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Important days in music history for February

Feb 16, 2017

Ever wanted to know what happened this month in music? Our community music expert Benjamin has you covered!

1^ST 1967 At EMI Studios in London, The Beatles start work on their new song “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. It isn’t until they have recorded the song that Paul McCartney has the idea to make the song the thematic pivot for their next album.

2^nd Born on this day 1942, Graham Nash (The Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash)

3^rd 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper die in a plane crash at Clear Lake, Iowa. They were travelling to Fargo, North Dakota, for the next show on The Winter Dance Party covering 24 cities in 3 weeks.

4^th 1983, Karen Carpenter dies aged 32 of a cardiac arrest caused by imbalances associated with anorexia nervosa.

5^th 1962, Ringo Starr deputises for the sick drummer Pete Best at The Cavern Club, Liverpool at lunchtime, and The Kingsway Club, Southport in the evening, but he would permanently take his place in August.

6^th Born on this day, 1945, Bob Marley (singer/songwriter), 1950, Natalie Cole (singer) and 1962 Axl Rose (Guns N Roses).

7^th Robin, Maurice and Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees return to the UK after 9 years in Australia.

8^th Kylie Minogue is voted the sexiest woman in her 30’s by UK magazine Good Housekeeping.

9^th The Beatles make their USA TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, over 50,000 applications were received for the 728 seats in the studio, and an estimated 73 million people across the states watched the show.

10^th Born on this day in 1937 is Roberta Flack, singer songwriter.

11^th 1967, The Monkees set a new record when their second album More Of The Monkees jumps from 122 to the top of the USA charts where it stayed for 18 weeks.

12^th Born on this day 1939, Ray Manzarek, keyboards (The Doors) and Michael McDonald singer, (The Bellamy Brothers)

13^th Born on this day 1950, Peter Gabriel, singer (Genesis) and in 1974 Robbie Williams, singer (Take That and solo)

14^th 1984, Elton John marries recording engineer Renate Blauer in Sydney, Australia; they were divorced 3 years later.

15^th 1965, American singer/pianist/songwriter Nat “King” Cole dies aged 65 of lung cancer.

16^th 1972, Led Zepplin play their first concert in Australia at Subiaco Oval, Perth, Australia.

17^th 1989, R.E.M, Hoodoo Gurus and The Go-Betweens all appear at The Horden Pavilion, Sydney, Australia

18^th Born on this day 1953, Robbie Bachman, singer/guitarist(Bachman Turner Overdrive), 1954 John Travolta. Actor/singer.

19^th Born on this day 1940, Smokey Robinson, singer/songwriter (The Miracles) and Seal (Henry Samuel) singer/songwriter.

20^th 1980, Bon Scott, Australian singer with AC/DC is pronounced dead on arrival at a London hospital after a heavy night’s drinking. He was found dead in the passenger seat of a friend’s parked car in East Dulwich, south London. The official coroner’s report states that he had drunk himself to death after suffocating in his own vomit.

21^st 1976, Florence Ballard formerly of The Supremes dies aged 32 of cardiac arrest. When she left The Supremes in 1967 she failed in an $8 million lawsuit against Motown Records and was living on welfare when she died.

22^nd 1981, Australian one hit wonder Joe Dolce is at number one worldwide with “Shaddup You Face”.

23^rd 2002, The Bee Gees make their last ever concert as a trio at The Love And Hope Ball, Miami Beach, Florida.

24^th 1990, American crooner Johnnie Ray dies aged 63 of liver failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles. He had 20 top 40 hits between 1952 and 1960 and in 1956 he had a worldwide number one with “Just Walking In The rain”

25^th 1965, Australian folk/pop group The Seekers have their first worldwide number one with “I’ll Never Find Another You”

26^th Born on this day, 1928, Fats Domino, singer/pianist/songwriter and in 1932 Johnny Cash, US country singer/songwriter

27^th 1971, 5 months after her death Janis Joplin starts a 9 week run at number one in the USA with her album “Pearl”

28^th 1970, Led Zeppelin are obliged to play a gig in Copenhagen as The Nobs after Eva von Zeppelin, a relative of the airship designer, threatens to sue if the family name was used in Denmark.

29^th Mike Smith, lead singer of The Dave Clark Five, dies aged 64 from pneumonia at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, England. The band had 20 top 40 hits including worldwide number one “Glad All Over”, and had sold over 100 million records.