Today in Music History for Feb. 20:
In 1941, Quebec singer and songwriter La Bolduc died in Montreal. She was 46. Her songs, detailing the life of ordinary Quebecers in the 1920s and '30s, were very popular at the time, and had a great influence on later Quebec singers.
In 1941, folk singer and songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie was born on the Piapot Reserve near Regina. She's among the best-known of contemporary folk singers, attaining international success in the 1960s with such songs as "Until It's Time For You To Go" and "Universal Soldier." Donovan's 1965 hit recording of "Universal Soldier" led many people to believe it was his composition, but Sainte-Marie had written the song while appearing at Toronto's Purple Onion coffee house. She won a 1982 Oscar for writing "Up Where We Belong," from the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman." She re-entered the music scene with her 1993 comeback album, "Coincidence and Likely Stories." She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005. She has always been strongly committed to social causes, particularly those of North American native peoples.
In 1951, Randy California (born Randy Craig Wolfe), guitarist for the 1960s rock band "Spirit," was born in Los Angeles. "Spirit" had a top-25 single in 1968, "I Got a Line on You," but were known primarily for their critically acclaimed albums, which blended hard rock, blues, country, folk and jazz. He drowned while swimming with his 12-year-old son off Molokai, Hawaii, on Jan. 2, 1997. California was apparently caught in a riptide after pushing his son to shore.
In 1965, "Stop! In the Name of Love" by "The Supremes" was released. It would become their fourth No. 1 hit.
In 1967, the film "Candy," featuring "The Beatles" drummer Ringo Starr as a Mexican gardener, had its world premiere.
In 1967, singer Kurt Cobain of "Nirvana" was born. As lead singer of the grunge rock band, Cobain became the spokesman for a troubled generation even as his own troubles overwhelmed him. The band's 1991 album "Nevermind," featuring the hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit," sold millions of copies worldwide. Cobain, who wrote the raw music and anguished lyrics to most of the band's songs, described the sound simply as "another style of pop music, just more abrasive." He was found dead at his home on April 8, 1994, of an apparent suicide. He was 27.
In 1969, "Goodbye Cream," a documentary of "Cream's" farewell concert, opened in Baltimore. Fans and critics alike panned the movie for its poor sound quality and strange editing.
In 1974, singer-actress Cher filed for separation from her husband, Sonny Bono after 10 years or marriage. The couple had a No. 1 hit in 1965 with "I Got You Babe" and hit No. 2 on the charts the following year with "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)." "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" ran on CBS from 1971-75. After the split, both tried solo careers, but only Cher was successful, scoring half-a-dozen top-10 hits. Bono died in a skiing accident in 1998.
In 1976, the members of "KISS" placed their footprints in cement outside Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
In 1976, a judge in New York ruled that Roulette Records could not release an album of John Lennon singing rock 'n' roll oldies. The judge ruled Lennon had a previous commitment to Capitol Records.
In 1982, rock singer Pat Benatar married her guitarist and musical director, Neil Geraldo, in Hawaii.
In 1988, Canadian rocker Bryan Adams performed a private concert for 3,000 athletes and media people at the Calgary Olympics. More than 200 athletes joined Adams on stage for the finale.
In 1988, Canadian singer Bruce Cockburn opened a U.S. tour in Seattle before a sellout crowd of 3,000. The concert netted Cockburn more than $10,000, which he donated to the Central American Peace Campaign.
In 1989, Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" became only the second single to be certified double-platinum in the U.S. -- meaning it had sold two million copies. Since the double-platinum category was created in 1984, only one other single, "We Are the World," had reached that plateau. The phenomenal sales of "Wild Thing" showed that rap had moved out of the urban ghettos into the pop music mainstream.
In 1991, Quincy Jones won six Grammy awards for his album "Back on the Block," making him the second-biggest winner in Grammy history, with 25. Toronto rocker Alannah Myles was named best female rock vocalist for "Black Velvet," a No. 1 single from her self-named debut album. Sinead O'Connor boycotted the show and became the only artist to refuse a Grammy, having won Best Alternative Music Performance for her album, "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got."
