's Feather Bed"), guitarist, banjoist, harmonica player and vocalist with Capitol Records duo Richard and Jim (1962-1965) and member of The New Kingston Trio (1968-1974) in born in Gadsen, Alabama
1958 - Capitol Records artist, singer, songwriter and guitarist, Meredith Brooks is born Meredith Ann Brooks in Oregon City, Oregon

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1942 - Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (Monty Kelly, Larry Neil, and Don Waddilove on trumpet; Skip Layton and Murray McEachern on trombone; Alvy West, Danny d'Andrea, Lenny Hartman, King Guion, and Tommy Mace on saxophone; Harry Azen, Sol Blumenthal, and David Newman on strings; Buddy Weed on piano; Mike Pingitore on guitar; Art Shapiro on bass; Willie Rodriguez on drums) using arrangements by Jimmy Mundy, record the tracks "Travlin' Light" with vocals by Lady Day (Billie Holiday, who was under contract to Decca, thus the alias), "The Old Music Master" with vocals by Johnny Mercer and Jack Teagarden, "I'm Old Fashioned" with vocals by Martha Tilton, and "You Were Never Lovelier" with vocals by Larry Neil, at Radio Recorders' studios in Los Angeles, California.
1944 - "Hi, ever'body, hope you feel tip-top; welcome to the Chesterfield Music Shop". Johnny Mercer's "Chesterfield Music Shop" airs it's first 15 minute episode live at 5PM for the east coast and again live at 8PM for the west coast. The series will broadcast from NBC's studio at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood twice daily, Mondays through Thursdays and on Fridays from various military camps and hospitals around Southern California until December 8, 1944 with many of it's episodes recorded for the Armed Forces Radio Services. The show features Mercer, Jo Stafford, Paul Weston and His Orchestra, The Pied Pipers, whose version of Mercer's "Dream" is the show's closing theme song. The show would help the careers of all including songwriters Ray Evans and Jay Livingston as well as one of the show's arrangers, Gil Evans.
1958 - Ann Richards (aka Mrs. Stan Kenton, on vocals), with Brian Farnon conducting the orchestra (lineup unlisted) using arrangements by Warren Barker, records a re-recoding of "Nightingale" and the tracks "Will You Still Be Mine?", "Lullaby Of Broadway", and "Deep Night", with producer Lee Gillette in Los Angeles, California. Capitol Records will issue all the tracks on Richards' Capitol Records debut solo album "I'm Shooting High" (T 1087).
1963 - The Beach Boys record the track "Surfer Girl" at Western Studios in Los Angeles, California. This is the first recording where Brian Wilson gets official credit as producer.
1964 - The Beatles fly from Sydney to perform two sets at Centennial Hall, Adelaide, Australia with Sounds Incorporated, Johnny Devlin, Johnny Chester and The Phantoms, and have a private party in their hotel suite after the show
1965 - George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Richard Starkey (aka Ringo Starr) are appointed Members of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II
1972 - John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory's album "Sometime In New York City", produced by Phil Spector, is released on Apple Records and distributed by Capitol Records
1976 - The King Biscuit Flour Hour broadcasts The Steve Miller Band in concert at The Beacon Theater in New York City for broadcast. The performance is at the beginning of the "Fly Like An Eagle" tour and will later show up on the CD "The King Biscuit Flour Hour Presents The Steve Miller Band", released in 2003.
1976 - Ringo Starr is in the Cherokee Studios in Hollywood, California recording the tracks "A Dose Of Rock 'n' Roll" and "Cookin' (In The Kitchen Of Love)" for his Capitol Records album "Ringo's Rotogravure". John Lennon (who wrote "Cookin'...") plays piano on the two tracks and will stay out of recording studios for the next 4 years until he begins work on his and Yoko's album "Double Fanatsy" in 1980.
1995 - The Capitol Records/Nettwerk band Skinny Puppy split up
2003 - Billboard Magazine reports that Grammy winner Shelby Lynne has signed with Capitol Records

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1909 - Archie Bleyer, arranger, band leader (1934) whose vocalists would include Johnny Mercer, musical director for Arthur Godfrey, record producer, and founder of Cadence Records(1952) - whose roster included Julias LaRosa, The Chordettes, Andy Williams and the Everly brothers, is born in the Corona section of Queens, New York
1938 - Fourteen year old Judy Garland, with Bob Crosby and His Orchestra (who would also later record for Capitol Records), records the tracks "Stompin' At The Savoy" and "Swing Mr. Charlie" for Decca Records in New York City at her first commercial recording session
1953 - Chet Baker (trumpet) and Stan Getz (tenor sax) perform together with Carson Smith (bass) and Larry Bunker (drums) live at the Haig in Los Angeles, California. This is one of the few times the two would perform together and the show was recorded by engineer Dick Bock.
1962 - Frank Sinatra begins the first of a three day (actually night) recording session at CTS Bayswater studios in London, England for the album "Great Songs From Great Britain" which is arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon with the track "If I Had You". According to Mark Blackburn's review of the track when it appeared on the later album "Everything Happens To Me", the first take was ruined when there was a problem with Bill Miller's piano so that the second take had to be done with Miller playing a celeste.
2001 - The final episode of Bozo The Clown is taped in Chicago, Illinois and will be aired on WGN-TV on July 14, 2001

