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Rock and Roll Birthdays

Today's Rock and Roll Birthdays

February 13th

February 13th Birthday, Half of the hit songwriting team with wife Felice, Boudleaux Bryant. Born Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant in 1920 in Shellman, Georgia, the pair wrote hits for The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly and many others.

February 13th Birthday, The Monkees bassist, singer and keyboardist Peter Tork, born Peter Halsten Thorkelson in Washington, DC in 1942. He died on February 21st, 2019, aged 77.

February 13th Birthday, Percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah from Traffic, born in 1944 in Konongo, Ghana. He died on January 12th, 1983 of a cerebral hemorrhage during a performance in Sweden, aged 38.

February 13th Birthday, R&B singer and songwriter King Floyd, born King Floyd III in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1945. He passed away on March 6th, 2006.

February 13th Birthday, Original Fairport Convention vocalist and solo artist Judy Dybil (pronounced Die-bull), born in 1949. She passed away July 12th, 2020 at the age of 71.

February 13th Birthday, Original Genesis singer and solo artist Peter Gabriel, born in 1950 in Chobham, Surrey, England.

February 13th Birthday, Original Foreigner bassist Ed Gagliardi, born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1952. He died of cancer on May 11th, 2014, aged 62.

February 13th Birthday, Loverboy bass guitarist Scott Smith, born in 1955 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He died in a boating accident on November 30th, 2000, aged 45.

February 13th Birthday, Joy Division and New Order bassist and vocalist Peter Hook, born Peter Woodhead in Broughton, Salford, England in 1956.

February 13th Birthday, Bassist Tony Butler from Big Country, born in 1957 in White City, London, England.

February 13th Birthday, Singer and author Henry Rollins, born Henry Lawrence Garfield in Washington, DC in 1961.

Today In Rock and Roll History

February 13th

February 13th, 1961 Beltone Records release “Tossin’ and Turnin’” by Bobby Lewis on 45. Co-written by Malou Rene and Ritchie Adams, King Curtis plays tenor saxophone on the track. The single peaked at No. 1 on July 15th and held that position for seven weeks.

February 13th, 1965 “Apache ‘65” by The Arrows featuring Davie Allan enters the singles charts. “Apache” was written by Jerry Lordan and first recorded by Bert Weedon in 1960. Released from the soundtrack of the film The Wild Angels, The Arrows’ version charted for seven weeks and peaked at No. 64 on March 20th.

February 13th, 1965 World Artists records release “If I Loved You” by Chad And Jeremy on 45. The song was co-written by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II for the musical Carousel in 1945, originally sung by Perry Como. The Chad And Jeremy version entered the charts a week later and peaked at No. 23 on April 10th.

February 13th, 1965 Amy Records release “Stranger In Town” by Del Shannon on 45. Written by Shannon, the record entered the charts two weeks later and reached No. 30 on March 20th. “Stranger in Town” was Shannon’s last Top Forty hit of the 1960’s.

February 13th, 1965 London Records release “The Rolling Stones, Now!” the third America album by The Rolling Stones. Six of the album’s songs were previously issued in Britain on the “Rolling Stones No. 2” album, plus the band’s new single “Heart Of Stone,” the UK single “Little Red Rooster,” and the otherwise unreleased Mick Jagger and Keith Richards song “Surprise, Surprise.” The record reached No. 5 on April 24th.

February 13th, 1967 Epic Records release “Here Comes My Baby” by Dagenham, England band The Tremeloes on 45. Written by Cat Stevens, The Tremeloes’ version was produced by Mike Smith. The single entered the charts in April reaching No. 13 on May 27th, No. 7 in Canada and No. 4 in Britain.

