NOVEMBER 30, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1937 - Frank Ifield, singer, songwriter, yodeler, and EMI and Capitol Records artist, is born Francis Edward Ifield in Coventry, England
1954 - George McArdle, bass guitarist with the Capitol Records group Little River Band, is born in Melbourne, Australia

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1943 - The King Cole Trio (Nat "King" on piano and vocals, Oscar Moore on guitar and Johnny Miller on bass), at their first Capitol Records recording session, wax the tracks "Straighten Up and Fly Right", "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You?", "Jumpin' At Capitol", and "If You Can't Smile And Say Yes" in Los Angeles, California
1945 - The Pied Pipers' Capitol Records single "I’ll Buy that Dream" is #3 on the U.S. Pop singles charts
1963 - Judy Garland performs the tracks "Jamboree Jones" and "More" live for her CBS television series. The tracks will be released by Capitol Records on Garland's album "Just For Openers"
1969 - The Beatles' double sided hit Apple Records single "Come Together" with "Something" on the flip side, which is distributed in the United States by Capitol Records, is #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart and Merle Haggard's Capitol Records single "Okie from Muskogee" is #4
1974 - Ringo Starr's Apple Records single "Only You", distributed by Capitol Records in the United States, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1985 - Heart's Capitol Records single "Never" is #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1991 - Poison's Capitol Records live album "Swallow This" peaks at #51 on Billboard's Pop albums chart

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1953 - Shuggie Otis, guitarist; bass, harmonica and keyboards player; and son of Capitol Records artist Johnny Otis, is born Johnny Otis, Jr.
1955 - Billy Idol, singer, actor, and Chrysalis Records artist, is born William Albert Broad in Stanmore, Middlesex, England. Chrysalis' catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, parent company of Capitol Records

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1913 - Charlie Chaplin makes his screen debut in Mack Sennett's short film "Making A Living"
1929 - Dick Clark, disc jockey, television host and producer, is born
1940 - Lucille Ball, motion picture actress, marries Desi Arnaz, musician, bandleader and motion picture actor
1991 - Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 Singles chart changes to include airplay as well as sales

NOVEMBER 29, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1917 - Merle Travis, singer, songwriter, 1977 Country Music Hall Of Fame Inductee, and Capitol Records artist, is born Merle Robert Travis in Rosewood, Kentucky.
1941 - Jody Miller, singer and Capitol Records artist is born Myrna Joy Brooks in Phoenix, Arizona

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1944 - The Pied Pipers' Capitol Records single "The Trolley Song", with "Cuddle Up A Little Closer" on the flip side, is #1 on the Pop singles charts
1945 - Stan Kenton and His Orchestra records the track "On The Sunny Side Of The Street", with June Christy on vocals, for Capitol Records
1946 - Paul Weston and His Orchestra's single Capitol Records single "Ol' Buttermilk Sky" with "Just Squeeze Me" on the flip side, enters the Pop singles charts
1947 - Capitol Records releases Hank Thompson single "Shot Gun Boogie" with "Humpty Dumpty Heart" on the flip side
1959 - At the second annual Grammy Awards, held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, 9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, California and is nationally televised for the first time, Frank Sinatra's Capitol Records album "Come Dance With Me" wins the Album Of The Year Grammy, The Kingston Trio's Capitol Records album "...at Large" wins the Best Folk Performance Of The Year Grammy, and the Best Performance By A Top 40 Artist Grammy is awarded to Nat King Cole’s Capitol Records single "Midnight Flyer" which has "The Sweet Bird Of Youth" on the flip side. Future Capitol Records artist Bobby Darin receives both the Best New Artist and Record Of The Year (for "Mack The Knife") Grammys.
1960 - Ferlin Husky's Capitol Records single "Wings Of A Dove", with "Next To Jimmy" on the flip side, is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1968 - The Beatles' Apple Records single "Hey Jude", with "Revolution" on the flip side and distributed by Capitol Records in the United States, is still #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1971 - Capitol Records releases Pink Floyd's single "One Of These Days" with "Fearless" on the flip side
2001 - George Harrison, songwriter, musician, motion picture actor, score composer, and producer, lead guitarist of the Parlophone, Apple and Capitol Records band The Beatles, solo artist on all three labels, and founder of Dark Horse Records, dies of cancer at age 58

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1895 - Busby Berkeley, Broadway and motion picture choreographer and director, is born William Berkeley Enos in Los Angeles, California
1932 - Cole Porter's musical "The Gay Divorcee", which contains the hit song "Night And Day" and stars Fred Astaire, opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th Street (between 8th Avenue and Broadway), in New York City
1939 - Joel Whitburn, author and leading authority on the history of Billboard magazine's charts is born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
1969 - Billboard Magazine stops giving separate chart listings for each side of a single

NOVEMBER 28, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1934 - Ethel Ennis, singer, with the Capitol Records band Benny Goodman and His Orchestra and a Capitol Records solo artist (1957-1958), is born in in Baltimore, Maryland
1943 - Randy Newman, singer, songwriter, film scorer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and who conducted the session for Peggy Lee's track "Is That All There Is?" which will become the title tune of her Capitol Records album for which Newman also wrote the songs "Love Story" and "Johnny (Linda)", and would also right the song "Have You Seen My Baby" for Lee's Capitol Records album "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", is born in Los Angeles, California
1948 - Beeb Birtles, pianist and guitarist with the Capitol Records group The Little River Band is born Gerard Bertelkamp in Amsterdam, Holland
1949 - Paul Shaffer, keyboardist, motion picture and television actor, band leader, and Capitol Records artist (1989), is born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - Mel Blanc records tracks for the Capitol Records childrens album "Bugs Bunny and the Tortoise" with additional voices by Arthur Q. Bryan, in a session produced by Alan Livingston with music written, arranged and conducted by Billy May. A second session for the album will be held on December 3, 1947. The packaging will be illustrated by Warner Bros. Cartoons artists Robert McKimson and Richard Thomas.
1947 - The Red Norvo Septet (Ray Linn on trumpet, Jimmy Giuffre on alto saxophone and tenor saxophone, Dexter Gordon on tenor saxophone, Red Norvo on vibraphones and piano, Dodo Marmarosa on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Red Callender on bass, and Jackie Mills on drums) record the tracks "I'll Follow You" with Giuffre on alto saxophone, and "Bop! with Giufree on tenor saxphone, and Marmarosa on piano. The band, with Jesse Price on vocals also records the tracks "Baby, Let's Be Friends", with Giuffre on tenor saxophone and Norvo on piano, and "My Baby Done Left Me" with Giuffre on alto saxophone and Norvo on Piano, in Los Angeles, California. I wonder if they were down the hall from Blanc's recording? The first two tracks, when released by Capitol Records, will be credited to The Red Norvo Septet, and the second two will be credited to Jesse Price and His Blues Band.
1956 - Frank Sinatra records the tracks "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)", "From This Moment On", "Oh! Look At Me Now", and "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" with arranger Nelson Riddle conducting the orchestra in Studio A of The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California for his Capitol Records album "Swingin' Affair!"
1959 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Country Girl", the flip side of "I Hear You Talkin'", is #4 on Billboard's Pop singles chart
1967 - Sonny James' Capitol Records single "It's the Little Things", with "Don't Cut Timber On A Windy Day" on the flip side, is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1970 - Capitol Records releases George Harrison's single "My Sweet Lord", with "Isn't It A Pity" on the flip side, in the United States

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1959 - Alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, with guitarist Blue Mitchell, pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Laymon Jackson, drummer Dave Bailey and conga plyer Ray Barretto, records the tracks "Idaho" an untitled Donaldson blues, and "But Not For Me", with Alfred Lion producing and engineer Rudy Van Gelder at the Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. "Idaho" will be released on Donaldson's Blue Note Album "The Time Is Right". The other two tracks are rejected and will remain unreleased until Mosaic Records puts them on their box set "The Complete Blue Note Lou Donaldson Sessions". Blue Note's catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, Capitol Records' parent company.
1968 - Apple Records artist John Lennon is convicted for possession of one ounce of cannabis resin in London, England
1974 - Elton John and Apple Records artist John Lennon sing "I Saw Her Standing There", "Whatever Gets You Through The Night", and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" at Elton's concert in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Lennon had promised Elton that he would appear with him if Lennon's single "Whatever Gets You Through The
Night", which Elton had appeared on, hit #1 in the United States, and this performance made good on the promise. It's Lennon's first public appearance in two years and turns out to be Lennon's last concert appearance before being killed in 1980. Shortly after Lennon's death, Elton's record company, DJM, releases all three "live" cuts, both on a 7-inch and 12-inch maxi-single, and as part of a "live" album of highlights from the rest of Elton's performance that night.
1981 - J. Geils Band's EMI America single "Centerfold", with Rage In The Cage" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Capitol Records currently controls the EMI America catalog.
1991 - Garth Brooks' Liberty Records single "Shameless", with "The Thunder Rolls" on the flip side, is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Liberty Records would be renamed Capitol Records Nashville.
2000 - EMI International releases Bobbie Gentry's complilation album "The Capitol Years: Ode to Bobbie Gentry"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1925 - George D. Hay presents the debut broadcast of "The WSM Barn Dance", later to be re-named "The Grand Ole Opry". The broadcast originates live from the WSM studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Fiddler "Uncle Jimmy" Thompson was the first artist to perform.

