#1 R&B Song 1981: “I’m In Love,” Evelyn “Champagne” King
Born: Buster Brown, 1911; Bill Pinkney (the Drifters), 1925; Bobby Day (Bobby Byrd, the Hollywood Flames), 1934; Nesbert “Stix” Hooper (the Crusaders), 1938; Bobby Caldwell, 1951
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1953 The Prisonaires, five inmates from the Tennessee State Penitentiary, had their debut disc, “Just Walkin’ In the Rain,” issued on SunRrecords. Lead singer Johnny Bragg had been helped with his diction during their June recording session by a young would-be vocalist who was hanging around the studio. The teen’s name was Elvis Presley.
1964 The Four Tops debuted on the charts with “Baby, I Need Your Loving,” which reached #11. They would go on to have forty-five hit 45s through 1988. The quartet originally signed with Motown records for a $400 advance.
1981 After a man was hot and killed returning from Stevie Wonder’s concert at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, CA, Stevie gave his gold album for Hotter Than July to the young man’s girlfriend.
1992 Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” reached #1 pop today and stayed for a precedent-setting thirteen weeks. Whitney Houston broke the record when her “I Will Always Love You” topped the charts for fourteen weeks in 1993.
1992 Mary J. Blige’s first single “You Remind Me” peaked at #29 on the pop charts while going on to #1 R&B. Mary, who sang in a Pentecostal church choir while living in Savannah, GA, started her pursuit of a musical career with a demo she did of Anita Baker’s “Caught Up in the Rapture” on a Yonkers, NY, shopping mall karaoke machine.
1998 Obviously a good day for Mary J. Blige, her fifth album, The Tour, topped off at #7 R&B. Three of Mary’s five albums (What’s the 411?, My Life, and Share My World) had reached the top spot between 1992 and 1997.
1998 Richie Havens, who performed at both Woodstock concerts and the twenty-fifth anniversary Woodstock ’94, returned yet again to a Day in the Garden, a festival to commemorate the original achievement on its thirtieth anniversary.
Ann
