JULY 3, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1934 - Donfeld, graphic designer (starting in 1953 at age 19 after graduating from Chouinard Art Institute) for Capitol Records and Emmy nominated television and Academy Award nominated motion picture costume designer, is born Donald Lee Feld in Los Angeles, California
1943 - Judith Duram, lead singer with the Capitol Records recording group The Seekers, is born Judith Mavis Cock in Melbourne, Australia

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - Peggy Lee, with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra and Ray Linn on trumpet, record the tracks "Why Should I Cry Over You" (which Capitol Records will finally release on Lee's 2000 compilation CD "Rare Gems And Hidden Treasures"), as well as "It Takes A Long, Long Train With A Red Caboose" and "Just An Old Love Of Mine" (which Capitol will release together as single #445) in Los Angeles, California with producer Lee Gillette
1948 - The King Cole Trio's Capitol Records single "Nature Boy" is still #3 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, The Pied Pipers' Capitol Records single "My Happiness" is #7 up from #8, Pee Wee Hunt's Capitol Records single "Twelfth Street Rag" is #11 up from #14, and The Sportsmen's a cappella Capitol Records single "You Can't Be True Dear" is #15 down from #11
1954 - Kay Starr (with orchestra conducted by Harold Mooney)'s Capitol Records single "If You Love Me (Really Love Me) is #5 up from #6 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Frank Sinatra (with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Three Coins In A Fountain" is still #7, Kay Starr (with orchestra conducted by Harold Mooney)'s Capitol Records single "The Man Upstairs" is #14 down from #9, and Frank Sinatra (with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Young At Heart" is #17 down from #11
1961 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Hello Walls" is #27 down from #21 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart
1966 - The Beatles' Capitol Records single "Paperback Writer", with "Rain" on the flip side, returns to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1967 - The Beatles' Capitol Records album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is #1 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart where it will stay for fifteen weeks
40 Years Ago Today In 1970 - Buck Owens and Susan Raye record the track "The Great White Horse" with producer Ken Nelson that will be the title track of their Capitol Records album that is released on September 8, 1970
1972 - Mississippi Fred McDowell, blues guitarist, singer, and a Capitol Records recording artist (a one-off 1969 album, "I Do Not Play No Rock'n' Roll"), dies of cancer at age 68 in Memphis, Tennessee. CradLemoon.net has a good overview of his life and many links to discographies.
1976 - A memorial service for Johnny Mercer, Broadway, radio, and motion picture singer, actor and songwriter, and co-founder of Capitol Records, is held in his hometown, Savannah, Georgia.
25 Years Ago Today In 1985 - John Aquilino, lead singer for the Capitol Records band (1984-1985) Icon, leaves the group and Capitol drops the band
1986 - Rudy Vallee, singer, saxophonist, bandleader and radio, television and movie actor, and Capitol Records recording artist (1954), dies at age 84 in North Hollywood, California and is interred in St. Hyacinth's Cemetery, Westbrook, Maine where his headstone was later stolen
10 Years Ago Today In 2000 - At 11pm EDT Turner Classic Movies shows "The Wizard Of Oz" with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" on the Second Audio Program (SAP) channel to see if the two really do sync' up.
2001 - Roy Nichols, guitarist and 22-year member of Merle Haggard and The Strangers, dies in a hospital in Bakersfield, CA of a heart attack at age 68
2001 - Capitol Records and Chrysalis Records release the Jethro Tull compilation album "The Very Best Of Jethro Tull" which features 20 tracks that have been digitally remastered at 24-bit at Abbey Road Studios in London, England
2001 - Capitol Records releases a digitally remastered and enhanced version of Duran Duran's 1982 album "Rio" in a standard jewel case and in a 7,500 unit limited edition mini-sleeve
2008 - Larry Harmon, entrepreneur, television show producer and licensor, and owner of the rights to Bozo The Clown and Laurel and Hardy, dies of heart disease at age 83 at his home in Los Angeles, California.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1919 - Fred Maddox, singer, guitarist, member of the band The Maddox Brothers and Rose, and brother of Capitol Records artist Rose Maddox, is born Fred Roscoe Maddox
75 Years Ago Today In 1935 - Webley Edwards' radio show spotlighting authentic island performances, "Hawaii Calls", begins broadcasting from Waikiki's Moana Hotel, and will run for 37 years. Webley would compile and produce a series of albums of Hawaiian music for Capitol Records
1961 - Ricky Nelson's Imperial Records single "Travelin' Man" is #7 down from #5 on Billboard's Hot 100 single chart, its flip side "Hello Mary Lou" is #15 up from #16, and Fats Domino's Imperial Records single "It Keeps Rainin'" is #24 up from #28. Imperial Records' catalog is currently owned by EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company.
1962 - Dinah Washington, with arranger Don Costa conducting an unknown studio orchestra, records the tracks "Someone Else Is Taking My Place" and "He's Gone Again" (which will both appear on the Roulette Records album "Dinah Washington"), as well as "I Didn't Know About You" (released on the Roulette Records album "Three Of Us", which also featured tracks by Sarah Vaughan and Joe Williams), "There I Go" (finally released on Mosaic Records' 2004 box set "The Complete Roulette Dinah Washington Recordings"), "You're A Sweetheart", and "I'll Close My Eyes" (both also released on the Roulette Records album "Three Of Us") with producer Henry Glover and recording engineer Eddie Smith at Bell Sound in New York City, New York. Roulette Records' catalog is currently owned by EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company.
1963 - Tenor saxophonist Harold Land, with Carmell Jones on trumpet, John Houston on piano, Jimmy Bond on bass and Mel Lee on drums, records the tracks "Tom Dooley", "Scarlet Ribbons" and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" for his Imperial Recors album "Jazz Impressions Of Folk Music" with engineer Bones Howe at Radio Recorders, in Los Angeles, California. Imperial Records' catalog is currently owned by EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company.
1968 - John Maddox, guitarist with the group The Maddox Brothers & Rose and brother of Capitol Records artist Rose Maddox, dies at age 52
1969 - Capitol Records artist Gordon MacRae performs "America The Beautiful" live on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
1976 - Brian Wilson performs onstage as a member of The Beach Boys, for the first time in twelve years, at concert given before 74,000 fans at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1878 - George M. Cohan, vaudeville and Broadway performer, singer, dancer, songwriter, playwright, director and producer, and a motion picture actor, is born George Michael Cohan in Providence, Rhode Island. The motion picture "Yankee Doodle Dandy" is loosely based on events from Cohan's life.
1965 - Trigger, motion picture actor and Capitol Records artist Roy Rogers' horse, dies at age 33 and is latter stuffed and put on display at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans museum in Victorville, California
1971 - Jim Morrison, poet, songwriter and lead singer of the band The Doors, is found dead (really) at age 27 by his girlfriend, Pamela Susan Courson, at 5:00 AM in a bathtub in Paris, France from a heart attack and was buried at at Pere-Lachaise cemetery, also in Paris
1989 - Jim Backus, writer as well as a motion picture, television, radio and cartoon voice actor, dies at age 76 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California from complications of pneumonia after suffering from Parkinson's disease for many years and is later buried in Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, California