Music History - August 6

In 1940, Columbia Records cut the price of its 12-inch classical records to $1.00.

In 1956, Marty Robbins released the single "Singing The Blues."

In 1956, filming began on the Alan Freed movie "Rock! Rock! Rock!" starring Tuesday Weld (her singing parts dubbed by Connie Francis), Fran Manfred, Teddy Randazzo, with performances by Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, LaVern Baker, the Moonglows, Flamingos, and the Johnny Burnette Trio.

In 1957, guest performers on ABC-TV's "American Bandstand" were Dale Hawkins and Don Rondo.

In 1960, in need of a drummer for a series of dates in Hamburg, Germany, the Beatles invited Pete Best, then a member of the Black Jacks, to join the band.

In 1960, Chubby Checker appeared on US television show American Bandstand and performed “The Twist.” The song went to #1 on the US chart and again 18 months later in 1962. It is the only song to go to the top of the charts on two separate occasions.

In 1963, Bob Dylan began recording his third album, 'The Times They Are A-Changin.' Eight songs were recorded during that first session, but only one recording of "North Country Blues" was ultimately deemed usable and set aside as the master take. A master take of "Seven Curses" was also recorded, but it was left out of the final album sequence.

In 1964, Rod Stewart, singing as a member of his group the Hoochie Coochie Men, made his television debut on the BBC show "The Beat Room."

In 1965, in the UK, the Beatles released their fifth album and soundtrack to their second film ‘Help!’ which included the title track, “The Night Before,” “You've Got to Hide Your Love Away,” “You're Going to Lose That Girl,” “Ticket to Ride” and “Yesterday.”  In 2012, 'Help!' was voted 331st on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."

In 1966, as the "bigger than Jesus" controversy continued in the US, Beatles manager Brian Epstein cut short his vacation and flew to New York for a televised news conference where he defended John Lennon's remarks, saying "The quote which John Lennon made to a London columnist has been quoted and misrepresented entirely out of context of the article, which was in fact highly complimentary to Lennon as a person... Lennon didn't mean to boast about the Beatles' fame. He meant to point out that the Beatles' effect appeared to be a more immediate one upon, certainly, the younger generation. John is deeply concerned and regrets that people with certain religious beliefs should have been offended."

In 1968, at I.D. Sound Recorders in Hollywood, Canned Heat began recording "Going Up The Country." The band's Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, who died of a drug overdose two years later, sang lead on the song and is also credited as its composer. The track was completed the following day.

In 1969, Led Zeppelin played the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California.

In 1970, the 10th National Jazz, Blues and Pop four day Festival was held at Plumpton Racecourse in Sussex, England. Featuring, Family, Groundhogs, Cat Stevens, Deep Purple, Fat Mattress, Yes, Caravan, The Strawbs, Black Sabbath, Wild Angles, Wishbone Ash and Daddy Longlegs.

In 1970, the Concert For Peace, an anti-war rock festival coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, was held at Shea Stadium in New York. Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Steppenwolf, and Johnny Winters were the performers.

In 1971, at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, Procol Harum recorded a concert with the city's symphony, later released as the album 'Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.' It included the song "Conquistador." The song peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, and helped catapult the album into the top five. 

In 1973, 23 year-old Stevie Wonder is seriously injured when the rented car he is riding in slams into the back of a small logging truck on I-85 near Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He suffers multiple head injuries and will remain in a coma for four days.

In 1974, Abba scored their first US top 10 hit when “Waterloo” went to #6. The Swedish group were also on their first American tour.

In 1987, Madonna's movie "Who's That Girl" premiered in New York City.

In 1987, the Beastie Boys sued the city of Jacksonville, FL for including the phrase "mature audience" on their concert tickets and ads.

In 1988, 'Appetite For Destruction,' Guns N' Roses debut album went to #1 in the US, after spending 57 weeks on the chart and selling over 5 million copies.  Singles from the album, “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City’”were all US Top 10 hits.

In 1989, Adam Clayton of U2 was arrested in Dublin for marijuana possession and intent to supply the drug to another person. His conviction was set aside in exchange for his payment of £25,000 to the Dublin Woman's Aid Centre.

In 1994, Domenico Modugno, the Italian singer whose recording of "Volare" topped the North American charts in 1958, died of a heart attack near his home on the island of Lampedusa. He was 66.

In 1998, in Washington, DC, George Michael played the Capital Center on his 137-date Faith World Tour.

In 2000, it was announced that Ice-T would play a detective on the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2001, Whitney Houston signed a new Arista records contract worth more than $100 million.

In  2004, Rick James was found dead at his Los Angeles home. James had died from pulmonary failure and cardiac failure with his various health conditions of diabetes, stroke, a pacemaker, and a heart attack. Known as “The King of Punk-Funk,” James scored the 1981 US #3 album 'Street Songs' and 1981 US #16 single “Super Freak part 1.” In the late ‘60s James worked as a songwriter and producer for Motown, working with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.

In 2005, jazz bassist Keter Betts, who played with Charlie Byrd, Stan Getz, Earl Bostic, Dinah Washington, Oscar Peterson, and Ella Fitzgerald, died at age 77.

In 2007, Keith Richards claims he did, in fact, inhale his late father's ashes, despite earlier statements saying he was misquoted when he made the infamous revelation in an April NME interview. "What I found out is that ingesting your ancestors is a very respectable way of . . . y'know, he went down a treat," says the Rolling Stones guitarist. Oh well, that's not so weird. Right. Richards also refutes part of the original quote. "The cocaine bit was rubbish. I said I chopped him up like cocaine, not with." Considering Richards doesn’t so much talk as mumbles it’s not surprising he was misunderstood.

In 2009, singer/songwriter Willie DeVille, former leader of the band Mink DeVille, died of pancreatic cancer at 58.

In 2011, bassist Marshall Grant, a member of Johnny Cash's backup band (1954-1980) the Tennessee Two with guitarist Luther Perkins, and later the Tennessee Three with the addition of drummer W.S. Holland, died at the age of 83.

In 2012, pianist/composer/Songwriters Hall of Famer Marvin Hamlisch, only the second person (after composer Richard Rodgers) to win the Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Grammy and Pulitzer Prizes, died at the age of 68.

In 2013, Elvis Presley's recording sessions at Stax Records in Memphis were released together for the first time. Titled 'Elvis at Stax: Deluxe Edition,' the three-CD box set also featured out-takes and rare photos from the July and December 1973 sessions, which originally produced three separate albums.

celebrating birthdays today include (among others)  Allan Holdsworth (Soft Machine) (68), Pat MacDonald (Timbuk3) (62), Vinnie Vincent (Kiss) (62) and Geri Halliwell (Spice Girls) (42)