This Day in Music: January 6th

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Born on this day:

1924, Earl Scruggs, bluegrass banjo player
1940, Van McCoy, singer, producer
1946, Syd Barrett, guitar, vocals, Pink Floyd
1947, Sandy Denny, folk singer
1953, Malcolm Young, guitar, AC/DC
1962, Michael Houser, guitar, Widespread Panic
1964, Mark O’Toole, bass, Frankie Goes to Hollywood
1966, A.R. Rahman, Indian composer, performer
1981, Mike Jones, rapper
1986, Alex Turner, vocals, guitar, Arctic Monkeys

1956, Elvis Presley performed in the gym at Randolph High School, Mississippi. This was the last time he ever appeared in a small auditorium.

1964, The first night of a 14-date U.K. tour Group Scene 1964, featuring The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes, Marty Wilde, The Swinging Blue Jeans and Dave Berry and The Cruisers, played at the Granada Theatre, Harrow on The Hill, Middlesex.

1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young made their U.K. live debut at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

1973, Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” (with Mick Jagger on backing vocals) started a three-week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart. For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.

1977, EMI Records dropped the Sex Pistols, giving the band ?40,000 ($68,000) to release them from their contract.

1979, The Village People scored their only U.K. #1 single with “Y.M.C.A.” At its peak, the single was selling over 150,000 copies a day. In the gay culture, from which the group sprang, the song was understood as celebrating the YMCA’s reputation as a popular cruising and hook-up spot.

1987, Eric Clapton started what became an annual event by playing six shows at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

1997, Two bronze busts worth ?50,000 were stolen from a garden at George Harrison’s estate in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Thieves had climbed a 10-foot-wall and cut the figures of two monks from their stone plinths.

2001, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour won the right to his dot com name. Dave took legal action in his battle to reclaim DavidGilmour.com from Andrew Herman, who had registered the URL and was selling Pink Floyd merchandise through the site.

2006, A collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia bought by a council worker who embezzled nearly ?600,000 was set to be sold to compensate the local authority. Julie Wall, 46, from Rippon Drive in Sleaford, was jailed for three years for the offence last October. The collection – which included rare recordings and foreign pressings of Elvis songs – was to be auctioned off by a High Court receiver to provide compensation.

2007, U.S. country-rock steel guitar player “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, died at age 72. He was one of the original members of the Flying Burrito Brothers with The Byrds’ Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons. He also worked with John Lennon and Joni Mitchell.

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