27 DECEMBER
In Music History
1978 Bob Luman, known for the 1960 novelty hit "Let's Think About Living," dies of pneumonia at age 41.
1978 The BBC comes under fire when it plays part of the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen," which has been banned on the network, on a show called "Listen To The Banned." The educator Dr. Rhodes Boyson calls it "another sign of the declining public morality which so rightly worries the general public."
1975 The Faces announce their split. Rod Stewart devotes himself to his solo career and Ron Wood officially joins The Rolling Stones.
1974 Bob Dylan records "Idiot Wind" and "You're A Big Girl Now."
1972 Matt Slocum (lead guitarist for Sixpence None the Richer) is born in Nashville, Tennessee.
1971 The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour begins a regular run on CBS after previously serving as a summer replacement. It stays on the air for three years.
1969 Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin II hits #1 on the American albums chart.
1969 Diana Ross & The Supremes' "Someday, We'll Be Together" hits #1 in the US, the last of their 12 chart-toppers on that tally. It's the last release by the group with Diana Ross, who is the only member to perform on the track.
1967 Bob Dylan releases John Wesley Harding.
1965 Davy Jones plays a junkie on the "If You Play Your Cards Right, You Too Can Be A Loser" episode of the TV series Ben Casey. Jones soon lands a lead role on The Monkees.
1964 The Supremes appear on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, singing "Come See About Me." They would go on to appear 20 more times on Sullivan (14 with Diana Ross), more than any other rock act.
1963 London's Sunday Times names Paul McCartney and John Lennon the Outstanding Composers of 1963.
1960 Ray Charles records "One Mint Julep."
1958 While attending a class at the Liverpool College of Art, John Lennon meets student Cynthia Powell, later to become his first wife.
1952 Guitarist David Knopfler is born in Glasgow, Scotland. Along with his older brother Mark, he forms Dire Straits in 1977, but leaves the band after their second album in 1980 to launch a solo career.
John Lennon's "Starting Over" Hits #1
1980Weeks after his death, John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" goes to #1 in America.
Read more27 DECEMBER
Featured Events
1986 "Reet Petite," a #6 UK hit for Jackie Wilson in 1957, goes to #1 29 years later when it is re-released, and stays at the top for four weeks. Wilson died three years earlier after being incapacitated by a heart attack.
1985 The Krush Groove Christmas party becomes the first rap show held at Madison Square Garden. A tie-in with the movie Krush Groove, the concert features performances by LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Whodini and other acts who appeared in the film. The event makes headlines for the violence that follows, as 14 people are arrested for various crimes.
1975 The #1 song in America is "Let's Do It Again," a surprisingly lubricious song by the gospel group the The Staple Singers. The song was written by Curtis Mayfield for the film of the same name starring Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier.
1967 After establishing his career as a poet and writer, Leonard Cohen releases his first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, on Columbia Records. The album doesn't sell particularly well at first, peaking at #83 on the Billboard charts, but Cohen's powerful voice and lyrics in oft-covered tracks like "Suzanne" and "So Long, Marianne" become highly influential.
1960 Returning from Hamburg, Germany, The Beatles play a show in their hometown of Liverpool, England, with Chas Newby filling in for Stu Sutcliffe, who stays in Germany and never rejoins the band. The show gets a lot of attention, and is an early taste of Beatlemania.
1927 Show Boat opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway, changing the paradigm for modern musicals.More
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