JULY 10, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1941 - Ian Whitcomb, singer, songwriter, ukulele player, bandleader, motion picture and television scorer, record producer, radio disc jockey and Tower Records (a subsidiary of Capitol Records) artist, is born Ian Timothy Whitcomb in Woking, Surrey, England
65 Years Ago Today In 1949 - Dave Smalley, guitarist and vocalist with the band The Mods (1964-1966) and The Choir (1966-1969), and bass guitarist (1970-1973) with the Capitol Records group The Raspberries, is born David Bruce Smalley in Oil City, Pennsylvania

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1948 - Capitol Records has five of the top 20 songs on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart with The Pied Piper's Capitol Records single "My Happiness" at #4 up from #7, Nat "King" Cole's Capitol Records single "Nature Boy" is #7 down from #3, Mel Blanc and The Sportsmen Quartet's Capitol Records single "The Woody Woodpecker Song" (with The Sportsmen Quartet's track "I’d Love To Live In Loveland With A Girl Like You" on the flip side) enters the top 20 at #8, Pee Wee Hunt and His Orchestra's Capitol Records single "Twelfth Street Rag" is #15 down from #11, and Margaret Whiting (with Frank DeVol and His Orchestra)'s single "A Tree In The Meadow" (with "I'm Sorry, But I'm Glad" on the flip side), enters the chart at #17
1951 - Peggy Lee and Mel Tormé, with arranger Sid Feller conducting his orchestra (Buck Clayton and Bernie Privin on trumpet; Warren Covington, Lou McGarity, and Buddy Morrow on trombone; Barry Galbraith on guitar; Joe Shulman on bass; John Lewis on piano; and William Exiner on drums), record the tracks "Don't Fan The Flames" and "Telling Me Yes And Telling Me No" which Capitol Records will release together as a single (5-1738)
1952 - Tennessee Ernie Ford, with Cliffie Stone's Orchestra, records the tracks "The Tennessee Local" and "Blackberry Boogie" which will be released by Capitol Records on the Capitol Americana label (#2170) at Capitol Records' Melrose studios in Hollywood, California. "Blackberry Boogie" will peak at #6 on Billboard's Country singles chart.
60 Years Ago Today In 1954 - Frank Sinatra (with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Three Coins In A Fountain" is #8 down from #7 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart and Kay Starr (with orchestra conducted by Harold Mooney)'s Capitol Records single "The Man Upstairs" is #17 down from #14
1956 - Trumpeter Harry James (with Nick Buono also on trumpet; Juan Tizol on valve trombone; Willie Smith and Herb Lorden on alto saxophone; Francis Polifroni on tenor saxophone; Larry Kinnamon on piano; Joe Comfort on bass; and Buddy Rich on drums) records the track "What Am I Here For" at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California. The label will reject this version and James will re-record it on May 2, 1957.
1957 - Frank Sinatra, with The Ralph Brewster Singers (Sue Allen, Betty Allen, Ralph Brewster, Peggy Clark, Barbara Ford, Lee Gotch, Beverly Jenkins, Jimmy Joyce, Gene Lanham, Bill Lee, Ray Linn, Jr., John Mann, Thora Mathiason, Dorothy McCarty, Loulie Jean Norman, Betty Noves, Thurl Ravenscroft, Ginny Roos, Max Smith, Bob Stevens, Bill Thompson, Bob Wacker, Betty Wand, Gloria Wood, and Norma Zimmer) and arranger Gordon Jenkins conducting the studio orchestra (Victor Arno, Harry Bluestone, Walter Edelstein, Sol Kindler, Joseph Livoti, Nick Pisani, Joseph Quadri, Lou Raderman, Mischa Russell, and Marshall Sosson on violins; William Baffa, Louis Kievman, Paul Robyn, and David Sterkin on violas; Cy Bernard and Armand Kaproff on cellos; Bill Miller on piano; Nathan Gangursky and John Ryan on bass; Allen Reuss on guitar; and Kathryn Thompson on harp), records the tracks "Adeste Fideles", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear", and "O Little Town Of Bethlehem" in Studio A with producer Voyle Gilmore at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California for Sinatra's Capitol Records album "A Jolly Christmas"
1961 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Hello Walls" is #39 down from #27 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart
1965 - The Beatles' Capitol Records album "Beatles VI" is #1 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart
1967 - Singers Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens (with Roy Nichols on lead guitar; Glen Campbell, Lewis Talley, and Billy Mize on guitar; Norman Hamlett on steel guitar; Jerry Ward on bass; Eddie Burris on drums; and George French on piano) record the track "Look Over Me" with producer Ken Nelson at The Capitol Tower Studios, in Hollywood, California for Haggard's 1968 Capitol Records album "Sing Me Back Home"
1967 - Bobbie Gentry records "Ode to Billie Joe" for Capitol Records at The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California. I wonder if she listened in to Haggard and Owens' session next door? The track will be rush released as a single by Capitol Records
1968 - Capitol Records releases The Band's debut album "Music From Big Pink"
1972 - Capitol Records releases Pink Floyd's single "Free Four" with "Stay" on the flip side
25 Years Ago Today In 1989 - Mel Blanc, radio, motion picture and television actor, cartoon voice artist ("man of a thousand voices"), and Capitol Records artist, dies in Los Angeles, California at age 81 and is later interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California with the epitaph "That's All Folks" on his tombstone
2005 - Dr. Cora Martin-Moore, head of the Capitol Records gospel group The Echoes of Eden Choir of St. Paul's Baptist Church, dies in Los Angeles, California at age 74

