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Rock and Roll Birthdays

Today's Rock and Roll Birthdays

March 24th

March 24th Birthday, Can multi-instrumentalist, producer, sound engineer and solo artist Holger Czukay, born in 1938 in Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland). He died on September 5th, 2017, aged 79.

March 24th Birthday, Blues harpist Lee Oskar, born in 1948 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Oskar was a founding member of the band War.

March 24th Birthday, Spooky Tooth drummer, composer and record producer Mike Kellie, born in Birmingham, England in 1947. He died on January 18th, 2017, aged 69.

March 24th Birthday, Singer, bassist, songwriter Nick Lowe, born Nicholas Drain Lowe in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England in 1949.

March 24th Birthday, Supertramp bassist Dougie Thomson, born Douglas Campbell Thomson in Glasgow, Scotland in 1951.

March 24th Birthday, German singer Gabriele Susanne Kerner, professionally known as Nena. Kerner fronted the band Nena and scored an international hit in 1983 with "99 Red Balloons", born in Hagen, West Germany in 1960.

Today In Rock and Roll History

March 24th

March 24th, 1965 Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman is knocked unconscious onstage in Odense, Denmark by an electrical shock.

March 24th, 1966 Tamla Records release “Nothing’s Too Good For My Baby” by Stevie Wonder. Written by Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy and William Stevenson, the studio sessions for the song include Motown backing band The Funk Brothers and backing vocals by The Originals. The record entered the charts in April and peaked at No. 20 on May 14th.

March 24th, 1967 Epic Records release "Little Games" by The Yardbirds on 45. Written by Harold Jacob Spiro and Philip Wainman, the record entered the charts in April and peaked at No. 51 on May 20th. While the record did well in America, it didn't chart in Britain and as a result the "Little Games" album was not released in the UK.

March 24th, 1967 Manfred Mann release "Ha! Ha! Said The Clown" on 45 in Britain. Written by Tony Hazzard, the recording features one of the earliest appearances of the mellotron keyboard on a rock and roll record. A big hit in several European markets, the single went to No. 4 in Britain and No. 10 in Australia.

March 24th, 1969 Epic Records release "Stand!" backed with "I Want To Take You Higher" by Sly & The Family Stone on 45. Both songs had chart runs in the US. Written by Sly Stone, the first mix of "Stand!" omitted the gospel-styled ending. Stone went back into the studio and recorded it separately. With most of the Family Stone unavailable for the session, Sly used studio musicians for the rerecorded section. The record entered the charts in April and peaked at No. 22 on May 17th. "I Want To Take You Higher” has its origins in "Advice", a song Sly Stone co-wrote and arranged for Billy Preston's album "The Wildest Organ In Town" in 1966. "I Want To Take You Higher” entered the charts in May and peaked at No. 38 on June 7th.

March 24th, 1970 Columbia Records release Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia" on 45. Written by Paul Simon, the song's title refers to St. Cecilia, patron saint of music in the Catholic tradition. The unusual rhythm section was recorded while banging on a piano bench at a party the duo threw for friends. Simon found a section, the length of shortly over a minute, that he felt had a nice groove. He and producer Roy Halee made a loop of this section, and that's the sound you hear on the finished track. The record entered the charts in April and hit No. 4 on May 30th.

March 24th, 1972 Polydor Records in Britain release Slade "Alive!" The album was recorded live at Command Theatre Studio and mixed at Olympic Studios. The Lp went to No. 2 in Britain, No. 158 in the US on November 25thfollowing an August release.

March 24th, 1973 Chrysalis Records release “Grand Hotel,” the sixth album by Procol Harum. Produced by Chris Thomas with all the songs on the Lp written by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid, the record peaked at No. 21 on May 26th.

March 24th, 1973 Lou Reed suffers a bite on the butt by an exited fan during a concert in Buffalo, New York. Reed later commented “America seems to breed real animals.”

March 24th, 1973 Harvest Records release the sixth Pink Floyd studio album "The Dark Side Of The Moon." Primarily developed during live performances, the band premiered an early version of the record several months before recording began. New material for the album was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at Abbey Road Studios in London. A Quadaphonic issue of the record was released that December. “The Dark Side Of The Moon” peaked at No. 1 on April 28th.

March 24th, 1973 "Love Train" by the O'Jays is the No. 1 record in the US.

March 24th, 1975 MCA Records release "Nuthin' Fancy," the third studio album by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The album reached No. 9 on May 31stand featured the hit single "Saturday Night Special."

March 24th, 1975 Capitol Records release "Bad Time" by Grand Funk on 45. Written by guitarist Mark Farner, "Bad Time" was the group's fourth and final single to reach the Top 10 and their final Top 40 hit. Produced by Jimmy Ienner and arranged by Tony Camillo, the record entered the charts in April and reached No. 4 on June 7th.

March 24th, 1977 Warner Brothers Records release “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac on 45. Nicks wrote the song at the Record Plant studio in Sausalito, California during Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album recording sessions. The song became the band's only No. 1 single in the US, entering the charts in April and peaking at No. 1 on June 18th.

March 24th, 1979 "The Logical Song" by Supertramp enters the US singles charts. The song was issued as the lead single from their sixth studio album, “Breakfast in America.” Written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson and produced by Supertramp and Peter Henderson,“The Logical Song” hit No. 6 on June 16th, No. 7 in Britain,

March 24th, 1979 "Crazy Love" by The Allman Brothers Band enters the US singles charts. Written by Dickie Betts and produced by Tom Dowd, the record peaked at No. 29 on May 5th.

March 24th, 1979 "Feeling Satisfied" by Boston enters the US singles charts. Written and produced by guitarist Tom Scoltz from Boston’s second album “Don’t Look Back,” the record peaked at No. 46 on April 26th.

March 24th, 1980 Capitol Records release "Rarities," an album of rare and hard to find tracks by The Beatles not included on their available group albums. The album reached No. 21 on May 31st.

March 24th, 1982 Sire Records release the Talking Heads double live album "The Name Of This Band is Talking Heads." The Lp featured several different era’s of the band's live on stage history. The album reached No. 31 in America on May 22nd, No. 22 in Britain.

March 24th, 1986 Rolling Stones Records release "Dirty Work," the eighteenth studio album by The Rolling Stones. A number of guests sat in on the recording sessions for the Lp, including Bobby Womack, Don Covay, Tom Waits, Jimmy Page and producer Steve Lillywhite's wife Kirsty MacColl. The record features a hidden track, a thirty second snippet of pianist Ian Stewart, an original member of The Stones, playing "Keys To The Highway." Stewart had passed away the previous December, shortly after "Dirty Work" was completed. The album reached No. 4 on May 3rd.

March 24th, 1986 Warner Brothers Records release "5150," the seventh studio album by Van Halen and the first with new singer and guitarist Sammy Hagar. The record was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, which is a California police term for a mentally disturbed person. With Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones producing, the album peaked at No. 1 on April 26th.

March 24th, 2003 Ringo Starr releases the album "Ringo Rama," produced by Ringo and Mark Hudson. The record features guest appearances by Willie Nelson, Charlie Hayden, Van Dyke Parks, David Gilmour, Shawn Colvin, Timothy B. Schmidt and Eric Clapton. The record peaked at No. 113 on April 12th.