DECEMBER 10, 2015

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1914 - Dorothy Lamour, motion picture actress, singer, and Capitol Records artist (in duets with fellow Capitol Records artist Bob Hope), is born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana
1924 - Ken Albers, arranger, trumpet player, mellophone player, and bass singer with the Capitol Records group The Four Freshmen, is born in Pitman, NJ
1951 - Johnny Rodriguez, singer, songwriter, television actor, and Capitol Records artist (1987) is born in a four room house in Sabinal, Texas, that he will share with his parents and 9 older siblings.

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
70 Years Ago Today In 1945 - Billy May conducts his own arrangements to His Orchestra (Paul Geil, Uan Rasey, and Irv Shulkin on trumpet, Lester Jenkins, Si Zentner, and Bill Shaefer on trombone, Heinie Beau and Les Robinson on alto saxophone, Harold Lawson and Harry Schuchman on tenor saxophone, Bob Poland on baritone saxophone, Buddy Cole on piano, Dave Barbour on guitar, Phil Stephens on bass, and Nick Fatool on drums) as they record the tracks "Body And Soul", "Honeysuckle Rose", "Sweet Lorraine", and "Sunset and Vine" at Radio Recorders studios in Hollywood, California. Capitol Records will issue all the tracks on May's album "Join The Band" (H-237).
70 Years Ago Today In 1945 - Margaret Whiting (on vocals), with Carl Kress conducting the orchestra (lineup unlisted), records the tracks "In Love In Vain" and "All Through The Day" at radio station WMCA's studio in New York City, New York. Capitol Records will issue both tracks together as a single (Capitol 240).
1947 - Pianist Mel Powell records the tracks "Anything Goes" (with Bumps Meyer on tenor saxophone, Red Calendar on bass, and Lee Young on drums), "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" (with Jake Porter on trumpet, Meyer on tenor saxophone, Calendar on bass, and Young on drums), "You Go To My Head" (a piano solo by Powell), "You Better Not Mess With Me" (with Porter on vocals and trumpet, Meyer on tenor saxophone, Calendar on bass, and Young on drums), "If Dreams Come True" (with Jake on trumpet, Meyer on tenor saxophone, Calendar on bass, and Young on drums), "There's A Small Hotel" (with Calendar on bass and Young on drums), and "Hallelujah" (with Meyer on tenor saxophone, Calendar on bass, and Young on drums), in Los Angeles, California. All tracks released as singles by Capitol Records, except "You Better Not Mess With Me" and "If Dreams Come True" which are released as a single by Pausa Records.
1947 - Margaret O'Brien (on vocals) with Billy May and his Orchestra, including Ray Martinez on violin and Latin percussion, records the titles "Let's Fly To Mexico - Part 1", "Let's Fly To Mexico - Part 2", and "Let's Fly To Mexico - Part 3" at Radio Recorders' studio in Hollywood, California. Capitol Records will issue all the titles on O'Brien's childrens' album "Let's Fly To Mexico" (CC-71).
60 Years Ago Today In 1955 - Jackie Gleason's Vocal Orchestra with The Voices of Artie Malvin (lineup unlisted) records the tracks "Capri In May (Je Me Sens Si Bien)" and "You're My Greatest Love (The Theme Of 'The Honeymooners')" in New York City, New York. Capitol Records will issue both tracks together as a single (Capitol F3337).
1959 - The Kingston Trio record the track "The Mountains O' Mourne", with Nick Guard doing lead vocal, for their Capitol Records album "Sold Out"
1963 - Buck Owens' Capitol Records single "Love’s Gonna Live Here" is #1 on the Country singles charts
50 Years Ago Today In 1965 - Sonny James (on vocals, with unlisted others) records the tracks "I Get Fooled, Don't I?" and "Love Me Like That" in Nashville, Tennessee. Capitol Records will issue both tracks on James' album "True Love's A Blessing" (T 2500).
50 Years Ago Today In 1965 - David Clayton-Thomas recorded the tracks "Out Of The Sunshine", "Born With The Blues", "Take Me Back" and a unissued take of "Send Her Home" in Los Angeles, California. Capitol records purchased the masters and registered them on January 14, 1966 and released the first and third track together as a single through its subsidiary Tower Records (Tower 206) and the second track as a single (Tower 263) with "Brainwashed" (recorded on July 13, 1966) on the flipside.
1966 - The Beach Boys' Capitol Records single "Good Vibrations" peaks at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart where it will stay for one week
1967 - The Steve Miller Blues Band signs with Capitol Records for $50,000 (an unheard of amount at the time for an "unknown" band signing their first contract). Capitol will later run a trade ad with a photo of Miller asking who is this man and why did Capitol pay him so much?
1969 - Jim and Irene Croce record the as yet unissued track "Gunga Din" in New York City, New York for Capitol Records.
45 Years Ago Today In 1970 - Wynn Stewart (on vocals), with Larry Butler on piano, Jack Eubanks, Glenn David Keener, Billy Sanford, and Lawrence Wilkerson on guitar, Lloyd Green on steel guitar, Henry Strzelecki on bass, and Murrey "Buddy" Harman Jr. on drums, records the tracks "I Can See Sunshine", "Unforgotten Man", "High Heaven", and "For The Good Times" at the Jack Clement Studio in Nashville, Tennessee between 2:00 PM and 5:30 PM. Capitol Records will issue all the tracks on Stewart's album "Baby It's Yours" (ST 687).
1976 - Capitol Records releases Wings' album "Wings Over America"
35 Years Ago Today In 1980 - Future Flight (Brynwood Tanner, David Swanson, Sy Jeffries, Anthony Patler on vocals with Anthony Patler on bass, synthesizer and Moog bass, clavinet, acoustic piano, Rhodes electric piano, and rhythm guitar) record the track "24 Hour Service" at Concorde Recording Center in Los Angeles, California with producer Lamont Dosier. Capitol Records will issue the track on the group's album "Future Flight" (ST-12154).
30 Years Ago Today In 1985 - George Clinton (on vocals, with unlisted musicians) records the track "Do Fries Go With That Shake?" at United Sound Studio in Detroit Michigan. Capitol Records will issue the track on Clinton's album "R & B Skeletons (In The Closet)" (ST-12481).
1996 - Faron Young, singer, guitarist and Capitol Records artist, dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound that occurred the day before. Later, per his request, Young is cremated and his ashes spread over Old Hickory Lake in Tennessee.
1999 - Rick Danko, bassist and singer for the Capitol Records group The Band, dies at his home in Woodstock, New York at age 56

