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Rock and Roll Birthdays

Today's Rock and Roll Birthdays

January 12th

January 12th Birthday, Blues legend Mississippi Fred McDowell, born in 1906 in Rossville, Tennessee. He died of cancer on July 13th, 1972 at the age of 66.

January 12th Birthday, R&B legend Ruth Brown, born in 1928 in Portsmouth, Virginia. She died on November 17th, 2006 at the age of 78.

January 12th Birthday, British blues singer Long John Baldry, born John William Baldry in East Haddon, Northamptonshire, England in 1941.

January 12th Birthday, One of the four Tilmon Brothers in The Detroit Emeralds, singer Abe Tilmon, born in 1945. Tilmon died on July 6th, 1982 from a heart attack at the age of 37.

January 12th Birthday, Stone The Crows singer and solo artist Maggie Bell, born in 1945 in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland.

January 12th Birthday, Cynthia Robinson, trumpeter for Sly & The Family Stone, born in Sacramento, California in 1944. She died on November 23rd, 2015 at the age of 71.

January 12th Birthday, Keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer George Duke, born in 1946 in San Rafael, California.

January 12th Birthday, Gallery lead vocalist and guitarist Jim Gold, born in 1947.

January 12th Birthday, Guitarist, singer, songwriter Chris Bell from Big Star, born in 1951. Bell died in a car wreck on December 27th, 1978 at the age of 27.

January 12th Birthday, Drummer Tommy Ardolino from NRBQ, born in1955 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

January 12th Birthday, Singer, songwriter, filmmaker and voice actor Rod Zombie, born Robert Bartleh Cummings in 1965 in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Today In Rock and Roll History

January 12th

January 12th, 1957 Elvis Presley records “All Shook Up,” “Got a Lot O’ Livin’ to Do,” “I Believe,” and “Tell Me Why.” Otis Blackwell wrote “All Shook Up” at the offices of Shalimar Music in 1956 after Al Stanton, one of Shalimar’s owners, shaking a bottle of Pepsi at the time, suggested he write a song based on the phrase “all shook up.” Released by RCA Victor Records with “That’s When Your Heartache Begins” on the B-side on March 22nd, “All Shook Up” topped the US Pop Singles charts on April 13th for eight weeks, the R&B chart for four weeks and the Country and Western chart as well.

January 12th, 1958 Eddie Cochran records “Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie.” The song was co-written as “Johnny Johnny Johnny” by George Motola and Rickie Page for The Georgettes, but it was never released. Produced by Eddie Cochran, the track went to No. 94 on March 10th but became a posthumous hit in the UK in 1961, going to No. 31.

January 12th, 1965 NBC television airs the first episode of the pop music show Hullabaloo!The first broadcast featured guests The New Christy Minstrels, The Zombies, Woody Allen and Gerry and The Pacemakers.

January 12th, 1966 Tamla Records release “This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)” by Tammi Terrelle on 45. A Holland-Dozier-Holland-Sylvia Moy song originally released by The Isley Brothers, the Terrell version came from Tami’s “Irresistible” LP. Recorded at Hitsville USA Studio A with Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier producing, the record peaked at No. 67 on January 25th.

January 12th, 1968 Manfred Mann release the Bob Dylan song “Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)” on 45 in Britain, out in February in America. Produced by Mike Hurst, the record went to No. 1 in Britain on February 14th, No. 10 in the US on April 13th.

January 12th, 1969 Led Zeppelin’s debut album is released in the US, with a British issue six weeks later, March 28th. Recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London in September and October 1968, the LP took about thirty-six hours of studio time to complete and spent a total of seventy-one weeks on the English album charts. The US release coincided with the band’s first headlining American concert tour. Produced by Jimmy Page and engineered by Glyn Johns, the LP peaked at No. 7 in America on June 21st, No. 6 in the UK.

January 12th, 1972 Warner Brothers Records release “A Horse With No Name” by America on 45. Released two months earlier in the UK, the song was recorded at Morgan Studios in London with producer Ian Samwell. Written by the band’s Dewey Bunnell, the record entered the charts in February peaked at No. 1 on March 25th and earned a Gold Record for a million copies sold.

January 12th, 1974 Track Records release “The Real Me” by The Who on 45. Written by Pete Townshend for the “Quadrophenia” LP, the track was co-produced by The Who, Chris Stamp, Pete Kameron and Kit Lambert. The single peaked at No. 92 on February 9th.

January 12th, 1974 Jim Croce started a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim.”

January 12th, 1974 “The Joker” by The Steve Miller Band is the No. 1 record in the US.

January 12th, 1974 Joe Walsh’s “Meadows” enters the singles charts. Written by Walsh, who co-produced the track with Bill Szymczyk, “Meadows” spent four weeks on the charts and peaked at No. 89 on January 26th.

January 12th, 1974 Terry Jacks’ “Seasons In The Sun” enters the singles charts following a December 1973 release. “Seasons in the Sun” is an English-language adaptation of the 1961 song “Le Moribond” by Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel with lyrics rewritten in 1963 by American singer-poet Rod McKuen. Canadian singer Terry Jacks, who’d had success with his band The Poppy Family, rewrote the lyrics again and recorded the song in Vancouver in 1973. The record hit No. 1 in America on March 2nd and sold over fourteen million copies worldwide.