Sunday, June 11, 2006

JUNE 11

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1940 - Joey Dee, actor and singer with Roulette Records artists Joey Dee and The Starlighters (not to be confused with The Starlighters who recorded for Capitol in the 1940's), is born Joseph DiNicola in Passaic, New Jersey. Capitol Records/EMI now owns the Roulette Records catalog. Nick & Renee DiNicola have put together a great site for Joey who still tours as Joey Dee and The Starlighters.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1942 - Tex Ritter records the tracks "(I Got Spurs That) Jingle Jangle Jingle" and "Goodbye My Little Cherokee" at has his first Capitol Records recording session (location unknown, but since Capitol was using C. P. MacGregor Studios for other artists at the time, they were probably recorded there). The tracks will be released as the A and B sides respectively of Capitol's tenth 78 rpm single in August 1942.
1946 - Peggy Lee is back at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles, California with The Four Of A Kind (Dave Barbour on guitar; Buddy Cole on piano, organ and celeste; Phil Stephens on bass; and Tom Romersa on drums) to record for radio transcription the tracks "The Best Man", "If You Were The Only Boy", "Love Doesn't Grow On Trees", "I Guess I'll Get The Papers And Go Home" and "My Sugar Is So Refined"
1956 - Bing Crosby with Buddy Bregman's Orchestra record the album "Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings" in The Capitol Tower studios.
1980 – Paul McCartney & Wings' single "Silly Love Songs" certified Gold by the R.I.A.A.
1985 - Neil Finn, with Nick Seymour, drummer Paul Hester, and Craig Hooper of The Reels, give peformance in Melbourne as The Mullanes (Mullane is Neil's middle name). When the group, minus Seymour, relocate to Los Angeles, the change the name of the band to Crowded House (named after their living conditions in L.A.).
1996 - Capitol Records released the 2 CD compilation album "Dean Martin - The Capitol Years" with 40 tracks including previously unreleased material and studio chatter.
2006 - According to a news item on their website, Queensryche was arrested at the Amsterdam airport for smuggling illegal firearms

Saturday, June 10, 2006

JUNE 10

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1922 - Judy Garland is born Francis Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Scott Brogan's website, The Judy Room, is where you need to go to find out more about the life and works of Miss Garland.
1973 - Capitol Records artist since 2003, Faith Evans is born Faith Rene Evans in Lakeland, Florida

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1946 - Transcriptions for radio of the tracks "Wherever There's Me There's You", "All The Cats Join In", "A Nightingale Can Sing The Blues" and "Come Rain Or Come Shine" are recorded with vocals by Peggy Lee with the Four Of A Kind (Dave Barbour on guitar; Buddy Cole on piano; Phil Stephens on bass; and Tom Romerosa on drums) and Frank DeVol, who's done the arrangements and conducts his Orchestra (Uan Rasey, Abe Benike, and Irv Shulkin on trumpet; Si Zentner and George Faye on trombone; Dick Perissi on french horn; Skeets Herfurt, Julius Kinsler, Ron Perry, Ted Romersa, and Jerry Kasper on reeds; Henry Sugar, Joe Livoti, Victor Arno, Joe Quadri on violin; Jacob Kaz and Paul Lowenkron on viola; Julius Tannenbaum, Joe Saxton, and Fred Goerner on cello; June Weiland on harp), at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles, California
1950 - Nat King Cole's single "Mona Lisa", initially the flip side of "The Greatest Inventor Of Them All" (which is unavailable on any current Capitol Records CD release, but can be found on the French company Classic Jazz's CD "Nat "King" Cole 1949-1950"), enters Billboard's singles chart and will peak at #1 July 8, 1950
1955 - Lee Gillette produces a session at Capitol's Melrose Studios that lays down an instrumental track of "But Not For Me" for Nat "King" Cole to use on his television show, but Cole does not record vocals for a commercial release. Nat can be seen perfoming the song on video recordings of the show.
1966 - According to Bruce Spitzer's book "The Beatles’ Story on Capitol Records, Part Two: The Albums", this is the day that the recall notice went out to Capitol's distributors for The Beatles' "Yesterday And Today" "Butcher Cover"
1968 - Capitol Records releases The Band's self-titled first album
1976 - 67,100 fans gather for an indoor concert at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington by Paul McCartney and Wings setting a new world's record for attendance.
1977 - The Steve Miller Band's album "Book Of Dreams" is certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A.
2003 - Radiohead's album "Hail To The Thief" is released on Capitol Records
2003 - Capitol Records releases the album "Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys"
2003 - EMI/Capitol Records releases albums in their "Classic Masters" series by Crowded House, J Geils Band, Gordon Lightfoot, Najee, and The O'Jays

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1952 - Saxophonist Gerry Mulligan records the tracks "Get Happy", "'S Wonderful" and "Godchild" with Red Mitchell on bass on and Chico Hamilton on drums at his first session for the Pacific Jazz label, held at Phil Turetsky's home studio, in Los Angeles, California. Jimmy Bowles was supposed to be on piano but he didn't show up for the session, so Mulligan playing the piano during the bass solos.

