#1 R&B Song 1944: “Till Then,” the Mills Brothers
Born: Johnny Nash, 1940
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1954 The Platters, B.B. King, and Johnny Otis performed at the Savoy Ballroom in Hollywood.
1957 The Chantels’ debut 45, the harmony standard, “He’s Gone,” was released.
1957 Bobby “Blue” Bland charted on his way to #1 R&B with his first chart single, “Farther Up The Road.” The blues tune would reach #43 pop. Bobby started out as B.B. King’s valet in 1949 and went on to have an astounding sixty-three R&B charters through 1985.
1972 Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead” from the film Superfly charted on its way to #4 pop and #2 R&B, his biggest hit of his thirty-two R&B singles between 1970 and 1997.
1972 Micheal Jackson had his third Top 10 single in a row in England with a song never released in America, a cover of the Bill Withers’ hit “Ain’t No Sunshine: (#8).
1976 Marvin Gaye faced two five-day jail terms for non-payment of child support and alimony and for contempt of court.
1978 George Clinton and Funkadelic (originally Parliament) charted with “One Nation Under A Groove, Part 1,” which would become Clinton and company’s third #1 R&B hit. By now the demonstrative performer was touring with an entourage in the neighborhood of forty musicians. His live stage shows included the use of an enormous flying saucer.
Ann