In 1993, "Jackyl" lead singer Jesse James Dupree was arrested for allegedly exposing himself onstage during a concert a few days earlier in Long Beach, Calif. Dupree later pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct and paid a $100 fine.
In 1996, rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg (now Snoop Dogg) and his ex-bodyguard were acquitted of murder in a 1993 drive-by shooting in a Los Angeles park. Prosecutors alleged the bodyguard, McKinley Lee, shot 25-year-old Philip Woldemariam from a Jeep driven by the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus. The two claimed self-defence because Woldemariam was reaching for a gun.
In 1997, Ben and Jerry's introduced a new ice cream flavour, Phish Food, named after the rock group "Phish." It contained chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge.
In 1998, Bob McBride, former lead singer of the Canadian jazz-rock band "Lighthouse," died in a Toronto hospital after years of illness and drug abuse. He was 51. He became one of the country's biggest rock stars in the early 1970s as the front man for "Lighthouse," which had hits such as "One Fine Morning" and "Sunny Days." The band fired him in 1973 after his first of many suicide attempts. He descended into cocaine, then heroin addiction. In 1994, he received a 90-day jail sentence for twice robbing an Ottawa drug store for morphine.
In 2003, 100 people were killed and 200 were injured in an inferno at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I. Pyrotechnics ignited highly flammable foam around the club's stage. Thick smoke quickly spread through the wooden building, trapping patrons as they tried to flee. The rock band “Great White” -- which was popular during the 1980s with hits such as “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” and “Rock Me” -- was playing at the time. The band's guitarist, Ty Longley, was among those killed in the fire. The band maintained it received permission to set off the fireworks while the club owners insisted permission was never given. "Great White's" tour manager pleaded guilty and received a 10-year sentence, serving only two years before being granted full parole. Also in 2006, the night club owners pleaded no contest. One received a suspended sentence while the other received a 15-year sentence, but was granted his release in 2009. Several civil settlements were awarded.
In 2007, Britney Spears checked into rehab. She checked out the next day.
In 2009, Spanish tenor Placido Domingo was named the winner of the first $1 million Birgit Nilsson Prize for achievements in classical music. Prize officials said the Swedish soprano picked the winner of the inaugural award before her death on Dec. 25, 2005. The name was kept in a sealed envelope until then. Nilsson, considered one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos, performed on the world's top opera stages during a career that spanned almost 40 years.
In 2011, guitarist Terry Clements, whose distinctive playing helped create some of the most memorable moments in Gordon Lightfoot's music, died after suffering a stroke 10 days earlier. He was 63. Clements met Lightfoot when both happened to be working on music for the 1968 Burt Reynolds TV movie "Fade-In" and became part of Lightfoot's band in 1970.
In 2012, popular country trio "The Band Perry" christened the new stage at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. It was just the third stage for the 120-year-old Mother Church of Country Music, replacing the one laid down in 1951.
In 2013, Billboard said that U.S. YouTube data was now one of the factors when ranking Hot 100 songs (and its other charts), with viral-video hit "Harlem Shake," by Brooklyn producer Baauer, debuting at No. 1.
In 2014, "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons set a Billboard Hot 100 record with its 77th week on the chart while "Sail" by AWOLNATION tied Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" for second at 76 weeks. "Radioactive" dropped off the chart after 87 weeks and "Sail" after 79 weeks.
In 2016, Paramore singer Hayley Williams and New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert married in a pop-punk styled ceremony in Franklin, Tenn., with the bride donning a Vera Wang gown with Doc Marten boots. The three-tier cake was crafted from 100 doughnuts.
In 2019, Nashville producer Fred Foster, who produced some of Roy Orbison's most popular records and was the first to produce records from Kris Kristofferson and Dolly Parton died in Nashville at the age of 87. Born in 1931 in North Carolina, Foster helped launch the careers of many hit country artists and was a major supporter of some of Nashville's biggest songwriters.
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The Canadian Press
