June 23 Music History Report

BIRTHDAYS

June Carter Cash (1929) Carter Family singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist (died 2003) age 73 – heart surgery complications

Niki Sullivan (1937) The Crickets guitarist/songwriter/co-founder (died 2004) age 66 – heart attack

Stuart Sutcliffe (1940) The Beatles bassist/co-founder (died 1962) age 21 – cerebral hemorrhage

Robert Hunter (1941) Grateful Dead harmonica player/songwriter [“Dark Star”/”Ripple”/”Truckin'”] (died 2019) age 78 – long illness

Rosetta Hightower (1944) The Orlons lead singer/co-founder [“The Wah-Watusi”/”South Street”/”Don’t Hang Up”] (died 2014) age 70 – brain hemorrhage

Myles Goodwyn (1948) April Wine lead singer/guitarist/songwriter/co-founder [“Just Between You and Me”/”Sign of the Gypsy Queen”/”Roller”] (died 2023) age 75 – unknown causes

Glenn Danzig (1955) Misfits lead singer/songwriter/co-founder and Danzig lead singer/songwriter/co-founder [current] [“Mother”/”Cantspeak”]

Randy Jackson (1956) Journey bassist and session bassist, also TV personality

Steve Shelley (1962) Sonic Youth drummer

Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs (1965) Oasis rhythm guitarist/co-founder

Jonathan “Chico” DeBarge (1966) DeBarge tenor/keyboardist

Kate “KT” Tunstall (1975) singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist

Jason Mraz (1977) singer/multi-instrumentalist

DEATHS

Pete Quaife [born Peter Kinnes] (2010) The Kinks bassist/co-founder (born 1943) age 66 – kidney disease

Bobby “Blue” Bland (2013) [born Robert Brooks] blues singer/songwriter/harmonica player [“Turn on Your Love Light”] (born 1930) age 83 – long illness

CHARTS

In 1951, “Too Young” by Nat King Cole hits No. 1 – 5 weeks (first of two No. 1 singles)

In 1984, “The Reflex” by Duran Duran hits No. 1 – 2 weeks (first of 2 No. 1 singles)

In 2012, “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen hits No. – 9 weeks (first of 2 No. 1 singles)

NEW RELEASES

(Albums)

In 1967, Warner Bros. Records releases the third studio album from The Association, “Insight Out”; Billboard 200: 8; “Windy,” “Never My Love”

In 1974, ABC-Paramount Records releases the third studio album from the Impressions, “Keep on Pushing”; Billboard 200: 8; “Keep on Pushing,” “Talking About My Baby”

(Singles)

1959, “A Big Hunk o’ Love,” Elvis Presley

1965, “Track of My Tears,” The Miracles

1965, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” James Brown

1969, “Sweet Caroline,” Neil Diamond

1972, “I Can See Clearly Now,” Johnny Nash

1975, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” Elton John

1979, “Bad Girls,” Donna Summer

COMINGS/GOINGS

In 1972, Smokey Robinson appears on stage for the last time with The Miracles in Washington, D.C.

In 2006, singer Kevin Richardson quits the Backstreet Boys to pursue other interests.

NOTEWORTHY

In 1963, “From Me to You,” a cover of song by The Beatles by Del Shannon, lands on the bottom of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the first John Lennon-Paul McCartney composition to chart in the U.S.

In 2016, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin win a copyright lawsuit that claimed they had plagiarized the music to “Stairway to Heaven.” A jury in Los Angeles determined that the lawyer representing the estate of late guitarist Randy Wolfe, who played with the group Spirit, did not prove that the band lifted the song’s intro from Spirit’s instrumental song, “Taurus.”