Today in Music History for Aug. 7:
In 1942, singer B.J. Thomas was born in Hugo, Okla., but soon moved to Houston, Texas. His easy, middle-of-the-road style was featured on the million-sellers "Hooked on a Feeling" in 1968 and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," from the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," in 1970. Thomas topped both the pop and country charts in 1975, with "(Hey, Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song." He later concentrated on gospel and country material. He has won several Grammy Awards and Dove Awards.
In 1948, Hank Williams made his first appearance on the "Louisiana Hayride" radio show over station KWKH in Shreveport. Although Williams was virtually an alcoholic, he was booked regularly on the show. And in 1949 came a contract with the Grand Ole Opry. Williams was fired from the Opry in 1952 because of his perpetual drunkenness.
In 1959, "Don Messer and the Islanders" began their national TV career with "The Don Messer Show," a summer replacement series on CBC. The show continued in the fall as "Don Messer's Jubilee," and remained on the network for 10 years. Its cancellation in 1969 sparked viewer protests and raised questions in the Commons. A syndicated version of "Don Messer's Jubilee" began almost immediately, continuing until Messer's death in 1973.
In 1960, the week-long International Conference of Composers opened at Stratford, Ont. The conference, organized by Canada's Louis Applebaum, attracted composers of contemporary classical music from 20 countries.
In 1963, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello’s first movie together, "Beach Party," was released. The duo made several other "beach" pictures in the next couple of years -- all part of the then-prevalent craze for surfing music and anything else that came out of Southern California. Avalon and Funicello were reunited 24 years later in 1987's "Back to the Beach."
In 1970, “Soul Train” made its debut on a Chicago TV station.
In 1971, Henry (Homer) Haynes of the country comedy duo of "Homer and Jethro" died at the age of 54. His death ended a 39-year partnership with Kenneth (Jethro) Burns. The duo specialized in parodies of popular songs, such as "That Hound Dog in the Window," a hit in 1953, and "The Battle of Kookamonga," which made the country chart in 1959. Homer and Jethro even did a takeoff "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by "The Beatles."
In 1974, actress Faye Dunaway married Peter Wolf, lead singer for the "J. Geils Band," in Beverly Hills, Calif. The two had met in San Francisco in 1972. The couple divorced in 1978.
In 1984, singer Esther Phillips died in Torrance, Calif., of kidney and liver failure following years of health and substance abuse problems. She was 48. She was known as Little Esther Phillips when she scored a No. 1 R&B hit in 1950 with "Double Crossing Blues." Phillips became internationally famous in 1962 with "Release Me," a remake of a country song from a decade earlier. Phillips made a series of jazz albums in the '70s and in 1975 her disco hit "What a Difference a Day Makes" made the top-20.
In 1986, a judge in Los Angeles dismissed a lawsuit against heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne by the parents of a teenage suicide victim. The 19-year-old youth killed himself while listening to Osbourne's "Suicide Solution."
(Following paragraph contains material which may be offensive.)
In 1987, a judge in Jacksonville, Fla., nixed a city council order that tickets to a concert by the rap group "Beastie Boys" contain a warning about "adult subject matter." The council voted the previous March to impose the advisory after parents complained that a concert by the "Beastie Boys" and "Run-D.M.C." featured scantily-clad showgirls, bare buttocks and a six-metre-long prop phallus.
In 1991, charges of assault and property damage were filed against Axl Rose in connection with a riot during a "Guns N’ Roses" concert in the St. Louis area.
In 1993, a crush of concert-goers at a "Bon Jovi" show in Groton, Conn., injured about 40 people. Lead singer Jon Bon Jovi appealed to fans to move back from the stage and stop pushing.
In 1996, a federal appeals court in New York ruled that two former members of "The Teenagers" waited too long to claim their rights as co-writers of the group's 1955 hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" A lower court had found that Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago were entitled to royalties for co-writing the song with lead singer Frankie Lymon, who died of a heroin overdose in 1968.
In 1997, hundreds of thousands of country music fans packed New York's Central Park for a free concert by Garth Brooks. Police estimated 250,000 were there -- the promoters said the crowd was three times that size. Billy Joel and Don McLean made guest appearances. The show was meant to coincide with the release of Brooks' album "Sevens," but because of a dispute between the singer and his record company, EMI, it didn't come out until three months later.
In 2005, Grammy-winning musician Marc Cohn was shot in the head during an attempted carjacking in Denver. He was struck in the temple following a concert when a man fired into his band's van in a parking garage. He was treated at a Denver hospital and released. The bullet grazed Cohn's driver and tour manager Thomas Dube, who also was treated and released. Cohn had a hit with the song "Walking in Memphis" and won the Grammy for best new artist in 1992.
In 2011, the city of Chicago renamed the stretch of Wabash Street in front of blues great Buddy Guy's club, Legends, "Buddy Guy Way."
In 2011, actress-singer Selana Gomez won five Teen Choice Awards, one more than her then-boyfriend, Canadian pop star Justin Bieber. A 21 year-old Taylor Swift also won five surfboard-shaped trophies, and in her acceptance speech jokingly pointed out she was two years removed from her teens.
In 2011, Big Boi (born Antwan Patton), a member of the Grammy-winning rap duo "OutKast," was arrested in Miami for possession of drugs, including ecstasy and Viagra pills. In October, he avoided jail by agreeing to three months of drug testing, community service and $2,000 in charitable donations.
In 2011, singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw suffered a broken nose, a concussion, black eyes, cuts and bruises after he was beaten up by a group of men in New York's East Village. He was forced to cancel two weeks of upcoming concerts dates.
In 2011, Marshall Grant, a longtime member of country music superstar Johnny Cash's original backing band, "The Tennessee Two," died in Arkansas after falling ill after rehearsing for a concert to raise funds for the restoration of Cash's boyhood home. He was 83.
In 2012, Grammy-award winning country singer Randy Travis was charged with driving while intoxicated and threatening law officers after he crashed his car near Dallas and was found naked and combative at the scene. It was the second Texas arrest that year, being cited in February for public intoxication.
In 2013, entertainer Marilyn King, the youngest and last surviving member of the King Sisters, died at age 82 after fighting cancer. She began her singing career at 13, eventually joining her sisters' quartet, which released more than 150 albums in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. She went on to appear with her sisters on The King Family Show, an ABC variety program in the 1960s. She appeared on TV in "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" and "MASH" and on stage in "Guys & Dolls" and "Hello, Dolly!"
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The Canadian Press