JUNE 29, 2009

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1950 - Mel Blanc records the tracks "Yosemite Sam" and "I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat" for the double disc Capitol Records children's record "Bugs Bunny Sings". The two tracks will also be released as a single with a picture sleeve in 1951 and "I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat" would peak at #9 on Billboard's singles chart and be one of the top 20 songs of the year. The song was produced by Alan Livingston. Livingston, with Billy May and Warren Foster, would also write the lyrics and May would write, arrange and conduct the music.
1951 - The Four Freshmen (Bob Flanigan on vocal, trombone, and bass; Don Barbour on vocal and guitar; Ross Barbour on vocal and drums; and Hal Kratzsch on vocal, tumpet, mellophone, and bass) record the tracks "It's A Blue World" and "Tuxedo Junction" (which will be released by Capitol Records as Capitol single #2152) as well as "Intermission Riff" (which will finally be released when it appears on 2000 Mosaic Records box set "The Complete Capitol Four Freshmen Sessions April, 1950-July, 1960") with producer Voyle Gilmour at Capitol's Melrose Avenue studios in Hollywood, California
50 Years Ago Today In 1959 - Franck Pourcell and His French Fiddlers' Capitol Records single "Only You (Loin De Vous)" is #23 down from #12 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart and The Kingston Trio's Capitol Records single "M.T.A." enters the top 40 at #28 up from #49
1960 - Arranger and tenor saxophonist Bill Holman (with Al Porcino, Conte Candoli, Lee Katzman, and Ray Triscari on trumpet; Bill Perkins and Richie Kamuca on tenor saxophone; Charlie Kennedy, Joe Maini, and Richie Kamuca on alto saxophone; Frank Rosolino, Lew McGreery, and Vern Friley on trombone; Jack Nimitz on baritone saxophone; Jimmy Rowles on piano; Joe Mondragon on bass; Kenny Shroyer on bass trombone; and Mel Lewis on drums) record the tracks "Quickstep", "The Moon Is Blue", and "June Is Busting Out All Over" for his Capitol Records album "Bill Holman's Great Big Band" at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California
1963 - Kyu Sakamoto's Capitol Records single "Sukiyaki" (with "Anoko No Namaewa Nantenkana" on the flip side) is still #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, Nat "King" Cole's single "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer" is #6 up from #7, Bobby Darin's Capitol Records single "Yellow Roses" is #16 down from #11, The Beach Boys' Capitol Records single "Surfin' U.S.A." is #17 down from #16, Al Martino's Capitol Records single "I Love You Because" is #19 down from #9, and The Beach Boys' single "Shut Down" (the flip side of "Surfin' U.S.A." is #29 down from #23
45 Years Ago Today In 1964 - Capitol Records releases Nat "King" Cole's single "Marnie" based on music from the soundtrack of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, with "More And More Of Your Amour" on the flip side
1967 - Wanda Jackson records the track "No Place To Go But Home" with producers Ken Nelson and Kelso Herston for her Capitol Records album "Cream Of The Crop" and "You Created Me" with Nelson, Herston and George Richy producing for her Capitol Records album "Wanda Jackson Country!" at Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee
1968 - Capitol Records subsidiary Tower Records releases Pink Floyd's second album "A Saucerful Of Secrets"
20 Years Ago Today In 1989 - Capitol Records releases Paul McCartney's "Flowers In The Dirt" album
10 Years Ago Today In 1999 - Capitol Records releases Grand Funk Railroad's anthology album "Thirty Years Of Funk"
2002 - Rosemary Clooney, singer, motion picture and television actress, wife of Capitol Records artist (original Broadway cast album for "Cyrano de Bergerac") Jose Ferrer, lover of arranger and Capitol Records artist Nelson Riddle, and a Capitol Records artist (on a duet album with Bing Crosby), dies at age 74 of lung cancer at her home in Beverly Hills, California. Her home, formerly the home of lyricist Ira Gershwin, has been demolished by a new owner.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1916 - Porky Freeman, guitarist and Western Swing bandleader who gave future Capitol Records artist Merle Travis his first job after Travis moved to California, is born Quilla Hugh Freeman, in Vera Cruz, Missouri
1943 - Little Eva, singer (best known for "The Loco-Motion", which was later covered by Capitol Records group Grand Funk Railroad and future Capitol Records artist Kyle Minogue), is born Eva Narcissus Boyd in Belhaven, North Carolina
50 Years Ago Today In 1959 - Martin Denny's Liberty Records single "Quiet Village" is #8 down from #6 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, Dion and The Belmonts' Dolton Records single "A Teenager In Love" is #10 down from #8, Fats Domino's Imperial Records single "I'm Ready" is #29 down from #18. EMI Music Group, Capitol Records' parent company, currently owns the Liberty, Dolton, and Imperial Records catalogues.
1963 - The Essex's Roulette Records single "Easier Said Than Done" is #5 up from #15 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, The Chiffon's Laurie Records single "One Fine Day" is #7 up from #10, Jan And Dean's Liberty Records single "Surf City is #10 up from #20, and Lou Christie's Roulette Records single "Two Faces Have I" is #26 down from #14. Roulette, Laurie, and Liberty Records' catalogs are currently owned by Capitol Music Group's parent company, EMI Music Group.
1963 - Del Shannon's cover of The Beatles' tune "From Me To You" enters Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart, becoming the first Lennon/McCartney song to appear on the U.S. charts
1986 - Dan Seal's EMI America Records single "Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold)", with "So Easy To Need" on the flip side, is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts. EMI America's Country catalog is currently being distributed by Capitol Records Nashville.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
90 Years Ago Today In 1919 - Slim Pickens, motion picture actor ("Blazing Saddles", "Dr. Strangelove...", "1941", etc.), is born Louis Bert Lindley Jr., in Kingsburg, California. Let the whoopin' and a hollerin' commence! :)
1940 - Victor Records releases Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra's single "I'll Never Smile Again", It will be the band's first big hit with future Capitol Records artists Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers as vocalists. The track had been recorded on May 23, 1940 in New York City and will become the first #1 on Billboard's first top 10 selling chart on July 20, 1940, and would be both Sinatra and The Pied Piper's first #1 on any charts. The instrumental "Marcheta" is on the flip side.
1963 - Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, at ceremony #123, leave their footprints in cement at Graumann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California
1967 - Jayne Mansfield, singer and actress on Broadway and in motion pictures, is killed at age 34 in an auto accident on U.S. Highway 90 on her way from an engagement at a supper club in Biloxi, Misssissippi to a TV interview in New Orleans, Louisiana. Also killed is Mansfield's driver and her divorce lawyer, and suffering minor injuries are three of Manfield's children including future "Law & Order S.V.U." actress Mariska Hargitay.
1983 - Sylvester Stallone, at ceremony #148, leaves his footprints in cement at Graumann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California