Today in Music History for Sept. 8:
In 1897, Jimmie Rodgers, known variously as "The Singing Brakeman," "America's Blue Yodeler" and "The Father of Country Music," was born in either Meridian, Miss., or Geiger, Ala. Both communities are near the state border. Although his recording career spanned less than six years -- from October 1927 to May 1933 -- Rodgers remains the most influential artist in country music. His series of "Blue Yodels," which mixed elements of the blues with yodelled refrains, were immensely popular. "Blue Yodel No. 1" -- also known as "T For Texas" -- sold a million copies after its release in 1927. Rodgers was the first Southern rural artist to attain mass popularity and he became the model and inspiration for such later singers as Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Wilf Carter and Merle Haggard. Rodgers was dogged by ill health all his life. He suffered from tuberculosis, and died at 35 on May 26, 1933, two days after his last recording session.
In 1927, Harlan Howard, known in Nashville as “Mr. Songwriter," was born in Detroit, Mich. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997. He died March 3, 2002.
In 1932, country singer Patsy Cline was born Virginia Hensley in Winchester, Va. She won an Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout show in 1957, singing "Walking After Midnight." Her recording of the song enjoyed a lengthy stay on both the pop and country charts. Cline made the country ballad her specialty, and she was soon challenging Kitty Wells for the title of Queen of Country Music. But her career came to a sudden end on March 5, 1963, when she, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas were all killed in a plane crash at Camden, Tenn. Cline's hits included "I Fall to Pieces" and "Sweet Dreams (of You)." "Sweet Dreams" was also the title of a 1986 movie biography of Cline, starring Jessica Lange.
In 1945, Kelly Groucutt, bass guitarist and vocalist with the "Electric Light Orchestra," was born in Coseley, Staffordshire, England. He died Feb. 19, 2009.
In 1949, German composer Richard Strauss died.
In 1957, Brunswick Records released Jackie Wilson's first solo recording, "Reet Petite." The record was not a great success at the time, but has since become a favourite oldie. Wilson was formerly lead singer with Billy Ward and his Dominoes.
In 1962, "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In 1971, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened in Washington, D.C., with a performance of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass."
In 1973, the opera "Heloise and Abelard" by Charles Wilson was premiered by the Canadian Opera Company at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre (now the Sony Centre). The COC had commissioned the work to mark its 25th anniversary.
In 1976, rock band "Heart" was awarded a gold record in the U.S. for its first LP, "Dreamboat Annie." Although the band is from Seattle, the album was recorded at a Vancouver-based label, Mushroom. The album was released first in Canada, then in the Seattle area. Finally, it was given a national release in the U.S., eventually selling more than 2.5 million copies.
In 1977, Jimmy McCullough departed Paul McCartney's "Wings" to join the reformed "Small Faces." He stayed with them for less than a month, then formed his own band. McCullough died Sept. 27, 1979 of undetermined causes.
In 1988, Elton John's four-day auction in London concluded. The over 1,900 items of memorabilia he collected over the past 20 years netted him $6.2 million.
In 1988, 81,000 people jammed a stadium in Budapest for an Amnesty International concert featuring Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel and Sting. Gabriel spoke to the crowd in Hungarian, urging then-Communist Romania to respect the rights of ethnic Hungarians.
In 1989, one-time musician and retired U.S. Army Staff-Sgt. Barry Sadler died at age 49. His 1966 recording of "The Ballad of the Green Berets" topped the Billboard pop chart for five weeks, selling a million copies. In 1988, Sadler was shot in the head while training Nicaraguan rebels in Guatemala. He never recovered from the wound.
In 1994, the cream-coloured acrylic saxophone that Charlie Parker played at the famous 1953 Massey Hall jazz concert in Toronto sold for nearly $200,000 at an auction in London. The buyer was Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver, who said the sax would be a prize exhibit at a city-run jazz museum. The May 1953 concert at Massey Hall brought together some of the greatest performers of bebop jazz -- Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Bud Powell, bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach.
In 1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson made their first live TV appearance as husband and wife at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York.
In 1997, singer Tom Cochrane escaped injury when the small float plane he was piloting crashed into a beach near Haliburton, Ont., northeast of Toronto. A witness said the plane pulled up to avoid a boat before hitting the beach and flipping over.
In 1997, Paul Brandt, a former pediatric nurse from Calgary, won four of the year's top awards from the Canadian Country Music Association. Brandt was named Male Vocalist of the Year and his song "I Do" won for Single, Video and Song of the Year.
In 1998, "The Beatles" had four of the top five most popular albums ever made in a poll of more than 200,000 music experts and fans in the U.S. and Britain. "Revolver," "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "The White Album" and "Abbey Road" were in the top five, along with "Nirvana's" "Nevermind." The poll was published in a British book, "The All Time Top One Thousand Albums."
In 2001, a four-day Buddy Holly symposium in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, ended with a world record-breaking sing-along to the 1950s rock legend’s hit “Peggy Sue." Nearly 49,000 football fans sang the song during halftime of the Texas Tech-New Mexico game.
In 2002, singer Gordon Lightfoot was rushed to the hospital suffering from a weakened blood vessel in his abdomen. He spent three months in hospital.
In 2003, The Recording Industry Association of America, the music industry's largest trade group, filed 261 copyright lawsuits across the U.S. against Internet users for trading songs online.
In 2006, the tumultuous marriage of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown -- which had withstood drug addiction, Brown's numerous arrests, the decline of Houston's once-sparkling image and domestic abuse allegations -- came to an end. The couple married in 1992 and had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina.
In 2008, Vancouver country singer Jessie Farrell won numerous awards at the Canadian Country Music Awards ceremony in Winnipeg, including Female Artist of the Year and Top New Female Talent of the Year.
In 2010, Rich Cronin, whose band "LFO" sang the breezy 1999 summer hit "Summer Girls," died after struggling with health setbacks including leukemia and a stroke. He was 36.
In 2011, "From the Sky Down," a documentary about the legendary rock group "U2," opened the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the first time a documentary had done so.
In 2012, Paul McCartney was awarded France's legion of honour for his musical contributions. French president Francois Hollande decorated the former Beatle with the rank of officer in a ceremony in Paris.
In 2013, Alberta's Gord Bamford was the big winner at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Edmonton with his ballad "Leaning on a Lonesome Song" taking Single of the Year and CMT Video of the Year, and his "Is It Friday Yet?" winning Album of the Year.
In 2014, prosecutors said they dropped an assault charge against Canadian pop star Justin Bieber in connection with a December 2013 incident involving a Toronto limousine driver because there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
In 2017, Troy Gentry, half of the award-winning country duo Montgomery Gentry, died in a helicopter crash near the Flying W Airport in Medford. N.J., where the band was to perform. He was 50.
In 2019, Tenille Townes won female artist of the year at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Calgary. The 25-year-old from Grande Prairie, Alberta also won for single of the year for her song ''Somebody's Daughter.'' Dallas Smith, from Langley, B-C, co-hosted the awards show with Billy Ray Cyrus and was named male artist of the year. He credited his mother for getting this far and convincing his father to lend him money to make his earliest recordings.
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The Canadian Press