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1893 - Lew Brown, lyricist and part of the songwriting team of DeSylva, Brown and Henderson with Capitol Records' co-founder Buddy DeSylva, is born Louis Brownstein in Odessa, Russia
115 Years Ago Today In 1900 - The Gramophone Company Ltd. transfers its business to a newly incorporated company, registered as The Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. The company would later become EMI, Capitol Records' one time parent company.
1949 - Antoine "Fats" Domino records his first tracks for Imperial Records, including "The Fat Man", one of the earliest rock and roll records. Imperial's catalog is currently owned by Capitol Records' parent company, Universal Music Group.
50 Years Ago In 1965 - Parlophone Records releases comedian and actor Peter Sellers' single "A Hard Day's Night" (arranged and conducted by George Martin), with "Help" on the flipside, in the U.K. (Parlophone R 4393). Sellers and Martin had worked together earlier on recordings by the cast of the BBC Radio series "The Goon Show". Capitol Records will later release the single in the United States (Capitol 5580). Sellers will later perform "A Hard Day's Night" live on television.
10 Years Ago Today In 2005 - Patricia Lynn Yearwood and former Capitol Records Nashville artist Troyal Garth Brooks are married at their home near Claremore, Oklahoma. It was Brooks' second marriage and the third for Yearwood.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1963 - Frank Sinatra, Jr., son of former Capitol Records artist Frank Sinatra, is released unharmed by his kidnappers after his father pays their $240,000 ransom demand. The kidnappers were subsequently apprehended and convicted. Later, a motion picture called "Stealing Sinatra" is made about the events.
1967 - Three days after the release of his Stax Records single "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", singer Otis Redding, age 26, and The Bar-Kays (Redding's backup group who had their own hit, "Soul Finger", in June 1967) members Ronald Caldwell (keyboard player, age 19), Carl Cunningham (drummer, age 18), Phalon Jones (saxophonist, age 18), and James King (guitarist, age 18) are killed in the crash of a private plane in Lake Monona, near Madison, Wisconsin. Ben Cauley, The Bar-Kays' trumpet player, survives the crash and will briefly reform the group with James Alexander, the band's bass player (who had not been on the plane), and replacements for the other members.
1991 - Alan Freed, the disc jockey credited with giving "Rock 'N' Roll" its name, is posthumously (Freed died January 20, 1965) awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame