On any given day, there are important, and occasionally, life changing events which occurred on that date in the past in the world of music. Today, I'm taking a glimpse back at a few of the events in music history which happened on March 24th.
1958: Elvis Presley reported to the Memphis Draft board. Elvis had already become
famous for hits such as "Hound Dog", "Heartbreak Hotel", and others. Elvis was assigned the army serial number of 53310761.
1965: The Temptations released "It's
Growing", their followup to their big hit, "My Girl". This track was the first to feature David Ruffian as The Temptations new lead singer. "My Girl" and "It's Growing" were the only two Motown songs covered by Otis Redding.
1966: Simon & Garfunkel hit the charts in the UK with their song, 'Homeward Bound." The story is that Paul Simon wrote the song in
the Farnworth railway station in Widnes, England, while he was stranded overnight waiting on a train. The song describes his longing to return to his girlfriend as well as to return to the US. The song also reached #5 in the US.
1977: Fleetwood Mac released the
single "Dreams" from their album, "Rumours", which was their eleventh studio album. "Dreams" went on to become their first and only US #1 hit. Stevie Nicks had written the song in about 10 minutes in 1976 in a day when she wasn't needed in the studio for recording.
1990: Sinead O'Connor went to #1 on the UK album charts with 'I Do Not Want What I
Haven't Got', featuring the single 'Nothing Compares To You.' The album also spent 6 weeks at #1 in the US.
MARCH 24 BIRTHDAYS:
Carol Kaye - 1935. While you may not recognize her name, Carol Kaye is likely the most heard bass player in the history of music, who has played on an estimated 10,000 (yes, that's TEN THOUSAND) recordings in her career! Carol played on many of the recordings done by the music producer Phil Spector as well Brian WIlson (of the Beach Boys) productions in the 60's and 70's, including on the ground-breaking Beach Boys' album, "Pet Sounds." She played on many of Simon & Garfunkel's hit songs, numerous film scores by producers such as Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin. In addition, her bass playing can be heard on dozens of tv shows, including The Streets of San Francisco, Mission: Impossible, M*A*S*H, and Kojak, to name a few.
1938 - Don Covay. Don had hits with "Mercy, Mercy", and "See-Saw", but perhaps his
biggest success was as a songwriter, with the song "Chain of Fools", which he wrote for Aretha Franklin.
1951 - Dougie Thompson Dougie was bassist for the band Supertramp for their biggest albums.
While this is certainly not an exhaustive list of all that happened or all of the music-related births for March 24, it is certainly enough to tell that this day has left it's imprint on the annals of music history!
What about your personal music history? What music memories do you have from March in years past?