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Rock and Roll Birthdays

Today's Rock and Roll Birthdays

February 27th

February 27th Birthday, Guitarist Eddie Gray from Tommy James and the Shondells, born in 1948 in Scottsdale, Pennsylvania.

February 27th Birthday, Guitarist Robert Balderrama from ? and the Mysterians, born in O’Donnell, Texas in 1950.

February 27th Birthday, Singer, songwriter, front man for Cockney Rebel and solo artist Steve Harley, born in Deptford, London, England in 1951.

February 27th Birthday, Santana and Journey guitarist Neal Schon, born in 1954 on Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

February 27th Birthday, Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, born in 1957 in Hackney, London, England.

February 27th Birthday, Johnny Van Zant, the latter day vocalist from Lynyrd Skynyrd, born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1960.

February 27th Birthday, Singer, songwriter and co-founder of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Paul Humphries, born in 1960 in London, England.

Today In Rock and Roll History

February 27th

February 27th, 1954 Federal Records release “Work With Me Annie” by The Royals on 45. Later pressings of the single changed the name of the band to The Midnighters. The song was written by their lead singer Hank Ballard. The record became the band’s first major hit, peaking at No. 1 on the R&B charts; so successful that the group charted with two answer songs, “Annie Had A Baby” and “Annie’s Aunt Fannie. All three were banned from the US airwaves by the FCC.

February 27th, 1961 Warwick Records release “Play Me A Sad Song” backed with “It Means A Lot To Them” by Jerry Landis on 45. Landis was one of a few different stage names used by Paul Simon early in his music career. “Play Me A Sad Song” was credited to Landis and Simon – presumably Simon by himself. The record was produced by Morty Croft.

February 27th, 1961 Chubby Checker started a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles charts with “Pony Time.”

February 27th, 1964 The Rolling Stones made their second appearance on the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops performing Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away.” Released as a single a week earlier, the song was the band’s first big hit in England, reaching No. 3 on the British singles charts.

February 27th, 1965 The first of a twenty-one date tour featuring Del Shannon, Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders and Herman’s Hermits, kicks off at City Hall in Sheffield, England.

February 27th, 1965 The self-titled first American album by The Zombies enters the album charts following a January release on Parrot Records. The record reached No. 39 on May 1st and featured two hit singles, “Tell Her No” and “She’s Not There.”

February 27th, 1967 Pink Floyd begin work with producer Joe Boyd at Sound Techniques and later EMI Studios, London, recording their first single, “Arnold Layne” and “Candy And A Current Bun.” Richard Wright’s organ solo was recorded as an edit piece and spliced into the song for the final mix. Columbia Records in Britain released the single on March 10th, both songs written by group guitarist and singer Syd Barrett. In America, Tower Records released the single on May 13th. The single hit No. 20 in Britain.

February 27th, 1967 Simon and Garfunkel’s “At The Zoo” is released on 45. Written by Paul Simon for the soundtrack of the film The Graduate, the song was not used in the movie. The single entered the charts in March and reached No. 16 on April 22nd.

February 27th, 1970 Regal Zonophone Records in Britain release “Shazam!” the second album by The Move, out on A&M Records in May in the US. Recorded at Advision Sound Studios in London with Gerald Chavin and three band members, Roy Wood, Carl Wayne and Rick Price, co-producing. Lead singer Carl Wayne left the band after it came out.

February 27th, 1970 Apple Records in Britain release the first solo album by Ringo Starr. “Sentimental Journey” was a collection of pop standards featuring arrangements by Paul McCartney, George Martin and others. The record came out April 24th in America and peaked at No. 22 on June 20th.

February 27th, 1971 Elton John records “Levon” at Trident Studios in London with producer Gus Dudgeon. The backing vocalist on the session was Tony Burrows. Paul Buckmaster wrote the string arrangement and directed the orchestra. Co-written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, the song was released on 45 by UNI Records on November 29th and peaked at No. 24 on February 5th, 1972.

February 27th, 1971 Cotillion Records release “Lucky Man” by Emerson, Lake and Palmer on 45. Written and produced by ELP’s Greg Lake, the song contains one of rock music’s earliest instances of a Moog synthesizer solo, performed by Keith Emerson in one take. The record entered the charts twice, on March 13th and again on December 30th, 1972 and peaked at No. 48 on May 1st, 1971.

February 27th, 1971 RCA Records release “Me And My Arrow” by Nilsson on 45. The song was part of Nilsson’s “The Point” LP and animated film, which aired on US network television a few weeks after the album was issued. “Me And My Arrow” entered the charts in March and peaked at No. 34 on May 29th.

February 27th, 1971 Roulette Records release “Adrianne” by Tommy James on 45. Co-written and produced by Tommy James and Bob King, the track was issued as James’ third solo single. The record spent three weeks on the charts and peaked at No. 93 on April 3rd.

February 27th, 1971 MGM Records release “Sweet And Innocent,” the debut solo single by Donny Osmond of The Osmond Brothers. The record began an eleven-week run on the charts in March and peaked at No. 7 on June 5th.

February 27th, 1973 Polydor Records release “Gudbuy T’ Jane” by Slade on 45. Co-written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea and produced by Chas Chandler, “Gudbuy T’ Jane” reached No. 2 in the UK. The record entered the charts in March and peaked at No. 68 on April 14th.

February 27th, 1974 Joni Mitchell’s “Court And Spark” album goes Gold. The LP spawned three singles, “Raised On Robbery,” “Free Man In Paris” and “Help Me.”

February 27th, 1975 Columbia Records release the double live album “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees” by Blue Oyster Cult. Culled from seven live shows the band taped from April through October 1974, the album was co-produced by Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman. The album reached No. 22 on April 19th.

February 27th, 1984 EMI Records release “The Works,” the tenth studio album by Queen. The LP was recorded from August 1983 through January 1984 at both Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California and Musicland Studios in Munich, West Germany, co-produced by Queen and Reinhold Mack. Fred Mandel was brought in to play and arrange some of the LP’s keyboard parts. The record reached No. 23 in America on April 28th, No. 2 in Britain.

February 27th, 1989 Virgin Records release the double album “Oranges And Lemons” by XTC. The LP was recorded at Ocean Way and Summa Music Group Studios in Hollywood, California from June through September 1988 with producer Paul Fox and drummer Pat Mastelotto. The album peaked at No. 44 on April 22nd.

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.