MARCH 19, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1946 - Paul Atkinson, original guitarist with the group The Zombies and Vice President A&R Catalog for Capitol Records until 2001, is born Paul Ashley Warren Atkinson in Cuffley, Hertfordshire, England. I met with Paul several times while doing work for Capitol. He would listen to your case if you really had a passion for a project and had done your research to back it up, but he had the unenviable job of having to justifying the cost of re-releasing material with predicted sales and having to say "no" when the numbers just didn't add up. I remember going to his 55th birthday party in the small 12th floor conference room in The Capitol Tower and how he played guitar for his department's track for the annual employee Christmas album.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1955 - Tennessee Ernie Ford's Capitol Records single "Ballad Of Davy Crockett (From Walt Disney's Davy Crockett)", with "Farewell (From Walt Disney's Davy Crockett)" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of the U.S. Pop singles charts
1966 - Buck Owens' Capitol Records single "Waitin' In Your Welfare Line" is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts
1966 - The Beatles' Capitol Records single "Nowhere Man", with "What Goes On" on the flip side, is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1979 - America signs with Capitol Records
1996 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles' Apple Records compilation "Anthology 2" in the United States

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1894 or 1903 - Joe Venuti, violinist, bandleader, who in 1937 after hearing 15 year old future Capitol Records artist Kay Starr on the radio made her the vocalist for his band for two years, is born Giuseppe Venuti in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If anyone knows for sure which year he was born, please leave a comment.
80 Years Ago Today In 1928 - Henry Ford Maddox, vocalist, mandolin and guitar player, with the group The Maddox Brothers & Rose which featured his sister, future Capitol Records artist Rose Maddox, is born in Boaz, Alabama
1966 - Gary Lewis & The Playboys' Liberty Records single "Sure Gonna Miss Her", with "I Don't Wanna Say Goodnight" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of the U.S. Pop singles chart
25 Years Ago Today In 1983 - Thomas Dolby's Harvest Records single "She Blinded Me With Science", with "Flying North" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Harvest Records is a subsidiary of Capitol Records.
20 Years Ago Today In 1988 - Natalie Cole's Manhattan Records single "Pink Cadillac", with "I Wanna Be That Woman" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart where it will peak at #5. Manhattan Records is a division of Capitol Records.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
80 Years Ago Today In 1928 - Patrick McGoohan, stage, motion picture and television actor ("Danger Man" [aka "Secret Agent" in the United States], "The Three Lives of Thomasina", "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh" "Braveheart", "Escape from Alcatraz", "The Silver Streak", "Ice Station Zebra", "I Am a Camera", and "The Prisoner" [which he also directed and wrote episodes]) is born in in Astoria, Queens, New York
1957 - Elvis Presley purchases his home, the Graceland mansion, in Memphis, Tennessee from Mrs. Ruth Brown-Moore