#1 R&B Song 1975: “Fight the Power Part 1,” the Isley Brothers
Born: Erskine Hawkins, 1914; Al Banks (the Turbans), 1937; Darlene Love (Darlene Wright, the Blossoms), 1938; Bobby Hebb, 1941; Dobie Gray (Leonard Victor Ainsworth), 1942
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1914 Erskine Hawkins, known as the “Twentieth-Century Gabriel” due to his trumpeting prowess, was born today. His orchestra, formed in 1934, was actually forged from the Alabama State Collegians Band. The Erskine Hawkins Orchestra became known for hits like “Tuxedo Junction,” “Don’t Cry Baby,” and “Caledonia” in the late ’30s and ’40s.
1969 Dionne Warwick charted two albums (“Odds and Ends” #43 in 1969 and “No Night So Long,” #23 in 1980) on the same day, eleven years apart.
1969 Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo of the Fifth Dimension married, a week after their tenth pop hit, “Workin’ On a Groovy Thing” charted (#20 pop, #15 R&B). McCoo had originally been in a group called the Hi-Fis, two of whose members later formed the Friends of Distinction. Davis was originally with a St. Louis doo-wop group called the Versatiles.
1970 Jimi Hendrix was given an honorary diploma by his alma mater, Garfield High School in Seattle, even though he never graduated.
1975 Jazz stylist Nancy Wilson hit the Top 200 with her LP “Come Get to Thee” (#119). It was the thirty-first of thirty-four chart albums for the veteran vocalist between 1962 and 1984.
1992 The Whispers and the O’Jays performed at two sold-out shows at the Valley Forge Music Fair in Devon, PA.
Ann
