13 AUGUST
In Music History
1952 Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton records the original version of "Hound Dog," later popularized by Elvis Presley.
1952 Guitarist/vocalist Hughie Thomasson (of Outlaws and Lynyrd Skynyrd) is born in Tampa, Florida.
1951 Dan Fogelberg is born in Peoria, Illinois.
1949 Cliff Fish (bass guitarist for Paper Lace) is born in Ripley, Derbyshire, England.
1940 John Stokes (bass player for The Bachelors) is born in Dublin, Ireland.
1940 Jim Sullivan is born in San Diego, California. His 1969 album U.F.O. will become a cult favorite after he disappears into the New Mexican desert in 1975.
1938 Robert Johnson, famous for his song "Crossroads," where he sings about making a deal with the Devil to attain his musical prowess, is poisoned during a gig in Greenwood, Mississippi. Most accounts claim the guy who owned the club put the poison in Johnson's whiskey bottle because Johnson was having an affair with his wife. He dies three days later at age 27.
1938 Pop/R&B musician Dave "Baby" Cortez is born David Cortez Clowney in Detroit, Michigan.
1930 Pop entertainer Don Ho is born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Known for the 1966 hit "Tiny Bubbles."
1930 Guy Lombardo records "Go Home And Tell Your Mother."
1924 Vernon Dalhart's "The Prisoner's Song" becomes the first country record to sell a million copies, a milestone for public acceptance of the genre.
1921 Bluesman Jimmy McCracklin is born in St. Louis, Missouri (or Helena, Arkansas, according to some sources). Known for the hits "The Walk" and "Just Got To Know."
1919 Jazz pianist George Shearing is born in Battersea, London, England. Composer of "Lullaby of Birdland."
Björk Dresses To Impress In Athens
2004At the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Björk wears a dress that unfurls about 10,000 feet of fabric, which is stretched to cover the viewing area where a world map is then projected. All of this takes place while she sings "Oceania."
Read more13 AUGUST
Featured Events
1993 Steely Dan, who broke up in 1981, re-form and begin a US tour at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Walter Becker explains: "We spent all the money from the last tour. We made $800 each and it's all gone now."
1990 While warming up for an outdoor concert at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed when a lighting tower falls from the stage and onto his back. He remains a quadriplegic for the next nine years until his death in 1999.
1975 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play the first of five sold-out shows at The Bottom Line in New York City. The shows help establish Springsteen as a great live performer and draw national attention.
1973 Lynyrd Skynyrd release their debut album, Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd. It's an impressive set, containing the Skynyrd classics "Tuesday's Gone," "Simple Man" and "Free Bird."More
1966 The Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City" hits #1 for the first of three weeks, becoming the first chart-topper with street sounds in the mix.
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