DECEMBER 9, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1957 - Donny Osmond, singer, Broadway musical performer, television variety and talk show host, member of the group The Osmonds, duo with his sister, Capitol Records artist Marie Osmond, and a Capitol Records solo artist, is born Donald Clark Osmond in Ogden, Utah
1958 - Nick Seymour, painter, record producer, and electric bass player for the Capitol Records group Crowded House, is born Nicholas More Seymour in Benalla, Victoria, Australia

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
65 Years Ago Today In 1946 - Merle Travis' Capitol Records single "Divorce Me C.O.D.", with "Missouri" on the flip side, is #1 on the U.S. Country singles chart
1949 - Yogi Yorgesson (aka Harry Stewart)'s Capitol Records single "Yingle Bells", with "I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of U.S. Pop singles charts
1953 - Frank Sinatra, with arranger Nelson Riddle conducting the studio orchestra (Arthur "Skeets" Herfert, Harry Klee, and Warren Webb on reeds; Tommy Pederson on trombone; John Cave and John Graas on french horns; George Roberts on bass trombone; Robert Bain on guitar; Joe Comfort on bass; Bill Miller on piano; Kathryn Julye on harp; Alvin Stoller on drums; Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Harry Bluestone, Henry Hill, Anatol Kaminsky, Mischa Russell, Paul Shure, Felix Slatkin, and Gerald Vinci on violin; Paul Robyn and Dave Sterkin on viola; and Cy Bernard and Eleanor Slatkin on cello), records the tracks "Rain (Falling From The Skies)" (which will be released as the flip side of "Three Coins In A Fountain" in 1954), "Young At Heart" (after it had been turned down by Nat "King" Cole and will be released as the flip side of the single "I've Got The World On A String" and as another single with "Take A Chance" on the flip side), and "I Could Have Told You" (which is released as a single with "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" on the flip side and later added as a bonus track to the CD of Sinatra's album "No One Cares") at Capitol Records' Melrose Avenue Studios in Hollywood, California
1958 - Frank Sinatra, with arranger Billy May conducting the studio orchestra and Dave Cavanaugh producing, records the tracks "The Song Is You", "Something's Gotta Give", and "Just In Time" in Studio A at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California, the first for his Capitol Records album "Come Dance With Me"
1964 - Peggy Lee, with producer Dave Cavanaugh, records the tracks "Pass Me By", and "That's What It Takes" for a Capitol Records single and, with arranger and conductor Cy Coleman, "Then Was Then (And Now Is Now)" (which will be used as the title track for her next Capitol Records album on which the other two tracks will also appear) at the The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California
1967 - The Beatles' Capitol Records single "Hello Goodbye", with "I Am The Walrus" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1968 - Merle Haggard records the tracks "Silver Wings" and "Hungry Eyes" for Capitol Records
1970 - Sonny James' Capitol Records single "Endlessly", with "Happy Memories" on the flip side, is #1 on Billboard's Country Singles chart
1972 - Helen Reddy's Capitol Records single "I Am Woman", with "More Than You Could Take" on the flip side, hits US #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1972 - The Raspberries' Capitol Records album "Fresh" enters Billboard's album charts where it will stay for 16 weeks, peaking at #36
1989 - Garth Brooks' Liberty Records single "If Tomorrow Never Comes", with "The Dance" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboard's Country Singles chart becoming the first #1 of his career. Liberty Records was Capitol Records' Country division and reviving the Liberty name after the original's catalog had been sold to Capitol Record's parent company EMI. It would later be renamed Capitol Records Nashville.
1995 - The Beatles’ Apple Records compilation album "Anthology 1", distributed by Capitol Records in the United States, hits #1 on Billboard's album chart becoming their sixteenth number-one album and setting a record for the longest time span for a run of number-one albums (31 years and 10 months) between "Meet the Beatles" and "Anthology 1"
15 Years Ago Today In 1996 - Former Capitol Records artist Faron Young, depressed over his failing health, shoots himself in the head at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. He will die in a hospital the next day at age 64.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
85 Years Ago Today In 1926 - 17 year old future Capitol Records artist Benny Goodman, at the time a clarinetist with Ben Pollack and His Californians (which includes Pollack on drums, vocalist Joey Ray, Harry Greenberg, Al Harris, and Earl Baker on cornet, Glenn Miller on trombone, Gil Rodin on alto saxophone, Fud Livingston on tenor saxophone, Victor Young and Al Beller on violin, Wayne Allen on piano, John Kurzenknabe on banjo and Benny's brother Harry Goodman on double bass), takes part in his first recording session (from which tracks are released) when the band waxes the track "When I First Met Mary" in Chicago, Illinois for Victor Records. Later that night, before he could hear his sons' recording, the Goodmans' father, David Goodman, dies at the corner of Madison and Kostner streets in Chicago, Illinois after being struck by a speeding auto.
70 Years Ago Today In 1941 - Future Capitol Records artist Frank Sinatra is declared 4-F at Newark Induction Center in New Jersey due to a perforated ear drum that he suffered at birth during a difficult forceps deliverу