NOVEMBER 27, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
1913 - Kit Carson, singer and Capitol Records artist (1955, best known for the track "Band Of Gold") is born Liza Morrow in Brooklyn, New York
1942 - Jimi Hendrix, left handed guitarist, singer, songwriter, and Capitol Records artist, is born in Seattle, Washington as Johnny Allen Hendrix but was later renamed James Marshall Hendrix by his father James Al Hendrix

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1945 - Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (Buddy Childers, Ray Wetzel, John Anderson, Russ Burgher, and Bob Lymperis on trumpet; Freddie Zito, Jimmy Simms, and Milt Kabak on trombone; Bart Varsalona on baritone trombone; Al Anthony and Boots Mussulli on alto saxophone; Vido Musso and Bob Cooper on tenor saxophone; Bob Gioga on baritone saxophone; Kenton on piano; Bob Ahern on guitar; Eddie Safranski on bass; and Ralph Collier on drums, with vocalists Gene Howard and June Christy) record the tracks "Blue Music" (vocals by Howard and solo by Simms), "Body And Soul" (solo by Musso), "We'll Be Together Again" (vocals by Howard and solos by Mussulli, Musso and Kenton), "Easy Street" (vocals by Christy and solos by Childers and Cooper), "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" (vocals by Christy and solos by Kenton, Safransky, Simms, Musso and Wetzel), "I Surrender Dear" (solo by Childers), "Begin The Beguine" (solos by Kenton, Safranski, and Musso), and "Two Moose In A Caboose" (solos by Kenton, Safranski, Musso, and Mussulli) for Capitol Records transcription service at Radio Recorders on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, California
1954 - The Four Freshmen's Capitol Records single “Mood Indigo” peaks at #24 on Billboard's singles chart
1966 - The Beach Boys' Capitol Records single "Good Vibrations" is #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1967 - Capitol Records releases the soundtrack album to The Beatles BBC-TV special "Magical Mystery Tour" in the United States.
1967 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles' single "Hello Goodbye", with "I Am The Walrus" on the flip side, in the United States
1978 - Capitol Records releases Wings' compilation album "Wings Greatest"
1987 - Capitol Records releases W.A.S.P.'s live album "Live...In The Raw" that was recorded at a concert at the Long Beach Arena
1991 - Wings' Apple Records album "Band On The Run", which is distributed in the United States by Capitol Records, is certified Platinum, Double Platinum, and Triple Platinum by the R.I.A.A.
1998 - Barbara Acklin (born Barbara Jean Acklin), singer, songwriter, Brunswick and Capitol Records (1974-1975) artist, dies of pnuemonia at age 55 at a hospital near her home in Omaha, Nebraska
2000 - The Beatles' Apple Records compilation "1" debuts at #1 on Billboard's album chart selling nearly 595,000 copies in the U.S., where it is distributed by Capitol Records, during its first week of release

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1935 - Johnny Mercer, future co-founder of Capitol Records, and Ginger Rogers record the track "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo" in Los Angeles, California at Decca Records Studios on Melrose Avenue.

NOVEMBER 26, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1938 - Tina Turner, singer, actress, Sue Records artist as part of the Ike and Tina Turner Review, and a Capitol Records solo artist, is born Annie Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee
1962 - Linda Davis, singer, pianist and Capitol Records (1991) and Liberty Records (1992) artist, is born Linda Kaye Davis in Carthage, Texas

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1949 - Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely's Capitol Americana single "Slippin' Around", with "Wedding Bells" on the flip side, is #4 on the pop singles charts
1955 - Capitol Records releases eighteen year old Jerry Reed's first single "If The Good Lord's Willing and the Creeks Don't Rise" with "Here I Am" on the flip side
1956 - Frank Sinatra records the tracks "The Lonesome Road", "If I Had You", "The Lady Is A Tramp", and "Night And Day" with arranger and conductor Nelson Riddle at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California for his Capitol Records album "A Swingin' Affair"
1960 - Capitol Records artist Nat "King" Cole's stage show "I'm With You" closes it's pre-Broadway run in Detroit, Michigan. The show will not go on to Broadway but Cole will salvage the concept to use as part of his stage presentation, which he'll call "Sights And Sounds: The Merry World of Nat 'King' Cole", during his touring from 1961-1964.
1963 - The Kingston Trio record the tracks "Song For A Friend" and "The Patriot Game" with producer Voyle Gilmore for their Capitol Records album "A Time To Think"
1969 - The Band's self-titled Capitol Records album, "The Band", is certified Gold by the R.I.A.A.
1973 - Ringo Starr's Apple Records single "Photograph" that he co-wrote with George Harrison, with "Down And Out" on the flip side and distributed by Capitol Records in the United States, is at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1974 - Merle Haggard records the track "Always Wanting You" for Capitol Records
1980 - "Rockshow", a movie about the first American tour of Capitol Records group Paul McCartney and Wings, premieres in New York City, New York
1986 - Scatman Crothers, motion picture and television actor, pianist, guitarist, drummer and Capitol Records artist (1948 - with Riff Charles and Friends featuring Vic Dickenson), dies in Van Nuys, California at age 76
1996 - Capitol Records releases Poison's compilation album "Poison's Greatest Hits 1986-1996"
1997 - One day after its release, Garth Brooks' Capitol Records Nashville album "Sevens" breaks a record by placing 12 of its 14 songs in the Hot Country Singles and Tracks Chart in Billboard Magazine
2002 - Capitol Records releases Paul McCartney's live album "Back In the US--Live 2002"
2002 - Capitol Records and Priority Records release Snoop Dogg's album "Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Boss"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1962 - The Beatles record the tracks "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" in Studio Two at EMI Studios on Abbey Road in London, England for their second Parlophone Records single. They also play a Lennon-McCartney number, "Tip of My Tongue", for producer George Martin. Martin doesn't care for the arrangement, and the song will never be recorded by The Beatles. However, "Tip of My Tongue" will be recorded in July 1963 by Tommy Quickly, another artist managed by The Beatles' mananger Brian Epstein.
1989 - Paula Abdul's Virgin Records America single "(It’s Just) The Way That You Love Me" is #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1887 - Thomas Edison files for a patent on a battery powered phonograph using wax cylinders
1956 - Tommy Dorsey (born Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr.), trombone player and bandleader with his brother Jimmy and later a solo bandleader whose vocalists included future Capitol Records artists Frank Sinatra, The Pied Pipers with future Capitol Records solo artist Jo Stafford, Dick Haymes, as well as trombonist and arranger Nelson Riddle, dies at the age of 51 in his Greenwich, Connecticut home due to choking in his sleep because of being sedated with sleeping pills after a heavy meal. He is later interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
1976 - Microsoft(R) becomes a registered trademark

NOVEMBER 25,2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1914 - "Joltin'" Joe DiMaggio (aka "The Yankee Clipper" and Joseph Paul DiMaggio), Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, New York Yankees outfielder, one-time husband of actresses Dorothy Arnold and Marilyn Monroe, and a Capitol Records artist (1949 on the children's record "Little Johnny Strikeout"), is born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, Jr. in Martinez, California
1931 - Nat Adderley, cornet, mellophone, French horn, and trumpet player, songwriter ("Work Song", "Jive Samba", "The Old Country", "Sermonette", and others), brother of Capitol Records artist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley and member of his band while he recorded for Capitol, is born Nathaniel Adderley in Tampa, Florida

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1948 - Gordon MacRae's Capitol Records single "Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue", with "Rambling Rose" on the flip side, is #3 on the pop singles chart and Jimmy Wakely's Capitol Records single "One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)", with "You’re the Sweetest Rose in Texas" on the flip side, is #4
1949 - Tennessee Ernie Ford's Capitol Records single "Mule Train", with "Anticipation Blues" on the flip side, enters Billboard's Pop singles chart where it stay for nine weeks and peak at #10. The song would peak at #1 on Billboard's Country singles chart where it's flip side would also chart and peak at #3.
1956 - Frank Sinatra's Capitol Records single "Hey! Jealous Lover", with "You Forgot All The Words" on the flip side, is #3 on the pop singles chart
1964 - Buck Owens' Capitol Records single "I Don’t Care (Just as Long as You Love Me)", with "Don't Let Her Know" on the flip side is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1964 - The Beatles record the tracks "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" and "Rock And Roll Music" for a "live" broadcast for BBC Radio. The tracks are released on the 1994 Apple Records album "Live at the BBC" which is distributed in the United States by Capitol Records.
1967 - Glen Campbell's Capitol Records single "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", with "You've Still Got A Place In My Heart" on the flip side, enters the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart
1968 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles self-titled Apple Records double album (aka "The White Album) in the United States.
1976 - Capitol Records group The Band retire from touring with a Thanksgiving concert held at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, Californai and featuring a full orchestra and guests including Ronnie Hawkins, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond and others. The concert is filmed (together with interviews and some additional studio-based song footage) and eventually released as the documentary "The Last Waltz" by Martin Scorsese, and as a triple-album set of highlights, both by Warner Bros.
1991 - Crowded House's self-titled Capitol Records album "Crowded House" is certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A.
1997 - Capitol Records Nashville releases Garth Brooks' album "Sevens"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1933 - Kathryn Grant Crosby, actress, singer and second wife of Decca and Capitol Records artist Bing Crosby, is born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff in Houston, Texas
1954 - The Hank Mobley Sextet (Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan on trumpet, Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Horace Silver on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Charlie Persip on drums) records the tracks "Double Whammy", "Barrel Of Funk", an alternate take of "Barrel Of Funk", "Mobleymania", and "Touch And Go" for their Blue Note Records album "Hank Mobley Sextet" with producer Alfred Lion and engineer Rudy Van Gelder at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey
1969 - John Lennon, member of the Apple Records group The Beatles, returns his Member of the British Empire medal to Buckingham Palace as an anti-war protest, and, he says in his letter to the Queen, in protest against his single "Cold Turkey" slipping down the charts
1997 - Capitol's VP of A&R Catalog, Paul Atkinson, takes some time off to reunite with his original Zombie bandmates - Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White, and Hugh Grundy - to play onstage together for the first time in 30 years, performing their hits "She's Not There" and "Time Of The Season" at the Jazz Cafe in London, England.

NOVEMBER 24, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1915 - Dave Dexter, Jr., writer, critic, at Capitol Records (1943-1974) he was head of advertising and publicity, A&R man, record producer, and VP of International, and after Capitol was head copy editor for Billboard magazine, is born David E. Dexter, Jr. in Kansas City, Missouri
1931 - Tommy Allsup, guitarist for Buddy Holly after he broke with The Crickets; session guitarist, A&R director of Country and Western, and record producer for Liberty Records; and producer for the Capitol Records band Asleep At The Wheel, is born in Owassa, Oklahoma. The Liberty catalog is currently owned by Capitol Records parent company, EMI Music

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1955 - Tennessee Ernie Ford's Capitol Records single "Sixteen Tons", with "You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1956 - Capitol Records releases Sonny James' single "Young Love" with "You're The Reason I'm In Love" on the flip side
1966 - The Beatles begin recording the track "Strawberry Fields Forever" in Studio Two at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, in London, England. The song is finally completed on December 22, 1966 and will end up on The Beatles' next single with "Penny Lane" on the flip side. Take 1 of "Strawberry Fields Forever" will be released on "The Beatles Anthology 2" (Disc two, Track 2).
1991 - Freddie Mercury, songwriter and lead singer of the Capitol Records group "Queen", (1984-1986) dies of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia at age 45 at his home in Kensington, England
1996 - Capitol Records band Crowded House plays their official farewell show at the Sydney Opera House to 100,000 fans as a benefit for the Sydney Children's Hospital Fund

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1963 - The first live shooting to appear on television happens when Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald in the underground garage of a police station in Dallas, Texas as Oswald was being transferred to another facility.

