Today in Music History for Oct. 21:
In 1851, soprano Jenny Lind, dubbed "The Swedish Nightingale," gave her first Canadian concert, at St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto. Her tour was organized by showman P.T. Barnum.
In 1915, country music producer Owen Bradley was born in Westmoreland, Tenn. During the 1950s, Bradley was in the forefront of developing the so-called Nashville Sound, in which country music was given a pop sound with strings and background voices. Bradley was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974. He died in Nashville on Jan. 7, 1998.
In 1917, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who with alto saxophonist Charlie Parker revolutionized the jazz world of the 1940s with the style known as bebop, was born in Cheraw, S.C. Dizzy, whose full name was John Birks Gillespie, got his nickname because of his clowning and horseplay. His trademark was a trumpet bent at a 45-degree angle. He died on Jan. 6, 1993.
In 1932, the Palais Montcalm, a municipal concert hall, opened in Quebec City with a concert by the "Quebec Symphony Orchestra."
In 1945, the "Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra" gave its first concert at the Lyric Theatre in Kitchener, Ont. The program included the Edvard Grieg "Concerto" with Ada B. Eby as soloist.
In 1958, Buddy Holly made what were to be his last studio recordings at the Pythian Temple Studios in New York City. Among the tracks were "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "True Love Ways," which were later overdubbed with strings and released after Holly's death in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959.
In 1961, Bob Dylan recorded his first album for Columbia Records. The self-titled album was recorded in one day and cost $400.
In 1965, bassist Bill Black, leader of "The Bill Black Combo," died in Memphis following surgery for a brain tumour. He was 39. Black was the bassist on Elvis Presley's early recordings, and toured with Presley until 1959, when he formed his combo. "The Bill Black Combo" had 16 chart records from 1959-64, including the million-sellers "Smokie-Part Two," "Josephine," "White Silver Sands" and a version of Presley's "Don't Be Cruel."
In 1970, Canadian soprano Lois McDonall made her operatic debut at Sadler's Wells in London on short notice. McDonall, a native of Larkspur, Alta., took over the title role in Handel's "Semele" when Elizabeth Harwood became ill.
In 1971, a daughter, Jade, was born to Mick and Bianca Jagger at a Paris nursing home.
In 1972, after 17 years of recording rock classics, Chuck Berry finally got a No. 1 hit with "My Ding-A-Ling."
In 1972, Jon Mark, guitarist and vocalist with the British jazz and folk group, "The Mark-Almond Band," lost a finger after he fell out of a tree in Hawaii.
In 1978, country singer Mel Street, who had hits with "Borrowed Angel" and "Lovin' on Back Streets," committed suicide on his 45th birthday.
In 1986, pop singer El DeBarge was sentenced in Grand Rapids, Mich., to perform 200 hours of community service and pay a $200 fine in an incident involving a college student who claimed he beat her. Debarge pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge involving a disturbance. A stiffer charge of assault and battery was dropped.
In 1990, jurors in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., acquitted members of "2 Live Crew" of charges of giving an obscene performance at a Hollywood, Fla., nightclub. Their album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" had been declared obscene by a Florida judge just six days before their arrest.
In 1992, the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations hired a steamroller and crushed records, tapes and CDs by Sinead O'Connor on New York's Sixth Avenue. The music mangling was a protest against O'Connor's ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul during a "Saturday Night Live" appearance earlier in the month.
In 1992, curiosity seekers all over the world shelled out big bucks for "Sex," Madonna's sexual fantasy picture book. All 750,000 copies of the book, which included a special edition of Madonna's "Erotica" CD released a day earlier, were sold out within days.
In 1992, Elton John filed a $35 million lawsuit in which he claimed a reporter for the TV show "Hard Copy" falsely stated John moved to Atlanta to be near an AIDS treatment centre. The singer's lawyers said he moved to Atlanta because he likes the city.
In 1993, "Guns N' Roses" lead singer Axl Rose reached an out-of-court settlement with a St. Louis fan who claimed he was hurt in a scuffle with the rocker during a 1991 concert. William "Stump" Stephenson received an undisclosed amount of money -- and Rose's autograph in his scrapbook. Stephenson said he was injured when Rose jumped off the stage and attacked him for taking pictures of the band. The show ended in a riot, injuring about 65 people.
In 1995, Shannon Hoon, lead singer of the rock group "Blind Melon," died of a drug overdose at age 28. He was found dead aboard the band's tour bus in New Orleans. "Blind Melon's" self-titled debut album in 1992 sold more than two million copies.
In 1995, Maxene Andrews, one-third of "The Andrews Sisters" group, died of a heart attack in Hyannis, Mass. She was 79. "The Andrews Sisters" were the most popular female group of the pre-rock 'n' roll era, and are reputed to have sold nearly 100 million records.
In 1997, just 37 days after its release, Elton John's tribute song to Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind 1997," was declared the world's biggest-selling single after 31.8 million copies were distributed around the globe. (Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" has since reclaimed the title.)
In 1999, Santana's "Supernatural" album hit No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, his first since "Santana 3" in 1971.
In 2001, three benefit concerts were staged to help victims of the previous month's terror attacks in the U.S. Michael Jackson, " 'N Sync," "Aerosmith" were among the pop acts performing in Washington, D.C.; George Jones, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill and Earl Scruggs were on hand for a country music show in Nashville; and a six-hour concert at Toronto's Air Canada Centre featured Alanis Morissette, "The Tragically Hip," "Our Lady Peace," Bruce Cockburn, "The Barenaked Ladies" and Choclair. There was a similar show the previous night in New York, featuring the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John and Billy Joel.
In 2008, country music superstar Tim McGraw added author to his resume. His first children's book "My Little Girl" hit bookstores. The book was given the 2009 Mom's Choice Awards Gold Seal.
In 2008, "The Who" donated all of their earnings from a concert in Detroit to a pair of local charities.
In 2010, pop singer Lady Gaga called off her two upcoming shows in Paris because French unions had crippled parts of the country with protests over the governments attempt to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and overhauling the pension system.
In 2010, the city of Columbia, S.C., helped celebrate "Hootie & The Blowfish's" 25th anniversary by unveiling a permanent abstract sculpture in honour of the home-town band - consisting of Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber and Jim Sonefeld -- which has sold over 20 million records worldwide.
In 2011, former "Bad Company" and "Free" singer Paul Rodgers was sworn in as a Canadian citizen in Surrey, B.C. He married former Miss Canada Cynthia Kereluk in 2007.
In 2012, an emotional Garth Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with trailblazing singer Connie Smith and keyboard player Hargus "Pig" Robbins.
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(The Canadian Press)
The Canadian Press