Friday, June 09, 2006

JUNE 9

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
1891 - Lyricist and composer Cole Porter is born Cole Albert Porter in Peru, Indiana. Capitol would release the original Broadway cast album to Porter's musical "Can-Can" as well as soundtrack when it was turned into a movie. Capitol also released the soundtrack to Porter's "High Society" and the single from the album, "True Love", would earn Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly a gold record.
1915 - Les Paul, Capitol Records legend, guitarist, producer, early innovator of multi-track recording and the modern electric guitar, is born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1957 - Frank Sinatra, with Nelson Riddle's Orchestra, gives a concert in Seattle , Washington that is recorded and finally released in 1999 on the album "Sinatra '57" by the Artanis (spell it backwards) Entertainment Group.
1960 - Judy Garland, with an orchestra conducted by Jack Marshall, records the tracks "Down With Love", "Puttin' On The Ritz" and "Who Cares (As Long As You Care For Me)" for her album "Judy/That's Entertainment"
1980 - The Motel's second album on Capitol Records, "Careful" is released
1980 - Capitol Records recording artists Klaatu, whose members' identities had been kept from the public since their 1976 debut album, are finally announced to be John Woloschuk (vocals, keyboards, rhythm and bass guitar), Dee Long (vocals, lead guitarist, synthesizers), and Terry Draper (vocals, drums, percussion, keyboards, rhythm guitar). All three are natives of Toronto, Canada, Earth (not 4 lads from Liverpool, as a few had hoped, or anywhere else in the universe).
2004 - Barbara Whiting Smith, radio, movie and television actress, daughter of composer Richard Whiting, and sister of Capitol Records artist Margaret Whiting dies of cancer at age 73 in Pontiac, Michigan and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Birmingham

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1934 - Donald Duck makes his debut in the Silly Symphonies cartoon "The Little Hen"
1959 - Alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson (with Herman Foster on piano, Peck Morrison on bass, Dave Bailey on drums, and Ray Barretto on congas) records the tracks "Herman's Mambo", "Peck Time" a mono and a stero version of ""There'll Never Be Another You", "Groove Junction", "Dorothy", "Grits And Gravy" and ""I Won't Cry Anymore" for his Blue Note Records album "Swing And Soul". The session was produced by Alfred Lion with recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gleder's studio at his home in Hackensack, New Jersey

Thursday, June 08, 2006

JUNE 8

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1936 - Odessa Harris who, with producers Earl Wainwright and Bill Wyler, recorded the tracks "You're What I Need" and "Since I Fell For You", "The Color Of His Love Is Blue" and "Driving Wheels", which were released in 1967 as two singles for the Uptown Records label (a subsidiary of Tower Records which is itself a subsidiary of Capitol Records), is born in West Helena, Arkansas
1962 - Nick Rhodes, keyboardist for the bands Duran Duran, Arcadia and The Devils, is born Nicholas James Bates in Moseley, West Midlands, England

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1931 - Johnny Mercer marries Elizabeth Meltzer, aka Ginger Meehan, in New York City. Ginger would suggest the name Capitol Records over dinner at Chasen's restaurant in Beverly Hills after the company couldn't retain the rights to the name "Liberty Records".
1946 - The King Cole Trio’s recording of “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66” enters the R&B chart, where it will peak at #3
1953 - Hank Thompson, with producer Ken Nelson, records the tracks "Wakeup Irene" and "Breakin' The Rules" at Capitol's Melrose Studios
1960 - John Stewart of The Kingston Trio marries Julie Koehler, whom he met in high school
1968 - The Beach Boys record the track "Sail Plane Song" (aka "Glide Plane Song"), that will become the song "Loop De Loop", at Brian Wilson's home studio with Carl Wilson on bass, Alan Jardine on guitar, Brian Wilson on piano, Bruce Johnston on organ and Dennis Wilson on drums
1968 - Paul McCartney was the best man at his brother Michael's wedding to hair stylist Angela Fishwick, held at St. Bridget's Parish Church in Carrog, Merioneth, North Wales (the same church where Paul and Mike's father Jim married his second wife in 1966). The other Beatles sent congratulatory telegrams (George and Ringo visited folksinger Joan Baez at her home in Carmel, California). The reception was held at Jim McCartney's home in Gayton, Cheshire, and featured a family sing-song, led by Paul at the piano.
1974 - Paul McCartney & Wings' album "Band On The Run" hits #1 on Billboard's album charts
1981 - Duran Duran's self titled first album is released by Parlophone Records in the UK
1998 - Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr appear together in public for the first time since 1969 at a memorial service for Linda McCartney
1999 - Capitol Records releases the album "Mrs. Miller: Wild, Cool & Swingin'" as part of their UltraLounge Series
2004 - Publisher Bill Lowery, who started Lowery Music Company (eventually becoming Lowery Music Group) because of a suggestion by Capitol A&R VP Ken Nelson and who's first
million seller was "Be-Bop-A-Lula", dies of cancer at age 79 in Atlanta, Georgia
2005 - The Shout Out Louds make their late night television debut on "The Late Show with David Letterman"
2005 - Los Gatos, California students Nick Ulleseit, Jonathan Gelber, Jayinee Basu, Dan Kent and Taylor Baxley flew to Los Angeles for the day to visit Capitol Records getting tips about how to make themselves more marketable and successful and a got a chance to promote their own music.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1940 - Nancy Sinatra is born Nancy Sandra Sinatra, Jr. in Jersey City, New Jersey
1941 - Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins, vocalist for the bands The Parliaments and Funkadelic, is born in Elkhorn, West Virginia
1969 - Brian Jones, founding member and guitarist of The Rolling Stones is fired from the band by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
1977 - Kanye West is born Kanye Omari West in Atlanta, Georgia and, in 2002, was this close to being signed to Capitol