NOVEMBER 23, 2007

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1963 - The Beach Boy's single "Be True To Your School", with "In My Room" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart where it will peak at #6 on December 21, 1963
1964 - Capitol Records releases the album "The Beatles Story", an aural history of the band
1965 - The Beach Boys record the track "Barbara Ann" for their Capitol Records album "Beach Boys' Party!"
1970 - Grand Funk Railroad's double album "Grand Funk Live Album", released by Capitol Records just one week earlier, is certified Gold by The R.I.A.A.
1974 - Paul McCartney & Wing's Apple Records single (distributed in the United States by Capitol Records) "Junior's Farm", with "Sally G." on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart at # 28. The track will peak at #3 on January 11, 1975
1994 - Tommy Boyce (born Sidney Thomas Boyce), singer, songwriter, record producer and member of the Capitol Records group Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart (1976), dies of a self-inflicted gun shot at age age 55 after suffering from declining health since having a brain aneurysm in 1993
1991 - Hammer's Capitol Record single "2 Legit 2 Quit", with a long version on one side and a short version on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart at #36. The single will peak at #5 on January 11, 1992
1996 - Capitol Records Nashville artist Trace Adkins makes his début on the Grand Ole Opry and proposes to his
future wife Rhonda Forlaw while on stage
1999 - Capitol Records Nashville releases Garth Brooks' album "The Magic Of Christmas"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1928 - Jerry Bock, Broadway musical composer ("Fiddler on the Roof", "Fiorello!", "Mr. Wonderful") is born. Capitol Records originally releasesd the original soundtrack to "Fiorello" which is now distributed by Broadway Angel, a subsidiary of EMI Music.
1953 - An article with today's street date in Time Magazine gives background information about new record label Angel Records as well as new label Epic Records. Angel Records was created by Capitol Records future parent company EMI to distribute their Classical library in the United States.
1980 - Lenono and Geffen Records release John Lennon and Yoko Ono's single "Starting Over" with "Kiss, Kiss, Kiss" on the flip side. Capitol Records currently releases the entire Lennon/Ono catalog.
1981 - Harvest Records releases Pink Floyd's compilation album "A Collection Of Great Dance Songs" in the U.K and Columbia Records releases the album in the United States. Capitol Records currently releases the entire Pink Floyd catalog and re-issued the album on the Capitol album in 2001.
1993 - "Smokey" Eugene Rogers, actor, television show host, songwriter ("A Little Bird Told Me" and "Gone" which was made famous by Capitol Records artist Ferlin Husky), dies at age 76
1999 - Collectible Records releases The Sunray's compilation CD "The Very Best Of The Tower Recordings" containing 27 tracks that the group recorded for the Tower Records label. Tower Records was a subsidiary of Capitol Records

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1889 - The first "Nickel-in-the-Slot" (aka a jukebox) was placed in service in the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco, CA, USA. Inventor Louis T. Glass made the unit containing an Edison tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes. At each tube, was a 5 cent coin slot that bought a few minutes of music for the listener. During the first six months of it's introduction, people had put in 20,000 nickels ($1,000 which is approximately $100,000 today, adjusting for inflation)!
1933 - Singer Billie Holiday has her debut at The Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York City. Holiday would go on to record one track for Capitol Records with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra - "Travelin' Light" using the pseudonym "Lady Day".

NOVEMBER 22, 2007

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1945 - The Paul Weston Orchestra's Capitol Records single "It Might As Well Be Spring" with vocals by Margaret Whiting whose track "How Deep Is The Ocean" is on the flip side with Paul Weston and His Orchestra backing her, peaks at #6 on the top singles charts
1946 - The King Cole Trio's Capitol Records single "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" (recorded August 22, 1946), with "The Best Man" (recorded August 19, 1946) on the flip side, enters the pop singles charts and will become the group's first #1 on December 28, 1946
1952 - Johnny Standley's Capitol Records double sided single "It's In The Book" (Part 1 on top and Part 2 on the flip side), hits #1 on Billboard's singles chart. The track was originally released on Magnolia Records, a Hollywood-based label owned by bandleader Horace Heidt who, with his orchestra, also appears on the track. Capitol Records picked up the single from Heidt who also sold the label the masters to the track. Thanks to Mel for the additional information!
1969 - Merle Haggard's Capitol Records single "Okie from Muskogee", with "If I Had Left It Up To You" is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1963 - Parlophone Records releases The Beatles' second album "With The Beatles"
1980 - Kenny Rogers' Liberty Records single "Lady", with "Sweet Music Man" on the flip side, is #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. The Liberty Records name was revived after the original's catalog was sold to Capitol's parent company EMI and the new label would later become Capitol Records Nashville.
2001 - Norman Granz, organizer of the "Jazz At The Philharmonic" concerts in Los Angeles, founder of the Clef, Norgram, Down Home, Verve and the Pablo Records labels, and record producer who used The Capitol Tower Studios to record tracks for many of his label's artists, dies in Geneva, Switzerland of cancer at age 83

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1899 - Hoagy Carmichael, songwriter ("Stardust", "Lazybones", "Two Sleepy People", "Skylark", "Georgia on My Mind", "Ole Buttermilk Sky", "Rockin’ Chair", "(Up A) Lazy River", "One Morning in May", "The Nearness of You", "Lamplighter’s Serenade", "How Little We Know", "Memphis in June", "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening", "New Orleans" and many more), piano player, band leader, and attorney, is born Hoagland Howard Carmichael born in Bloomington, Indiana
1943 - Lorenz Hart (aka Larry Hart), lyricist ("Blue Moon", "The Lady Is A Tramp", "Manhattan", "Mountain Greenery", "My Funny Valentine" and many more), for Broadway and motion picture musicals (primarily with composer Richard Rodgers), dies at age 48 of pneumonia from exposure, five days after the opening of a revival of his and Rodgers' musical "A Connecticut Yankee", in New York City and is later buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens County, New York
1963 - United States' President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Texas' Governor John Connelly are shot during a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. President Kennedy will die at age 46, shortly after being rushed with the Governor at Parkland Memorial Hospital of his wounds. Later that night, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy watches as Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson is sworn in as the thirty-sixth President of the United States of America on board Air Force One during its flight back to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, while it also carries the body of slain President Kennedy in its hold.
1963 - Aldous Huxley, author, lecturer and screen writer, dies in Los Angeles, California at age 69 of an overdose of L.S.D. that his second wife, Laura Archera, gives him, at his request, to end his suffering from pain caused by cancer

NOVEMBER 21, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1933 - Jean Shepard, singer and Capitol Records artist, is born in Ollie Imogene Shepard in Paul's Valley, Oklahoma

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - Capitol Records releases Peggy Lee's single "Golden Earrings", with "I'll Dance At Your Wedding" on the flip side. It will go on to be a top 10 record in 1948.
1955 - Capitol Records artist Jean Shepard joins the Grand Ole Opry on her 22nd birthday
1964 - The Beach Boys' Capitol Records single "Dance, Dance, Dance", with "The Warmth Of The Sun" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard and Cash Box Magazines' singles charts
1970 - Badfinger's Apple Records single "No Matter What", with "Carry On Till Tomorrow" on the flip side and released by Capitol Records in the United States, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart
1986 - Les Brown and His Band of Renown (Don Smith, Darrel Gardner, Fred Koyen, and Don Rader on trumpets and flugelhorns; Mat Utal on alto saxophone; Rusty Higgins and Greg Huckins on alto and soprano saxophones; Lou Ciotti on tenor saxophone; Butch Stone on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet; Jack Redmond, Andy Martin, and Bob Payne on trombones; Stumpy Brown on bass trombone; Mundell Lowe on guitar; Eric Doney on piano; Tom Hill on bass; and Jack Sperling on drums) have the first of two sessions in Studio A at The Capitol Tower Studios (the next is on December 8, 1986) for their Ryko Distribution album "Digital Swing" with producer Ralph Jungheim and engineer Charlie Paakkari
1986 - Jerry Colonna (born Gerardo Luigi Colonna), comedian, television, radio and motion picture actor, voice over artist, trombone player, and Capitol Records artist (1945-1952), dies at age 82 of kidney failure at The Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hill, California and is later buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California
1987 - Poison's Capitol Records single "I Won't Forget You", with "Blame It On You" on the flip side, peaks at #13 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1995 - Jim Eanes, (aka "Smilin'" Jim Eanes, and born Homer Robert Eanes, Jr.) singer, songwriter, banjo player, guitarist, bandleader (The Shenandoah Valley Boys), radio disc jockey, and Capitol Records solo artist (1949, best known for the track "Baby Blue Eyes") dies at age 71 of congestive heart failure in Virginia
1995 - Capitol Records releases The Beatle's 60-track Apple Records compilation "The Beatles Anthology I" in the United States. The collection includes the previously unreleased track "Free As A Bird" and, according to a later statement by Capitol, will sell 450,000 units on its first day of release.
1995 - Capitol Records Nashville releases Garth Brooks' album "Fresh Horses"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1934 - Future Capitol Records artist Ella Fitzgerald makes her stage debut at an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York
1952 - Future Capitol Records artist Judy Garland gives birth to future Capitol Records artist Liza Minnelli's half-sister, Lorna Luft
1960 - Johnny Burnette's Liberty Records single "You're Sixteen", with "I Beg Your Pardon" on the flip side enters Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Liberty's catalog is currently owned by Capitol Music Group's parent company, EMI Music Group.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1904 - Coleman Hawkins, tenor saxophonist, band leader, and is born in St.Joseph, Missouri
1912 - Eleanor Powell, dancer and film actress, is born
1934 - Cole Porter’s "Anything Goes" opens at the Alvin Theatre in New York City
1945 - Robert Benchley, author, columnist, magazine editor, charter member of the Algonquin Round Table, script writer, motion picture actor and grandfather of author Peter Benchley, dies at age 56
1955 - The Fulton Theatre in New York City is renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre to honor the actress.