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
120 Years Ago Today In 1894 - Jimmy McHugh, pianist, song plugger, composer of pop songs (including "Let's Get Lost", "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", "On The Sunny Side Oft The Street", "I'm In The Mood for Love", and many others) as well as Broadway and motion picture scores, is born James Francis McHugh in Boston, Massachusetts. McHugh collaborated with many lyricists including Capitol Records co-founder Johnny Mercer as well as Ted Koehler, Ned Washington, Harold Adamson, Frank Loesser, and Dorothy Fields. Many Capitol Records artists have covered McHugh's songs and Capitol released a compilation of them as #17 of its "Capitol Sings" series of CDs "Jimmy McHugh - I Feel A Song Coming On".
1900 - After getting permission from British company The Gramaphone Company (later to become EMI) and commissioning the original artist to make a copy, Emile Berliner registers the image of ‘His Master’s Voice’ with the U.S. Patent Office. In the United States it will become the logo of the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor). The image will remain the official logo for EMI in the United Kingdom.
60 Years Ago Today In 1954 - Neil Tennant, singer, songwriter, and part of the EMI America Records duo Pet Shop Boys, is born Neil Francis Tennant in North Shields, Northumberland, United Kingdom
1961 - Ricky Nelson's Imperial Records single "Travelin' Man" is #12 down from #7 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, it's flip side "Hello Mary Lou" is #21 down from #15, and Fats Domino's Imperial Records single "It Keeps Rainin'" is #23 up from #24. Imperial Records' catalog is currently owned by Capitol Music Group's parent company, EMI Music Group.
1963 - It's a busy day at the BBC's studios in London as The Beatles record the tracks "A Taste Of Honey", "Memphis, Tennessee", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Lonesome Tears In My Eyes", "Nothin' Shakin'", "The Hippy Hippy Shake", "So How Come (No-one Loves Me)", "Matchbox", and "Love Me Do" for the sixth episode of the radio show "Pop Go The Beatles" which Auntie Beeb will broadcast on July 23, 1963
1968 - The Jazz Crusaders (Wayne Henderson on trombone, Wilton Felder on tenor saxophone, Joe Sample on piano and electric piano, Buster Williams on bass, and Stix Hooper on drums) record the tracks "Hey Jude", "Firewater", and (with Arthur Adams on guitar) "Love & Peace" at the Pacific Jazz Studios in Los Angeles, California with producer Richard Bock and recording engineer Thorne Nogar for their Pacific Jazz album "Powerhouse". Pacific Jazz's catalog is currently owned by EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company.
1972 - Capitol Records group Heads, Hands & Feet perform live with The James Gang at Knob Hill in Clarkston, Michigan

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
60 Years Ago Today In 1954 - D.J. Dewey Phillips plays Elvis Presley's single "That's All Right" for its first time on radio, on WHBQ in Memphis, Tennessee
20 Years Ago Today In 1994 - Steven Seagal leaves his footprints in cement at ceremony #163 at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California
2006 - The Cartoon Network starts showing episodes of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" as part of its "Adult Swim" late night block of shows