Today in Music History for Dec. 28:
In 1842, Calixa Lavallee, the composer of "O Canada," was born in Vercheres, Lower Canada (now Quebec). The song, with words by Judge A.B. Routhier, was composed for a national convention of French Canadians held in Quebec City in June 1880. With the exception of "O Canada," Lavallee's work remains largely unknown. He apparently gave little thought to preserving his compositions, more than half of which have been lost or destroyed. Nevertheless, Lavalle is considered one of Canada's musical pioneers. He died in Boston in 1891.
In 1905, legendary jazz pianist Earl (Fatha) Hines was born in Pittsburgh. Hines led his own big band, and among those he helped to stardom were Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker and Billy Eckstine. He died of a heart attack at his home in Oakland, Calif., on April 22, 1983.
In 1928, Canadian flutist and saxophonist Moe Koffman was born in Toronto. His "Swinging Shepherd Blues"was an international hit in 1958, and helped to give the flute wider acceptance as a jazz instrument. Koffman died in 2001.
In 1932, singer Dorsey Burnette was born in Memphis, Tenn. He had moderate success as a country artist before dying of a heart attack on Aug. 19, 1979.
In 1937, composer Maurice Ravel, a leading exponent of the impressionist school of music, died in Paris at age 62. His best-known work is "Bolero," which gained renewed popularity in 1979 after being used as part of the soundtrack of the Bo Derek movie, "Ten."
In 1957, "At the Hop" by "Danny and the Juniors" reached the top of the U.S. charts. The song by the Philadelphia street-corner group was originally called "Do the Bop," but the title and lyrics were changed at the suggestion of Dick Clark.
In 1964, the musical "Baker Street," featuring songs by Canadian composers Marion Grudeff and Ray Jessel, premiered in Boston. After revisions and a two-week stint in Toronto, "Baker Street" opened on Broadway in February 1965.
In 1968, the three-day Miami Pop Festival opened. About 100,000 people paid $6 to $7 to see such headliners as Chuck Berry, "Fleetwood Mac," Marvin Gaye and the "Grateful Dead."
In 1975, a 25-year-old man pointed a pistol at rocker Ted Nugent during a concert in Spokane, Wash. He was disarmed by security men and members of the audience.
In 1976, bluesman Freddie King, a major influence on British rock guitarists, died in Dallas of heart failure, a bloodclot and bleeding ulcers. He was 42. Among King's admirers is Eric Clapton, who recorded King's "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?" on his "Layla" album. King recorded more than 75 sides for the Federal label in the 1960s, including the instrumental hit "Hideaway." But his biggest success came early in the following decade. King began playing before white rock audiences who had been introduced to the blues by British bands such as "Cream," "John Mayall's Bluesbreakers" and "Chicken Shack."
In 1983, "The Beach Boys" drummer Dennis Wilson drowned while swimming off Marina Del Ray, near Los Angeles. He was 39. The city coroner's office said Wilson had a high level of alcohol in his bloodstream. In April 1986, Wilson's widow and son were awarded $400,000 in life insurance by a jury which rejected an insurance company's claims that Wilson had lied about using drugs and alcohol. Dennis Wilson was the only regular surfer among "The Beach Boys." It was he who suggested to his brother Brian and cousin Mike Love in 1961 that they write a song about his favourite sport. The result was "Surfin'," the group's first record.
In 1991, nine people died in a crush to get into a charity basketball game featuring rap stars at City College in New York. Twenty-eight others were injured. Police estimated 5,000 people went to the gymnasium, which had a capacity of 2,730. Most of the victims were crushed in a stairwell leading to the basement gym. The Heavy D and Puff Daddy Celebrity Charity Basketball Game was supposed to raise money for AIDS education, but a later city report said the promoter could not arrange for anyone to accept the funds. The report also said nearly everyone involved in the event showed an "abysmal failure of responsibility," including police, college officials, organizers, student groups and the crowd itself.