NOVEMBER 20, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1925 - June Christy (aka Sharon Leslie), singer and Capitol Records artist as a vocalist with Stan Kenton and His Orchestra and as a solo artist, is born Shirley Luster in Springfield, Illinois
1940 - Tony Butala, child motion picture actor, and singer with the groups The Mitchell Boys' Choir, The Fourmost, The Rhythm Boys, and a founding member of the Capitol Records group The Lettermen, is born Anthony Francis Butala in Sharon, Pennsylvania. He is also the uncle of actress Jenna Elfman (born Jenna Butala), founder of The Vocal Group Hall of Fame which is located in his hometown of Sharon, and a Napa Valley vineyard owner.
1962 - Steve Alexander, clinician of Zildjian, television and film composer, and drummer with a variety of bands including Brother Beyond, the Capitol Records group Duran Duran (1995-2000), and with Jeff Beck, is born in Wales, England.
1965 - Michael Diamond, singer and songwriter for the Grand Royal/Capitol Records group The Beastie Boys, is born Michael Louis Diamond in New York City, NY,
1975 - Dierks Bentley, singer and Capitol Records Nashville artist, is born in Phoenix, Arizona

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - Peggy Lee records the tracks "Them There Eyes", "Baby, Don't Be Mad At Me", "Everybody Loves Somebody", and "Foolin' Nobody But Me" with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra (Benny Carter on alto saxophone, Herbert Haymer on tenor saxophone, Barbour on guitar, Buddy Cole on piano, Red Norvo on vibraphone, and an unknown bass player and drummer) at a session for Capitol Records in Los Angeles, California produced by Lee Gillette
1952 - Dean Martin records the tracks "Who's Your Little Who-Zis!", "I'm Yours, "I Feel a Song Comin' On", "With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming", "Just One More Chance", "Louise", "I Feel Like a Feather in the Breeze", and "A Girl Named Mary and a Boy Named Bill" for his first album for Capitol, "Dean Martin Sings", at Capitol's Recording Studio at 5515 Melrose Avenue, in Hollywood, California with producer Lee Gillette. Also recorded is the track "There's My Lover" which is not released as part of the album but as the flip side of the single "Little Did We Know", which was recorded on June 12, 1952.
1956 - Frank Sinatra, with arranger Nelson Riddle conducting the orchestra, records the tracks "I Wish I Were In Love Again", "I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan", "Nice Work If You Can Get It", and "At Long Last Love" in Studio A at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California with producer Voyle Gilmore at the second session for Sinatra's Capitol Records album "Swingin' Affair!"
1959 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Country Girl", with "I Hear You Talkin'" on the flip side, hits #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1967 - Sonny James' Capitol Records single "It’s The Little Things", with "Don't Cut Timber On a Windy Day" on the flip side, hits #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1991 - Garth Brook's Liberty Records single "Shameless", with "The Thunder Rolls" on the flip side, hits #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Liberty Records is later renamed Capitol Records Nashville.
1997 - Robert Palmer (born Robert Franklin Palmer Jr.), journalist, writer, musicologist, clarinetist, saxophonist, blues record producer, and member of the Capitol Records band Insect Trust (1968), dies of liver disease in New York City, New York at age 52
2000 - Capitol Records Nashville releases a version of Garth Brooks' track "Wild Horses", with new vocals by Brooks, solely to Country Radio to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the release of Brooks' Liberty Records album "No Fences", and its re-release, on CD, on the Capitol Records Nashville label
2001 - Capitol Records releases The Rat Pack(Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr.)'s live album "The Rat Pack Live at the Sands" which was originally was going to be released by Rhino (who had completed packaging for the CD) a recording of one of Martin's shows held in The Sands's Copa Room on September 7, 1963. I did the final photo restoration and packaging files for the CD and cassette versions of the album as released by Capitol.
2002 - Arturo Sandoval starts two days of sessions in Studio A at The Capitol Tower Studio in Hollywood, California. There are a lot of great shots of how the studio was set up on Royer Labs' website.
2004 - Chingy records the track “Balla Baby” for Capitol Records, and a full length interview for Sessions @ AOL, at the Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood, California

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1926 - Kaye Ballard, Broadway (in Capitol Records co-founder Johnny Mercer's 1952 show "Top Banana" with Phil Silvers), motion picture, and television actress, singer, comedienne and Capitol Records artist , is born Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio
1976 - George Harrison becomes the first of the former Beatles to appear on an episode of NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live", where he'll perform "Homeward Bound" and "Here Comes The Sun" with Paul Simon' Also aired are promo videos of George's "Crackerbox Palace" and "This Song". Harrison is told on camera by the show's producer, Loren Michaels, that the $5000 dollars he offered on an earlier episode, was only if all four of The Beatles appeared. This is Harrison's last live performance until Oct 21 1985.
2001 - Angel Records (now EMI Classics) releases Sarah Brightman's album "Classics". EMI Classics, currently headed by Bruce Lundvall, is a subsidiary of Blue Note Records which is a subsidiary of Capitol Records.
2002 - Angel Records (now EMI Classics) releases Anoushka Shankar's (daughter of Ravi Shankar) album "Live at Carnegie Hall"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1959 - WABC disc jockey Alan Freed is replaced mid-record, while he was on the air, by Fred Robbins, due to the allegation that Freed took "payola". The next day Freed will refuse "on principle" to sign a statement that he never received money or gifts for playing and promoting records.

NOVEMBER 19, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1934 - Dave Guard, songwriter and vocalist with the Capitol Records groups The Kingston Trio (1956-1961) and Dave Guard's Whiskeyhill Singers (1961-1963), is born Donald David Guard in Honolulu, Hawaii

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1943 - Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (Ray Borden, John Carroll, Buddy Childers, Karl George, and Dick Morse on trumpet; Harry Forbes and George Faye on trombone; Bart Varsalona on bass trombone; Eddie Meyers and Art Pepper on alto saxophone; Red Dorris on vocals and tenor saxophone; Maurice Beeson on tenor saxophone; Bob Gioga on baritone saxophone; Kenton on piano; Bob Ahern on guitar; Clyde Singleton on bass; and Joe Vernon on drums) record the tracks "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me" (with vocals by Red Dorris), with "Harlem Folk Dance", both of which will be released together by Capitol Records as a single (#149), as well as "Artistry in Rhythm" (which will become Kenton's theme song) and "Eager Beaver", both of which will also be released together as a single (#159), at C.P. MacGregor Studios in Los Angeles, California
1947 - Peggy Lee records the tracks "Why Don't You Do Right" (with an arrangement by Billy May), "'Deed I Do", and "Hold Me" with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra and a string section at a session for Capitol Records in Los Angeles, California produced by Lee Gillette
1962 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' single "Ten Little Indians" with "County Fair" on the flip side. Both tracks were written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher and produced by Nik Venet.
1963 - The Kingston Trio record the tracks "Hobo's Lullaby" and "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream", which will appear on their last Capitol Records studio album "A Time To Think", and a studio version of the track "Ann", which would finally be released on the complilation album "The Capitol Years" released by Capitol Records in 1995
1968 - Quicksilver Messenger Service (David Freiberg on bass, viola, and vocals; John Cipollina on guitar; Greg Elmore on drums; and Gary Duncan on guitar and vocals) record the track "Calvary" live at Golden State Recorders in San Francisco, California. The track will be included on the band's Capitol Records album "Happy Trails"
1973 - Capitol Records releases Tennessee Ernie Ford's single "Sweet Child Of Sunshine" with "She Picked Up The Pieces" on the flip side
1977 - Bob Welch's Capitol Records single "Sentimental Lady", with "Hot Love, Cold World" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart where it will peak at #8 on January 7, 1978 and stay for two weeks. Thanks to Brent Popham for getting me the correct name for the flip side.
1983 - Duran Duran's Capitol Records single "Union Of The Snake", with "Secret Oktober" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart at #30.
1995 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles' Apple Records compilation album "Anthology 1" in the United States, and arranges for a satellite broadcast of the album's first single, "Free As a Bird", to radio stations that allows radio airplay to begin almost immediately. Also, ABC-TV network in the United States airs the first of three two hour "Anthology" specials.
2002 - EMI Records releases Robbie Williams album "Swing When You're Winning" which was recorded in The Capitol Tower Studios
2002 - Capitol Records releases, posthumously, George Harrison's last studio album, "Brainwashed"
2004 - Craig Nicholls, lead singer of the Capitol Records group The Vines, reveals that he has Asperger Syndrome, a neurobiologcal disorder that causes autistic-like episodes and severe communication difficulties

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1952 - Capitol Records artist Faron Young is inducted into the United States Army
1976 - George Harrison and Paul Simon videotape a performance for NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live", including a duet of "Homeward Bound", as well as "Here Comes The Sun", "Bye Bye Love", "Rock Island Line" and a few seconds each of "Yesterday", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", and "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long"
1997 - The United States premiere of Sir Paul McCartney's "Standing Stone" is played in Carnegie Hall by St. Luke's Orchestra under the baton of Laurence Foster.

NOVEMBER 18, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1909 - Johnny Mercer, songwriter, singer, motion picture actor, Broadway musical and radio performer, and co-founder of Capitol Records and The Songwriters Hall Of Fame, is born John Herndon Mercer in Savannah, Georgia

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1968 - Capitol Records releases Merle Haggard & The Stranger's album "Sing Me Back Home"
1968 - Glen Campbell's Capitol Records album "Wichita Lineman" is certified Gold by the R.I.A.A.
1971 - "Little Junior" Parker (born Herman Parker), songwriter, harmonica player, band leader, and Capitol Records artist(1969), dies of a brain tumor in Chicago, Illinois
1974 - The Beach Boys record the track "Child Of Winter (Christmas Song) at Brother Studio in Santa Monica, California
1988 - Poison's Capitol Records album "Open Up And Say Ahh!" is certified triple platinum by the R.I.A.A.
2003 - Apple Records releases The Beatles album "Let It Be... Naked" which is released by Capitol Records in the United States

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1959 - The musical "Little Mary Sunshine" premieres Off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue in New York City. Capitol Records will release the cast album, it's first for an Off-Broadway show.

