SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
115 Years Ago Today In 1894 - Willard Robison, singer, bandleader (Willard Robison's Levee Loungers and Willard Robison & The Deep River Boys, The Deep River Orchestra), radio show host, and composer (best known for "A Cottage For Sale" with lyrics by Larry Conley) whose songs were covered by various Capitol Records artists on the album "Willard Robinson's Deep River Music", is born in Shellbina, Missouri
1917 - June Foray, voice actor (Rocket J. Squirrel, Natasha, Witch Hazel, and many others), actress and Capitol Records recording artist on many children's records and comedy records with Stan Freberg and Daws Butler, is born in Springfield, Massachusettes
1941 - Gary Lane, bass player with the Tower Records (a subsidiary of Capitol Records) group The Standells, is born
1953 - Carl Jackson, vocalist, bluegrass instrumentalist, songwriter, and Capitol Records session player and recording artist, is born in Louisville, Mississippi

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
60 Years Ago Today In 1949 - Frank Morgan (born Francis Phillip Wupperman), Broadway, motion picture (best remembered for his five roles in the M-G-M motion picture "The Wizard Of Oz"), and radio actor, and Capitol Records artist (narrator on the Dr. Seuss children's record "Gossamer Wump"), dies in Beverly Hills, California of a heart attack during a break in shooting the M-G-M motion picture "Annie Get Your Gun" and is later buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York
1957 - Lyle Ritz begins recording sessions for his album "How About Uke?" at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California
1965 - The Beatles' Capitol Records single "Help!", with "I'm Down" on the flip side, is still #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart
1967 - Merle Haggard records "Sing Me Back Home" which Capitol Records will release as a single on October 23, 1967 with "Good Times" on the flip side
1970 - Jimi Hendrix, guitarist and Capitol Records artist (on the 1970 live album "Band Of Gypsys"), dies in the basement flat of the Samarkand Hotel at 22 Lansdowne Crescent in London, England at age 27 after drinking wine, taking sleeping pills prescribed for his girlfriend Monika Dannemann who was with him and called for an ambulance, then choaking on his own vomit
1981 - Billy Squier's second Capitol Records album, "Don't Say No", is certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A.
1988 - Dan Seals' Capitol Records single "Addicted", with "Maybe I'm Missing You Now" is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts
15 Years Ago Today In 1994 - Garth Brooks' Liberty Records (later to be renamed Capitol Records Nashville) album "In Pieces" debuts at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 albums and Country albums charts
1997 - Jimmy Witherspoon, blues, R&B big band and jazz baritone singer and Capitol Records and Blue Note Records artist, dies in his sleep in Los Angeles, California at age 74

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1793 - George Washington lays the cornerstone for the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. which was designed by Dr. William Thornton, a Scottish-trained physician living in the British West Indies. The Capitol building would later become part of Capitol Records' first logo, which will be later simplified to use just the dome and cuppola.
1905 - Eddie Anderson, radio, motion picture, and television actor (best remembered for the role of Rochester Van Jones on the Jack Benny radio and television shows and related movies), who introduced Capitol Records artist Nat "King" Cole to his future wife Maria Ellington, is born Edmund Lincoln Anderson in Oakland, California
1940 - Frankie Avalon, singer, motion picture actor, and United Artists Records artist (soundtrack of "Muscle Beach Party"), is born Francis Thomas Avallone in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1942 - Future Capitol Records artist Tennessee Ernie Ford married Betty Jean Heminger
1961 - Bobby Vee's Liberty Records single "Take Good Care Of My Baby", with "Bashful Bob" on the flip side, is still #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart
45 Years Ago Today In 1964 - "The Addams Family" debuts on ABC-TV. The character Lurch, played by Ted Cassidy, will release a single with a picture sleeve on Capitol Records called "The Lurch"
1973 - Ringo Starr buys John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Tittenhurst Park manor and immediately made in the in-house studio, re-christened Startling Studios, available for use by other recording artists
1988 - Bobby McFerrin's EMI Manhattan single "Don't Worry Be Happy" (Edit), with "Simple Pleasures" on the flip side, is #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1927 - The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) begins when it broadcasts the opera "The King’s Henchman" as its first program. 26-year old William S. Paley put the network together by purchasing 16 failing radio stations at a cost between US$250,000 and $450,000.
1932 - Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the H in the Hollywood sign
1943 - Decca Records agrees to pay royalties into an American Federation Of Musicians fund for all records released, thus ending the union-led ban on instrumental recordings for the label. Capitol Records will settle less than a month later on October 8, 1943, but Columbia and RCA/Victor Records will hold out until November 1944, giving Capitol an exclusive on many new recordings that will help make it into one of the top four labels in the United States.
1957 - The Crickets' Brunswick single "That'll Be The Day", with "I'm Looking For Someone To Love" on the flip side, is #1 on Billboard's Best Selling Singles chart