ON THIS DAY IN BLACK MUSIC HISTORY: JUNE 12

#1 Song 1965:   “Back in My Arms Again,” the Supremes

 

Born:   Lyn Collins, 1948

 

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1954   The collector’s items “Three Coins in the Fountain” by the Dominoes ($50), the Robins’ “Riot in Cell Block #9” ($300), and the  Checkers’ “Over the Rainbow” ($400) were released.

 

1961   Ben E. King’s immortal “Stand By Me” reached #4 pop and #1 R&B for four weeks. The song was based on the gospel song “Lord, Stand By Me.”

 

1971   Roberta Flack first charted with “You’ve Got A Friend (#29 pop). She reached the Top 100 a total of eighteen times over the next twenty years.

 

1982   Gary “U.S.” Bonds charted with his last of eleven pop hits since 1960. The song, “Out of Work” reached #21, but thanks to nostalgia tours and oldies shows, Bonds rarely was out of work.

 

 

1982   Afrika Bambaataa charted with the “Planet Rock,” a trend-setting mixture of European electronic music, in the vein of Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, and New York street rap. Bambaataa, a former street-gang member, rode the success of the single to more than a million sales despite its reaching only #48 on the national Top 100. The recording featured a heavy dose of riffs lifeted from Ktaftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express.”

 

 

1992   Even though she had suffered chronic back pain that caused her to collapse at Los Angeles International Airport, Dionne Warwick still had the temerity to attend and perform at her record-company president’s (Clive Davis) Man of the Year honors at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria, where she sang “That’s What Friends Are For” with Whitney Houston.