NOVEMBER 17, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1944 - Gene Clark, singer, songwriter, guitarist, member of the bands Dillard and Clark, The New Christy Minstrels, The Bryds, and the Capitol Records band McGuinn, Clark and Hillman, is born in Tipton, Missouri
1957 - Jim Babjak, songwriter, lead guitarist and founding member of the Capitol Records group The Smithereens, is born in Salzburg, Austria

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1948 - Margaret Whiting's Capitol Records single "A Tree In The Meadow", with "I'm Sorry But I'm Going" on the flip side, is at #3 on the U.S. singles chart and Jimmy Wakely's Capitol Records single "One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)", with "You’re the Sweetest Rose in Texas" on the flip side, is at #4
1951 - Capitol Records artist Dean Martin, and his second wife Jeanne, welcome the first of their three children together, son Dean "Dino" Paul Martin, Jr., into the world. He would later become an actor and was a singer and guitarist in the group Dino, Desi & Billy. The depression caused by his death in 1987 (at age 35 in the crash of his Air National Guard plane) is attributed as the cause of his father's complete retirement, rapid health decline, and eventual death.
1954 - Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (Benny Goodman on clarinet; Mel Powell on piano; Ruby Braff, Chris Griffin, Carl Poole, and Bernie Privin on trumpet; Will Bradley, Vernon Brown, and Cutty Cutshall on trombone; Hymie Schertzer and Paul Ricci on alto saxophone; Abe "Boomie" Richman and Al Klink on tenor saxophone; Sol Schlinger on baritone saxophone; Steve Jordan on guitar; George Duvivier on bass; and Robert Donaldson on drums) records the tracks "Let's Dance", "Somebody Stole My Gal", "I Would Do Anything For You", and "Big John's Special" in New York City for their Capitol Records album "B.G. in Hi-Fi"
1957 - Dickie Harrell, who had quit the Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps earlier due to the stress of their heavy tour schedule, rejoins the group at Vincent's request for their appearance on tonight's episode of the "Ed Sullivan Show" and can be seen standing behind his drums as Vincent as the band perform the songs "Lotta Lovin'" and "Dance to the Bop"
1964 - Buck Owens' Capitol Records single "I Don’t Care (Just as Long as You Love Me)", with "Don't Let Her Know" on the flip side, is at #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart and spends six weeks at #1 on Billboard's Country Singles chart
1965 - The Beach Boys record the track "Pet Sounds", the title track for their upcoming Capitol Records album, at Western Recorders in Los Angeles, California
1973 - Helen Reddy's Capitol Records single "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)", with "The Old Fashioned Way" on the flip side enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart at #29 and will peak at #3, and will be #1 on Billboard's AC singles chart for 4 weeks, be certified Gold by the RIAA and on January 5, 1974 will hit #1 on Cashbox Magazine's top singles chart
1973 - The Steve Miller Band's Capitol Records single "The Joker", with "Something To Believe In" on the flip side, enters the top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart at #38 and will peak at #1 on January 12, 1974, displacing former Capitol Records artist Jim Croce's posthumously released "Time In A Bottle" from the #1 spot on Billboard's chart and fellow Capitol Records artist Helen Reddy's "Leave Me Alone" from the top spot on Cashbox Magazine's singles chart
1998 - Capitol Records Nashville releases Garth Brooks' two-disc concert set "Double Live" which will go on to sell over fifteen million copies making it the best selling
live album in history to date.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1935 - Frank Gumm (born Francis Avent Gumm), vaudvilian, theatre manager, and father of future Capitol Records artist Frances Ethel Gumm (aka Judy Garland), dies of meningitis in Los Angeles, California at age 49
1955 - Peter Cox, singer, composer, and member of the Chrysalis Records group Go West, is born in London, England. The Chrysalis catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, parent company of Capitol Records.
1980 - Kenny Rogers' Liberty Records single "Lady" hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Liberty Records became Capitol Records Nashville after its offices moved to Nashville, Tennessee from Hollywood, California.
1980 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Lenono and Geffen Records album "Double Fantasy" is released. Capitol Records currently distributes the entire Lennon/Ono catalog and has re-issued the album, on CD, on the Capitol Records label.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1877 - Thomas Alva Edison announces his invention that can be used in the home to record and playback audio using a funnel speaker that also acts as a microphone, a wax cylinder, and a stylus that both cuts grooves in the cylinder and reads the grooves for playback, in the November 17, 1877 issue of Scientific American. And thus the recording industry and the first machine created to pirate sound are born.

NOVEMBER 16, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1913 - "Smiling" Jack Smith, singer, television game show host ("You Asked For It"), and Capitol Records artist (From 1946-1949 as a solo artist and with backing from The Clark Sisters and The Crew Chiefs, also in duets with Margaret Whiting), is born Jack Ward Smith in Fort Ward, on Bainbridge Island (near Seattle), Washington. Smith also released a series of children's records on Capitol's Toyland label. Smith got the nickname "Smiling" Jack Smith while working as a solo performer on CBS-Radio's show "The Prudential Hour" when its host, Deems Taylor, called him "The Man With the Smile in His Voice." The nickname also helped Smith from being confused with another singer of the time named "Whispering" Jack Smith who, co-incidentally, was born on the same day in 1918.
1916 - "Daws" Butler, radio actor, cartoon and commercial voice actor (Beany & Cecil, various MGM, Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera shows, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Cap'n Crunch), and Capitol Records artist on various childrens records and with fellow Capitol Records artist Stan Freberg (co-writing most of their material), is born Charles Dawson Butler in Toledo, Ohio

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1943 - The Capitol Jazzmen (Billy May on trumpet, Jack Teagarden on trombone and vocals, Jimmie Noone on clarinet, Dave Matthews on tenor saxophone, Joe Sullivan on piano, Dave Barbour on guitar, Artie Shapiro on bass, and Zutty Singleton on drums) record two takes of the tracks "Clambake In B Flat" and "Casanova's Lament" (with vocal by Teagarden), as well as the tracks "Solitude Swaggie", "Solitude" and "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry" (also with vocal by Teagarden) with producer Dave Dexter, Jr. in Los Angeles for the Capitol Records album "New American Jazz" which includes a booklet, whose size and content, are uncannily close to what the best CD booklets contain in contemporary re-issues. Unfortunately, this landmark album has yet to be issued on CD by Capitol or any of its related labels (hint, hint!!!!)
1944 - Piano soloist Joe Sullivan (who also wrote "Clambake in B Flat") records the tracks "The Moon Is Low", "Reflections", "It's The Talk Of The Town", "My Silent Love" in Los Angeles, California for Capitol Records.
1954 - The Benny Goodman Quintet (Goodman on clarinet, Ruby Braff on trumpet, Mel Powell on piano, George Duvivier on bass and Bobby Donaldson on drums) records the tracks "Rock Rimmon", and "You’re A Sweetheart",and The Benny Goodman Trio (Goodman on clarinet, Mel Powell on piano, and Bobby Donaldson on drums) record the tracks "Rose Room" and "What Can I Say After I Say I’m Sorry", in NYC for Goodman's Capitol Records album "B.G. In Hi-Fi".
1954 - Seventeen year old Jerry Reed performs at a gala country show in Atlanta, Georgia honoring Capitol Records artist Faron Young, who had just been discharged from the army. Capitol records' country music chief Ken Nelson was there to celebrate the occasion, and Bill Lowery, who helmed a popular live country music show Saturday mornings over WGST radio, encourags Nelson to consider signing the young singer to Capitol Records. After some initial reluctance, with Nelson feeling that Reed was too young to be recording, Lowery's persistence paid off with Reed being signed to a three-year contract. Reed's first Capitol session will be held in Nashville's Castle Studios on October 17, 1955.
1954 - The 5 Keys (Maryland Pierce, Rudy West, Ripley Ingram, Ramon Loper, and Bernie West) have their second session for Capitol Records recording the tracks "Cause You're My Lover", "Don't You Know I Love You", "So Glad", "Close Your Eyes", and "Doggone It, You Did It".
1955 - Tennessee Ernie Ford's Capitol Records single "Sixteen Tons", with "You Don't Have to be a Baby to Cry" on the flip side, becomes the fastest-selling record in history to that date, jumping to #1 on the singles chart in just 3 weeks, where it will stay for eight weeks
1963 - Buck Owens' Capitol Records single "Love’s Gonna Live Here", with "Getting Used To Losing You" on the flip side, is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart and will be #1 on the Country Singles chart for 16 weeks
1964 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' album "The Beach Boys' Christmas Album" and their single "The Man With All The Toys" with "Blue Christmas" on the flip side
1964 - Judy Garland performs "Once In A Lifetime" as part of concert at the London Palladium. A recording of the performance will be released by Capitol on the CD "Judy Garland: The One And Only" in 1991.
1968 - Glen Campbell's Capitol Records album "Wichita Lineman" enters Billboard's album chart where it will hit #1 on December 21, 1968
1970 - Capitol Records releases Grand Funk Railroad's "Grand Funk Live Album". Thanks to Gary Eaton for the correct date and check out his blog on Grand Funk
1970 - Anne Murray's second Capitol Records single "Snowbird", which is the flip side of "Just Bidin' My Time", is certified Gold by the R.I.A.A. becoming the first Canadian recording artist to earn a U.S. Gold single.
1971 - John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band's Apple Records single "Imagine", with "Its So Hard" on the flip side and distributed in the United States by Capitol Records", peaks at #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1974- John Lennon's Apple Records single "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" with "Beef Jerky" on the flip side and distributed by Capitol Records in the United States, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, Lennon's only solo single to do so
1988 - Capitol Records released Buck Owens' album "Hot Dog"
1993 - Frank Sinatra is presented Capitol Records' first "Tower Of Achievement" award by Charles Koppelman (then Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, EMI Records Group, North America) and Gary Gersh (then President & Chief Executive Officer, Capitol Records) at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, New York. According to the press release, "The Tower of Achievement is an exclusive award given by Capitol Records to honor a label recording artist or group for their irreplaceable contribution to music. Artists become eligible for the award 15 years after their first Capitol Records release and when total worldwide album sales exceed the 10 million mark. The goal of The Tower of Achievement award is to honor Capitol artists whose musical achievements have left an indelible mark on American popular culture. The solid brass award with silver and gold accents was created by Michael Vanderbyl, a distinguished designer, who has served on international committees as well as chaired the 1992 National Endowment for the Arts Presidential Design Awards. Inspired by the sculptures by Brancusi, the Capitol Records landmark building is shown supported by an abstract silhouette of a heroic figure representing the artists integral role as the foundation of Capitol Records."
1995 - Les Baxter, arranger, band leader, and Capitol Records artist, gives his last public performance, which is held at the Century Club, in Century City, California. Baxter will die January 15, 1996 of a massive heart attack due to kidney failure at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach, California at age 73.
2001 - Tommy Flanagan, pianist, dies of an arterial aneurysm at age 71 in New York City, New York. He worked both as a solo artist and as a session player for, and group member with, many Capitol, Blue Note, United Artists and Roulette artists as shown in the article on the Jazz Discography Project's website.
2007 - It was announced on Santa Monica NPR radio station KCRW's local morning news segment that The Capitol Tower has been given Historical Monument status by Los Angeles' City Council which will protect the exterior of the building from any significant changes and the words CAPITOL RECORDS from being removed from the top of the building. No word yet if this will do anything to help protect or restore the mural on the south side of the building.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1873 - W.C. Handy, "father of the blues", composer (his best known work being "St. Louis Blues"), coronet player, and band leader, is born William Christopher Handy in Florence, Alabama. Capitol Records artist Nat "King" Cole with play Handy in "St. Louis Blues", the motion picture loosely based on Handy's life.
1979 - Kenny Roger's Liberty Records single "You Decorated My Life" is at #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Liberty Records, a Capitol Records subsidiary that revived the Liberty Records name, became Capitol Records Nashville after its offices were moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
1980 - Kenny Rogers' Liberty Records single "Lady", written and produced by Lionel Richie, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Liberty Records, a Capitol Records subsidiary that revived the Liberty Records name, became Capitol Records Nashville after its offices were moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
1987 - Billy Idol's Chrysalis single "Mony Mony 'Live'" hits #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart. EMI Music, Capitol Records parent company, currently owns the Chrysalis catalog.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1935 - The Rodgers and Hart musical, "Jumbo", opens in The Hippodrome, in New York City for a run of 233 performances.