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

JUNE 7

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1917 - Dean Martin is born Dino Paul Crocetti at 319 South Sixth Street, Stubenville, Ohio at 11:55 pm
1934 - Capitol Records Country artist (1956-1958 and 1965-1972) and major influence on the "Bakersfield Sound" of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, Wynn Stewart is born Winford Lindsey Stewart in Morrisville, Missouri
1967 - Capitol Records solo artist (and guitarist for Jane's Addiction, Deconstruction, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Panic Channel, and Camp Freddy), Dave Navarro, is born David Michael Navarro in Santa Monica, California

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1946 - Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (same lineup as at session on June 4, 1946) record, for transcription at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California, the tracks: "Who's Got A Tent For Rent" with vocal and trumpet solo by Ray Wetzel; "I Got The Sun In The Morning" with vocal by June Christy and solos by Stan Kenton (piano), Eddie Safranski (bass), and Vido Musso (tenor saxophone); "Peg O' My Heart" with solos by Kenton, Safranski, Musso, Chico Alvarez (trumpet), Kai Winding (trombone), and Al Anthony (alto saxophone); "Come Rain Or Come Shine" with vocal by Christy and solos by Kenton and Safranski; "They Say It's Wonderful" with vocal by Gene Howard and solo by Musso; "I Don't Know Why, I Just Do" with vocal by Howard and solos by Kenton and Anthony; "He's Funny That Way" with vocal by Christy; "Lover" with solos by Kenton, Safranski, Musso and Winding
1965 - Judy Holliday, singer and actress who appears on Capitol Record's soundtrack of "Bells Are Ringing" with Dean Martin, dies of breast cancer at age 43 at 5:00 AM at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Two days later a funeral service is held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in New York City, NY. Algernon Black of the Ethical Cultural Society delivers the eulogy. Among the mourners Gerry Mulligan, Yetta Cohn, David Oppenheim, Sydney Chaplin, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne, Abe Burrows and Howard Teichmann. After the service, Judy will be laid to rest at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY with a private service conducted at the grave site in Hebrew.
1970 - The Beatles' last #1 single as a band "The Long And Winding Road", with "For You Blue" on the flip side, hits #1
1976 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles compilation album "Rock 'n' Roll Music" in the U.S.
1982 - Capitol Records rushes Duran Duran's single "Hungry Like A Wolf" to radio station and MTV puts it's video into heavy rotation
1997 - The second Tibetian Freedom concerts, a two day event held at Downing Stadium on Randall's Island, New York City, features Capitol Records artists The Foo Fighters, The Beastie Boys and Radiohead and many others
2005 - Simon Waronker, violinist, orchestra contractor and, in 1955, founder of Liberty Records (I guess the NYC store had closed since Capitol had wanted to use the name in 1942) and the basis for one of The Chipmunks' names, dies at his home in Beverly Hill, California at age 90
2005 - Released today by Capitol Records in the U.S. are Coldplay's album "X&Y" (which will go on to sell 737,294 copies its first week becoming the biggest 1st week for any album of new material in Capitol Records' history), Les Paul with Mary Ford's album "The Best Of The Capitol Masters - 90th Birthday Edition", a reissue of june christy's 1959 album "ballads for night people" (the type on the cover of the album is all lower case, at least 25 years before k. d. lang got the idea), and a reissue of Bob Seger's 1972 album "Smokin' O.P.'s"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1940 - Singer Tom Jones is born Thomas Jones Woodward in Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan, Wales
1944 - Judy Garland files for divorce from David Rose
1958 - Prince is born Prince Rogers Nelson in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

JUNE 6

REST IN PEACE
2006 - Billy Preston, singer, keyboardist for both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, died in Shea Scottsdale Hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona at age 59 from compliations of an acute respiratory arrest, due to improper treatement for pericarditas, that put him into a coma on November 21, 2005

