The Quarry Men, at the time John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison playing without a drummer, were the entertainment at the wedding reception of George's older brother Harry at the Harrison family home in Liverpool today in 1958. No word as to whether or not they did the Hokey Pokey or The Electric Slide.
Folkie Joan Baez was in court today in 1967, being sentenced to 45 days in another kind of Pokey for her part in an anti-Vietnam war protest.
Vocalist Ian Anderson and bassist Glenn Cornick left The John Evan Blues Band today in 1967 to form the group Jethro Tull , which they named after an 18th-century inventor of a machine that pokes seeds into the ground in nice neat English rows. John Evan joined them later as Jethro Tull's keyboardist.
The Beatles sent out their 6th Christmas flexi-disc today in 1968, to members of their fan club in Britain and the U.S. Included was a version of their song Nowhere Man, as sung by their friend Tiny Tim.
The Eagles founding lead guitarist Bernie Leadon, who had hooked up with Don Felder in High School in Gainsville Florida replacing the guitarist who had just quit his band The Continentals....Stephen Stills...was himself replaced in The Eagles today in 1974 by Joe Walsh from the James Gang. Bernie was frustrated with the Eagles moving away from the country sound he loved, and quit by pouring a beer over Felder's head.
John Lennon had his first #1 hit as a solo artist today in 1980, with the song Just Like Starting Over from his Double Fantasy album. Unfortunately John wasn't around to enjoy it, he'd been shot to death 12 days earlier by a fan who really really liked him.
Rock and Roll Birthdays
KISS' original Catman, drummer Peter Criss...real name George Peter John Criscuola, is 74.
The Easybeats lead singer Stevie Wright would be 72, he left us in 2015 just after Christmas.
Record Producer, engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons is 71. He got his name on a record for the first time when he was only 18, working at EMI Studios in London on the Beatles album that would change the studios name to Abbey Road, he did all the big hits for the Hollies, and is most famous as the producer of one of the best selling albums in history, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Floyd asked him to come back and do their next, Wish You Were Here, but by then Alan had his own band The Alan Parsons Project.