STAR – STEALERS WHEEL
#25 January 1974
STEALERS WHEEL ARE A SCOTTISH FOLK ROCK/ROCK BAND FORMED IN PAISLEY, IN 1972 BY FORMER SCHOOL FRIENDS JOE EGAN AND GERRY RAFFERTY.
THE BAND BROKE UP IN 1975 AND RE-FORMED WITHOUT EGAN AND RAFFERTY IN 2008.
RAFFERTY AND EGAN FIRST MET WHEN THEY WERE TEENAGERS IN PAISLEY AND THEY BECAME THE CORE OF STEALERS WHEEL. IN THE EARLY 1970S, THE BAND WAS CONSIDERED TO BE THE BRITISH VERSION OF AMERICAN FOLK/ROCK SUPERGROUP CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG.
THE ALBUM STEALERS WHEEL WAS A CRITICAL AND COMMERCIAL SUCCESS, REACHING #50 IN THE US BILLBOARD 200 ALBUM CHART, WITH THEIR MILLION SELLING HIT SINGLE “STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU”, COMING FROM THE ALBUM.
1942, BING CROSBY RECORDED THE IRVING BERLIN SONG ‘WHITE CHRISTMAS’. IT WENT ON TO BECOME THE BIGGEST-SELLING SINGLE OF ALL TIME WITH SALES OF OVER 30 MILLION. (IT WAS OVERTAKEN BY THE 1997 ELTON JOHN VERSION OF ‘CANDLE IN THE WIND’.)
1962, CHUBBY CHECKER WON A GRAMMY AWARD FOR BEST ROCK AND ROLL RECORDING FOR ‘LET’S TWIST AGAIN’ AND RAY CHARLES WON BEST RHYTHM & BLUES RECORDING FOR ‘HIT THE ROAD JACK’
1977, MANCHESTER BAND WARSAW, (LATER TO BECOME JOY DIVISION) MADE THEIR LIVE DEBUT SUPPORTING THE BUZZCOCKS AT THE ELECTRIC CIRCUS, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND
2009, PHIL SPECTOR WAS JAILED FOR AT LEAST 19 YEARS FOR MURDERING AN ACTRESS IN 2003. THE PRODUCER, 69, FAMED FOR HIS WALL OF SOUND RECORDING TECHNIQUE, WAS LAST MONTH FOUND GUILTY OF SHOOTING LANA CLARKSON AT HIS CALIFORNIA HOME. SPECTOR HAD PLEADED NOT GUILTY TO THE SECOND-DEGREE MURDER DURING THE FIVE-MONTH RETRIAL IN LOS ANGELES. HIS LAWYERS SAID HE WOULD APPEAL. SPECTOR WAS GIVEN A SENTENCE OF 15 YEARS TO LIFE FOR SECOND-DEGREE MURDER AND AN ADDITIONAL FOUR YEARS FOR PERSONAL USE OF A GUN.
1991, AFTER JUST COMPLETING THE RECORDING OF THE ‘NEVERMIND’ ALBUM, NIRVANA PLAYED A LAST-MINUTE SHOW AT THE JABBERJAW IN LOS ANGELES. IN THE AUDIENCE WAS IGGY POP, DAVE GROHL’S GIRLFRIEND AND L7 BASSIST JENNIFER FINCH WHO BROUGHT ALONG HER BEST FRIEND COURTNEY LOVE.
1992, CONCERNED THAT SOME PUPILS WERE OVERLY IDENTIFYING WITH FREDDIE MERCURY, THE SACRED HEART SCHOOL IN CLIFTON NEW JERSEY DECIDED NOT TO SING THE QUEEN SONG ‘WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS’, AT THEIR GRADUATION CEREMONY.
1997, SINGER SONGWRITER JEFF BUCKLEY DISAPPEARED AFTER TALKING A SWIM IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, HIS BODY WAS FOUND ON 4TH JUNE 1997 AFTER BEING SPOTTED BY A PASSENGER ON A TOURIST RIVERBOAT.
1999, SKELETAL REMAINS WERE FOUND BY PHOTOGRAPHERS LOOKING FOR OLD CAR WRECKS TO SHOOT AT THE BOTTOM OF DECKER CANYON NEAR MALIBU, CALIFORNIA. BASED ON FORENSIC EVIDENCE THE REMAINS WERE PHILIP KRAMER FORMER BASSIST WITH ROCK GROUP IRON BUTTERFLY, WHO HAD DISAPPEARED ON HIS WAY HOME FROM WORK ON FEBRUARY 12, 1995. HIS DEATH WAS RULED AS A PROBABLE SUICIDE.
BORN ON THIS DAY
1945 – GARY BROOKER, PROCOL HARUM,
1955, BORN ON THIS DAY, MIKE PORCARO, BASS, TOTO,
1956, BORN ON THIS DAY, LA TOYA JACKSON, SISTER OF MICHAEL JACKSON.
1975, BORN ON THIS DAY, MELANIE BROWN, (MEL B), SCARY SPICE, THE SPICE GIRLS,
1958 – MARIE FREDRIKSSON, ROXETTE
1959 – MEL GAYNOR, DRUMS, SIMPLE MINDs
1961 – DAVID PALMER, ABC
1967, BORN ON THIS DAY, NOEL GALLAGHER, GUITARIST,