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1973 - Lisa Brokop, Capitol Records Nashville/Liberty Records artist (1992-1996), is born Lisa Ann Brokop in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1942 - Future Capitol Records artist Yma Sumac marries bandleader and composer Moisés Vivanco in Lima, Peru
1960 - Capitol Records releases Kay Starr's album "Movin' On Broadway" which was produced by Dave Cavanaugh with arrangements by Van Alexander who also conducts the orchestra
1962 - With George Martin producing, The Beatles, with Pete Best on drums, record the track "Love Me Do" as part of their first session for Parlophone Records
1964 - Capitol Records' original Broadway cast album of "Funny Girl" peaks at #3 on Billboard's album chart
1991 - Tenor Saxophonist Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetzky), member of the Capitol Records bands Woody Herman and His Orchestra and The Metronome All Stars, and as a solo artist on the Verve label would record in Capitol's Studios on Melrose and The Tower until 1957, dies at age 64 of liver cancer in Malibu, California
2000 - Capitol Records releases Nancy Wilson's 2 CD set "Anthology"
2000 - The first three volumes of Capitol Records' "From The Vaults" series, "Birth Of A Label", "Capitol Jumps" and "Vine Street Divas" are released. The series is compiled and produced by Billy Vera, who also wrote the series' extensive and informative liner notes. The look of the series' packaging is based on samples of packaging and advertisements from Capitol's early days that I pulled from my collection when I was working as a fulltime freelancer in Capitol's art department.
2006 - Capitol Records releases "The Very Best Of Lou Rawls: You'll Never Find Another" with liner notes by Billy Vera that'll tear your heart out.
2006 - Capitol Records artists Sound Team's first full-length album, "Movie Monster", is released
2006 - Frank Sinatra, Jr.'s first album in a decade, "That Face!" (recorded in The Capitol Tower Studios), has been released by Rhino Records, who've foregone their logo for this package instead using the Reprise ":r" logo. It features arrangements by Billy May, Nelson Riddle, Torrie Zito and features Frank Sr.'s longtime pianist Bill Miller, who will be on tour with Frank Jr. in July.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1968 - After winning the California Democratic primary, Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy dies of gunshot wounds sustained in a pantry while leaving the ballroom of The Ambassador Hotel.
1971 - The last episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show" is broadcast on CBS. The episode is a repeat (the last original episode aired on March 28, 1971) of the episode that aired on February 7, 1971 that featured Melanie singing "Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma," "Ruby Tuesday" and "Alexander Beetle"; Joanna Simon (mezzo-soprano) singing "My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice"; impressionist David Frye; Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass; singers Tony Sandler & Ralph Young; comedian Norman Wisdom; sleight-of-hand artist Vic Perry; comedian Tony Fane and comedian Lennie Schultz. The next week the show is replaced by Sunday Night Movies which, after 35 years, will itself be ending when CBS' 2006-2007 season starts this fall.

Monday, June 05, 2006

JUNE 5

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1895 - William Boyd, (aka Hopalong Cassidy) Capitol Childrens Records artist, television and movie actor, is born William Lawrence Boyd in Hendrysburg, Ohio. Dinobil has created a great fan site with images and letters sent him by Boyd and his fans as well as links to many other Hopalong Cassidy fan sites.
1953 - Iron Maiden drummer Nico McBrain is born Michael Henry McBain in Hackeny, London, England. McBrain keeps a tour diary on Iron Maiden's Official Website.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1942 - With Johnny Mercer producing, Paul Whitman and His Orchestra (Monty Kelly, Larry Neil, Billy Butterfield, and Don Waddilove on trumpet; Skip Layton and Murray McEachern on trombone; Alvy West, Danny d'Andrea, Lenny Hartman, King Guion, and Tommy Mace on saxophone;, Buddy Weed on piano; Mike Pingitore on guitar; Art Shapiro on bass; Lou Paino on drums) back Martha Tilton on the track "Serenade in Blue" at Radio Recorders' studios in Los Angeles. Then, using arrangements by Jimmy Mundy, the band record the tracks "I Found A New Baby", "The General Jumped At Dawn" (the A and B sides respectively of Capitol 101 - the label's first single release) and, with vocals by The Mellowaires, "I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo". The Red Hot Jazz site has an informative page on Whiteman as well as links to audio files of the Whiteman tracks recorded this day.
1963 - With producer Ken Nelson Wanda Jackson records the tracks "Slippin'" and "Violet And A Rose" at Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, for her upcoming Capitol Records album "Wanda Jackson Sings Country Songs"
1964 - A limited pressing to promote the Beatles for Hollywood radio station KFWB and Wallichs' Music City is released. It has an interview on side 1 and "You Can't Do That" on the flip side. Copies of this disc have been valued for as much as $2250 with the original mailer.
1964 - The Applejacks single "Like Dreamers Do" (written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) with "Everybody Fall Down" on the flip side, is released
1968 - The Beatles record the track "Don't Pass Me By" for their album "The Beatles"
1971 - John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention are recorded live at a performance at the Fillmore East tonight and the next night, some of which will appear on the Plastic Ono Band's album "Sometime In New York City" and on Zappa's "Fillmore East, June 1971"
1976 - Capitol Records releases "Have A Dream On Me", with "Gotta Lotta Love" on the flip side, as the first single by Mel McDaniel
1983 - Duran Duran's album "Rio" peaks at #5 on Billboard's album charts
1989 - Paul McCartney's album "Flowers In The Dirt" is released
1999 - Capitol Records artist, singer, drummer and actor Mel Tormé is pronounced dead at 1:45AM at UCLA Medical Center, Westwood, California where he had been rushed after having breathing problems at his home in Beverly Hills, California
2001 - Capitol Records releases "Amnesiac", the fifth album by Radiohead

Sunday, June 04, 2006

JUNE 4

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1953 - Jimmy McCulloch, lead guitarist with the band Wings and member bands including Thunderclap Newman and Stone The Crows, is born in Glasgow, Scotland. He would die in London, England on September 27, 1979 at age 26 of a heart failure due to overuse of heroin, morphine, alcohol and marijuana. Miguel Terol has a tribute page to Jimmy on The Musicians' Olympus website.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1942 - With it's name officially changed from Liberty Records, Capitol Records starts business in a small 15’x50’ second floor office with no air conditioning at 1483 Vine Street, just south of Sunset Boulevard, above Sy Devore’s Tailor Shop. The site is currently the entrance to the Bank of America parking structure. Capitol Records becomes the first record company to give free copies of its records to D.J.s when co-founder Glenn Wallichs personally brings disc jockey Peter Potter, creator of “The Juke Box Jury” radio show, a copy of “Cow-Cow Boogie” (which will become Capitol’s first big seller). Wallichs decides, for the first time in the history of the American music industry, to give promotional copies of releases to disc jockeys and reviewers for free to promote Capitol Records' acts and the sound quality of its recordings. This quickly makes Capitol Records a favorite of disc jockeys across the country and forces the rest of the industry to follow Capitol.
1946 - At Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California, Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (Buddy Childers, Ray Wetzel, Chico Alvarez, John Anderson, Ken Hanna on trumpet; Kai Winding, Miff Sines, Milt Kabak on trombone; Bart Varsalona on bass trombone; Al Anthony, Boots Mussulli on alto saxophone; Vido Musso, Bob Cooper on tenor saxophone; Bob Gioga on baritone saxophone; Stan Kenton on piano; Bob Ahern on guitar; Eddie Safranski on bass; Shelly Manne on drums; June Christy, Gene Howard, Ray Wetzel on vocals), record the Pete Rugolo compositions "Rika Jika Jack" (with vocals by Christy and the band and trombone solo by Kai Winding), "Artistry in Boogie" (with piano solos by Kenton and Pete Rugolo, bass solo by Eddie Safranski, tenor saxophone solo by Vido Musso, trumpet solo by Chico Alvarez, and trombone solo by Kai Winding), "Come Back To Sorrento" (with trumpet solo by Vido Musso) and an imcomplete take of "Collaboration" (piano solo by Pete Rugolo)
1956 - Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps' Capitol Records single "Woman Love", with "Be-Bop-A-Lula" on the flip side, is released.
1962 - The Beatles' sign their first contract with Parlophone Records
1962 - Capitol Records this week will release singles by Dinah Shore ("Just A Brief Encounter" with orchestra conducted by Van Alexander), Tex Williams ("You Gotta Have A License" and "Ghost Of A Honky Tonk Slave" with orchestra conducted by Billy Liebert), The Beach Boys ("Surfin' Safari" and "409"), and Art and Dottie Todd ("Sweet Someone" and "Ring-A-Ding")
1969 - The Beatles' single "The Ballad Of John and Yoko", with "Old Brown Shoe" on the flip side, is released by Capitol Records in the U.S.
1973 - Murry Gage Wilson, father of Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson (and uncle to Mike Love) of The Beach Boys, dies of a heart attack at his home in Hawthorne, California at age 56. Murry was at one time co-producer of The Beach Boys, ran the band's publishing company Sea of Tunes, had his own album on Capitol ("The Many Moods Of Murry Wilson), and was manager and producer of the Tower Records band The Sunrays, and their website has a photos of them with Murry.
1990 - Members of the International Sawyer Brown Fan Club hold their first meeting at a breakfast with the Capitol Nashville band the day before the Fan Fair 1990 opens in Nashville, Tennessee. Members of the band go to each table to chat and give autographs, and that afternoon there's an auction of Sawyer Brown memorabilia. There's a write up on the fan club's website about the breakfast and the fan fair.
1998 - At 9:00 AM eastern, a news item appears announcing that Gary Gersh, president & CEO, Capitol Records, and Glen Ballard, president, Java Records, have signed Lisa Marie Presley to an exclusive recording agreement with Java Records. Java Records was the joint venture between Capitol Records and writer/producer Ballard.
2001 - Diana Krall finished recording her album "The Look Of Love" in The Capitol Tower Studios
2003 - Lisa Marie Presley performs during half-time of the first game of the 2001 NBA finals
2005 - Capitol Records artists hold the top 3 spots on Billboard's Country charts with Keith Urban's "Making Memories of Us" at #1, Trace Adkins' "Songs About Me" at #2, and Dierks Bentley's "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do" coming in at #3
2006 -The Rice Brothers (Wayne, Jim and Joe) with guitarist Dale Cooper, bassist Steve Lawrence and fiddler Tom Cunningham will perform during the evening service at Shadow Mountain Community Church (2100 Greenfield Drive, El Cajon, California) at 6:00 p.m. These former members of the band Brush Arbor will be playing and singing together for the first time since their Capitol Records days thirty years ago [1972-1974, ed.]. Wayne Rice has put up a homepage for Brush Arbor with a great discography and history.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1965 - The Rolling Stones' single "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", with ""The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" on the filp side, enters Billboard's singles chart where it will peak at #1, the band's first in the U.S.
1984 - Frank Sinatra begins a 13 night stand at Carnagie Hall with a black tie benefit for the hall which is reviewed by Jon Pareles for The New York Times

Saturday, June 03, 2006

JUNE 3

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1951 - Capitol Records country artist Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys (Billy Gray on guitar; Curly Chalker, Lefty Nason on steel guitar; Cliffie Stone, Billy Stewart on bass; Bill Foster on drums; Red Hayes on fiddle; Gil Baca on piano;
Buddy Woody on accodion) record the track "Love Thief" at Sellers Company in Dallas, Texas. The track will be released as a single with "How Do You Feel?" on the flip side.
1968 - The Beach Boys' album "Friends" is released
1968 - Pink Floyd's single "It Would Be So Nice", with "Julia Dream" on the flip side, is released on Capitol Records subsidiary Tower Records
1968 - The last session is held for Ella Fitzgerald's last album for Capitol Records, "30 By Ella", produced by Dave Dexter, Jr. with accompaniment by Benny Carter's Magnificent Seven
1991 - Morrisey records the tracks "There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends", "My Love Life", and "Sing Your Life" live to two track DAT tape with no overdubs especially for KROQ-FM radio with Boz Boorer and Alain White on guitars, Gary Day on bass, Spencer Cobrin on drums, and Morrissey on vocals at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California at an overnight session which Warner Bros. Records will release as a CD single entitled "Morrisey at KROQ"
1991 - Capitol Records announces that Los Angeles based hard rock band XYZ (guitarist Marc Diglio, bassist Patt Fontaine, vocalist Terry Ilous and drummer Paul Monroe), formerly with Enigma Records, has signed with the label and that they are finishing up work on their debut album "Hungry" with producer George Tutko
1994 - Wally Fowler (born John Wallace Fowler), Capitol Records Gospel artist who signed with Capitol in 1945 with his backup band, The Georgia Clodhoppers, and would also create The Oakridge Quartet, dies at age 77 after drowining in Dale Hollow Lake, northeast of Nashville, where he had been fishing
1997 - Capitol Records releases "Bossa Novaville", the 14th release in their UltraLounge series
2001 - Diana Krall begins recording her album "The Look Of Love" in The Capitol Tower Studios
2005 - Capitol Records Nashville announces that Garth Brooks has ended his relationship with the label and that EMI Music will no longer distribute his catalog

Friday, June 02, 2006

JUNE 2

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1924 - Capitol Records country artist (1951-1953) Carl Butler is born Carl Roberts Butler in Knoxville, Tennessee
1945 - Capitol Records artists have 3 of the top 10 singles on Billboard's singles chart:
#5 - "Dream" by The Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and His Orchestra, with "Tabby The Cat" on the flip side, peaks this week
#6 -"Laura" by Johnnie Johnston with Orchestra conducted by Paul Baron, with "There Must Be A Way" on the flip side, will peak the next week at # 2
#7 - "Candy" by Johnny Mercer, Jo Stafford and The Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and His Orchestra, with Johnny Mercer's "I'm Gonna See My Baby" on the flip side, is on its way down after peaking the previous week at #4
1964 - The Beatles record the tracks "Any Time At All", "When I Get Home", and "Things We Said Today" at EMI Studios, London England in Studio Two for the "A Hard Day's Night" soundtrack
1966 - The Beatles begin sessions for the track "I Want To Tell You" in Abbey Road Studios, London, England. The track will appear on their album "Revolver"
1966 - Carl Wilson and session musicians (Diane Rovell [leader], Hal Blaine, Charles Britz, William Pitman, Don Randi, Lyle Ritzare) record tracks for the song "Inspiration" for The Beach Boys' album "Smile" at Western Recorders in Los Angeles
1990 - Actor and singer Jack Guilford dies of stomach cancer at his home in Greenwich Village, New York. Born Jacob Aaron Gellman, he is probably best remembered for his 10 year run of pantomime Cracker Jacks commercials. He also appears on Capitol's original Broadway cast album for the musical "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum".

