DECEMBER 16, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1899 - Sir Noel Coward, composer, stage and motion picture writer, actor, director and producer, singer, and Capitol Records artist (an album of Coward singing the songs of his 1961 Broadway show "Sail Away") is born Noel Peirce Coward in Teddington (a suburb of London), England
1968 - Christopher Thorn, record producer, recording studio owner, and guitarist with the Capitol Records band Blind Melon (1991-1999), is born in Dover, Pennsylvania

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1943 - Ella Mae Morse's Capitol Records single "Shoo-Shoo Baby" enters the top 40 of the U.S. Pop Singles chart
1947 - Freddie Slack and His Orchestra (Paul Lopez on trumpet, Jimmy Knepper on trombone), Hank Horn on tenor saxophone), Slack on piano, Darrell Homer on guitar, Morty Corb on bass, Maynard Sloate on drums) record the tracks "Be-Bop Boogie" and "Two Left Hands" (with Charlotte Blackburn on vocal but no horns) in Los Angeles, California that will be released as singles by Capitol Records
50 Years Ago Today In 1961 - Pianist Leonard Pennario, with Alfred Newman conducting The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, records George Gershwin's "Second Rhapsody" in Los Angeles, California. Capitol Records will issue the track on Pennario's album "GERSHWIN By Starlight" (P-8581) and Angel Records will reissue the track on Pennario's album "Leonard Pennario Plays Gershwin" (S-36070).
1964 - The Beach Boys' begin the first of two sessions to record the stereo track "Kiss Me, Baby" at Western Studios in Los Angeles, California. The second session will be held January 15, 1965 also at Western Studios.
1970 - During a busy day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Capitol Records and Sid and Marty Krofft artists The Bugaloos appear on Captain Jim's children's television show, meet with the local Christmas Seals chairman and become honorary Ambassadors, and do an in-store signing at Kaufmann's Department Store
1972 - Paul McCartney’s single "Hi, Hi, Hi" is released in the U.S. by Capitol Records and will peak at #10 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart on February 3, 1973
1974 - Capitol Records releases John Lennon's single "# 9 Dream" with "What You Got" on the flip side
1977 - Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band's Capitol Records album "Live Bullet" is certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A.
2002 - Capitol Records group Coldplay appear on CBS-TV's "The Late Show With David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City, New York

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1954 - Warner Brothers releases the motion picture "Young At Heart" which uses Frank Sinatra's Capitol Records recording of the title track
1958 - The Chipmunk's Liberty Records single "The Chipmunk Song" is #1 on the U.S. Pop Singles charts
1965 - "The Music of Lennon & McCartney", a television special recorded at Granada TV Centre, Manchester, England and featuring The Beatles and other artists performing Lennon-McCartney songs, is broadcast in London, England
1968 - Mavis Smith begins work as executive of the Apple Corp. press office
1968 - Jack Wilson (with Jack Wilson on piano, Andy Simpkins and Ray Brown on bass, Howard Roberts on guitar, Jimmie Smith and Donald Bailey on drums, and Victor Feldman and Tommy Vig on vibes and tympani)records the tracks "Herman's Helmet", "Night Creature", "Soft Summer Rain", and "Eighty-One" in Los Angeles, California for his Blue Note Records album "Song For My Daughter"
40 Years Ago Today In 1971 - Don McLean’s eight-minute-plus (8:32) version of "American Pie" is released to radio by United Artists Records and will hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart on January 15, 1972
1988 - Pianist Don Pullen (with Gary Peacock on bass, and Tony Williams on drums) records the tracks "Jana’s Delight", "Once Upon A Time", "Warriors", "New Beginnings", "At The Café Centrale", "Reap The Whirlwind", and "Silence = Death" at A & R Studios in New York City, with producer by Michael Cuscuna and recording engineer David Baker, for Pullen's Blue Note Records album "New Beginnings"
2005 - The Beatles sue EMI Group, Capitol Records' parent company, claiming that they are owed 30 million pounds in royalties

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven, composer and pianist, is born in Bonn, Germany
1907 - At a studio in New York city's Brooklyn Navy Yard, Eugene H. Farrar, singing "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?", becomes the first singer to broadcast on radio