APRIL 30, 2017

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
70 Years Ago Today In 1947 - Mel Blanc is in the studio to record the track "Porky Pig In Africa" for the Capitol Records children's album "Bugs Bunny Stories For Children". The track is produced by Alan Livingston with music by Billy May and story by Tedd Pierce and Warren Foster.
1949 - Mel Tormé (with orchestra conducted by Sonny Burke)'s Capitol Records single "Careless Hands" is #9 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae (with Paul Weston and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "'A' You're Adorable" is #11, Mel Tormé (with orchestra conducted by Pete Rugolo)'s Capitol Records single "Again" is #13, Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae (with Paul Weston and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Need You" is #15, Mel Tormé's Capitol Records single "Blue Moon" is #23, Jack Smith and The Clark Sisters (formerly called The Sentimentalists when they recorded with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra) with Frank DeVol and His Orchestra's Capitol Records single "Crusing Down The River" is tied with Gordon MacRae (with studio orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "So In Love" (from the Cole Porter musical "Kiss Me Kate") at #27, and Margaret Whiting (with Frank DeVol and His Orchestra) is tied with herself at #29 with her Capitol Records single "Forever And Ever" and its flip side "A Wonderful Guy" (from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "South Pacific")
1953 - At his second session for Capitol Records, vocalist Frank Sinatra, with Nelson Riddle, at his first Capitol Records session conducting his own arrangements to the orchestra (Conrad Gozzo, Mannie Klein, Vito "Mickey" Mangano, and Rubin "Zeke" Zarchy on trumpets, Si Zentner, Joe Howard, Jimmy Priddy, and Milt Bernhart on trombones, Skeets Herfurt, Jack Dumont, Ted Nash, Ted Romersa, and Joe Koch on saxophones and woodwinds, Bill Miller on piano, Al Hendrickson on guitar, Phil Stephens on bass, and Alvin Stoller on drums), records the titles "I've Got The World On A String", "Don't Worry 'Bout Me", "I Love You", and "South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way)" at radio station KHJ's studios (now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study and The Academy Film Archive) at 1313 North Vine Street in Hollywood, California with producer Voyle Gilmore between 8:00 PM and 11:30 PM. Not bad for Riddle's first day on the job. The arrangements and conducting of "I Love You" and "South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way)" have at times been credited to Billy May but, at the time of this session, May is on tour with his own band. It turns out Riddle was asked to arrange those titles in the style of Billy May. Capitol Records will issue "I've Got The World On A String" as a single (Capitol 1669) with "Young At Heart" (recorded December 9, 1953) on the flipside, "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" as a single (Capitol 2787) with "I Could Have Told You" (also recorded on December 9, 1953) on the flipside, and "I Love You" and "South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way" together as a single (Capitol 2638).
1955 - Les Baxter and His Orchestra's Capitol Records single "Unchained Melody" is #4 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Tennessee Ernie Ford with Cliffie Stone's Band's Capitol Records single "The Ballad Of Davy Crocket" is #8, Nat "King" Cole with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra's Capitol Records single "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup" is #10 and both sides of their single "A Blossom Fell" with "If I May" on the flip side debut at #27
1961 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Hello Walls" is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts
1966 - After being introduced by Ernest Tubb, Capitol Records artist Ray Pillow, best known at the time for his duets with Jean Shepard, is made a member of The Grand Ol' Opry
1966 - The Beach Boys' Capitol Records single "Caroline, No" peaks at #32 on the Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. The track was recorded January 31, 1966 at Western Recorders, Hollywood, California and released March 7, 1966 as Capitol single 5610 with Brian Wilson on lead vocals.
50 Years Ago Today In 1967 - Sonny James' Capitol Records single "Need You" is #1 on the U.S. Country singles charts
1969 - Paul McCartney and John Lennon record overdubs and sound effects for their Apple Records track "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, England
1973 - George Harrison's Apple Records single, "Give Me Love", released by Capitol Records in the United States, hits #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1974 - Merle Haggard records the track "Old Man From The Mountain" for Capitol Records
40 Years Ago Today In 1977 - Glen Campbell's Capitol Records single "Southern Nights" is still #1 on Billboard's singles chart
40 Years Ago Today In 1977 - Klaatu's self-titled debut album on Capitol Records peaks at #32 on the Billboard album charts and will stay there for 3 weeks
1978 - Dick Curless, bandleader and Capitol Records artist, is inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame
1985 - Mickey Katz, comedian, klezmer style clarinet player, member and vocalist with Spike Jones and His City Slickers, father of Broadway, motion picture and television actor and Capitol Records artist Joel Grey, grandfather of motion picture and television actress Jennifer Grey, and a Capitol recording artist, dies at age 75 and is later interred in the Valley of Remembrance section of Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California
30 Years Ago Today In 1987 - Apple Records releases The Beatles' albums "Help!", "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" on CD for the first time with there original UK track order and with Capitol Records handling distribution in the United States
1995 - Capitol Records artist Roseanne Cash and record producer John Leventhal are married
2000 - Jonah Jones, trumpet player and Capitol Records solo artist, dies at age 91

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1870 - Franz Lehar, composer of the operettas "The Merry Widow and "Naughty Marietta" (selections from both were later recorded by Gordon MacRae and released first as separate 10" albums and later together as a single 12" LP by Capitol Records), is born in what is now Komrno, Slovakia
1928 - Ten year old Stubenville, Ohio native Dino Crocetti (aka future Capitol Records artist Dean Martin) has his first Holy Communion and takes the name Paul as his confirmation name
1933 - Willie Nelson, singer, songwriter, disc jockey, motion picture and television actor, founder of Farm Aid, and Liberty Records artist, is born Willaim Hugh Nelson in Abbott, Texas
1938 - The Warner Bros. cartoon short "Porky's Hare Hunt", debuts in movie theaters, introducing future Capitol Records "artist" Bugs Bunny.
1943 - Bobby Vee, singer and Liberty Records artist (1959-1970), is born Robert Thomas Velline in Fargo, North Dakota

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL HISTORY
90 Years Ago Today In 1927 - Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first to put their hand and footprints in cement outside Sid Graumann's Chinese Theatre at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California
1934 - Jerry Lordon, composer of "Apache", the first big hit for the UK group The Shadows, was born in London, England
1983 - Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield), Blues legend, dies in his sleep at age 68 at his home in Westmont, Illinois