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