Today in Music History: Happy Birthday, Ryan Adams
November 05, 2015
Birthday Highlight:
Ryan Adams is 41 today. Born in Jacksonville, N.C., in 1974, Adams is a singer-songwriter, musician, producer, poet and painter. He is known for his work as a solo artist, for his previous band Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, and as a former member of alternative country band Whiskeytown, with whom he recorded three studio albums. Most recently, Adams released a cover version of Taylor Swift's 2014 album, 1989. Adams' version came out on Sept. 21 of this year, and it debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart, one position ahead of Swift's 1989, which was in its 48th week on the chart.
Coincidentally, the similarly named Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams also celebrates a birthday today (he's 56). Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams have embraced this similarity in previous years, wishing one another a happy birthday on social media.
Also, Today In:
1956 - The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC. The Cole program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American.
1966 - The Monkees were top of the Billboard singles chart with "Last Train To Clarksville," the group's first No. 1.
1971 - Elvis Presley kicked off a 15-date North American tour at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, Minn. (now the site of IKEA). Announcer Al Dvorin uttered the well-known phrase: "Elvis has left the building" at the end of the show. He was asked to make the announcement in an effort to quiet the fans who continued to call for an encore.
1977 - The manager of the Virgin record store in Nottingham, England, was arrested for displaying a large poster advertising the new Sex Pistols' album, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. High street stores banned the album after police warned they could be fined under the 1898 indecent advertising act.
1983 - Topper Headon of The Clash was arrested for walking his dog while drunk on London's Fulham Road.
1988 - The Beach Boys went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Kokomo." The track had been featured in the Tom Cruise film, Cocktail.
1995 - The band Garbage kicked off their first world concert tour cycle when they played at The 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis.
1998 - Former Smiths singer Morrissey lost an appeal ruling that all band profits should have been split equally and faced a backdated payout to former Smiths member Mike Joyce estimated at £1 million.
2002 - The funeral took place for Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell) from Run-DMC who was murdered by an assassin's single bullet on Oct. 30, 2002.
2005 - Influential guitarist Link Wray died at age 76.
2010 - Keith Richards' autobiography, Life, was at No. 1 on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller list.
More Birthdays:
Art Garfunkel is 74.
Gram Parsons was born today in 1946.
Ken Coomer, former Wilco drummer and drummer for Uncle Tupelo, is 56.
Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood is 44.
Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, and Wikipedia.