NOVEMBER 15, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1923 - Juanita Marie Corbett Peters (aka "Sister" Peters), Capitol Records employee at its lacquer disc (used to make masters for vinyl albums) manufacturing facility in Winchester, Virginia (which was in operation from 1974-1986), is born in Hancock, Maryland. She was also a mother, grandmother and a great-grandmother of sixteen before her death at age 79 in Paw Paw, West Virginia on June 11, 2003 at in Sacred Heart Hospital, Cumberland, Maryland. Her funeral will be at 2 p.m. Friday, June 13, 2003 at Lighthouse Assembly of God Church, with the Rev. Earl Travis officiating, and she is later buried at Woodrow Cemetery, in Paw Paw.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1945 - Peggy Lee's Capitol Records single "Waitin' For The Train To Come In", with "I'm Glad I Waited For You" on the flip side (both recorded at the same session on July 3, 1945 and released on October 30, 1945), debuts on the U.S. singles charts
1946 - Merle Travis' Capitol Records single "Divorce Me C.O.D.", with "Missouri" on the flip side, hits #4 on the U.S. singles chart
1949 - Marvin Ash's Mason-Dixon Music records "Pearl House Rag" and Sweethearts On Parade", Nappy Lamare's Levee Loungers record "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?" and "Washington And Lee Swing", and Zutty Singleton And His Creole Band record "Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight", all at the same session for Capitol Records in Los Angeles, California. The players on all five tracks were Andy Secrest on trumpet, Irvin Verrett on trombone, Eddie Miller on tenor saxophone, Marvin Ash on piano, Nappy Lamare on guitar, banjo and vocals, Country Washburne on bass and tuba, and Zutty Singleton on drums. The tracks will later be released on singles by Capitol Records.
1955 - Nat "King" Cole records the track "Take Me Back To Toyland" with Nelson Riddle arranging and conducting the orchestra and chorus. The track, with "I'm Gonna Laugh You Out Of My Life" on the flip side, will be released as a single by Capitol in 1955 and as the flip side of "Mrs. Santa Claus" in 1956.
1956 - Frank Sinatra records the tracks "I Won't Dance", "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin", and "Stars Fell On Alabama" at the first session for his Capitol Records album "A Swingin' Affair!", with arranger and conductor Nelson Riddle and producer Voyle Gilmore, at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California
1986 - Duran Duran's Capitol Records single "Notorious" debuts on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1988 - The Beastie Boys sign with Capitol Records
1988 - Capitol Records releases "The Beatles Box Set" on CD and vinyl, containing all the band's UK albums along with the two "Past Masters" albums containing the single releases, in a black wooden box with a rollup door
1994 - Capitol Records releases Frank Sinatra's album "Duets II"
1994 - Capitol Records Nashville releases John Berry's album "Things Are Not The Same"
1997 - Onzy D. Matthews, arranger, composer, pianist and Capitol Records artist (1964) is found dead in his East Dallas apartment of hypertensive and arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease at age 67. His funeral is held Monday, November 24 1997 at Cedar Crest Place Funeral Home in Dallas, followed by his burial at Lincoln Memorial Park.
1998 - Jim Sands (born James Robert Sands), singer, tenor soloist with Capitol Records band Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians for many years, as well as a solo artist for Allegro Records, dies in New York City at age 76.
2000 - Capitol Records announces that it has purchased The Gogerty Buiding, which is next to The Capitol Tower on the South West corner of Vine Street and Yucca. Initally, it was announced that the building would be refurbished as a museum to house memorabilia from Capitol recording artists such as the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, etc. The historical facade of the building is kept mostly intact but the complete interior is demolished by KPFF, including its famous white staircase from the lobby to the second floor, and rebuilt. The building is not currently a museum, it houses more of EMI's offices and was part of the $50 million sale of The Capitol Tower by the EMI Group to New York-based commercial property firm Argent Ventures. The exterior was changed to include large windows that house everchanging photos of the artists that have current releases on Capitol Records. There is now an courtyard/amphitheatre where there was once a side parking lot that the annual employees' family Christmas party was held for years.
2003 - "Speedy" West (born Wesley Webb West), steel guitarist, session musician (for Cliffie Stone, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jean Shepard, Ferlin Husky, Sheb Wooley, Bing Crosby, The Andrew Sisters, Ella Mae Morse, Spike Jones, and many others), inductee into the Steel Guitarist Hall Of Fame, and Capitol Records artist (both as a solo artist from 1950-1962, and as a duo from 1951-1956 with fellow Capitol Records artist and guitarist Jimmy Bryant), dies at 12:23 P.M. in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma at age 79 after a long illness which came after a stroke in 2001 left him unable to play but, with his vast memory of Country Music still intact, still able to host and speak at various music conventions and events.
2004 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles box set "The Capitol Albums, Volume 1" containing the mono and stereo versions of the first four Beatles albums that Capitol released in the U.S.
2005 - Glen Campbell, singer, guitarist, television host, and Capitol Records artist, is formerly inducted into the Country Music Association's Country Music Hall Of Fame at "The 39th Annual CMA Awards" show held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and televised by the CBS-TV network.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1975 - Columbia Records releases Pink Floyd's single "Have A Cigar" with "Welcome To The Machine" on the flip side in the U.S. Pink Floyd's entire catalog is currently distributed by Capitol Records in the United States.
1980 - Blondie's Chrysalis Records single "The Tide Is High" with "Suzy & Jeffery" on the flip side, enters Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart at #81. EMI Music, Capitol Records' parent company, currently owns the Chrysalis catalog.
1980 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Lenono/Geffen Records album "Double Fantasy" is released. Capitol Records currently distributes the entire Lennon/Ono catalog and has reissued the album on the Capitol label.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1926 - The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is founded

NOVEMBER 14, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1915 - Martha Tilton (aka "The Liltin' Miss Tilton"), singer and Capitol Records artist (1942-1949) is born Martha Ellen Tilton in Corpus Christi, Texas. Ms. Tilton is the first artist signed to Capitol Records and her tracks "Moon Dreams" and "The Angels Cried", both written and produced by Capitol Records co-founder Johnny Mercer and recorded on April 4, 1942, with backing by The Mellowaires and an Orchestra, are listed as Masters #1 & #2, respectively, for the label. "The Angels Cried" is released as a Capitol single #105, with "I'll Remember April" on the flip side, as one of the nine selections that make up Capitol's first release shipment to stores on July 1, 1942.
1950 - Colleen Peterson, singer, songwriter, Juno and CCMA award winner, and Capitol Records artist (1976 -1978) and Capitol/EMI Canada artist (1995 - until her death in 1996), is born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1950 - Merle Travis records the track "Won'tcha Be My Baby" for Capitol Records
1961 - The Kingston Trio record the Pete Seeger track "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" for Capitol Records with producer Voyle Gilmore in New York City, New York which is released as a single, with "O Ken Karanga" that peaks at #21 on Billboard's singles chart
1967 - Composer, arranger and conductor Oliver Nelson (with The Jazz Interactions Orchestra: Burt Collins, Ray Copeland, Ernie Royal, and Marvin Stamm on trumpet; Joe Newman on trumpet and also conducting), Wayne Andre, Jimmy Cleveland, and Benny Powell on trombone; Paul Faulise on baritone saxophone; Ray Alonge and Jim Buffington on french horn; Don Butterfield on tuba; Jerry Dodgion on alto saxophone, clarinet and flute; Phil Woods on alto saxophone and clarinet; George Marge on tenor saxophone, clarinet and flute; Zoot Sims on tenor saxophone; Danny Bank on baritone saxophone, baritone clarinet and flute; Bobby Rosengarden on vibraphone and percussion; Patti Bown on piano; Ron Carter and George Duvivier on ; and Ed Shaughnessy on drums, records his self-penned track "A Typical Day In New York" for his Verve Records album "Jazzhattan Suite" at Capitol Records' studios in New York City
1980 - Maze featuring Frankie Beverly start the first of two days of performances at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, Louisiana that are recorded and later released in 1981 by Capitol Records on the album "Live In New Orleans"
2000 - Apple Records releases The Beatles' "1" album in the United States with distribution by Capitol Records. I helped adapt the U.K packaging into U.S. templates, helped find artwork for the band's singles that was used in the packaging and posters, and designed the ads, buttons, posters, banners, and even the signage that was put along the entire top of The Capitol Tower, used to promote the album in the U.S.
1995 - To celebrated Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday, Capitol Records releases two new albums: "Sinatra 80th: Live In Concert" (his first live album in 20 years, the CD contains tracks recorded at concerts given at venues around the world) and the two disc compilation CD "Sinatra 80th: All The Best" (which includes a newly created mix of the track "The Christmas Song" where Sinatra duets with Nat "King" Cole using the same technique that allowed Cole's daughter Natalie to duet with her father on the track "Unforgettable")
1999 - EMI Music Distribution begins offering retailers a $3 rebate on each unit sold of the latest Garth Brooks album "In... The Life Of Chris Gaines". In exchange, the retailers are asked to lower the retail price of the Capitol Records album to as low as possible.
2006 - Capitol Records reissues Sonny James' 1990 compilation CD "Capitol Collector's Series" to celebrate his recent induction into the CMA's Country Music Hall Of Fame.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1965 - Judy Garland, singer, actress, and Capitol Records artist, marries actor Mark Herron

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1903 - The residents of Hollywood, California vote to incorporate as an independent city but will decide to annex into the city of Los Angeles in 1910 to obtain a sure water supply

