Happy Birthday to Funk Master GEORGE CLINTON (born July 22, 1940)

 

George Clinton is a singer, songwriter, bandleader, music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s...

 

George launched a solo career in 1981 (solo #1 R&B: Atomic Dog)…

Bow-wow-wow-yippie-yo-yippie-yeah

For a period in the 1960s Clinton was a staff songwriter for Motown. 

Despite initial commercial failure (and one major hit single, "(I Wanna) Testify" in 1967)...

 

 The Parliaments eventually found success under the names Parliament and Funkadelic in the seventies…

George has been cited as one of the foremost innovators of funk music, along with James Brown and Sly Stone...

 

Clinton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic…

Parliament/Funkadelic had 24 Top 40 R&B Hits like Flashlight, One Nation Under A Groove, Knee Deep, Tear The Roof Off The Sucker, Aqua Boogie  and Mothership Connection…

GEORGE IN 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GEORGE CLINTON !

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Billy Preston in Tropical Jon's Evolution of Rock 'n Roll...

William Everett " Billy" Preston

(September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006)

Billy Preston, sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Beatle", played keyboards on "Get Back" and appeared with them on keyboards during their famous "rooftop concert" in 1969 (John Lennon even suggested at one point inviting Preston to become the fifth Beatle, to which Paul McCartney responded, "We have enough trouble with four")...

 

 

During the 1970s, Preston scored solo No. 1 hits with "Nothing From Nothing"
 and "Will It Go Round in Circles"

But what about prior to his fame with The Beatles and Solo Career?

Check out 11-Year-Old Billy Preston on the Nat King Cole show…

Billy was also a big Stones fan as is demonstrated here on a 1965 Shindig gig…

Check out Billy’s “process” and dance steps—and great musicianship doing “Midnight Hour”  on another Shindig gig…

And he KILLS on Maggie’s Farm on yet another Shindig gig (July 21, 1965)…

Billy got down with Dee Dee Sharpe Mashin’ Some Potatoes and doin’ some SLOW TWISTIN’ too!

Dig how Billy and Dee Dee teach “The Shindogs” (including Bobby Sherman) a bit about Rockin’ Soul…

Check out TV One's documentary on one of the best but underrated keyboardists in the history of music - Mr Billy Preston  

Welcome To Billy Preston.Net

R.I.P. Billy, You Gave More Than You Got, That's For Sure!!!

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MAY 6, 1967 ~ 1977 IN TROPICAL JON'S EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'n ROLL...

MAY 6 (1945)
BOB SEGER'S
BIRTHDAY!!!

May 6, 1967: Somebody to Love," by Jefferson Airplane (Written by Darby Slick for The Great Society) , enters the Top Forty. It will remain there well into the Summer of Love, peaking at #5…   

May 6, 1971:  Ike and Tina Turner receive their only gold record, for their version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary." The song hit #4, the highest chart position ever for the husband-and-wife team…

 

May 6, 1972: Joe Tex hits #2 with "I Gotcha"… 

 

May 6, 1973: Stooges release 'Raw Power' which peaks at #184… 

 

May 6, 1977: Attracting 76,229 fans to the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, Led Zeppelin break their own world record for largest audience at a single-act concert…

Footage of that concert is unavailable—This is available…

ALL THIS ON MAY 6 BETWEEN '67 AND '77

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB SEGER!!!

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April 17, 1960: Eddie Cochran, on his way to the airport to come home, is killed in a car crash...

Eddie Cochran

(October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960)

His first success came when he performed the song "Twenty Flight Rock" in the movie The Girl Can't Help It, starring Jayne Mansfield...

Soon after, Liberty Records signed him to a recording contract...

 

 

NOTE:That bitchin' guitar sound from Eddie’s originalSummertime Blues? They did it in the studio by recording it real slow, then speeding it up. The chords sound so vibrant and full because of all the noise packed into the grooves when played at normal speed…

Eddie Cochran was one of the first rock and roll artists to write his own songs and overdub tracks. He’s  credited also with being one of the first to use an unwound third string in order to "bend" notes up a whole tone – an innovation which has since become an essential part of the standard rock guitar vocabulary...

Artists such as The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Rod Stewart, Motörhead, Humble Pie, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Lemmy Kilmister, The Head Cat, The Damned, UFO, T. Rex, Stray Cats, Brian Setzer, Cliff Richard, The Who, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Blue Cheer...

 Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes, The Sex Pistols, Rush, Buck Owens, Tiger Army, Dion, Simple Minds, Guitar Wolf, Paul McCartney, Alan Jackson, Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos, and Jimi Hendrix have covered his songs...

Eddie was extremely popular in The UK in the late 50s and into 1960.

In fact, he was more popular there, than in his native US. In early 1960, Eddie went on a five week tour of England which due to its success was extended to fifteen weeks. Despite the fame and adulation accorded to him in The UK, Eddie was feeling homesick and decided to return home for Easter...

Eddie Cochran & Gene Vincent

On 16^th April 1960, he did what was supposed to be the last gig of the tour at The Hippodrome Theatre, Bristol. It was in fact, the last one of his short life.

