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Rock and Roll Birthdays

Today's Rock and Roll Birthdays

April 30th

April 30th Birthday, Blues singer Reverend Gary Davis, born in 1896 in Laurens, South Carolina. He died on May 5th, 1972 at the age of 76.

April 30th Birthday, Singer Bobby Vee, born Robert Thomas Velline in 1943 in Fargo, North Dakota. He died on October 24th, 2016, aged 73.

April 30th Birthday, Wayne Kramer, guitarist for The MC Five, born in Detroit, Michigan in 1948. He died on February 2nd, 2024 at the age of 75.

April 30th Birthday, Singer Merrill Osmond from The Osmonds, born in 1953 in Ogden, Utah.

Today In Rock and Roll History

April 30th

April 30th, 1957 Elvis Presley records “Jailhouse Rock” at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California, co-written and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Released on September 24th, with “Treat Me Nice” on the B-side, “Jailhouse Rock” became Elvis Presley’s ninth No. 1 in the last year and a half on October 21st.

April 30th, 1958 Atco Records release “Yakety Yak” by The Coasters on 45. Co-written, produced and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song spent seven weeks at the top of the R&B charts. King Curtis played the sax solo on the song. The track was one of a string of hit singles released by The Coasters, who were one of the biggest performing acts of the early rock and roll era. “Yakety Yak” peaked at No. 1 on May 23rd.

April 30th, 1965 Decca Records in Britain release “Begin Here,” the debut album by The Zombies. The LP, a mix of group originals and R&B covers, was recorded at Decca Studios No. 2 in London from June through December with producer Ken Jones.

April 30th, 1966 “Good Lovin’” by The Young Rascals is the No. 1 record in the US.

April 30th, 1966 Kama Sutra Records release “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind” by The Lovin’ Spoonful on 45. Written by John Sebastian, “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind” was the second single released from the Spoonful’s debut LP. Produced by Erik Jacobsen, the record entered the charts in May and went to No. 2 on June 11th.

April 30th, 1968 Columbia Records release “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash on 45. Written by Cash, who first released the song on December 15th, 1955 on Sun Records with The Tennessee Two, Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant. The song borrowed from Gordon Jenkins’ 1953 hit “Crescent City Blues.” The Columbia single was recorded live at Folsom State Prison in California, entered the charts in May and peaked at No. 32 on July 6th.

April 30th, 1971 Warner Brothers Records release the self-titled first album by The Doobie Brothers. The LP was recorded at Pacific Recorders in San Mateo, California in November and December 1970 with Larry Waronker and Ted Templeman co-producing.

April 30th, 1971 B&C Records in Britain release “Moonage Daydream” backed with “Hang On To Yourself” by The Arnold Korns on 45. Both songs were written and produced by David Bowie, working on the one-off project with Mark Pritchett on guitar and the members of Bowie’s next project, Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, Bowie, Mick Ronson, Mick Woodsmansey and Trevor Bolder, Both songs appeared, albeit rerecorded, on the Ziggy LP.

April 30th, 1971 Fly Records in Britain release “He’s Gonna Step On You Again” by South African singer and songwriter John Kongos on 45, where it became a No. 4 hit. Produced by Gus Dudgeon, the track is credited by the Guinness Book Of World Records for the first use of a drum tape loop sample as part of a song’s arrangement on record. As well as writing several hit songs, Kongos wrote TV theme music, worked out of his own London, England studio as a record producer, sound engineer and programmer for the Fairlight CMI Synthesizer on Def Leppard’s album “Pyromania.” “He’s Gonna Step On You Again” had a stateside release in May and peaked at No. 70.

April 30th, 1975 A&M Records release “Hair Of The Dog,” the sixth studio album by Scottish band Nazareth. Sessions for the record were recorded at Escape Studios in Kent, England and AIR Studios in London with guitarist Manny Charlton producing. The album stayed on the charts for close to a year and peaked at No. 17 on March 27th, 1976. The album featured the hit single, a cover version of The Everly Brothers’ “Love Hurts.”

April 30th, 1976 DJM Records in Britain release the live “Here And There” album by Elton John. The “Here” half of the LP was taken from a Royal Festival Hall show on May 18th, 1974. The “There” side was recorded on Thanksgiving night, November 28th, 1974 at Madison Square Garden in New York, highlighted by John Lennon’s appearance during the encore, portions of which were included in subsequent reissues of the record. Issued May 10th in the US, the record peaked at No. 4 on June 12th.

April 30th, 1977 Warner Brothers Records release “A Period Of Transition” by Van Morrison. The album was produced by Morrison and Dr. John under his given name Mac Rebennack, who played on the LP as well. The record peaked at No. 43 on June 11th.