January 12th, 1977 The Police had their first rehearsal, at drummer Stewart Copeland’s London flat with Henri Padovani on guitar.

January 12th, 1981 Capitol Records release “Nature Of The Beast” by Canadian band April Wine. Featuring the hit “Just Between You and Me,” the LP reached No. 26 on April 18th.

January 12th, 1981 Chrysalis Records release “Rapture” by Blondie on 45. The song was co-written by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, issued as the second single from the band’s Mike Chapman produced “Autoamerican” LP. The record peaked at No. 1 on March 28th.

January 12th, 1981 Geffen Records release the posthumous John Lennon single “Woman” in the US, out four days later in Britain. Written by Lennon, who co-produced the track with Jack Douglas and Yoko Ono, the single spent twenty weeks on the charts and peaked at No. 2 on March 21st.

January 12th, 1983 Warner Brothers Records release “Trouble In Paradise” by Randy Newman. Written, arranged and conducted by Newman, the album was co-produced by Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker. The record peaked at No. 64 on February 26th.

January 12th, 1987 Mercury Records release “The House Of Blue Light” LP by Deep Purple. Recorded at The Playhouse in Stowe, Vermont, with Roger Glover and the band producing. In spite of the difficult recording sessions in which the band felt they weren’t gelling, the record peaked at No. 34 on February 21st.

Miscellaneous January

January 1959 Del Fi Records release “Fast Freight” backed with Big Baby Blues” by Arvee Allens on 45. Both instrumentals, the name was a pseudonym for Ritchie Valens, who wrote the songs. Rereleased later under his real name, it was Valens’ last single issued in his lifetime.

January 1967 Verve Folkways Records release “More Than A New Discovery,” the first album by Laura Nyro. The LP was produced by Milton Okun from July through November 1966 at Bell Sound Studios in New York City. Verve reissued the tracks as “The First Songs” in 1969 on their Verve Forecast imprint and Columbia did the same in 1973, reissued with a new cover, when it peaked at No. 97 on March 24th.

January 1968 CBS Records in Britain release “Come Out Fighting Genghis Smith,” the second album by Roy Harper. The LP was produced by Shel Talmy.

January 1969 CBS Records in Britain release “Love Chronicles,” the second album by Al Stewart. The LP was co-produced by Roy Guest, John Wood and Al Stewart. Session musicians included Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and four members of Fairport Convention, Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, Martin Lamble and Ashley Hutchings.

January 1971 Warner Brothers Records release the self-titled debut album by Little Feat. Produced by Russ Titelman, the LP didn’t chart. Little Feat were formed by guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in Los Angeles in 1969.

January 1972 Reprise Records release “The Spotlight Kid,” the sixth studio album by Captain Beefheart. The album was recorded in the Autumn of 1971 with Beefheart and Phil Schier co-producing.

January 1972 Buddah Records release “City Of New Orleans” by songwriter Steve Goodman. Although Goodman’s version didn’t chart, two subsequent cover versions did. Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson both had hits with the song. Goodman received a posthumous Grammy award for best Country Song at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985 for Nelson’s cover of the song.

January 1973 Palladium Records release “Back In ‘72” by Bob Seger. The album contains the original studio version of one of Seger’s signature songs, “Turn the Page.”

January 1974 Warner Brothers Records release “Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath” by Black Sabbath on 45. The single version of the song was edited to three minutes and thirty-three seconds from the album version that was nearly six minutes long.

January 1974 Ardent Records release “Radio City,” the second album by Big Star. Down to the three-piece unit of Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel, former guitarist Chris Bell did contribute to the writing of a few songs on the LP before departing in late 1972. A few of the songs were completed by Chilton with session players. Sales were hampered by poor distribution of the album when Ardent’s parent company had disagreements with Columbia Records, who otherwise would have placed the album in stores.

January 1975 Wilco Johnson’s band, Dr. Feelgood, release their first LP “Down The Jetty” on United Artists Records in Britain.

January 1976 Mercury Records release “Johnny The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed” by Thin Lizzy on 45. The song was co-written by Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham and Brian Downey. The track was produced by John Alcock from the band’s “Johnny The Fox” LP.

January 1977 Private Stock Records release the eponymous first album by Blondie. Produced by Richard Gottehrer, the group bought back their contract with Private Stock and re-signed with Chrysalis Records, wrote re-released the album the following September.

January 1981 Full Moon/Epic Records release “Outside” by Ambrosia as a single backed with the Eagles song “I Can’t Tell You Why” on the flip side. Both songs were featured in the 1980 Richard Donner film soundtrack Inside Moves. The record peaked at No. 102 in the US.

January 1981 Sire Records release Talking Heads “Once In A Lifetime” on 45. Co-produced and written by the band and Brian Eno. It was the lead single from Talking Heads’ fourth studio album, “Remain In Light.” The LP went to No. 19 on December 6thbut the single never entered the Top One Hundred despite significant airplay on early MTV broadcasts. A live version released in 1986 peaked at No. 91.