Eagle Classic Hitstory June 20 on birminghamseagle.com

On This Day in Eagle Classic Hitstory...

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June 20

1942
Beach Boys songwriter, singer and musician Brian Wilson is born.

1946
Singer Anne Murray (Morna Anne Murray) is born in Springhill, Nova Scotia. Her biggest hit is the million-selling No. 1 single “You Needed Me” in 1978.

1948
The TV variety show, Toast Of The Town premiers. It later changes its name to The Ed Sullivan Show.

1949
Lionel Richie is born in Tuskegee, Ala., the son of a retired U.S. Army captain and a teacher. The former lead singer of the Commodores has five No. 1 hits, including "Endless Love." That duet with Diana Ross sells more than 2 million copies and in 1981 tops Chart Toppers’s Hot 100 for nine weeks, longer than any other duet.

1953
Cyndi Lauper is born.

1955
Michael Anthony, bassist for Van Halen is brought in to the world.

1960
Duran Duran bassist John Taylor is born.

1964
John Lennon is described as "in a pathetic state of near illiteracy" by one book critic after the publication of In His Own Write.

1965
No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: "Mr. Tambourine Man," The Byrds.

1966
The New York Times reports George Harrison of the Beatles and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones have taken up the sitar. Jones would use the instrument on "Paint It Black".

1967
Jimi Hendrix and the Jefferson Airplane perform at San Francisco’s Fillmore.

1969
The 3 day Newport '69 Festival starts in Northridge, California. 150,000 make it to hear Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, CCR, Ike & Tina Turner, Jethro Tull, The Rascals, Steppenwolf, and others. Hendrix receives $125,000 for his appearance, at the time it was the highest fee ever paid to a single rock act for a single appearance.

1969
David Bowie signs with Philips Records and goes into Trident Studios in London to re-record "Space Oddity."

1970
Neil Young's "Cinammon Girl" goes gold.

1972
The Tallahatchie Bridge, made famous in Bobbie Gentry's 1967 hit, "Ode To Billie Joe", collapses.

1973
American Bandstand celebrates its 20th anniversary with a 90 minute television special.

1977
Island Records releases Steve Winwood's first solo album and first record under any name since Traffic's When the Eagle Flies.

1977
No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: "Got to Give It Up (Pt. 1)," Marvin Gaye.

1980
"It's Still Rock & Roll" becomes Billy Joel's first #1 hit.

1987
Boston appear at the 10th annual Texas Jam for their first live performance in eight years.

1994
It’s reported that Paul, George, and Ringo are working on a new song for inclusion in the Anthology boxed set. They do it for John as much as for the fans. The song “Free as a Bird” was included at the very start. 450,000 copies of Anthology 1 were sold in its first day of release, the most sales for an album in a single day ever. The Beatles’ original drummer Pete Best, fired by the band in 1962 before they hit it big, received his first substantial Beatles royalties from this album, for the inclusion of early tracks on which he played. On March 17, 1996, Anthology 2 was released. The new song “Real Love” - which, like “Free as a Bird”, was based on an unfinished Lennon recording - was included in the two-CD collection. On October 28, 1996, Anthology 3 was released. A collage of the three covers of The Beatles Anthology, created by Klaus Voormann:

The three album covers, when laid side-by-side, become one long painted collage of various peeling posters and album covers representing the different stages of The Beatles’ career. This was the work of Klaus Voormann, who also created the album cover for Revolver in 1966. The Anthology covers required Voormann to recreate elements of his cover for Revolver within the collage. During the music video for “Free as a Bird”, the Anthology collage appears as posters on a shop window as the camera pans quickly across the street. The design also adorned the VHS, laserdisk, and DVD releases, again to be properly encountered by laying the cases side-by-side. Upon the release of Anthology 3, HMV stores made available a cardboard sleeve designed to hold all three CD volumes of which each side of the sleeve make up half of the collage.

1994
The Rolling Stones begin rehearsing in Toronto for their Voodoo Lounge live extravaganza.

1995
Legendary country duo George Jones and Tammy Wynette release reunion album One.

1996
The Furthur Festival kicks off in Atlanta. The show marks the first time the members of The Grateful Dead perform together since the death of Jerry Garcia.

1997
Lawrence Payton, a member of the Four Tops who gave the Motown group its distinctive harmonies on hits such as "Baby I Need Your Loving" and "Reach Out (I’ll Be There)," dies from liver cancer at the age of 59.

2004
In St. Petersburg’s Palace Square, Paul Mccartney plays his 3000th gig since first performing with the Quarrymen. 50,000 Russians turn out to see the ex-Beatle, who predictably plays "Back in the USSR."

2006
Claydes Charles Smith, a co-founder and lead guitarist of the group Kool & the Gang, dies in Maplewood, New Jersey, after a long illness. He is 57.

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