Every day on Radio Nova, just before 11am, we play a couple of songs key to “today in music history” Have a listen! But for now – here’s some light reading and watching. July 20th in Music History looks like this.
1940, Billboard’s first comprehensive record chart was published. Their first number one song was ‘I’ll Never Smile Again’ by Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
1975, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the opening night on their Born To Run Tour at The Palace Theatre, Providence, Rhode Island. This also saw the live debut of Steven Van Zandt, (Miami Steve) as a member of The E Street Band.
1976, Buzzcocks made their live debut supporting the Sex Pistols
2003, A tooth said to have been pulled out of Elvis Presley’s mouth after an injury failed to sell on the auction site eBay . The tooth had been put on a 10-day sale with a reserve price of $100,000 (£64,100). Bids had pushed the price up to $2m (£1.28m) but they were later found out to be fraudulent.
2011, Never-before seen photographs of The Beatles’ first US concert in Washington DC sold in New York for more than $360,000 (£223,600). The Fab Four played their first US concert on February 11 1964,
2017, Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington died aged 41
2021, American songwriter and vocalist Chuck E. Weiss died from cancer age 76. Rickie Lee Jones’s sung about Chuck in 1979 on ‘Chuck E.’s In Love’.
Born today, Carlos Santana, Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, Paul Cook, drums, Sex Pistols, Kim Carnes and Chris Cornell
Check out the weekly Podcast. Marty Miller’s This Week in Music History.
