Today in Music History: Happy Birthday, Paul McCartney
June 18, 2015
Birthday Highlight:
Today in 1942, Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool, England. Together with John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, McCartney gained worldwide fame as the Beatles, one of the most popular and influential groups in the history of pop music. McCartney's songwriting partnership with Lennon is one of the most celebrated of the 20th century. Recognized as one of the most successful composers and performers of all time, McCartney has earned 60 gold discs and has racked up sales of more than 100 million albums and 100 million singles of his work, both with the Beatles and as a solo artist. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for his services to music, Paul McCartney remains an active composer and performer; in August 2014, McCartney played a three-hour set to a sold-out Target Field crowd in Minneapolis.
Also, Today In:
1948 - Columbia Records started the first mass production of the 33-RPM long-playing record (or "LP"). The new format could contain up to 23 minutes of music per side versus the three-minute capacity of a 78-RPM disc.
1974 - Rare Earth drummer Peter Rivera (whose real name is Peter Hoorelbeke) was arrested after a concert for throwing his drumsticks into the crowd.
1975 - Elvis Presley had a facelift at Mid South hospital in Memphis.
1976 - Abba gave a special live performance in Stockholm for Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath on the eve of their wedding.
1977 - Fleetwood Mac went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Dreams," the group's first and only U.S. No. 1 single. Nicks said she wrote the song at the Record Plant studio in Sausalito, Calif., in about 10 minutes.
1977 - Johnny Rotten and Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols were stabbed and beaten when they were attacked in a parking lot by thugs who apparently objected to the Pistols' anti-monarchist song, "God Save the Queen." The next day, another member of the Pistols, Paul Cook, was beaten by a gang armed with iron pipes.
1980 - The Blues Brothers film made its New York premiere.
1993 - A&M Records chairman Jerry Moss and vice-chairman Herb Alpert announced they were leaving the company they founded more than 30 years earlier. In 1990, Moss and Alpert had sold A&M to Polygram Records for $500 million. The label was home to such acts as The Police, Bryan Adams, Joan Baez, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Carpenters, Joe Cocker, Supertramp and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.
2010 - John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to The Beatles song, "A Day In The Life," sold for $1.2 million at an auction at Sotheby's in New York.
Birthdays:
Guitarist Simon Rowbottom of the Boo Radleys is 46.
Country singer Blake Shelton is 39.