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.