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Rock and Roll Birthdays

Today's Rock and Roll Birthdays

February 21st

February 21st Birthday, Classical guitarist Andrés Segovia, born Andrés Segovia Torres in Linares, Jaén, Spain in 1893.

February 21st Birthday, Soul, jazz, pop, gospel and Broadway singer Nina Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina. She died on April 21st, 2003, aged 70.

February 21st Birthday, Founder of Asylum and his own Geffen Records labels David Geffen, born in 1943 in Brooklyn, New York.

February 21st Birthday, Bassist Paul Newton from Uriah Heep, born in Hampshire, England in 1948.

February 21st Birthday, Keyboardist, guitarist, songwriter, producer and a member of Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers and The Talking Heads, Jerry Harrison, born in 1949 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

February 21st Birthday, Tubes and the Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick, born in 1951 in Phoenix, Arizona. He committed suicide on June 2nd, 2006, aged 55.

February 21st Birthday, The Stranglers’ bassist and singer Jean-Jacques (J.J.) Burnel, born in Notting Hill, London, England in 1952.

February 21st Birthday, Singer, songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter, born in 1958 in Princeton, New Jersey.

February 21st Birthday, Elvis Costello keyboardist and solo artist Steve Nieve, born Stephen John Nason in London, England in 1958.

February 21st Birthday, Singer from The English Beat, General Public and Big Audio Dynamite, Ranking Roger, born Roger Charlery in Birmingham, England in 1963.

February 21st Birthday, The Wallflowers guitarist Michael Ward, born in 1967 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

February 21st Birthday, Acoustic folk Delta bluesman Corey Harris, born in 1969 in Denver, Colorado.

Today In Rock and Roll History

February 21st

February 21st, 1964 New York band The Echoes recruit a young piano player named Billy Joel. The quartet would play cover songs under the names The Lost Souls, The Commandos and The Emerald Lords before Billy left two years later to join The Hassles.

February 21st, 1968 White Whale Records release “Sound Asleep” by The Turtles on 45. “Sound Asleep” was issued as a stand-alone single and not included on their next album, “Battle Of The Bands.” The song was credited collectively to “The Turtles” and was co-produced and arranged by The Turtles and The Blimp. The single peaked at No. 57 on March 30th.

February 21st, 1968 Atlantic Records release “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” backed with “Ain’t No Way” by Aretha Franklin on 45. Both sides of the single had separate chart runs. Co-written by Franklin and Ted White, “Sweet Sweet Baby” came from the Jerry Wexler produced “Lady Soul” album, recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York City. “Sweet Sweet Baby” went to No. 5 on March 30th. “Ain’t No Way” by Aretha Franklin enters the charts on April 6th, Written by Carolyn Franklin, the record peaked at No. 16 on May 4th.

February 21st, 1969 Epic Records release “Sparrow” backed with “Get The Message” by Cleveland, Ohio band Cyrus Erie. Both songs were written by future Raspberries singer Eric Carmen, who fronted the group. The single was co-produced and arranged by Sandy Linzer and Mike Petrillo.

February 21st, 1969 February 21st, 1969 Decca Records in England release “Something Better” backed with “Sister Morphine” by Marianne Faithfull on 45. Both sides of the record feature the then current members of The Rolling Stones as backing musicians, including new Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. “Something Better” was written by Barry Mann and Gerry Goffin. Faithfull, Keith Richard and producer Mick Jagger” co-wrote the B-side. Jack Nitzche arranged the string section.

February 21st, 1969 CBS Records in Britain release “Rosetta” by The Fourmost on 45. Co-written by Earl Hines and Henri Woode, the song was first recorded by Hines and his orchestra in 1933. The Fourmost version was produced by Paul McCartney.

February 21st, 1969 Columbia Records release “Child Is Father To The Man,” the debut album by Blood, Sweat and Tears. Produced by John Simon in November and December 1967, chief songwriter Al Kooper would leave the band after the album’s release for a solo career. The album peaked at No. 47 on June 1st.

February 21st, 1969 Reprise Records release “The Loner,” the first solo single by Neil Young. Recorded at Wally Heider Recording, Sunset Sound Recorders and TTG Recording in Hollywood, California with former Buffalo Springfield member Jim Messina on bass and George Grantham on drums. It was the first Young track produced by David Briggs, with whom Young would collaborate until Briggs’s death. Strings were arranged by David Blumberg. The single version is fifty seconds shorter than the one on Young’s self-titled first album, released in November 1968.