February 13th, 1967 Capitol Records release The Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever” b/w “Penny Lane” on 45, out four days later in Britain. Both songs were pulled from the group’s next album sessions when the need for a new Beatles single was called for. In the United States, both sides of the single entered the charts as separate entries on February 25th. “Penny Lane” was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on the 20th of March peaking at No. 1 two days earlier. “Strawberry Fields Forever” went to No. 8 on April 1st. On the same day, The Beatles record the basic tracks for George Harrison’s “Only A Northern Song” at EMI Studios in London with producer George Martin, recording nine takes. Initially considered for inclusion on the band’s next LP, the track was eventually issued on the “Yellow Submarine” soundtrack album in January 1969. The lyrics reference The Beatles’ publishing company, a good-natured jab at company’s head Dick James. The session had George Martin on organ, John Lennon on piano, Paul McCartney on bass and Ringo Starr on drums. The track was completed at addition sessions on February 14th and April 20th.

February 13th, 1968 Columbia Records release Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair (Canticle)” on 45. Recorded two years earlier, on July 26th, 1966, the single was released after being featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate. “Scarborough Fair” was a traditional English folk song, “Canticle” was a reworking of the lyrics from Simon’s 1963 anti-war song “The Side of a Hill.” The record entered the charts in March and peaked at No. 11 on April 20th.

February 13th, 1968 Columbia Records release “Young Girl” by Gary Puckett and The Union Gap. The song was written, composed and produced by Jerry Fuller with instrumental backing by members of “The Wrecking Crew.” The record entered the charts in March and went to No. 2 in America on April 6th.

February 13th, 1970 Vertigo Records in Britain release the self-titled first album by Black Sabbath on Friday the 13th. The LP was recorded in a single twelve-hour session on October 16th, 1969 at Regent Sound Studios in London with Roger Bain producing. The record peaked at No. 8 in Britain. The LP charted for over a year, sixty-six weeks and peaked at No. 23 on December 26th.

February 13th, 1971 Booker T. and The M.G.’s “Melting Pot” album enters the charts on Stax Record. It was the last record released by the original quartet, Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Donald Dunn and Al Jackson. The LP peaked at No. 43 on March 27th.

February 13th, 1971 “One Bad Apple” by The Osmonds is the No. 1 record in the US.

February 13th, 1971 Chicago band The Mob release “Give It To Me” on Colossus Records. The song was co-written by James Holvay and Gary Biesbier, who fronted The Mob and wrote “Don’t You Care,” “Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song)” and “Susan” for The Buckinghams. The record entered the charts in March and peaked at No. 71 on April 3rd.

February 13th, 1971 Capitol Records release “What About Me” by Quicksilver Messenger Service on 45. “What About Me” was written by Jesse Oris Farrow, the given name of Quicksilver’s Dino Valenti. The record was produced by John Palladino. “What About Me” entered the charts on March 6th and peaked that week at No. 100.

February 13th, 1971 “Wild World” by Cat Stevens enters the singles charts following a January release on A&M Records. Written by Stevens about his relationship with American actress Patti D’Arbanville, the record was produced by former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith and peaked at No. 11 on April 10th.

February 13th, 1971 “Chairmen Of The Board” by Chairmen Of The Board enters the singles charts. The song was co-written by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier and produced by the pair with Eddie Holland. An interesting script on DJ copies of the record stated “Produced & Mixed for Greater & Sharper Sound Reproduction on the Air,” an indicator of how singles were mixed differently from their album counterparts. The record charted for eight weeks and peaked at No. 42 on March 20th.

February 13th, 1971 “Doesn’t Somebody Want To Be Wanted” by The Partridge Family enters the singles charts. Produced by Wes Ferrell and co-written by Ferrell with Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, singer David Cassidy did not like the song and felt embarrassed to read the spoken work interlude. Pressured to do it anyhow, the song became a major hit, peaking at No. 6 on March 27th.

February 13th, 1982 The Jam perform “A Town Called Malice,” and “Precious” on the UK TV show Top Of The Pops, their latest double-A sided No. 1 in Britain.

February 13th, 1982 Warner Brothers Records release “Green Light,” the eighth album by Bonnie Raitt. But for one song co-written by Raitt on the LP, the record was a collection of cover versions. Produced by Rob Fraboni at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California, the album peaked at No. 38 on April 17th.

