Today in Music History for Dec. 11:
In 1882, Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "Iolanthe" was performed at the Bijou Theater in Boston, the first U.S. playhouse to be lighted exclusively by electricity.
In 1915, the Men's Musical Club of Winnipeg was formed to promote and assist the development of music in Manitoba. The club sponsored the formation of the Winnipeg Male Voice Choir in 1916, the Manitoba Music Competition Festival two years later and the Winnipeg Boys' Choir in 1925. The club, the competition festival and the boys' choir are all still active.
In 1926, blues singer and songwriter Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was born in Montgomery, Ala. She recorded the original version of "Hound Dog," a 1956 million-seller for Elvis Presley. Thornton's own recording, made in 1953, topped the R&B chart. She died on July 25, 1984.
In 1944, singer Brenda Lee was born Brenda Mae Tarpley in Atlanta. "Little Miss Dynamite" began her hit-making career at the age of 11 when she recorded "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." The song didn't become a hit, however, until the holiday season of 1960, when it made No. 14 on the Billboard pop chart. (Note for trivia buffs: The sax solo is by Boots Randolph.) Lee was well-represented on the charts in the late 1950s and early '60s with such hits as "I'm Sorry," "Sweet Nothin's" and "I Want to Be Wanted." In the 1970s, Lee began concentrating on country material.
In 1946, Hank Williams' first recording session, for the small Sterling label, took place. He and his band, "The Drifting Cowboys," had already been playing on a Montgomery, Ala., radio station for more than a decade. Williams moved to the newly-formed MGM label the following year, and had all his major hits for that company. He remained with MGM until his death on New Year's Day in 1953.
In 1963, Frank Sinatra paid a ransom of US$240,000 for his kidnapped son Frank Jr., 19, who had been snatched in Lake Tahoe, Nev., three days earlier.
In 1964, singer Sam Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a Hollywood motel. A woman had run into the motel office claiming Cooke had tried to rape her. Cooke influenced Otis Redding and other soul singers through his merging of gospel music and secular themes. He had sold 15 million records by the time of his death at age 29. Cooke's hits included "You Send Me," "Chain Gang" and "Twistin' the Night Away." "Shake" was a top-10 record in the year following his death.
In 1972, police in Knoxville, Tenn., arrested James Brown for disorderly conduct after a white man accused him of trying to incite a riot while talking to fans after a show. The charge was dropped after Brown threatened to sue the city.
In 1972, the British art-rock band "Genesis," fronted by Peter Gabriel, played its first U.S. concert at Brandeis University in Boston.
In 1975, Canadian singer and trombonist Wally Koster died in Toronto at the age of 52. The Winnipeg native performed with the dance bands of Ellis McLintock and Mart Kenney in the 1940s. In 1952, Koster took part in the first CBC television broadcast. From 1955 to '60, he co-starred with Joyce Hahn on CBC's "Cross-Canada Hit Parade."
In 1982, punk rock group "The Jam" played its final concert, in Brighton, England. Group leader Paul Weller later fronted "The Style Council."
In 1987, a group of mothers whose children disappeared under former military rule in Argentina joined British rock star Sting on stage in Buenos Aires for a song dedicated to human rights. The mothers joined hands with Sting as he performed "They Dance Alone," a song about people who disappeared under Chile's military government.
In 1987, Mayor Tom Bradley proclaimed "Los Lobos Day" in Los Angeles to honour the local rock 'n' rollers who revived "La Bamba," the song first made into a pop hit by Richie Valens.
In 1992, bandleader Andy Kirk, whose "12 Clouds of Joy" were a popular big band from 1936-48, died in New York at age 94. Kirk was generally a non-performing leader, whose band included such jazz greats as Don Byas, Fats Navarro, Howard McGhee and pianist-arranger Mary Lou Williams, who later became his wife. The Kirk band's best-known recording was "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," made in 1936.
In 1993, Snoop Dogg's "Doggy Style" debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's album chart, just days after the rapper was indicted for the murder of a Los Angeles man.
In 1996, Richard Kuntz, 15, of Burlington, N.D., shot and killed himself while listening to an album by shock rocker Marilyn Manson. Kuntz's father later appeared at a U.S. Senate hearing on violent rock and rap lyrics.
In 1998, "Afghan Whigs" lead singer Greg Dulli suffered a fractured skull during an altercation at the Liberty Lunch night club in Austin, Texas.
In 2001, Ottawa singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette received the Global Tolerance Award from the Friends of the United Nations.
In 2008, Canadian musician Feist was among many artists that performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in honour of the 2008 laureate, Finnish peace mediator Martti Ahtisaari.
In 2008, Canadian music star Michael Buble was named as a minority owner of the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League.
In 2008, Chris Brown was named Billboard's top Artist of the Year with solo hits like "With You" and "Forever" as well as successful collaborations, like "No Air" with Jordin Sparks. Billboard also named Flo Rida's "Low" as Song of the Year.
In 2009, country music superstar Garth Brooks played his first acoustic concert at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas since announcing a comeback in October. It was the first of a handful of weekends that he would be performing each year. The last show was a live TV broadcast on Nov. 29, 2013.
In 2009, a court filing showed the only child of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, daughter Frances Bean Cobain, was placed in temporary guardianship of Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor and his sister, Kimberly Dawn Cobain.
In 2010, more than 100 movie theatres across Canada broadcast the New York Metropolitan Opera's production of Verdi's "Don Carlo," conducted by Montreal native Yannick Nezet-Seguin.
In 2010, socialite Nicole Richie and "Good Charlotte" frontman Joel Madden got married in Los Angeles. The couple had dated for more than four years and had two children together.
In 2012, sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with "The Beatles" and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over a decades-long career, died at age 92.
In 2012, Canadian prog-rock trio "Rush" was named an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (The induction ceremony was held in April 2013).
In 2017, Irish rockers U2 scored their eighth No. 1 album when "Songs of Experience" debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart. They became the only group, and fourth act, to have No. 1 albums in each of the past four decades. The others: Janet Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand.
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The Canadian Press
