JANUARY 4, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1896 - Everett Dirksen, U.S. Senator (Republican, from Illinois), Grammy winner for Best Documentary Recording, and Capitol Records artist (1966-1968), is born Everett McKinley Dirkesen in Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois
1966 - Deana Carter, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and Capitol Records Nashville artist (1996-2002), is born Deana Kay Carter in Nashville, Tennessee

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1945 - Johnny Mercer, The Pied Pipers with June Hutton and Paul Weston and His Orchestra's Capitol Records single (180) "Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive" (recorded October 4, 1944), with their track "There's A Fellow Waiting in P'Keepsie" on the flip side, enters Billboard's Pop singles chart where it will stay for 13 weeks and eventually peak at #2
1956 - Dean Martin's Capitol Records single "Memories Are Made Of This", with "Change Of Heart" on the flip side, is #1 on Billboard's Pop singles chart
1967 - The Beatles record the track "Penny Lane"
1970 - The Beatles record the track "Let It Be"
1989 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens' single "A-11" with "Sweethearts In Heaven" on the flip side
1991 - Capitol Records artist Merle Haggard wins the American Music Awards' "Award of Merit"
2001 - Les Brown, bandleader and Capitol Records artist, dies at age 88 in Pacific Palisades, California and is later interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1918 - Norman "Buddy" Baker, composer, musical director (for over 200 Walt Disney TV shows and movies), trombone and euphonium player, and arranger (Capitol Records artist Stan Kenton and His Orchestra's "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" as well as for the Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope and Jack Benny radio shows) is born
1935 - Future Capitol Records artist Bob Hope is heard for the first time on national radio as part of "The Intimate Review", sponsored by Bromo Seltzer, which also features future Capitol Records artist Jane Froman as wil as James Melton and The Al Goodman Orchestra. The show will last for 14 weeks
1955 - Capitol Records artist Tennessee Ernie Ford's first daytime TV variety show airs
1957 - Fats Dominio records "I'm Walkin'" for Imperial Records in New Orleans. Imperial's catalog is currently owned by Capitol Records' parent company, EMI Music.
1976 - Mal Evans, longtime roadie and bodyguard for the Parlophone, Apple and Capitol Records group The Beatles, is shot and killed by police in Los Angeles, who apparently mistake his air gun for a real gun
1979 - The Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, reopens to the public due to renewed interest in The Beatles. Working at the club had been an important part of the band's early history, but none of its former members attend the reopening.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1905 - Sterling Holloway, Broadway musical singer and performer (The 1925 "Garrick Gaieties" where he introduced Rodgers and Harts "I'll Take Manhattan" and the 1926 "Garrick Gaieties" were he introduced their "Mountain Greenery"), motion picture actor (Thunder and Lightning, Super Seal, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Walk in the Sun, Death Valley, Twilight on the Rio Grande, The Merry Widow, International House, Willy, The Life of Riley, The Baileys of Balboa, and more); character voice actor for Walt Disney (Winnie the Pooh in the "Winnie The Pooh" shorts, The Cheshire Cat in "Alice In Wonderland", The Stork in "Dumbo", Kaa in "The Jungle Book", and more) is born in Cedartown, Georgia
1936 - Billboard Magazine publishes its first pop music chart based on national sales. At #1 is big band violinist Joe Venuti and His Orchestra's Columbia single (3104D) "Stop! Look! And Listen!" with "Yankee Doodle Never Went To Town" on the flip side, both of which were recorded October 28, 1935.