Today in Music History for Jan. 5:
In 1923, Sam Phillips, owner of the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, was born in Florence, Ala. Many music historians say Sun was where rock 'n' roll began. Certainly, Phillips was the first to record the black-influenced music of such young white singers as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins in 1954. Phillips began by recording such black artists as Howlin' Wolf and Jackie Brenston, whose "Rocket '88" from 1951 is often cited as the first rock 'n' roll record. But Phillips had also dreamed of finding a white singer who could sing in a black style -- and in 1954 he did. Elvis Presley recorded five hit singles for Sun before Phillips sold his contract to RCA in 1956 for $35,000. Phillips sold Sun Records in 1969, but he had already assured his place in rock history. The original Sun Studio on Union Avenue in Memphis is now a tourist attraction. Much of the soundtrack for the 1989 Jerry Lee Lewis film biography "Great Balls of Fire" was recorded there. Phillips died of respiratory failure July 30, 2003.
In 1965, "The Supremes" recorded "Stop! In the Name of Love."
In 1969, shock-rock singer Marilyn Manson was born Brian Warner in Canton, Ohio. His stage name comes from taking the first name of starlet Marilyn Monroe and the last name of mass-murderer Charles Manson. At age 18, he worked as a music journalist in Florida but gave that up soon after meeting guitarist Scott Mitchell. After filling out the band, Marilyn Manson's first major hit came with their 1993 debut LP, "Portrait of an American Family." Manson's wild stage antics boosted his popularity with disaffected white teenagers, but launched protests by religious conservatives. Critics mostly dismissed Manson's scary makeup and androgynous image as marketing hype but right-wing groups regularly picketed his concerts. Other albums by Marilyn Manson include "Antichrist Superstar," "Holy Wood," and "The Golden Age of Grotesque."
In 1975, "The Wiz," an all-black musical version of L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," opened on Broadway.
In 1978, the "Sex Pistols" began their first and only U.S. tour in Atlanta. Nine days later, the pioneer punk rockers announced they were splitting up.
In 1979, jazz bassist-composer Charles Mingus died in Cuernevaca, Mexico, at age 56.
In 1983, "Everything But the Girl" made their concert debut as a duo at the Institute for Contemporary Arts in London.
In 1984, John Lennon's single "Nobody Told Me" was released.
In 1985, Bryan Adams played what was billed as a homecoming show before 10,000 fans in Ottawa.
In 1988, CBS sold Columbia Records to the Sony Corp. of Japan. Columbia began in 1887 as the American Graphophone Company, founded by two English inventors, one of whom was a cousin of Alexander Graham Bell. American Graphophone manufactured dictation machines. Its offspring, the Columbia Phonograph Company, did not begin making records until 1890. Over the years, Columbia Records was owned by an English businessman, a radio and refrigerator manufacturer, a button maker and finally a broadcaster before being sold to Sony. The new owner renamed the company Sony Records.
In 1988, Madonna filed for divorce from actor Sean Penn.
In 1994, Michael Jackson told a cheering crowd at the NAACP Awards in Paasdena, Calif., that he was innocent of allegations that he sexually molested a 13-year-old boy.
In 1996, after singing the line "you can only live so long," tenor Richard Versalle suffered an apparent heart attack and fell three metres from a ladder during a performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The 63-year-old Versalle was dead on arrival at hospital. The tragedy occurred during the opening scene of "The Makropulos Case," a Czech opera that tells of an elixir that confers eternal youth.
In 1997, Broadway and Hollywood composer Burton Lane, best known for his musicals "Finian's Rainbow" and "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," died in New York at age 84.
In 1997, Chicago bluesman Son Seals was shot in the jaw. His wife was charged with battery.
In 1998, U.S. Congressman Sonny Bono died after hitting a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. He was 62. With his wife Cher, he formed the duo "Sonny and Cher" in 1963. Their first hit was the chart-topping "I Got You Babe" in 1965. Nineteen other chart records followed over the next eight years, including such top-10 hits as "Baby Don't Go" and "The Beat Goes On." Beginning in 1971, the couple had a hit TV series -- "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour." It ended with the couple's divorce three years later. Sonny went into politics -- first as mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., from 1988-92, then as a Congressman in 1994. His widow, Mary Bono, was elected to his seat three months after his death. In a magazine interview that appeared in November 1998, Mary Bono claimed that Sonny's use of pain-killing prescription drugs contributed to his death because they impaired his judgment.
In 2003, Blues great Richard (King Biscuit Boy) Newell, one of sa国际传媒's greatest harmonica players and singers, died at age 59.
In 2004, Britney Spears' marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander was annulled. They had been married 55 hours.
In 2010, Willie Mitchell, a record producer, label head and musician, died in Memphis more than two weeks after he suffered cardiac arrest. He was 81. He once owned Hi Records of Memphis and was responsible for several instrumental hits of the 1960s and helped the careers of Al Green and Ann Peebles in the 1970s. Even in later years, he stayed busy at his Royal Studio, working with then-emerging talents like John Mayer and Anthony Hamilton.
In 2011, at the People's Choice Awards, rapper Eminem won four awards -- Favourite Male Musician and Hip-Hop Artist, and his song featuring Rihanna, "Love the Way You Lie," won Favourite Song and Music Video. Taylor Swift was voted Favourite Country Artist and Katy Perry the Favourite Female Artist.
In 2015, Benji Madden of Good Charlotte and actress Cameron Diaz were married in an intimate ceremony at their home in Los Angeles after a whirlwind engagement.
In 2020, fans mourned after learning that New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Famer Johnny Storm Stoltz died at the age of 81. Born in 1939 in Kelowna, British Columbia into a large musical family, Stoltz was a mainstay in the Saint John music scene. His family said the country singer died in Saint John on New Year's Day, surrounded by loved ones.
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The Canadian Press