MAY 15, 2011

REST IN PEACE
2011 - Bob Flanigan, original lead singer for the Capitol Records group The Four Freshmen, passed away just before 10pm at his home in Las Vegas at age 84 of congestive heart failure. He was with several generations of his family and died peacefully with jazz music playing softly. Earlier in the afternoon, Rod Henley and a group of Vegas musicians came by his home and played for him, so music was a big part of Bob's last day on earth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1944 - Graham Goble, guitarist with the Capitol Records group The Little River Band, is born in Adelaide, Australia
60 Years Ago Today In 1951 - Jonathan Richman, singer, songwriter, founder of the band The Modern Lovers, solo artist, Capitol Records artist (on the motion picture soundtrack to "There's Something About Mary"), is born in Boston, Massachusetts

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1948 - Nat "King" Cole (with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol)'s Capitol Records single "Nature Boy" is #1 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart and Peggy Lee (with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Mañana" is #3
1954 - Frank Sinatra (with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Young At Heart" is #3 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Kay Starr (with orchestra conducted by Harold Mooney)'s Capitol Records single "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" is #6 and it's flip side "The Man Upstairs" is #8, Nat "King" Cole (with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Answer Me, My Love" is #11.
1954 - Jack Benny signs a contract with Alan Livingston to record tracks for Capitol's Children's Records Music Appreciation Series.
1958 - Paul Peek and Gene Vincent "discovery" and major influence on Little Richard, Esquerita (Eskew Reeder, Jr.), starts a two day recording session at RCA Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, his first as a Capitol Records artist. On this day, between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm, Esquerita, on piano and vocals with Andrew Lee Goodrich on tenor saxophone, Vincent Moses on guitar, Floyd T. Chance on bass, Johnny "Richardo" Young on drums, records "Oh Baby" with Atlanta-based vocal group The Gardenias (Calvin Arnold, Carlton Sheppard, Jr., Lloyd White and William Dixon), "Please Come On Home", "Sarah Lee" and (again with The Gardenias) the first version of "I Live The Life I Love".
50 Years Ago Today In 1961 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Hello Walls" is #29 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
45 Years Ago Today In 1966 - Capitol Records is a sponsor of "A Tribute To Judy Holliday", a banquet to benefit The American Medical Center in Denver, Colorado.
1967 - Buck Owens' Capitol Records single "Sam's Place" is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts
1970 - Harvest Records (a subsidiary of Capitol Records) band Pink Floyd perform a two-and-a-half-hour set at Crystal Palace in England, complete with fireworks and fifty-foot inflatable octopus, that is so loud that fish die in the nearby lake
1972 - Glen Campbell's Capitol Records compilation album "Greatest Hits" is certified Gold by the R.I.A.A.
35 Years Ago Today In 1976 - The Sylvers' Capitol Records single "Boogie Fever", with "Free Style" on the flip side, becomes Capitol Records first R&B single to hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart
1994 - John Berry's Liberty Records (later renamed Capitol Records Nashville) single "Your Love Amazes Me", with "What's In It For Me" on the flip side, is #1 on the U.S. Country singles chart

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
155 Years Ago Today In 1856 - L. Frank Baum, creator and initial writer of "The Wizard of Oz" series of books and early motion pitcures, was born Lyman Frank Baum in Chittenago, New York. Capitol Records will release the children's record "Dorothy And The Wizard Of Oz" based on Baum's stories.
1914 - Norrie Paramor, pianist, bandleader, arranger, conductor, and an EMI Records UK artist who also worked on sessions with other EMI artists and Capitol Records artists who recorded using EMI's facilities in London, is born in London, England
1953 - Mike Oldfield, composer, film scorer, and Virgin Records' first released artist ("Tubular Bells"), is born in Reading, Berkshire, England
50 Years Ago Today In 1961 - Ernie K-Doe's Minit Records single "Mother-In-Law" is #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, Gene McDaniels' Liberty Records single "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" is #3, Rick Nelson's "Travelin' Man" is #8, Steve Lawrence's United Artists Records single "Portrait Of My Love" is #12, and Rick Nelson's Imperial Records single "Hello Mary Lou" is #27
40 Years Ago Today In 1971 - Two films by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, "Apotheosis" and "Fly", are shown at Cannes Film Festival in France
1980 - "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle" a documentary about EMI and Virgin Records band The Sex Pistols, is released
1983 - David Bowie's EMI America Records single "Let's Dance", with "Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
25 Years Ago Today In 1986 - EMI opens its first CD manufacturing plant, located in Swindon, England
2003 - June Carter Cash, singer, songwriter, wife of singer Johnny Cash and mother of Capitol Records artist Roseanne Cash, dies at Nashville Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee from complications from heart valve surgery at age 73. She is later buried in a light blue coffin at Hendersonville Memory Gardens in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1945 - Billboard publishes its first album chart. At the time, an album consisited of more than one 78rpm shellac disc held in paper sleeves in a binder.
1963 - Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper orbits the Earth 22 times aboard Mercury 9 spacecraft "Faith 7"