JULY 3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1943 - Judith Duram, lead singer with the Capitol Records recording group The Seekers, is born Judith Mavis Cock in Melbourne, Australia

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1935 - Webley Edwards' radio show spotlighting authentic island performances, "Hawaii Calls", begins broadcasting from Waikiki's Moana Hotel, and will run for 37 years. Webley would compile and produce a series of albums of Hawaiian music for Capitol Records
1963 - Tenor saxophonist Harold Land, with Carmell Jones on trumpet, John Houston on piano, Jimmy Bond on bass and Mel Lee on drums, records the tracks "Tom Dooley", "Scarlet Ribbons" and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" for his album "JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF FOLK MUSIC" for Imperial Records, whose catalog was acquired by Capitol Records
1968 - John Maddox, guitarist in the Capitol Records group The Maddox Brothers & Rose, dies at age 52
1970 - Buck Owens and Susan Raye record the track "The Great White Horse" with producer Ken Nelson that will be the title track of their Capitol Records album that is released on September 8, 1970
1969 - Capitol Records artist Gordon MacRae performs "America The Beautiful" live on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
1972 - Mississippi Fred McDowell, blues guitarist and Capitol Records recording artist (a one-off 1969 album, "I Do Not Play No Rock'n' Roll"), dies of cancer at age 68 in Memphis, Tennessee. CradLemoon.net has a good overview of his life and many links to discographies
1976 - A memorial service for Johnny Mercer is held in his hometown, Savannah, Georgia.
1985 - John Aquilino, lead singer for the Capitol Records band (1984-1985) Icon, leaves the group and Capitol drops the band
1986 - Rudy Vallee, singer, saxophonist, bandleader and radio, television and movie actor, and Capitol Records recording artist (1954), dies at age 84 in North Hollywood, California and is interred in St. Hyacinth's Cemetery, Westbrook, Maine where his headstone was later stolen
2000 - At 11pm EDT Turner Classic Movies shows "The Wizard Of Oz" with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" on the Second Audio Program (SAP) channel to see if the two really do sync' up.
2001 - Roy Nichols, guitarist and 22-year member of Merle Haggard and The Strangers, dies in a hospital in Bakersfield, CA of a heart attack at age 68
2001 - Capitol Records and Chrysalis Records release the Jethro Tull compilation album "The Very Best Of Jethro Tull" which features 20 tracks that have been digitally remastered at 24-bit at Abbey Road Studios in London, England
2001 - Capitol Records releases a digitally remastered and enhanced version of Duran Duran's 1982 album "Rio" in a standard jewel case and in a 7,500 unit limited edition mini-sleeve

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1965 - Trigger, Roy Rogers' horse died at age 33 and was stuffed and put on display at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans museum in Victorville, California
1971 - Jim Morrison, poet, songwriter and lead singer of the band The Doors, is found dead (really) at age 27 by his girlfriend, Pamela Susan Courson, at 5:00 AM in a bathtub in Paris, France from a heart attack and was buried at at Pere-Lachaise cemetery, also in Paris
1973 - Betty Grable, actress, singer and one-time wife (1943-1965) of Capitol Records artist Harry James, dies of lung cancer in Santa Monica, California at age 56 and is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California
1989 - Jim Backus, writer as well as a motion picture, television, radio and voice over actor, dies at age 76 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California from complications of pneumonia after suffering from Parkinson's disease for many years and is buried in Westwood Memorial Park