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Today In Music History

June 29 in Music History: Happy Birthday, Colin Hay

Singer-songwriter Colin Hay
Singer-songwriter Colin HayPaul Mobley

June 29, 2023

History Highlight:

Colin Hay is 70. Born in Scotland, Hay’s family emigrated to Australia, where his parents ran a small music shop. Hay came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the Australian rock band Men at Work - best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", and "It's a Mistake" - and later known as a solo artist and part of Ringo Starr’s band. Hay's music has been used frequently by actor and director Zach Braff in his work, which helped spur a career rebirth in the mid-2000s. 

Also, Today In: 

1957 - The government of Iran officially banned rock and roll after declaring rock dancing "as harmful to health". The ban stayed in place until the 1990s. 

1966 - Neil Diamond played American Bandstand for the first time, performing his hit "Cherry, Cherry." 

1969 - On this day in 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played at Mile High Stadium in Denver in what was to be their final gig together. The group formed in Westminster, London, in September 1966. They released three studio albums - Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967) and Electric Ladyland (1968), all featured in the top 100 of the Rolling Stone list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", at positions 15, 82 and 54 respectively. In 1992, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

1970 - NBC presented the Liza Minnelli special "Liza", also starring songwriters Anthony Newley, Jimmy Webb and Randy Newman. 

1975 - An upbeat Elton John turned up unannounced at a concert at the Oakland Coliseum featuring the Eagles and The Doobie Brothers; he sang with both bands.  

1975 - American singer songwriter Tim Buckley died of an overdose of heroin and morphine aged 28. Released nine albums including the 1972 release 'Greetings from L.A.' Buckley is the father of singer songwriter Jeff Buckley. 

1976 - The Memphis City Council voted to change Elvis' home street, Highway 51 South, to "Elvis Presley Boulevard." 

1979 - Lowell George, frontman for Little Feat, died of a heart attack at age 34. 

1984 - After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for "Dancing In The Dark," Bruce Springsteen does it live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. During Clarence Clemons' sax solo, he brings a doe-eyed, 19-year-old Courteney Cox on stage to dance with him. 

1985 - John Lennon's 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine, with psychedelic paintwork, sold for a record sum of $3,006,385 at a Sotheby's auction in New York. 

1987 - Meeting at a London pub, a group of record label executives decided to use the term "World Music" to promote their international artists. This new designation became a section in many record stores and made it much easier to classify artists that didn't fit traditional genres. 

1988 - The Guardian newspaper reported that many music CDs would fade and distort over the next few years due to manufacturing faults, sending shockwaves through the music industry. 

1989 - Three years after landing their first hit, the Pet Shop Boys, notoriously averse to live performance, launch their first tour with a show at Hong Kong Coliseum. 

1991 - De La Soul's second album, De La Soul Is Dead, debuted at No. 24 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. 

1994 - Barbra Streisand set a new record after grossing $16 million for a series of Madison Square Garden comeback shows. 

1994 - Oasis made their debut on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops performing their new single "Shakermaker." 

1995 - Ringo Starr's first-ever TV commercial, for Pizza Hut, debuted in the U.S., as did a similar spot by the newly reformed Monkees. 

1996 - Record producer George Martin received a Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music. 

1998 - George Harrison announced that he would be undergoing chemotherapy for throat cancer, with assurances that, "I'm not going to die on you folks just yet." He succumbed to the disease three years later. 

2000 - The casket holding Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt is stolen from its mausoleum in Jacksonville, Florida, but left after vandals are unable to open it. The ashes of Steve Gaines, the band's guitarist who died in the same plane crash that killed Van Zandt, are spilled from his urn, which is also stolen. 

2001 - "Dream A Little Dream: The Almost-True Story of the Mamas & the Papas", a stage musical penned by former Papas member Denny Doherty, premiered in Toronto. 

2002 - Rosemary Clooney died of lung cancer at age 74. 

2003 - Beyoncé started a five week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Dangerously In Love', also a US No.1. 

2004 - Rush released their 18th studio album, Feedback, comprised of eight cover songs selected from tunes that influenced each band member in their younger years. 

2007 - Lily Allen was questioned by police over an alleged assault on a photographer outside a nightclub in London. She was freed on police bail after questioning. 

2007 - George McCorkle, guitarist for The Marshall Tucker Band, died shortly after a cancer diagnosis at age 59. 

2012 - Photographers were planning to boycott the forthcoming Stone Roses reunion concerts in Manchester in a dispute over the use of their images. They claimed a contract issued by the band was unfair as it expected them to surrender all rights to their pictures. The National Union of Journalists was also supporting the boycott. 

2016 - Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie filed for divorce from her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood, just months after the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last January. Lisa Marie had previously been wed to Danny Keough from 1988 until 1994, Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1999 and to actor Nicolas Cage from 2002 to 2004. 

Birthdays: 

Gilberto Gil, Brazilian musician and songwriter, is 81. 

Twin brothers Derv and Lincoln Gordon of The Equals are born in Jamaica in 1948. 

Eric Wrixon, musician with the Northern Irish band Them, was born in 1947. He was also a founding member of Thin Lizzy.  

Celebrated American singer and actor Nelson Eddy was born today in 1901. He passed away in 1967. 

Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice is 75. 

Little Eva, known for the hit "The Loco-motion", was born today in 1943. She passed away in 2003.  

Colin Hay, singer-songwriter and former Men at Work frontman, is 70. 

Sam Farrar of Phantom Planet is 45. 

John Feldmenn frontman of Goldfinger is 56. 

Oliver Tree, an American singer-songwriter, producer, and rapper, is 30. 

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.