Eddie Cochran & Gene Vincent Show

After the show,

Eddie, his girlfriend, Sharon Sheeley

Eddie & Sharon

(Note: It seems she was much more than Eddie's girlfriend--actually fiancee. She was a rather successful songwriter in her own right [penning Ricky Nelsons #1 hit "Poor Little Fool" in 1958!] In fact, she co-wrote with Jackie DeShannon in the USA after recovering from Cochran's fatal crash…)

and Gene Vincent all jumped in a limo and headed off to London from where they were due to fly back to The US. This being pre-freeway days, traveling by car from Bristol to London involved driving through many towns and villages. It was one of these small towns, Chippenham, that Eddie met his fate. In the early hours of the morning of April 17^th the car blew a tire at Rowden Hill.

The speeding limo (a UK Ford Consul MkII which is a 4-cylinder Zephyr) blew a tire, lost control, and crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill, where a plaque now marks the spot (the Zephyr should have been an excellent handler, even on the bias-ply tires, and is as solid as a tank, yet the car was completely destroyed--no other car was involved…)

 All four people in the car were injured. Gene Vincent broke a few ribs, his collarbone and suffered a leg injury. Sharon broke her pelvis
Cochran, who was seated in the centre of the back seat, threw himself over his girlfriend to shield her and was thrown out of the car when the door flew open--He suffered severe head injuries and  was rushed to St. Martin's Hospital, Bath, where he died at 4.10 p.m. the following day.

The limo driver, George Martin (NOT “The 5^th Beatle” who merely shares the name), was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, disqualified from driving for 15 years, and sentenced to prison for six months…

R.I.P.
Eddie Cochran
and
THANK YOU!!!

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Apr 05 1929 Annette Hanshaw records Big City Blues and That's You, Baby for Columbia Records in New York City : That's Annette Hanshaw--“THE” Flapper Girl…

Annette Hanshaw

Born on 18 October 1901, New York City, New York, USA, d. 13 March 1985. In 1926 Hanshaw had no particular ambitions to be a professional singer but was heard by an executive of Pathé Records and offered a recording contract.

She was not quite 16 when she started her recording career...

Her recordings (1926-1934) included such major jazz players as Red Nichols, Miff Mole, Jimmy Lytell, Adrian Rollini, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Vic Berton, Benny Goodman, Manny Klein, Phil Napoleon, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and Jack Teagarden

 For the next eight years she made numerous records, radio broadcasts and film appearances before tiring of the show business life…

During her short career she recorded and performed prolifically, as a follow up to her 1928 hits “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,”

And

She recorded:

Big City Blues…

As well as:

 That's You, Baby  

“That's You Baby” is one of the recordings that established Annette as "The" Flapper Girl of the late 20s and early 30s…

Also in 1929:

Annette Hanshaw retired in 1934, at the age of 24…She passed away on March 13, 1985…

R.I.P. Annette

THANKS FOR THE MUSIC, “FLAPPER GIRL”

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April 5, 1984: Smokey, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Dick Gregory and some very notable folks attend Marvin Gayes funeral...

April 5, 1984:

Marvin Gaye's funeral takes place at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles,

 Some very notable mourners, including Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, and Berry Gordy were in attendance

Marvin's father

 Gaye had been shot to death three days earlier by his father after he intervened in an argument between his parents

What led to Marvin’s untimely death?

Marvin’s funeral…

Stevie Wonder, Dick Gregory and others say goodbye to Marvin...

The way he would have wanted them to do so…

Marvin singing “If I Should Die Tonight” from his 1973 “Let’s Get It On” album—Good Stuff…

Frankie Gaye remembering his brother…

Though we all loved Marvin, his life was truly that of a troubled man…

Check out this IN-Depth Bio of Marvin Gaye…

R.I.P. MARVIN

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TROPICAL JON'S EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'N ROLL: RUBY & THE ROMANTICS

Ruby & the Romantics, One Hit Wonder???



"Our Day Will Come," composed by Bob Hilliard and Mort Garson, was a #1 hit in 1963 for Ruby & the Romantics…



It sold over one million copies in the US, and peaked at #38 in the UK Singles Chart.

Billboard Hot 100 number one single
March 23, 1963 (one week)

Billboard Hot R&B Sides number-one single
March 23, 1963 - March 29, 1963 (two weeks)



Often considered to be a “One Hit Wonder,” over 50 other acts, from Betty Everett to

Amy Winehouse have recorded and made the charts with “Our Day Will Come”—But it certainly wasn’t the only charted hit for Ruby & The Romantics…

"My Summer Love" reached #16 on the Hot 100



Their original version of "Hey There Lonely Boy" climbed to #27



 Composed by Van McCoy, the first recording of "When You're Young and in Love" was by Ruby & the Romantics; Released in September 1964, it reached the Top Five in Honolulu but otherwise failed to register strongly in any US market, reaching #48 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1964.

"When You're Young and in Love"



 (The song was remade in 1967 by the Marvelettes, the reaching #23 on the Hot 100 that June; its R&B peak was #9…






(Not one of the Marvelettes' biggest hits either)


Ruby & the Romantics would score one subsequent Hot 100 placing, with "Does He Really Care For Me" which charted at #87…

Ruby & the Romantics were awarded a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1997 and inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2007

As of 2005, Ruby Nash, lead vocalist of Ruby & The Romantics has retired from [Barberton, Ohio] The Salvation Army thrift store…

Not really just a “One Hit Wonder”—But close to it…

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