JUNE 24, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1942 - Bruce Johnston, songwriter (best know for "I Write The Songs"), keyboardist, drummer, bass player, singer, and member of The Beach Boys, is born Benjamin Baldwin in Peoria, Illinois and will be adopted three days later on June 27, 1942 and have his name changed to Bruce Arthur Johnston

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
65 Years Ago Today In 1944 - Jo Stafford (with Paul Weston and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Long Ago (And Far Away)" (with "I Love You" on the flip side) is #6 up from #7 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Andy Russell (with orchestra conducted by Al Saks)'s Capitol Records single "Amor" (with "The Day After Forever" on the flip side) is #7 down from #5, and The King Cole Trio's Capitol Records single "Straighten Up And Fly Right" (with "I Can't See For Lookin'" on the flip side) enters the top 10 at #9
1950 - Nat "King" Cole (with Les Baxter and His Orchestra using a Nelson Riddle arrangement)'s Capitol Records single "Mona Lisa" (the flip side of "The Greatest Inventor Of Them All") is #5 up from #9 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart
1957 - Tommy Sands' Capitol Records single "Goin' Steady" is #19 up from #30 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart and Ferlin Husky's Capitol Records single "Gone" is #24 down from #15
50 Years Ago Today In 1958 - Frank Sinatra records the tracks "One For My Baby", "Blues In The Night", "What's New", and "Gone With The Wind" with producer Voyle Gilmore, and with arranger Nelson Riddle conducting the studio orchestra, for his Capitol Records album "Only The Lonely" at The Capitol Tower Studios In Hollywood, California
1961 - Peggy Lee, with producer Dave Cavanaugh and a studio orchestra (Justin Gordon, Theodore Nash on flute; an unknown french horn section, an unknown string section using arrangements by Quincy Jones; Dennis Budimir and Al Hendrickson on guitar; Max Bennett on bass; Victor Feldman on piano and vibraphones; Stan Levey and Shelly Manne on drums; Francisco "Chino" Pozo on bongos and congos; Mike Gutierrez and Mel Zelnick on percussion), records the tracks "Say It Isn't So" and "Maybe It's Because (I Love You)" at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California for her Capitol Records album "If You Go"
1963 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens and Rose Maddox's single "We're The Talk Of The Town" with "Sweethearts In Heaven" on the flip side
45 Years Ago Today In 1964 - Instrumental tracks for The Beach Boys' songs "Frosty The Snowman" and "I'll Be Home For Christmas", using a 41 piece orchestra conducted by orchestra master Benjamin Barrett and arranged by Dick Reynolds, are recorded in The Capitol Tower Studios. Vocal tracks for the songs will be recorded on June 30 at Western Studios in Hollywood, California
1968 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' album "Friends"
1972 - Capitol Records releases Helen Reddy's single "I Am Woman" with "More Than You Could Take" on the flip side. The track would go hit #1 on Billboard's singles chart on December 9, 1972 (Capitol's first non-Beatles #1 since "Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" peaked on August 29, 1967) and would win Reddy a Grammy for Female Pop Vocal Performance for which, at the televised ceremony, she would thank God because "...She makes everything possible".
1972 - Sonny James' Capitol Records single "That's Why I Love You Like I Do", with "Still Waters Run Deep" on the flip side, is #1 on the U.S. Country singles chart
1973 - George Harrison's Apple Records single "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)", distributed by Capitol Records in the United States, is #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart
35 Years Ago Today In 1974 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' compilation album "Endless Summer", Tennessee Ernie Ford's single "Come On Down" with "Bits And Pieces Of Life" on the flip side, and Buck Owens' single "(It's A) Monster's Holiday" with "Great Expectations" on the flip side
1978 - A Taste of Honey's debut Capitol Records single, "Boogie Oogie Oogie" with "World Spin" on the flip side, enters Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart at #82 and will hit #1 in 11 weeks and stay #1 for 3 weeks. The track got it's initial release as the a side of a promotional 12" single for clubs that had Gloria Jones' "Bring on The Love (Why Can't We Be Friends Again)" on the flip side.
1987 - Jackie Gleason, composer, conductor, comedian, motion picture and television actor, and Capitol Records recording artist, dies of colon and liver cancer at Inverrary, Florida home at age 71 and is later interred in the Our Lady Of Mercy Cemetery, Miami Beach, Florida
20 Years Ago Today In 1989 - Liberty Records (later to become Capitol Records Nashville) artist Garth Brooks debuts on The Grand Ole Opry
1991 - Capitol Records releases Tennessee Ernie Ford's album "Red, White & Blue"
2003 - Capitol Records releases the album "Songs For Life", whose proceeds will go to a U.S. non-profit group, The Royal Initiative to Combat AIDS, which is helping fight the epidemic in Southern Africa. The album, supervised by producer Phil Ramone, features tracks from John Lennon, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Pattie LaBelle, Carole King, Judy Collins and Lennon with Yoko Ono.
2003 - Capitol Records releases Liz Phair's self-titled album
5 Years Ago Today In 2004 - Stanley M. Gortikov, former president of Capitol Records (1968-1969), president and CEO of Capitol Industries (1969-1971), and president of the Recording Industry Association of America (1972-1987) dies of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles at age 85.
2005 - Capitol Records releases OK Go's 3 song EP "Do What You Want"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
60 Years Ago Today In 1949 - The movie features of Hopalong Cassidy premiere on TV. The films are edited to thirty and sixty-minute versions and star future Capitol Records childrens' records artist William Boyd as Hopalong and Edgar Buchanan as his sidekick, Red Connors
1957 - Rick Nelson's Imperial Records single "Teenager's Romance is #8 up from #10 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Fats Domino's Imperial Records single "Valley Of Tears" is #16 up from #22, and Rick Nelson's Imperial Records single "I'm Walkin'" is tied for #37 (down from #27) with Pat Boone (with Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra)'s single "Bernadine". Imperial Records' catalog is currently owned by EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
105 Years Ago Today In 1904 - Phil Harris, bandleader, singer, radio, television and motion picture actor, husband of actress Alice Faye, with whom he had a popular sitcom radio show, and voice actor (Baloo in Walt Disney's "The Jungle Book") is born Wonga Philip Harris in Linton, Indiana