This Day in Music: December 17th

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Born on this day:

1937, Art Neville, keyboards, vocals, The Neville Brothers
1939, Eddie Kendricks, vocals, The Temptations
1942, Paul Butterfield, vocals, harmonica, Paul Butterfield Blues Band
1949, Paul Rodgers, vocals, Free, Bad Company
1958, Mike Mills, bass, R.E.M.
1961, Sara Dallin, vocals, Bananarama
1969, Micky Quinn, bass, Supergrass
1979, Ryan Key, vocals, guitar, Yellowcard

1962, Bob Dylan arrived in England for the first time; he played his first U.K. date the following night at the Troubadour Club in London.

1963, James Carroll at WWDC in Washington, D.C., became the first disc jockey to broadcast a Beatles record on American radio. Carroll played “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” which he had obtained from his stewardess girlfriend, who brought the single back from the U.K. Due to listener demand, the song was played daily, every hour. Since it hadn’t been released yet in the States, Capitol Records initially considered court action, but instead released the single earlier than planned.

1968, The Who played their Christmas party at the Marquee Club, London. Also on the bill was a new group called Yes.

1973, Slade were at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Merry Xmas Everybody,” their sixth chart topper. The song has re-entered the U.K. charts on eight other occasions. For more on this story see This Day in Music Spotlight.

1975, Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult appeared at the San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California.

1977, David Ackroyd purchased the one-millionth copy of “Mull of Kintyre,” by Wings in the U.K. and became the first record buyer to receive a gold disc.

1982, Karen Carpenter made her last live appearance with The Carpenters when she performed in Sherman, California.

1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Big Country, Duran Duran, Ultravox, Paul Young and Wham! all appeared on the U.K. TV show Razzmatazz Solid Gold Christmas Special.

1995, A statue of the late Frank Zappa was unveiled in Vilnius, the capital of the Republic of Lithuania. It had been organized by Zappa fan club President Saulius Pauksty.

1997, David Bowie launched BowieNet on the Internet.

1999, American jazz-funk, soul-jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. died of a heart attack at age 56. He collapsed in the green room after taping four songs for The Early Show, at CBS Studios in New York City, He released over 20 solo albums and featured on the 1981 Bill Withers hit “Just the Two of Us.”

2005, U2 had the top-grossing tour of 2005, according to an end-of-year chart compiled by Billboard. More than three million people watched the band’s sold-out, 90-date Vertigo tour, which grossed $260 million.

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