MAY 1, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
80 Years Ago Today In 1929 - Sonny James (aka "The Southern Gentleman"), singer, guitarist, and Capitol Records artist, is born James Loden in Hackleburg, Alabama

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1948 - Capitol Records holds the #1 and #2 spots on Billboard's Best Selling Singles Chart with Peggy Lee's "Mañana" at # 1 for the 9th straight week and Nat "King" Cole's first solo recording, "Nature Boy", at # 2 (it would hit #1 the following week and stay for 7 weeks)
55 Years Ago Today In 1954 - Frank Sinatra with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra's Capitol Records single "Young At Heart" is #5 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Nat "King" Cole's Capitol Records single "Answer Me, My Love" is #6, Kay Starr's Capitol Records single "If You Love Me (Really Love Me) is #11, and it's flip side, "The Man Upstairs", is at #12
55 Years Ago Today In 1954 - Capitol Records artist Andy Griffith debuts at The Grand Ole Opry
1957 - Frank Sinatra records the tracks "Maybe You'll Be There" and "Where Are You?" at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California
1958 - The Kingston Trio make their TV debut on the Playhouse 90 episode "Rumors Of Evening" when they play WW2 pilots as well as sing.
1961 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Hello Walls" is at #39 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart
1966 - The Beatles' last scheduled concert in the UK is held at the New Musical Express Poll Winner's Show at Empire Pool, Wembley. The Beatles played a fifteen-minute set performing the songs, "I Feel Fine," "Nowhere Man," "Day Tripper," "If I Needed Someone," and "I'm Down."
40 Years Ago Today In 1969 - Peggy Lee's Capitol Records album "Natural Woman" is released
1988 - Pink Floyd's Capitol Records album "Dark Side Of The Moon" finally leaves Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart after 725 weeks
10 Years Ago Today In 1999 - Matador Records ends it distribution relationship with Capitol Records and goes independent
2001 - After a transition period, Andy Slater starts full time as president of Capitol Records

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL HISTORY
1868 - Tom Dula, the basis for the Kingston Trio's first million selling single "Tom Dooley", is hung in Statesville, North Carolina
1918 - Jack Paar, television host who, via a short clip, introduced The Beatles to the U.S. television audience on "The Jack Paar Show" on NBC-TV , is born in Canton, Ohio
1951 - Bud Powell (on piano, with Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums) records three versions of his "Un Poco Loco", a pair of takes on "A Night in Tunisia", and unaccompanied piano work on "Over the Rainbow" and "It Could Happen to You" at a session for Blue Note Records
1961 - Ernie K-Doe's Minit Records single "Mother-In-Law" is #2 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records Chart, Gene McDaniel's Liberty Records single "A Hundred Pounds Of Clay" is #4, Steve Lawrence's United Artists Records single "Portrait Of My Love" is #11, Al Caiola and His Orchestra's United Artists Records single "Bonanza" is #33, and Ricky Nelson's Imperial Records single "Travelin' Man" is #34
1963 - Future Virgin Records band The Rollin' Stones sign Andrew Loog Oldham as manager
1967 - Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu are married at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas by District Court Judge David Zenoff. They will become the parents of future Capitol Records artist Lisa Marie Presley.
1968 - D'Arcy Wretsky-Brown, with the Virgin Records America group Smashing Pumpkins, is born

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1901 - The Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, New York
100 Years Ago Today In 1909 - Kate Smith, singer and radio, television and motion picture performer, is born Kathryn Elizabeth Smith in Greenville, Virginia
1931 - The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City
1941 - Orson Welles's Citizen Kane premieres in New York City
1965 - Spike Jones (born born Lindley Armstrong Jones), comedian, motion picture and television performer, musician and bandleader, dies at age 53 and later interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California