MARCH 16, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1926 - Jerry Lewis, singer, comedian, radio, motion picture and televison actor, writer, director and producer, fundraiser and telethon host, son of vaudeville performer Danny Lewis, and father of Liberty Records artist Gary Lewis, and a Capitol Records artist as part of the Martin and Lewis duo and as a solo artist, is born Joseph Levitch
1933 - Jay Ranellucci, recording engineer for Capitol Records from 1957 to 2007, is born Julio Francis Ranellucci. He will start his career in Korea with Armed Forces Radio as a radio broadcast specialist. On leaving the service in 1955, he'll work at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles until he starts at Capitol Records in 1957 where he'll work as a recording engineer until his retirement in 2007 - a remarkable 50- year career - working with such music/entertainment greats as Nat Cole, Julie London, Peggy Lee, the Kingston Trio, the Beach Boys, Stan Kenton, Stan Freberg, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Hoyt Axton, Jo Stafford, Bobby Darin, Bing Crosby, Nancy Wilson, Merle Haggard, The Band, and many others. He'll also be a lifelong fan of old-time radio, both drama and comedy, and had a tremendous memory for actors names and associated time periods, as well as the associated trivia of the genre.
1954 - Nancy Wilson, guitarist, songwriter and singer with the Capitol Records group Heart, is born Nancy Lamoureux Wilson in San Francisco, California

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1965 - Capitol Records releases Tommy Collins' last recording for the label "All The Monkeys Ain't In The Zoo" as a single. If anyone knows the flipside of this record, please leave a comment.
1975 - T-Bone Walker (born Aaron Thibeaux Walker), guitarist and Columbia, Capitol, Imperial, and Black & White Records artist, dies of pneumonia at age 64 in Los Angeles, California and is later interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
120 Years Ago Today In 1892 - James C. Petrillo, head of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) who forced two recording bans in the first 4 years of Capitol Records history in order to win better pay and benefits for his union's members and to secure their jobs in the marketplace, is born in Chicago, Illinois
55 Years Ago Today In 1957 - Fats Domino's Imperial Records single "I'm Walkin'", with "I'm In The Mood For Love" on the flip side, hits #1 on the U.S. R&B charts where it will stay for 21 straight weeks
1959 - Rick Nelson's Imperial Records single "It's Late", with "Never Be Anyone Else But You" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of the U.S. Pop singles charts
1991 - Roxette's EMI America Records single "Joyride", with "Come Back (Before You Leave)" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles charts where it will peak at #1 for one week on May 11, 1991