In 1992, a son, Adrian Edward Simon, was born in New York to Paul Simon and his wife, singer Edie Brickell. He was Simon's second child, and Brickell's first.
In 1992, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi showed up at the Stone Pony club in Asbury Park, N.J., to perform with fellow Jersey native, Southside Johnny.
In 1993, country music hunk Billy Ray Cyrus married Leticia Finley in a secret ceremony at the singer's home south of Nashville. The couple had been dating for more than two years and had a one-year-old child, Miley. They filed for divorce twice (2010 and 2013) but reconciled both times.
In 1993, Canadian country singer Shania Twain married her producer, Robert Mutt Lange, in Nashville. They divorced in 2008.
In 1995, William Lee Golden rejoined "The Oak Ridge Boys" nearly nine years after he was fired from the country band. He replaced Steve Sanders, who left the group because of pressures stemming from battles with his ex-wife. It was Sanders who had replaced Golden in 1987.
In 1998, police in Macon, Ga., shot and wounded Ronnie Hammond, lead singer for "The Atlanta Rhythm Section." They had been called to his home after Hammond threatened to kill himself. When officers arrived, they found him bleeding from the wrist and waving an axe and a hammer. It was the second time in a month that police had responded to a suicide attempt call at Hammond's home. "The Atlanta Rhythm Section" had top-10 hits in the late 1970s with "So in to You" and "Imaginary Lover."
In 2005, the body of singer-bassist Barry Cowsill of "The Cowsills" was found on a New Orleans wharf. He had been missing since Hurricane Katrina three months earlier. Cowsill was 51.
In 2008, Vincent Ford, a songwriter credited with composing the Bob Marley reggae classic "No Woman, No Cry," died in Jamaica at age 68. The song, which appeared on Marley's 1974 "Natty Dread" album, was inspired by the Kingston ghetto of Trench Town where Marley and Ford lived in the 1960s. Ford is credited with the tune. However, some critics contend that Marley wrote it himself but gave Ford the credit to help his friend support himself with the royalties.
In 2008, an audience of almost 3,000 clapped and cheered as Woody Allen and his jazz band gave their first ever concert in Poland. The filmmaker, playing the clarinet, was accompanied by his New Orleans Jazz Band for a performance of traditional jazz at Warsaw's biggest concert hall, Sala Kongresowa. The 73-year-old Academy Award winner rarely performs in large venues or outside New York City, where he lives.
In 2009, Jimmy (The Rev) Sullivan, a drummer and backup vocalist for the metal-core band "Avenged Sevenfold," was found dead at his home in Huntington Beach, Calif. He was 28. They formed in 1999 and won Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2006. A coroner's report later found he died from a drug overdose and an enlarged heart.
In 2010, country music star Keith Urban and Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman welcomed their second child, another daughter, Faith Margaret, born via surrogate in a Nashville hospital. Kidman gave birth to their first child, Sunday Rose, in 2008.
In 2010, Agathe von Trapp, whose family inspired the movie "The Sound of Music," died at a hospice in the Baltimore suburb of Towson after suffering congestive heart failure in November. She was 97. She was the oldest daughter of Austrian naval officer Capt. Georg Ritter von Trapp. His seven children by his first wife were the basis for the singing family in the 1965 film.
In 2011, the Canadian stage premiere of "Green Day's American Idiot" launched at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.
In 2011, singer and actress Kaye Stevens, who performed with the Rat Pack and was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," died following a battle with breast cancer and blood clots. She was 79.
In 2015, Motorhead frontman Ian (Lemmy) Kilmister, whose outsized persona made him a hero for generations of hard-rockers and metal-heads, died at age 70 after a brief battle with aggressive cancer. He had learned of the diagnosis just two days earlier. He founded the band in 1975 and it was best known for the 1980 anthem "Ace of Spades."
In 2016, Debbie Reynolds, who lit up the screen in "Singin' in the Rain' and other Hollywood classics, died at age 84, a day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher.
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The Canadian Press