February 21st, 1970 Simon and Garfunkel went to No. 1 on the UK LP chart with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

February 21st, 1970 Phillips Records released “Blue Cheer,” the fourth album by Blue Cheer and their first as a four-man band. The LP was produced by Michael Sunday and Eric Albronda at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, California.

February 21st, 1970 The Jackson 5 made their television debut on ABC’s American Bandstand.

February 21st, 1971 Warner Brothers Records release Alice Cooper’s “Love It To Death” on Frank Zappa’s Straight Records imprint. The band’s third studio album was co-produced by Jack Richardson and Bob Ezrin at RCA Mid-American Recording Center in Chicago, Illinois. The LP reached No. 35 on May 15th and featured the hit single “I’m Eighteen.”

February 21st, 1972 Atlantic Records release “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin on 45. Co-written by the four members of Led Zeppelin and produced by guitarist Jimmy Page, the track includes a guest appearance by Rolling Stones’ pianist Ian Stewart. Recorded at the Headley Grange mansion in Hampshire, England, the record peaked at No. 38 on April 15th.

February 21st, 1974 Columbia Records release “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long” by Chicago on 45. Written by group trombonist James Pankow, the track featured a string arrangement by Jimmie Haskell. Produced by Jim Guercio, the record entered the charts in March and peaked at No. 9 on May 11th.

February 21st, 1975 Vertigo Records in Britain release “On The Level,” the eighth studio album by Status Quo. Recorded at IBC and Phonogram Atudios in London and self-produced by the band, the album reached No. 1 in Britain.

February 21st, 1975 Epic Records release “Wildfire” by Michael Murphey on 45. Co-written by Michael Martin Murphey and Larry Cansler, Murphy claimed he dreamed the song and wrote it after awakening and that it was based on a story his grandfather had told him as a child about a prominent Native American legend of a ghost horse. The record entered the charts in March and hit No. 2 on June 21st.

February 21st, 1975 RCA Records release the title track from David Bowie’s “Young Americans” LP on 45. Written by Bowie and produced by Tony Visconti, it was David Bowie’s first US Top Forty hit. The American single was edited to three minutes and eighteen seconds from the original album version, which was over five minutes long. The record entered the singles charts in March and peaked at No. 28 on May 10th.

February 21st, 1976 The “Frampton Comes Alive” version of “Show Me The Way” by Peter Frampton enters the singles charts. The studio version of the song came out in June 1975 but didn’t chart. A&M Records re-released the song as the lead track from the live album, which had reached No. 1 on the charts on April 10th, 1976. “Show Me The Way” peaked at No. 6 on May 8th.

February 21st, 1976 “Savage Eye,” the eighth album by Pretty Things enters the album charts following a January release on Swan Song Records. Recorded at Olympic Studios in London with producer Norman Smith, the LP peaked at No. 163 on March 27th.

February 21st, 1976 The 4 Seasons have their first UK No. 1 with “December ‘63 (Oh What A Night).” Co-written by original 4 Seasons keyboard player Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker and produced by Gaudio, the song features drummer Gerry Polci on lead vocals, with the usual lead, Frankie Valli, singing the bridge sections and backing vocals and bass player Don Ciccone (former lead singer of The Critters) singing the falsetto part. The song would reach No. 1 on March 13th.

February 21st, 1976 Swan Song Records release “Run With The Pack” by Bad Company. The album was recorded in France with the Rolling Stones Mobile Truck in September 1975 with engineer Ron Nevison and was mixed in Los Angeles by Eddie Kramer. The album reached No. 5 on April 10th and featured the hit singles “Young Blood” and “Honey Child.”

February 21st, 1978 Columbia Records release “Kings And Queens” by Aerosmith. Co-written by Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Steve Tyler, Brad Whitford and the record’s producer Jack Douglas, the record entered the charts in March and peaked at No. 70 on April 1st.

February 21st, 1981 “Wild-Eyed Southern Boys,” the fourth studio album by 38 Special, enters the album charts on A&M Records. The album reached No. 18 on May 23rdand featured the hits “Fantasy Girl,” “Hold On Loosely” and the album’s title track.

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.