February 13th, 1990 Def American Records release “Shake Your Money Maker,” the debut album by The Black Crowes. The LP was produced by George Drakoulias at Soundscape Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, Chapel, Paramount and Grandmaster Studios in Los Angeles. The LP spent one hundred and sixty-seven weeks on the charts and peaked at No. 4 on April 6th.

February 13th, 1993 “Sweet Thing” by Mick Jagger enters the charts on Atlantic Records and peaks at No. 84 the same day. Written by Mick Jagger, who co-produced the song with Rick Rubin, the song became a Top Ten hit in Austria, France, Norway and Switzerland.

Miscellaneous February

February 1957 Gale Records release “Chickee Wah Wah” by Bobby Marchan on 45. The song was co-written by Huey “Piano” Smith and John Vincent. Smith played piano on the track. Marchan was the lead singer in Smith’s band Huey “Piano” Smith and The Clowns, a popular live attraction in New Orleans in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

February 1964 Polydor Records in Britain release “I Just Wanna Make Love To You” backed with “Let The Good Times Roll,” the first single by Scottish singer Alex Harvey and His Soul Band. Harvey wrote the A-side lyrics, reworking the Willie Dixon song. The flip side was penned by Leonard Lee, a cover version of the Shirley and Lee song from 1961.

February 1968 Lee Hazelwood’s LHI Records release “Safe As Home” by The International Submarine Band. Led by twenty-one-year-old Gram Parsons, the LP was recorded at Western Sound (Studio B) in Hollywood with producer Suzi Jane Hokom. Parsons had accepted the offer to join The Byrds before the album was released.

February 1973 Harvest Records release “Lifemask,” the sixth album by Roy Harper. Produced by Peter Jenner at Abbey Road Studios in London, Jimmy Page and Nice drummer Brian Davidson were among the studio musicians on the record.

February 1973 John Martyn’s “Solid Air” album is released. Recording began in July 1972 at Sound Techniques in Chelsea with producer John Wood. Further sessions took place in September and recording was completed by December 9th, 1972.

February 1974 A&M Records release “When The Morning Comes” by Hoyt Axton on 45. Written by Axton who co-produced the track with Allan McDougall, the song features Linda Ronstadt on backing vocals.

February 1975 Warner Brothers Records release “Rock The Nation,” the debut single from Montrose. Co-produced by the band and Ted Templeman, the band included lead vocalist Sammy Hagar, guitarist Ronnie Montrose, Bill Church on bass and Denny Carmassi on drums.

February 1976 RCA/Equinox Records release “Jamaica Farewell” by California Music on 45. The traditional song was co-credited to Terry Melcher, Curt Boettcher and Gary Usher. Usher and Melcher were in the group along with Beach Boy Bruce Johnston.

February 1977 DEVO release their first single on their own record label, Booji Boy Records. “Mongoloid” backed with “Jocko Homo” was co-credited and produced by the band. Both songs would be rerecorded for the group’s first LP “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!” in 1978.

February 1978 Columbia Records release “Godzilla” by Blue Öyster Cult on 45. The song was written by Cult guitarist Donald Roeser from Blue Öyster Cult’s fifth album “Spectres.” The record was co-produced by the band, Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman and David Lucas.

February 1980 CBS Records in Ireland release “Another Day” backed with “Twilight” by U2 on 45. The group co-wrote the LP collectively and co-produced the disc with Chas De Walley.

February 1980 Virgin Records in the US release the first stateside single by XTC. “Ten Feet Tall” was written by bassist Colin Moulding and produced by Phil Wainman, While the label copy states the song is from the band’s “Drums And Wires” LP, the version issued on the 45 in not the same as the one on the album.

February 1987 Legacy Records in Britain release “Staring Up” by Roy Wood. The LP was written produced and arranged by Roy Wood, playing and singing all the instruments and vocals himself.