MAY 20, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1933 - Gil Garfield, member of the Capitol Records vocal group The Cheers, is born Gilbert Garfield in Los Angeles, California
1944 - Joe Cocker, singer and Capitol Records artist, is born John Robert Cocker in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1944 - Jo Stafford (with Paul Weston and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Long Ago And Far Away" is #6 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart and it's flip side "I Love You" is #10
1944 - Stan Kenton and His Orchestra record the tracks "How Many Hearts Have You Broken" and "She's Funny That Way" with vocals by Gene Howard, and "I'm Going Mad For A Pad" as well as two versions (one without and one with piano accompaniment) of "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" with vocals by Anita O'Day, at C. P. MacGregor Studios on Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Capitol Records will release "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" as a single with "How Many Hearts Have You Broken" on the flip side.
65 Years Ago Today In 1947 - Carl Kress is at WMCA studios in New York City to records the tracks "The Goose From Gander" and "Swan Of Tonnelle Avenue" with Kress are Tony Mottola on guitar, Paul Ricci on clarinet, Bob Haggart on bass and Terry Snyder on drums. The tracks will be released as part of Kress' self titled Capitol Records album in the label's "Classics In Jazz" series.
1950 - Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae (with Paul Weston and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Dearie" is in a three way tie for #20 on Billboards' Best Selling Retail Records chart with Frankie Lane's single "The Stars And Stripes Forever", and Hoagy Carmichael and Cass Daley (with Matty Matlock's All-Stars)'s single "The Old Piano Roll Blues"
1956 - Comedian and Capitol Records recording artist Harry Stewart, aka Yogi Yorgesson, Hari Kari and Klaus Hammerschmidt, is killed at age 47 when his car goes off the rode near Tonopah, Nevada
55 Years Ago Today In 1957 - Frank Sinatra records the tracks "Witchcraft", "Something Wonderful Happens In Summer", "Tell Her You Love Her" and "You're Cheating Yourself (If You're Cheating On Me)" at the Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California with Nelson Riddle conducting his own arrangements to the orchestra and produced by Voyle Gilmore
1964 - Buck Owens' Capitol Records single "My Heart Skips A Beat" is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts
40 Years Ago Today In 1972 - Merle Haggard's Capitol Records single "Grandma Harp" is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts
1978 - Paul McCartney & Wings' Capitol Records single "With A Little Luck" hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
15 Years Ago Today In 1997 - Capitol Records releases The Foo Fighters' self-titled debut album
1998 - Frank Sinatra is interred at Cathedral City's "Desert Memorial Park" in Palm Springs, California at B-8, #151 with the inscription "The Best Is Yet To Come"

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1851 - Emile Berliner, inventor and developer of the disc gramophone, is born in Hanover Germany. His Berliner Gramophone Company would later become EMI, parent company of Capitol Music Group
45 Years Ago Today In 1967 - Kit Clark, accordion player and vocalist with the Virgin Records America group Meet Danny Wilson, is born in Dundee, Scotland
2005 - A lage brick monument is dedicated at the site of Capitol Records band The Beach Boys' members Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson's childhood home on 119th Street in Hawthorne, California, which had been demolished 20 years earlier to make way for a freeway. The site is also named an official California State Historical Landmark.
2011 - EMI's catalogue is now on eMusic in the United States.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1985 - Forty Hard Rock music artists (including Jimmy Bain, Vivian Campbell and Ronnie James Dio [all three from Dio], Don Dokken [Dokken], Geoff Tate [Queensrÿche], Yngwie Malmsteen, Rob Halford [Judas Priest], Ted Nugent, Vince Neil [Mötley Crüe], Dave Meniketti [Y & T], Dave Murray and Adrian Smith [Iron Maiden]) gather at A&M Records Studios to participate in the making of a record called "Stars", part of project known as Hear 'N Aid to raise money for famine relief efforts in Africa and around the world.
1989 - Comedienne and actress Gilda Radner dies of ovarian cancer at age 42 in Los Angeles, California. After her death her husband, Gene Wilder, and her cancer therapist, Joanna Bull, start Gilda's Club, now a worldwide support group helping those living with cancer.