Eagle Classic Hitstory December 1 on birminghamseagle.com

On This Day in Eagle Classic Hitstory...

December 1

1932
Pop singer Matt Munro, who waxed on the theme to From Russia With Love, is born in London.

1934
Billy Paul is born in Philadelphia. He made sweet-sounding infidelity on "Me & Mrs. Jones."

1935
Lou Rawls, owner of one of the smoothest-sounding voices in soul, is born in Chicago.

1938
Rockabilly drumming star Sandy Nelson is born in Santa Monica, Calif. Among his instrumental smashes was 1961's "Let There Be Drums."

1940
Comedian Richard Pryor - without whose dirty mouth there would be no NWA, Eddie Murphy, and Blazing Saddles - is born in Peoria, Ill.

1944
Blue Öyster Cult member Eric Bloom is born in Brooklyn. Eric Bloom is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He is best known as the main vocalist, cowbell player, and "stun guitar" for the long-running band Blue Öyster Cult, with work on over 20 albums, much of it relating to his life-long interest in science fiction.
BÖC "Godzilla" Live 1980

1944
John Densmore, drummer for The Doors, is born in Los Angeles.

1945
Bette Midler is born in Paterson, N.J. She is named after actress Bette Davis. She wins a best new artist Grammy in 1974.

1946
Singer/songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan ("Alone Again [Naturally]") is born in Waterford, Ireland.

1947
French rocker Alain Bashung, who has found European success with concept albums about famous French femmes, is born in Paris.

1957
Ed Sullivan presents three rock and roll acts, each making its national television debut, on his Sunday evening show: Buddy Holly & the Crickets, playing "That'll Be the Day," Sam Cooke, singing "You Send Me," and the Rays perform their hit "Silhouettes."

1960
Teen idol Bobby Darin marries actress Sandra Dee.

1961
Manager Brian Epstein meets with Decca representatives to discuss a deal for his new up-and-coming band the Beatles.

1966
California folk-pop vocal group, the Mamas and the Papas earn their fourth gold record for their album, Cass, John, Michelle & Denny.

1966
Carter Stanley, guitarist with bluegrass greats the Stanley Brothers, dies in Bristol, Va. Ralph hasn't sounded the same since.

1966
Jimi Hendrix signs a management deal with Yameta, a firm started by Who managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp.

1967
Ringo Starr flies to Rome to begin filming Candy, an adaptation of the Terry Southern novel.

1968
Janis Joplin makes a final appearance with Big Brother & the Holding Company.

1969
"Magic" Sam Maghett, the Chicago bluesman best known for his 1964 recording of "High Heel Sneakers," collapses and dies in Chicago after complaining of heartburn. He was 32.

1969
George Harrison and Ringo Starr turn up at London's Royal Albert Hall to watch Delaney & Bonnie perform with Eric Clapton.

1972
Martha & the Vandellas give their farewell performance in Detroit.

1976
The Sex Pistols, who have just released their first single, "Anarchy in the U.K.," appear on British TV's Today Show as a last-minute replacement for Queen. Interviewer Bill Grundy, taunting them about their "nasty" reputation, provokes bass player Glenn Matlock to drop the f-bomb on the air. In the resulting uproar, the Sex Pistols are banned from appearing in all but five cities on the itinerary of their first U.K. tour. By next month, no club or concert hall in Great Britain will book the group.

1977
Billy Joel's fifth album, The Stranger, becomes his vehicle to stardom, making it to #2 and containing the hits "Just the Way You Are," "She's Always a Woman," "Movin' Out," and "Only the Good Die Young."

1978
British new wave music-hall rocker Ian Dury releases his biggest hit single "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick." It will reach Number One in the U.K. and sell two million copies worldwide without entering the U.S. chart.

1980
The newly expanded nine-piece Talking Heads start a brief U.K. tour at London's Hammersmith Palais. A new Irish band which will go on to great things in the U.S. within two years, opens the show.

1982
Epic Records releases Thriller, Michael Jackson's first solo album in three years. It will yield four smash singles "This Girl is Mine" (a duet with Paul McCartney), "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "Billy Jean," and "Beat It."

1986
New Orleans soul singer Lee Dorsey ("Ya Ya") dies at age 60.

1988
Steve Winwood and his fire Eugenia become parents to daughter Elizabeth Dawn.

1991
A fight breaks out between the road crews of several rap acts and as many as two dozen police at the Emerald City nightclub in East St. Louis, Ill. Newspapers report that the fight starts when someone assaults a roadie for the group Naughty by Nature with a beer bottle.

1993
Pink Floyd hold a press conference to announce their 1994 world tour.

1994
While recovering from gunshot wounds suffered the day before, rapper Tupac Shakur is convicted on charges of sexually abusing a woman in a hotel room.

1995
An auction of some of Frank Sinatra's possessions earns him $2,072,000. Note to self: in the future, have yard auctions, not yard sales.

1996
Irving Gordon, who wrote Nat King Cole's signature tune "Unforgettable," dies at age 81 in Los Angeles.

1997
Legendary jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli dies in Paris at age 89.

1999
Nirvana's Krist Novoselic, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, and punk legend Jello Biafra throw a curfew-violating concert in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization summit.

1999
American independent rockers Pavement - renowned for bizarre lyrics and song structures - claim they are "retiring for the foreseeable future." Singer Stephen Malkmus had recently waved a pair of handcuffs at a London concert and declared, "This is what it's like being in a band."

1999
The Judds, Naomi and Wynonna, announce they are re-forming for a one-off concert tour.

1999
An estimated crowd of over 250,000 people brave freezing temperatures to see the 67th annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, featuring performances by 'N Sync, Britney Spears, Enrique Iglesias, and Rosemary Clooney.

2000
Aaron Tippin and his wife, Thea, become parents again when their second child, Thomas Aaron Tippin is born at the Baptist Women's Pavilion in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

2003
The Strokes are forced to stop their concert in Glasgow, Scotland after the crowd threatens to surge over the barriers.

2003
Fatboy Slim hands in a petition at the U.K. prime minister's Downing Street residence asking for a new stadium for his local soccer team Brighton & Hove Albion.

2003
California police discover wireless microphones in the building where they interrogated Michael Jackson over child molestation charges. The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Dept. say they believe the media are trying to bug the investigation.

2003
Ozzy Osbourne tells the U.K. tabloid Daily Mirror that as a boy he was molested by two older youths at school. Upon review, interpreters admit that it is possible that Ozzy actually said "ate a bat's head," not "molested."

2003
Police in Fontana, Calif., issue a warrant for the arrest of rapper/producer DJ Quik, who is wanted in connection with an assault on his sister.

2003
It's reported that American Idol runner-up Justin Guarini has been dropped from the RCA label after his self-titled album failed to grab the public's imagination.

2004
U2's 11th album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb goes into the charts at No. 1, knocking Eminem's Encore off the top spot. Gwen Stefani has the week's second highest new entry, as her solo debut Love Angel Music Baby bows at No. 7.

2004
Marianne Faithfull collapses after suffering a seizure in Milan. Doctors blame chronic exhaustion and the 57-year-old singer cancels the remainder of her European tour.

2005
Beethoven still rocks. A working manuscript copy of the deaf composer's "Grosse Fugue" sells at auction for $1.7 million. That’s Jay-Z money right there.

2006
Nas issues a statement after a man is shot 50 times by the NYPD outside a Queens nightclub. "This brutality bullsh*t is played out with that slave sh*t," he says. "It has to end now. The cops need to be charged the way gangsters are charged."

December 1