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.