Slim Whitman the American country music and western music singer/songwriter and instrumentalist died aged 90. Known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth high octave falsetto, he sold in excess of 120 million records during his career. Michael Jackson cited Whitman as one of his ten favorite vocalists and Beatle George Harrison cited Whitman as an early influence. Paul McCartney credited a poster of Whitman with giving him the idea of playing his guitar left-handed with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player’s.
Artists including Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, U2 and Sir Paul McCartney called for online copyright laws to be reformed. More than 180 artists signed an open letter criticising the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). They claimed the law benefits companies that “exploit music for their financial enrichment”, but not artists.
Brian Wilson American singer, songwriter with The Beach Boys who scored the 1966 UK & US No.1 single ‘Good Vibrations’, plus over 25 other UK Top 40 singles. The 1966 classic album Pet Sounds is widely considered to be one of the most influential albums in music history. Wilson released and toured the ‘lost’ Beach Boys Smile album in 2004.
The first Beatles recording session took place at EMI studios. The group recorded four tracks, one of which was ‘Love Me Do’ the four musicians received payments for the session of £7.10 ($12.07) each.
The Beatles began a 14-day European tour with two performances at the Palais Des Sports in Paris, France. The Beatles’ set list for this tour: ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘She’s a Woman’, ‘I’m a Loser’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Baby’s In Black’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby’, ‘Rock and Roll Music’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’.
Beach Boy Brian Wilson finished recording the future classic song ‘Good Vibrations’, which went on to become the band’s third US number-one hit. As a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations” Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.
Stars on 45 went to No.1 on the US singles chart, a medley of Beatles songs set to a disco beat. It was the start of a flood of ‘Stars On’ hits including Stars on Stevie Wonder, punk songs, Status Quo and Chas & Dave.
Organisers at a Paul McCartney gig hired three jets to spray dry ice into the clouds so it wouldn’t rain during the concert. The gig in St. Petersburg, Russia, was McCartney’s 3,000 concert appearance. He had performed 2,535 gigs with the Quarrymen and The Beatles, 140 gigs with Wings and 325 solo shows.
A 1976 Rolling Stones album bought for £2 at a car boot sale sold for £4,000 at an auction. The ‘Black and Blue’ LP was signed by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney and George Harrison as well as members of the Rolling Stones. The seller obtained the album after haggling the cost down from £3.