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Today in Music History: Saluting The Smiths' Bassist

Happy Birthday to Andy Rourke, bass player for The Smiths.
Happy Birthday to Andy Rourke, bass player for The Smiths.BBC / Jeff Simpson

January 17, 2017

Birthday Highlight:

Andy Rourke, bass player for The Smiths, is 53 today. While Johnny Marr's guitar work with The Smiths is often hailed as being key to the group's sound, Rourke's bass playing doesn't often receive quite the credit it's due.

Also, Today In:

1964 - The Rolling Stones released their debut self-titled EP which included "You Better Move On", "Poison Ivy", "Bye Bye Johnny" and "Money".

1966 - NBC bought The Monkees series, placing it on their 1966 fall schedule. The series centered on the adventures of The Monkees, a struggling rock band from Los Angeles, and introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to television.

1967 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded a session for Radio Luxembourg's "Ready Steady Radio". The band ran up a bar bill of $6.21, which they were unable to pay.

1967 - The Daily Mail ran the story about a local council survey finding 4,000 holes in the road in Lancashire inspiring John Lennon's contribution to The Beatles song "A Day In The Life".

1967 - 40-year-old David Mason recorded the piccolo trumpet solo for The Beatle's "Penny Lane" at Abbey Road Studios in London. He was paid $42 for his performance. In August 1987, the trumpet he used was sold at a Sotheby's auction for $10,846.

1969 - Led Zeppelin I, the band's debut album, was released in the U.S., coinciding with the band's first headlining U.S. concert tour.

1970 - Billy Stewart and three of his band members were killed when their car went off a bridge. Stewart's most popular song was the 1966 hit "Summertime".

1970 - The Doors played the first of four shows at the Felt Forum in New York City. The shows were recorded for the band's forthcoming Absolutely Live album.

1974 - Dean Martin's son Dino Martin was arrested after attempting to sell two AK-47 machine guns to an undercover agent.

1976 - Barry Manilow scored his second U.S. No. 1 single with "I Write The Songs", which was written by Beach Boy Bruce Johnson.

1981 - Motley Crue formed when bass guitarist Nikki Sixx left the band London and began rehearsing with drummer Tommy Lee and vocalist/guitarist Greg Leon (who later left).

1987 - Kate Bush started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with The Whole Story. The compilation album was Bush's third U.K. No. 1 album as well as her best-selling release.

1996 - David Bowie, Tom Donahue, The Jefferson Airplane, Gladys Knight And The Pips, Little Willie John, Pink Floyd, Pete Seeger, The Shirelles and The Velvet Underground were all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1998 - All Saints scored their first U.K. No. 1 single with "Never Ever". The track spent a total of twenty-four weeks on the U.K. chart and was the first of five No. 1 singles for the London-based girl group.

2003 - A long-lost recording featuring John Lennon and Mick Jagger was set to spark a bidding war at a London auction. The acetate record was recorded in 1974 with Jagger singing the blues song "Too Many Cooks" and Lennon playing guitar. The track was never released because the two artists were both signed to different record companies.

2003 - Singer Lou Rawls was arrested at Albuquerque Airport in New Mexico after an incident with his companion, Nina Inman.

2011 - Don Kirshner, the songwriter, manager, publisher and music executive who helped launch the careers of Neil Diamond, Bobby Darin, Carole King, Neil Sedaka, The Monkees, The Archies and Kansas, died of heart failure at the age of 76.

2016 - David Bowie reached No. 1 on the American album charts for the first time with Blackstar, released two days before his death on January 10. His highest-charting U.S. album previously had been The Next Day, which peaked at No. 2 in 2013.

2016 - Dale Griffin, drummer for Mott The Hoople, died at age 67. He was a founding member of the group, best known for the classic tracks "Roll Away The Stone" and "All The Young Dudes". The band, who made eight albums during their five-and-a-half year existence, reformed to mark their 40th anniversary in 2009, but Griffin was too sick to take part.

2016 - American brass player Mic Gillette died of a heart attack. A child prodigy, Gillette picked up the trumpet and was reading music by age four. He was a member of the soul band Tower of Power.

Birthdays:

The Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor is 68.

Cheryl Bentyne of Manhattan Transfer is 63.

Steve Earle is 62.

Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles is 58.

John Crawford of Berlin ("Take My Breath Away") is 57.

Kid Rock is 46.

Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs is 39.

Scottish record producer, DJ, singer and songwriter Calvin Harris is 33.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.