July 19 in Music History: Happy birthday, Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice
![Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice performs on Day 1 of Leeds Festival 2021 at Bramham Park on August 27, 2021 in Leeds, England.](https://img.apmcdn.org/f02fd2f440922684541eb25eaafa0c3abe1196ef/normal/7fb7ae-20240709-ellie-rowsell-wolf-alice-getty-600.jpg)
July 19, 2024
History Highlight:
Wolf Alice lead singer and guitarist Ellie Rowsell was born on July 19, 1992, in London, England. She is 32. She formed the group in 2010, and they have released three full-length albums. Their 2018 release, Visions of a Life, won the Mercury Prize for the top album from the U.K. or Ireland, and their most recent album was 2021’s Blue Weekend. Rowsell has collaborated with alt-J and Mura Masa, and was part of a supergroup of female artists called Hope FC that released a song called “Call Me a Lioness” for the 2023 Women’s World Cup soccer tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
Also, Today In:
1958 - The Drifters manager George Treadwell, who owned the group's name, fired the group and replaced them with members of The Five Crowns. When Ben E. King joined the group a short time later, The Drifters became consistent hitmakers, scoring with "There Goes My Baby," "This Magic Moment" and "Save The Last Dance For Me."
1965 - The Beatles "Help!" b/w "I'm Down" single was released.
1966 - Johnny Rivers records "Poor Side Of Town."
1966 - 50-year old Frank Sinatra married 20-year-old Mia Farrow in New York.
1972 - Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were arrested in Warwick, Rhode Island on charges of assault after a fight broke out with a newspaper photographer.
1974 - The Ozark Music Festival was held over three days on the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri. One of the largest music festivals ever held, the highest estimates put the crowd count at 350,000 people. Acts who appeared included Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Blue Öyster Cult, the Eagles, America, Marshall Tucker Band, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Boz Scaggs, Ted Nugent, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Electric Flag, Joe Walsh, Aerosmith and Spirit.
1975 - Aerosmith peaked at number thirty-six on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with "Sweet Emotion", their first top forty hit.
1975 - Country singer Lefty Frizzell dies at age 47
1977 - Steve Martin appears on The Muppet Show, where he performs "Dueling Banjos" and makes balloon animals.
1980 - Billy Joel reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for the first time with "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" which spent two weeks on top. Joel's album Glass Houses was still number one on the album chart as well at the time.
1980 - David Bowie begins his run as The Elephant Man in Denver. The show does well, and Bowie takes the lead in the Broadway production later that year.
1980 - Laguna Beach, California's Vorpal Gallery opens a new exhibit featuring paintings by Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, Klaus Voorman, and Ron Wood.
1981 - The mayor of Odessa, TX, declared it Roy Orbison Day. Orbison was given the keys to the city, and performed in Odessa for the first time in 15 years.
1985- Joan Jett called up-and-coming heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson before his fight with Larry Sims, which Tyson won handily. The superstitious Tyson insisted on getting a call from Jett before every fight, which he did until breaking tradition for his bout against Buster Douglas on February 11, 1990 - Tyson's first loss.
1985 - The Legend of Billie Jean, starring Helen Slater and Christian Slater as teens who become accidental outlaws, debuts in theaters, boasting the hit theme song "Invincible" by Pat Benatar. The teen flick receives mixed reviews but goes on to become a cult classic, despite Benatar calling it "one of the worst movies ever made."
1986 - Genesis reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for the first and only time with "Invisible Touch" which spent one week on top of the chart.
1989 - After authorities found over $40,000 in cash and checks in his cell at the Stevenson Correctional Institute in South Carolina, James Brown was moved to a cell with tighter security.
1990 - Singer Vicki Carr helps dedicate the Nixon Presidential Library, singing in front of all four living presidents (Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush), all of which she had performed for at the White House during their terms.
1991 - Ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler filed a lawsuit against his former band claiming that he was pressured to use drugs from the band and fired when he entered rehab. The lawsuit would later be settled out of court in 1993.
1994 - NOFX released their fifth studio album, Punk in Drublic.
1994 - Coolio released his debut studio album, It Takes a Thief. It features “Fantastic Voyage.”
1997 - The Fat Of The Land by The Prodigy becomes the first album by an electronic group to hit #1 in America.
1999 - Lou Bega releases his debut album, A Little Bit of Mambo.
2000 - Shel Talmy, who produced the first Who album, My Generation, puts the master tapes up for auction on eBay for $500,000. As intended, it gets the attention of the band, who buy them (for significantly less) and in 2002 release the My Generation: Deluxe Edition CD using the tapes.
2001 - Soul singer Judy Clay dies at age 62 from injuries sustained in a car accident.
2002 - Movin' Out, a stage musical dedicated to the songs of Billy Joel, premieres in Chicago.
2010 - Ozzy Osbourne and his former Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi settled a long-running legal dispute over the use of the group's name. Ozzy had sued the guitarist in May of last year, accusing Iommi of falsely proclaiming to be the sole owner of the Black Sabbath name by lodging an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The pair released a joint statement confirming they have settled the dispute "amicably".
2011 - Rebecca Black, cashed in on her worldwide viral Internet fame by launching her own record label, RB Records, and her first single on the label, "My Moment." The song failed to get the same attention as her breakout hit, "Friday."
2013 - Pearl Jam played a sold-out show at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the first American stop touring behind their 10th studio album, Lightning Bolt. Seven songs in, the show was delayed by...lightning. After midnight, the band returned to the stage and played a rousing set, as the place was still packed.
2017 - A U.S. judge halted an auction of personal items of Madonna, after she said her privacy was violated. Madonna's underwear, a checkbook, hairbrush, photos and a break-up letter from Tupac Shakur had been among the scheduled lots. The singer said her possessions had been stolen by a former friend.
2019 - Crowds dancing at a festival triggered minor earthquakes. The biggest tremors were recorded during a headline set by indie band Two Door Cinema Club at Tramlines Festival in Sheffield, England.
Birthdays:
Sue Thompson — singer of hits “Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)” and “Norman” — was born today in 1925.
Buster Benton of Willie Dixon’s Blues All-Stars was born today in 1932.
Grammy-winning singer Vikki Carr is 83.
R&B and Jazz guitarist Phil Upchurch (who recorded with B.B King, Curtis Mayfield and many others) is 83.
Alan Gorrie of Average White Band is 78.
Brian Harold May was born on this day in 1947 and is 77 today. He's best known as an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, author, astrophysicist, and university administrator. He is the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Queen. He was identified with a distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work, often using a home-built electric guitar called the Red Special. May wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "We Will Rock You," "I Want It All," "Fat Bottomed Girls," "Flash," "Hammer to Fall," "Save Me," "Who Wants to Live Forever," "Too Much Love Will Kill You," and "The Show Must Go On."
Bernie Leadon, Minneapolis-born guitarist for Eagles, is 77.
Keith Godchaux, keyboardist for The Grateful Dead, was born today in 1948. He passed away in 1980.
Allen Collins, guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, was born today in 1952. He passed away in 1990.
Kevin Haskins, drummer for Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love & Rockets is 64.
Christopher Bear, drummer for Grizzly Bear, is 42.
Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.