NOVEMBER 13, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1915 - Jack Guthrie, singer, songwriter, cousin of Woody Guthrie, and Capitol Records artist(1944-1948), is born Leon Jerry Guthrie in Olive, Oklahoma
1932 - Meg Myles, actress, singer, and Capitol Records (1955-1957) and Liberty Records artist (1957-1958), is born Billie Jean Jones in Seattle, Washington
1937 - Rick Larence, radio producer for Wolfman Jack in the 1950s and Capitol Records employee in the 1960s (before going to Mercury Records in the 1970s), and sports talk show host, is born Anthony Richard Lacovara in Elmhurst, N.Y.
1949 - Terry Reid, singer, guitarist, session musician and Capitol Records artist (1979), is born in Huntingdon, England
1949 - Roger Steen, guitarist and vocalist with the Capitol Records band The Tubes, is born in Pipestone, Minnesota

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1960 - Ferlin Husky's Capitol Records single "Wings Of A Dove", with "Next To Jimmy" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Country Singles chart
1967 - Composer, arranger and conductor Oliver Nelson (with The Jazz Interactions Orchestra: Burt Collins, Ray Copeland, Ernie Royal, and Marvin Stamm on trumpet; Joe Newman on trumpet and also conducting), Wayne Andre, Jimmy Cleveland, and Benny Powell on trombone; Paul Faulise on baritone saxophone; Ray Alonge and Jim Buffington on french horn; Don Butterfield on tuba; Jerry Dodgion on alto saxophone, clarinet and flute; Phil Woods on alto saxophone and clarinet; George Marge on tenor saxophone, clarinet and flute; Zoot Sims on tenor saxophone; Danny Bank on baritone saxophone, baritone clarinet and flute; Bobby Rosengarden on vibraphone and percussion; Patti Bown on piano; Ron Carter and George Duvivier on ; and Ed Shaughnessy on drums, records his self-penned tracks "Complex City", "The East Side, The West Side", "125th and 7th Avenue", "A Penthouse Dawn", and "One For Duke" for his Verve Records album "Jazzhattan Suite" at Capitol Records' studios in New York City
1971 - Harvest Records releases Pink Floyd's album "Meddle" with Capitol Records handling distribution in the United States
1974 - John Lennon's Apple Records single "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" (with Elton John on piano, organ and backing vocals), with the instrumental "Beef Jerky" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart becoming his only solo record to do so. The disc is distributed in the United States by Capitol Records.
1982 - Capitol Records releases George Clinton's first solo album, "Computer Games"
1985 - Capitol Records releases Paul McCartney's single "Spys Like Us" with "My Carnival" on the flip side as both a 7" and a 12" which contained extended remixes of both songs. It is McCartney's first single for Capitol Records after his time with Columbia Records.
1995 - Blind Melon's self-titled Capitol Records album is certified quadruple platinum by the R.I.A.A.
1997 - Onzy D. Matthews, pianist, songwriter, arranger (Lou Rawls, Les Brown, Dexter Gordon, Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, Herb Alpert, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and more), and Capitol Records artist (1964) is last seen alive on this date. He is found dead of hypertensive and arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease at age 67, sitting at his typewriter in his East Dallas apartment two days later on November 15, 1997 by singer Jeannette Brantley and her husband, Hans Wango.
2000 - The Beatles' first official Web site, www.thebeatles.com, launches on the same day as the U.K. release of their Parlophone Records compilation album "1". The album is released the next day, November 14, in the United States by Capitol Records.
2001 - Capitol Records Nashville releases Garth Brooks' album last album for the label, "Scarecrow"
2001 - Capitol Records releases Paul McCartney's album "Driving Rain"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1968 - United Artists premieres The Beatles' animated feature film "The Yellow Submarine" in New York City. Apple Records will release the soundtrack album and re-issue a remastered and expanded version in 1999 on CD to co-incide with MGM-UA's remastered DVD release. Capitol Records will handle distribution in the United States of both versions of the soundtrack.
1971 - Warner Bros. Records releases future Capitol Records artist Bonnie Raitt debut self-titled album. She will go on to record eight more albums for Warner Bros. before moving to Capitol Records in 1989.
1995 - Virgin Records America, a subsidiary of Capitol Records, releases The Rolling Stones sixth live album "Stripped"
2001 - Virgin Records America releases D-Shot's album "Money, Sex & Thugs"

NOVEMBER 12, 2007


HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY!
1917 - Jo Stafford, singer, a Capitol Records artist as part of the group The Pied Pipers, vocalist with Red Ingle and His Natural Seven (using the name Cinderella G. Stump) and as a solo artist, wife of Capitol Records first music director Paul Weston with whom she recorded as part of the duo Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, and co-founder with Weston of Corinthian Records, is born Jo Elizabeth Stafford in Coalinga, California. Stafford is the first recording artist to sell 25 million records.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1965 - Vic Chesnutt, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and Capitol Records artist (1996) is born Jacksonville, Florida
1964 - Dave Ellefson, Capitol Records group Megadeth's first bass player, is born David Ellefson, Jr. in in Jackson, Minnesota

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - Peggy Lee, with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra (Barbour on guitar, Heine Beau on clarinet, Benny Carter on alto saxophone, Herbert Haymer on tenor saxophone, Ray Linn and Zeke Zarchy on trumpet, Red Callendar on bass, Buddy Cole on piano, Red Norvo on vibraphones, Nick Fatool on drums, and an unknown trombonist) and producer Lee Gillette, records the tracks "Story Weather" and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" which will appear on her Capitol Records album "Rendevous With Peggy Lee", as well as "Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe" (which remained unreleased until it appeared on Lee's 1998 Capitol Records compilation album "Miss Peggy Lee") and "Talkin' To Myself About You" (which was released on her Capitol Records single with "Laroo Laroo Lilli Bolero", which will be recorded on November 25, 1947, on the flip side) using arrangements by Heine Beau, Benny Carter, Billy May and Harold Mooney in Los Angeles, California. If anyone knows who arranged which tracks, who the trombonist was, and/or at which studio in L.A. the session was held, please leave a comment.
1955 - Tennessee Ernie Ford's Capitol Records single "Sixteen Tons", with "You Don't Have to be a Baby to Cry" on the flip side, enters Billboard's singles chart at #27
1988 - Poison's Capitol Records single "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", with "Livin' For The Minute" on the flip side, debuts at #33 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1991 - Capitol Records releases Poison's live album "Swallow This Live"
1996 - Capitol Records releases Blind Melon's last studio album "Nico", named after the daughter of the band's late singer Shannon Hoon
1996 - Capitol Records releases Vic Chesnutt's album "About To Choke"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1891 - Richard Whiting, composer, writing partner with Capitol Records co-founder Johnny Mercer on songs for motion pictures, father of Capitol Records recording artist Margaret Whiting, is born
1931 - Sir Edward Elgar opens the new EMI Recording Studios at Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, London, England. EMI is the parent company of Capitol Records.
1946 - Walt Disney Pictures' live action/animated feature film "Song Of The South" has its world premiere at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. Capitol Records will release a soundtrack album as part of its childrens records series.
2001 - Virgin Records America, a subsidiary of Capitol Records, releases Mick Jagger's fourth solo album "Goddess In The Doorway"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1954 - Ellis Island closes after processing more than 20 million immigrants since opening in New York Harbor in 1892. My grandfather

NOVEMBER 11, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1902 - Webley Edwards, radio news reporter, host of the radio show "Hawaii Calls" for 37 years, and producer/compiler of Capitol Records' "Hawaii Calls" series of albums, is born in Corvallis, Oregon
1920 - Annisteen Allen, singer and Capitol Records artist (1954-1955) who introduced the song "Fujiyama Mama" in 1955 that was later covered by fellow Capitol Records artist Wanda Jackson, is born Ernestine Letitia Allen in Champaign, Illinois
1953 - Marshall Crenshaw, singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and compiler/producer of the 1989 Capitol Records album "Hillbilly Music: Thank God!, Vol. 1", is born in Detroit, Michigan

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1943 - The King Cole Trio's first Capitol Records single (#139) "All For You" with "Vom, Vim, Veedle" on the flipside, hits #1 on Billboard's Harlem Hit Parade chart. The record was originally released on by Excelsior Records. Capitol Records bought the masters when it signed the trio.
1957 - Capitol Records releases Stan Freberg's single "Wun'erful, Wun'erful", a parody of "The Lawrence Welk Show" that covered both sides of the single which were labeled "Side Uh-One" and "Side Uh-Two"
1963 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens' album "Buck Owens Sings Tommy Collins"
1965 - Buck Owens records his self-penned track "Dust On Mother's Bible" for his upcoming Capitol Records album of the same name with producer Ken Nelson and The Buckaroos
1965 - The Beatles record the tracks "You Won't See Me" and "Girl", each in just two takes, as well as overdubs for the tracks "Wait" and "I'm Looking Through You" from 6:00 PM to 7:00 AM in Studio Two at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, England with producer George Martin, recording engineer Norman Smith and second engineer Ken Scott
1972 - Johnny Rivers' United Artists Records single "Rockin' Pnuemonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu", with "Come Home America" on the flip side, debuts at #37 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Capitol Records parent company, EMI Music, currently owns the United Artists catalog.
1977 - Capitol Records releases Wings' "double A" sided single "Mull Of Kintyre" with "Girls' School" on the flip side
1993 - Capitol Records band Blind Melon appear nude on the cover of the magazine Rolling Stone with lead singer Shannon Hoone's hair braided into pig-tails
2002 - Capitol Records Australia releases Dead Ringer Band's compilation CD "Very Best Of...So Far"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1927 - Mose Allison, songwriter, pianist, and Blue Note Records artist (1987-), is born in Tippo, Mississippi. Blue Note Records is currently a subsidiary of Capitol Records and its catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, Capitol Records' parent company.
1962 - Dimension Records releases The Cookies' single "Chains", written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and later covered by The Beatles, with "Stranger In My Arms" on the flip side, is released
1963 - The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, meets with TV variety show host Ed Sullivan in Epstein's suite at the Delmonico Hotel in New York City to arrange the band's first two appearances on Sullivan's show in February 1964
1963 - Liberty Records releases Billy J. Kramer and The Dakota's single "I'll Keep You Satisfied" (written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) with "I Know" on the flip side. Liberty Records catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, Capitol Records' parent company.
1965 - The management company Nemperor Artists Limited is incorporated. The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, is one of the company's founding directors.
1968 - Apple Records releases its first non-soundtrack album, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album "Two Virgins", after the cover art - a self portrait photo of both artists standing in a full frontal nude pose - is rejected by EMI and Capitol Records. The album is was licensed for distribution to Track Records in the UK and Tetragrammaton Records in the US.
1979 - Dimitri Tiomkin (born Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin), Golden Globe and Academy Award winning composer of film scores (including the song "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'(The Ballad of High Noon)" which was one of Tex Ritter's biggest Capitol Records hits), dies in London, England at age 85 and was later was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
1998 - EMI/Toshiba, Capitol Records distributor in Japan, releases Capitol Records band Megadeth's five track instrumental EP "Cryptic Sounds (No Voices in Your Head)" on a CD which is sold only in Japan
1995 - Smashing Pumpkins' Virgin Records album "Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness" hit #1 on the U.S. album chart. Virgin Records is currently a subsidiary of Capitol Records and Capitol's parent company, EMI Music, currently controls Virgin's catalog.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1918 - The Allied and Central Powers sign an armistice agreement at 5 a.m. in Marshal Foch's railway car in the Forest of Compiegne, France which officially ends the first World War. One year later, United States president Woodrow Wilson declares the day a permanent national holiday called Armistice Day which will, in 1954, be renamed to Veterans' Day.
1932 - The National Broadcasting Company opens its new studios at Radio City in New York City which includes a gala celebration program at Radio City Music Hall
1938 - On her radio program, Kate Smith introduces Irving Berlin's song "God Bless America", giving it its first public performance. Berlin wrote the tune in 1917 but it "sat in the trunk" until Ms. Smith's performance.