April 30th, 1977 Decca Records in Britain release “Caught Live Plus Five,” an archival collection of unreleased Moody Blues songs from 1966 and 1967 coupled with three sides of live recordings from the Moodies at the Royal Albert Hall on December 12th, 1969. Produced by Tony Clarke, the LP peaked at No. 26 on July 23rd.

April 30th, 1977 Steve Miller’s “Jet Airliner” enters the singles charts on Capitol Records. The single would become his fourth US Top Ten hit. A cover of an unreleased song by songwriter Paul Pena, the self-produced track was recorded nearly two years earlier, in May 1975, at CBS Studios in San Francisco, California. “Jet Airliner” peaked at No. 8 on July 9th.

April 30th, 1983 Todd Rundgren’s “Bang On The Drum” enters the singles charts. Written, produced and performed entirely by Rundgren from the LP “The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect,” the single peaked at No. 63 on May 1st.

April 30th, 1996 Reprise Records release “Eventually,” the second solo album by The Replacements frontman Paul Westerburg. Sessions for the album began in Atlanta with producer Brenden O’Brien, but shifted to producer Lou Giordano, partly to give Westerburg time to write more material for the record. The album peaked at No. 50 on May 18th.

Miscellaneous May

May 1949 “Back Home Blues” backed with “Rock Awhile” by Goree Carter and His Hep Cats is released as a 78 rpm record on the Freedom Records label. Influenced by the guitar work of T Bone Walker, “Rock Awhile” stakes a legitimate claim as the first rock and roll record released. Eighteen years old when he recorded the song, the overdriven guitar tone and pentatonic lead predated rock and a style similar to Chuck Berry.

May 1966 White Whale Records release “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” backed with “I’ll Go On,” the second single by Lyme & Cybelle, the folk rock duo of Warren Zevon and Violet Santangelo. Bob Dylasn wrote “If You Gottsa Go, Go Now,” and the B-side was a Zevon/Santangelo co-write. The record was produced by Bones Howe.

May 1968 Parlophone Records in Britain release “(The Autobiography Of) Mississippi Hobo,” the second single by Hans Christian. Hans Christian was future Yes singer Jon Anderson. The single was arranged and produced by Paul Korda.

May 1970 Viking Records press promotional copies of “From Denver To L.A.” on 45. Credited with a vocal by “Elton Johns,” it was taken from the movie soundtrack from the 20thCentury Fox film The Games. Original copies of the record are considered one of the rarest Elton John singles.

May 1972 Bearsville Records release “Wonder Girl,” the debut single by Sparks. Written by Ron Mael, the record was produced by Todd Rundgren. Rundgren signed the band to Bearsville and produced their first album when the band was known as Halfnelson. The band changed its’ name to Sparks after the LP came out in October 1971. The name change led to a new cover and re-release of the album in February 1972.

May 1973 Chrysalis Records release “Grand Hotel” by Procol Harum on 45. Co-written by Keith Reid and Gary Brooker, the song served as the title track of Procol Harum’s sixth studio LP, produced by Chris Thomas.

May 1975 Harvest Record release “HQ,” the eighth studio album by Roy Harper. Recorded in March at Abbey Road Studios in London with producer Peter Jenner, when the LP came out in America, the cover art and the title changed to “When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease.” David Gilmour, Chris Spedding, Bill Bruford and John Paul Jones played sessions on the LP.

May 1976 MCA Records release “Gimme Back My Bullets” by Lynyrd Skynyrd on 45. The song was co-written by Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant. The studio track was produced by Tom Dowd.

May 1977 CBS Records in Britain release “Ian Hunter’s Overnight Angels” album. Recorded at several different studios in the US, Canada and England with producer Roy Thomas Baker, Hunter’s US label, Columbia Records refused to release the LP with Hunter’s business management in disarray and no tour scheduled to support the album. Featured on the album sessions were guitarist Earl Slick.

May 1984 Passport Records release “Russians & Americans,” the tenth studio album by Al Stewart. The LP was produced by Mike Flicker at four different studios, three in California and Abbey Road Studios in London. British and US issues on the record had different tracks. A 2007 reissue collected all the songs on one CD.

May 1985 EMI Records in Britain release remixed versions of “Loving The Alien” backed with “Don’t Look Down” on 45, originally from from the David Bowie LP “Tonight.” Bowie wrote the AS-side. “Don’t Look Down” was a song co-written by David Bowie and The Stooges’ guitarist James Williamson.

May 1985 Legacy Records in Britain release “Under Fire” backed with “On Top Of The World” by Roy Wood on 45. Both songs were written and produced by Roy Wood from the LP “Starting Up.”