Today in Music History: 40 Candles for Mark Ronson
September 04, 2015
Birthday Highlight:
DJ and music producer Mark Ronson is 40 today. Born in London in 1975, Ronson moved to New York as a youngster and eventually attended NYU, during which time he became a fixture in New York's hip hop scene. His debut album, Here Comes the Fuzz, failed to make an impact on the charts, but his second album, Version, reached No. 2 in the U.K. album chart, and included three U.K. top 10 singles. Meanwhile, Ronson was collaborating with such acts as Lily Allen and Kaiser Chiefs, and he also produced multi-platinum, Grammy-winning albums for artists such as Amy Winehouse and Adele. In 2014, Ronson achieved his first U.K. and U.S. No. 1 single with "Uptown Funk", which featured vocals by Bruno Mars. In 2015, the song won Ronson the Brit Award for British Single of the Year.
Also, Today In:
1954 - Elvis Presley, along with Bill Black and Scotty Moore, made his first appearance at The Grand Old Opry. The audience reaction was so poor that the Opry's manager, Jim Denny, told Elvis that he should go back to driving a truck.
1965 - The Beatles started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Help," the title of their second film and the group's ninth U.S. No. 1.
1969 - The classic late-1960s counter-culture movie Easy Rider opened, starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson. Songs on the film's popular soundtrack included "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf, "Wasn't Born To Follow" and "The Ballad Of Easy Rider" by The Byrds, and "Don't Bogart That Joint" by the Fraternity Of Man.
1971 - Paul and Linda McCartney went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with the U.S.- only release, "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey." McCartney's first U.S. solo No. 1. Paul would later explain that "Uncle Albert" was based on his real-life uncle. "He's someone I recall fondly and when the song was coming, it was like a nostalgia thing … As for Admiral Halsey, he's one of yours, an American admiral", referring to Admiral William "Bull" Halsey.
1976 - The Bee Gees went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "You Should Be Dancing," the group's third chart-topping single.
1976 - The Sex Pistols appeared on British TV for the first time when they featured on the Manchester-based Granada TV program, So It Goes.
1987 - Drummer Mike Joyce quit The Smiths.
Birthdays:
Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers is 64.
Beyonce is 34.