NOVEMBER 10, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1907 - Jane Froman, singer, night club, Broadway, motion picture and television performer, and Capitol Records artist (1952)is born Ellen Jane Froman in University City, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Capitol Records also released the soundtrack album to the film of her life story, "With A Song In My Heart", where Froman supplied the vocals for the film's star, Susan Hayward.
1916- Billy May, trumpet player, composer, arranger, conductor, band leader, and Capitol Records artist, is born Edward William May Jr. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1930 - Neal Merritt, disc jockey, singer, songwriter and Capitol Records artist (1964-1965), is born in San Antonio, Texas
1941 - Kyu Sakamoto, actor, singer, and Capitol Records artist (1963) who holds the distinction of being the only artist to have a U.S. #1 hit song sung entirely in Japanese ("Ue o muite arukō" aka "Looking Up While Walking" aka "Sukiyaki"), is born Hisashi Oshima in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
1968 - Chris Cagle, singer, pianist, guitarist, Virgin Records (2000-2001) and Capitol Records (2001-) artist, is born Christopher Norris Cagle in De Ridder, Louisiana

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1954 - Coronet player Bobby Hackett finishes sessions for his Capitol Records album "In A Mellow Mood" by recording the tracks "Carefree", "You're My Thrill", "Stars In My Eyes", and "In A Sentimental Mood", with arranger and conductor Glenn Osser, in New York City, New York
1958 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens' single "I'll Take A Chance On Loving You" with "Walk The Floor" on the flip side
1965 - The Beatles record the track "I'm Looking Through You" for the third time for their album "Rubber Soul" that will distributed by Capitol Records in the United States
1967 - The Beatles film three color promotional films, directed by Paul McCartney, for their new single "Hello Goodbye", at the Saville Theatre in London

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1956 - Victor Young (born Victor Popular Young), violinist, arranger, conductor, composer of film scores and "White (The Young At Heart)" (which was adapted from a cue Young wrote for the film "Three Coins In A Fountain") for Frank Sinatra's Capitol Records album "Tone Poems Of Color", dies of a massive heart attack in Palm Springs, California at age 56
1959 - Liberty Records releases Johnny Burnette's label debut single "Settin' The Woods On Fire" with "Kentucky Waltz" on the flip side. Liberty Records catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, Capitol Records parent company.
1994 - Carmen McRae, singer and Blue Note Records artist (1976), dies of a stroke following complications from a respiratory illness in Beverly Hills, California at age 72. Blue Note's catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, Capitol Records' parent company.
1997 - Tommy Tedesco, guitarist and studio musician (who performed at sessions for The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Phil Spector, and many others, as well as playing on such TV themes as "Bonanza" and "M*A*S*H,"), dies at his home in Northridge, California at age 67
1998 - EMI-UK releases the 21 CD box set "Sinatra The Capitol Years", containing every Sinatra track released during his time with Capitol (1953-1961), remastered and remixed to 20 bit digital audio, making this collection sound better than any US release of Sinatra's Capitol material to date

BTW
This is my 600th entry to this blog.

NOVEMBER 9, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1889- Claude Rains, theatre and motion picture actor, and Capitol Records artist (narrator of "Bible Stories For Children" series of in 1948), is born William Claude Rains in Camberwell, London, England

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1950 - Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan, with Cameron Hill on guitar, records the tracks "Hot Rode Race", "Walkin' With The Blues" and "Washed Away With The Tide" at a session for Capitol Records
1951 - Jo Stafford records the track "Shrimp Boats"
1954 - Coronet player Bobby Hackett records the Glenn Osser arranged tracks "Rain", "Serenade In Blue", "Lazy River", and "Get Out Of Town", in New York City for his Capitol Records album "In A Mellow Mood"
1959 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Country Girl", with "I Hear You Talkin'" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Country Singles chart
1959 - Capitol Records releases The Kingston Trio's single "Coo Coo-U" (recorded February 2, 1958 in Studio B of The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California with the addition of Mongo Santarnaria on congas and Willie Bobo on timbale and vocal shouts) with a version of the John Stewart-penned "Green Grasses" (recorded September 28, 1959) on the flip side that did not include the later added banjo in the mix
1961 - Dinah Shore re-records "I'll Walk Alone" for Capitol Records, with Dick Reynolds conducting the orchestra, seventeen years to the month after her original 1944 Columbia Records version hit #1 on the U.S. singles charts
1999 - Bonnie Raitt, Capitol Records artist, announces her divorce from Michael O'Keefe
2003 - Buddy Arnold (born Arnold Grishaver), saxophonist, co-founder, with his wife Carole Fields, of the Musicians' Assistance Program (an organization that has treated over 1,500 people working in the music industry for drug and alcohol addiction), and Capitol Records artist (both as a member of Stan Kenton and His Orchestra and as a solo artist), dies at age 77 in Los Angeles, California of complications after open heart surgery.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1961 - Brian Epstein attends a lunchtime show by The Beatles' at The Cavern Club, a disused warehouse beneath Matthew Street in Liverpool, England, to see what all the fuss is about. After the band finishes playing, he introduces himself, invites the group (at the time John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best) to drop by the NEMS shop he runs and, during their visit, offers to manage the band.
1966 - Johnny River's Imperial Records single "Poor Side of Town" (the only one of his top 40 hits that he wrote himself), with "A Man Can Cry" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Imperial Records catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, parent company of Capitol Records.
1967 - With John Lennon featured on its cover, the first issue of Rolling Stone magazine is published

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1951 - Sigmund Romberg, composer of operettas (including "Maytime", "Blossom Time", "Student Prince", "The Desert Song", The New Moon", and "Up In Central Park") and film scores, dies at age 64 in New York City, New York
2003 - Art Carney (born Arthur William Matthew Carney), television and motion picture actor, dies at age 85

NOVEMBER 8, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1947 - Minnie Riperton, singer and Capitol Records artist, is born Minnie Julia Riperton in Chicago, Illinois
1949 - Bonnie Raitt, singer, songwriter, guitarist, daughter of Broadway musical and motion picture actor and Capitol Records artist John Raitt, and Capitol Records artist is born Bonnie Lynn Raitt in Burbank, California

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1964 - Capitol Records artists Judy Garland and her daughter Liza Minnelli perform a live concert at the Palladium in London, England that is taped for a BBC special. Selections from the show are later released as a double album by Capitol Records.
1965 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' album "Beach Boys' Party!" and their single "The Little Girl I Once Knew" with "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" on the flip side
1965 - The Beatles record the track "Think For Yourself" at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, England. The track will appear on the band's "Rubber Soul" album that will be distributed by Capitol Records in the United States.
1971 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens' single "Too Old To Cut The Mustard with "Wham Bam" on the flip side
1976 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles' single "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" with "Julia" on the flip side
1986 - Capitol Records releases W.A.S.P.'s album "Inside the Electric Circus"
1987 - Carl Wilson, of the Capitol Records group The Beach Boys, marries his second wife, Gina Martin
1987 - Bob Seger, singer, guitarist, band leader, and Capitol Records artist, marries his second wife, actress Annette (Nita) Sinclar
1991 - Frances Faye, singer, songwriter, and Capitol Records artist, dies in Los Angeles, California after a series of strokes at age 79. Ray Hagen has a wonderful online tribute to Ms. Faye.
2003 - Keith Urban's Capitol Records Nashville single "Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me" peaks at #1 on Billboard's Country Singles chart where it will stay for four weeks. If anyone knows if this song was released as a traditional single, and what the flip side is, please leave a comment.
2005 - Grand Royal and Capitol Records release The Beastie Boys' compilation album "Solid Gold Hits" as a CD/DVD combo and as a standard CD
2005 - Capitol Records releases the 4 DVD set of live footage from the "Live 8" shows staged in London and Philadelphia and highlights from the seven other events staged across the world

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1952 - Aladdin Records owner Eddie Mesner presents future Capitol Records group The 5 Keys with gold keys and key chains in appreciation for their "outstanding record work during 1952". Aladdin also buys them a green 1951 9-passenger DeSoto Suburban, with a luggage rack on the roof. It was decorated with a key ring, on which there were 5 keys, and also an advertisement for the Shaw Artists Corporation in the back. The DeSoto would be driven by B.C. Curtis, who was The 5 Keys valet/chauffeur at the time. Aladdin's catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, the parent company of Capitol Records. Marv Goldberg has a great article on the history of The 5 Keys" on his R&B Notebook site.
1958 - Dave Bartholomew records the track "Button Down Blues" for Imperial Records which will be released as a single with "Short Subjects" on the flip side. Imperial's catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, parent company of Capitol Records.
1967 - The motion picture "How I Won the War", starring Michael Crawford and John Lennon (in the role of Corporal Gripeweed), premieres in New York City
1968 - John and Cynthia Lennon are offically divorced after six years of marriage
1971 - Brother Records releases The Beach Boys' single "Surf's Up" with "Don't Go Near The Water" on the flip side. Capitol Records currently distributes Brother Records' catalog.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1973 - Walt Disney Pictures releases the feature length animated motion picture "Robin Hood"