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1904 - Olympic Gold Medalist Swimmer and actor (MGM's Tarzan series) Johnny Weissmuller is born János Weißmüller in Freidorf, Austro-Hungary (present-day Timişoara)
1941 - Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts is born Charles Robert Watts in Islington (a suburb of London), England
1952 - Judy Garland marries Sid Luft who, at the time, was her manager
1965 - Director Dick Lester's film "The Knack (And How To Get It)" premieres at the London Pavillion Cinema with John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr among the celebrities in attendance
1969 - Arranger Gerald Wilson and His Orchestra (Larry McGuire, Jay Daversa, Paul Hubinon on trumpet; Lester Robinson, Frank Strong, Thurman Green on trombone; Alexander Thomas on bass trombone; Arthur Maebe on french horn; Henry DeVega, Anthony Ortega on alto saxophone; William Green on flute and piccalo; Ernie Watts on tenor saxophone, flute and piccalo; Hadley Caliman, Harold Land on tenor saxophone; Richard Aplanalp on baritone saxophone; Bobby Hutcherson on vibes; Richard Holmes on organ; George Duke on piano; Bob West on electric bass; and Carl Lott on drums), with producer Richard Bock and engineer Lanky Linstrot, record the tracks "Equinox", "Aquarius", and "Celestial Soul" for the Pacific Jazz label at Liberty Studios, Los Angeles (the studio was demolished and the site, opposite Hollywood High School on Sunset Boulevard, is now Off-Broadway Shoe Warehouse)
1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono's bed-in, which started May 26 at The Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada, ends
1990 - Actor Rex Harrison, born Reginald Carey Harrison, dies of pancreatic cancer in New York City at age 82

Thursday, June 01, 2006

JUNE 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1921 - Trombonist, arranger, conductor and composer Nelson Riddle is born Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. in Oradell, New Jersey. His son, Christopher Riddle (who took over running, and touring with, The Nelson Riddle Orchestra in 1986), has written a biographical article about his father for the American Music Hall of Fame. Nelson's family also has a website and Nelson's papers and memorabilia are now part of The Nelson Riddle Collection at the University of Arizona, Tucson, that is administered by Keith Pawlak.
1926 - Capitol Records comedy artist, and star of broadway, movies and television, Andy Griffith is born Andrew Samuel Griffith in Mount Airy, North Carolina

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1942 - Tex Ritter signs with Capitol Records becoming the label's first Country Music artist. In 10 days, he will have his first recording session which will produce the track "Jingle Jangle Jingle".
1956 - Jane Powell, with Buddy Bregman's Orchestra, records the tracks "Mind If I Fall In Love With You", "True Love", "What Gives? What Goes?", "Till The Next Time" at The Capitol Tower Studios
1958 - The Kingston Trio's first album "The Kingston Trio", produced by Voyle Gilmore, is released and on the same day, Dave Guard's eldest daughter, Catherine, is born
1959 - The Kingston Trio's album "The Kingston Trio At Large" is released and on the same day they record the track "A Worried Man"
1963 - During a live in studio appearance at the BBC, The Beatles perform "Young Blood", "Sure To Fall (In Love With You)", "Baby It's You", and "I Got To Find My Baby"
1966 - Billy May starts recording his album "Billy May Today!" in The Capitol Tower Studios
1966 - The Beatles finish work on the track "Yellow Submarine" for their album "Revolver" at Abbey Road Studios, London, England. The track would inspire the creation of their third film for United Artists, the animated feature "Yellow Submarine"
1967 - The Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is released in the U.S. I haven't heard about any plans for next year's 40th anniversary. Here's hoping that Apple and Capitol are already hard at work. Any suggestions for what would should be part of such a release?
1972 - Pink Floyd, with engineer Alan Parsons, begin work on their album "Dark Side Of The Moon"
1974 - Capitol Records' Grand Funk Railroad performs in concert in San Diego, California. The performance is filmed and released on video tape and laserdisc in Japan.
1978 - At the Whisky-A-Go-Go, The Knack perform for the first time
2004 - EMI Capitol releases "Dino: The Essential Dean Martin" that contains 30 of Martin’s hits from both his Capitol Records (1949-1961) and Reprise Records (1960-1969) catalog.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1934 - Benny Goodman and his first permanent performing orchestra make their public peforming debut at Billy Rose's Music Hall, 1697 Broadway at W. 53rd St., New York, NY, which started out as the Hammerstein Theatre and would become CBS' Studio 50, home of "The Ed Sullivan Show" where The Beatles made their first U.S. televison appearance, and currently home to "The Late Show With David Letterman"
1938 - Superman makes his first appearance on the cover of Action Comics #1
1964 - The Joe Pass Quartet (Bill Perkins on tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute; Joe Pass on guitar; John Pisano on rhythm guitar; Frank Strazzeri on piano; Jim Hughart on bass) record the tracks "I Believe In You", "It's A Wonderful World", "Hello Dolly", "Summer Night", and "The Sweetest Sound" for Pacific Jazz Records (whose catalog is now owned by Capitol Records and controlled by Blue Note) at their studios in Los Angeles