OCTOBER 8

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
1949 - Dennis Bellinger, former bass player with Capitol Records artist Grand Funk Railroad, is born in Flint, Michigan

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1954 - Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (Cat Anderson, Willie Cook, Ray Nance, and Clark Terry on trumpet; Quentin Jackson and Britt Woodman on trombone; John Sanders on valve trombone; Russell Procope on alto saxophone and clarinet; Rick Henderson on alto saxophone; Paul Gonsalves on tenor saxophone; Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet and tenor saxophone; Harry Carney on bass saxophone and bass clarinet; Duke Ellington on piano; Oscar Pettiford on bass; Dave Black on drums;and Frank Rollo on bongos), record the tracks "Twelfth Street Rag" "September Song" with Jimmy Grissom on vocals, and "Caravan" at a Capitol Records session held at Universal Studios in Chicago, Illinois
1957 - Frank Sinatra, with arranger and conductor Billy May, records the tracks "Around The World", "Blue Hawaii", "Brazil", "Come Fly With Me", "It's Nice to Go Trav'ling" for his Capitol Records album "Come Fly With Me" at The Capitol Tower Studios, in Hollywood, California
1981 - Oscar Moore, original guitarist with the Capitol Records group The King Cole Trio (1937-1947), dies in Las Vegas, Nevada at age 64
1984 - Capitol Records artist Anne Murray becomes the first female to win the Country Music Association's Album of the Year award
1988 - Poison's Capitol Records single "Fallen Angel", with "Bad To Be Good" on the flip side, peaks at #12 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1990 - Poison's Capitol Records album "Flesh & Blood" is certified 2x Multi-Platinum by the R.I.A.A.
1990 - Former Capitol Records artist Tennessee Ernie Ford is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame
1997 - Brown Meggs, husband of Nancy Bates Meachen, writer (won the 1974 Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America), screen writer ("Two Fathers Justice") and former executive, president and CEO at Capitol Records (helped finally sign The Beatles to Capitol when he was Capitol's Director of Eastern Operations) and Angel Records (helped revive the label), dies of a brain hemorrhage at age 66 in San Francisco, California. According to quote on guitarmusic.org, the Leo Kottke said that Meggs, who was president of Capitol when he was with the label "...hated the music business and liked people who were either impervious to the business or too dim to even know it was there."
2002 - To commemorate its 60th anniversary, Capitol Records releases the 6 CD box set "Capitol Records 1942-2002" both as a limited 12" box set with a full size book of photos from the Capitol Records photo archives (which at one time was also to include a small statue of The Capitol Tower) and as a small 6 CD box with a booklet with some of the images from the large book.
2002 - Capitol Records reissues John Lennon's "Mind Games" album in the United States

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - Tony Wilson, songwriter, bass player, and vocalist with the Apple Records band Hot Chocolate (until 1975) is born in Trinidad. The band was originaly named The Hot Chocolate Band by Mavis Smith, who worked for the Apple Corps press office. Their first recording was a reggae version of John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance". Hot Chocolate's singles and albums were originally released by Big Tree Records in the United States, with distribution by Atlantic Records (at the time a Warner Communications Company. Later the band's catalog was distributed by EMI America Records and is now controlled by Capitol Records.
1971 - Apple Records releases John Lennon's "Imagine" album in the U.K.
1976 - The Sex Pistols sign to EMI, parent company of Capitol Records. The band lasted with the label until January 22, 1977 and wrote the song "EMI" to tell of their experience.