This Day in Music: March 17th

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Born on this day:
1919, Nat King Cole, singer
1938, Zola Taylor, vocals, The Platters
1941, Paul Kantner, vocals, guitar, Jefferson Airplane
1944, John Sebastian, vocals, guitar, The Lovin’ Spoonful
1951, Scott Gorham, guitar, Thin Lizzy (For more on Gorham, see This Day in Music Spotlight.)
1962, Clare Grogan, vocals, Altered Images
1967, Billy Corgan, vocals, guitar, Smashing Pumpkins
1970, Gene Ween (Aaron Freeman), guitar, vocals, Ween
1973, Caroline Corr, drums, vocals, The Corrs
1975, Justin Hawkins, vocals, The Darkness

1957, Elvis Presley bought the Graceland mansion from Mrs. Ruth Brown-Moore for $102,500. The 23-room, 10,000-square-foot home, on 13.8 acres of land, would be expanded to 17,552 square feet of living space before the King moved in a few weeks later. The original building had at one time been a place of worship, used by the Graceland Christian Church and was named after the builder’s daughter, Grace Toof.

1966, The Walker Brothers had their second U.K. #1 with the single “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” (originally recorded by Frankie Valli).

1967, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Sam & Dave and Booker T. and The M.G.’s appeared at London’s Finsbury Park Astoria on the first night of a 17-date U.K. tour.

1968, The Bee Gees made their U.S. television debut when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1973, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show’s single “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” peaked at #6 on the U.S. chart. The single was banned in the U.K. by the BBC due to the reference of the magazine.

1978, U2 won ?500 ($850) and a chance to audition for CBS Ireland in a talent contest held in Dublin. The Limerick Civic Week Pop ’78 Competition was sponsored by The Evening Express and Guinness Harp Lager.

2004, Kinks singer Ray Davies received his CBE medal from the Queen at Buckingham Palace for services to the music industry.

2006, The Smiths turned down a $5 million (?2.8m) offer to reform for a music festival. The band, which split acrimoniously in 1987, rejected the bid to get back together for the year’s Coachella festival.

2008, Ola Brunkert, the former drummer with the Swedish group ABBA, was found dead with his throat cut at his home in Majorca, Spain. Brunkert died after he hit his head against a glass door in the dining room at his home. He was found dead in his garden after trying to seek help. The 62-year-old musician had played on every ABBA album and had toured with the group.

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