LOS ANGELES — The PH Factor, a radio syndication firm, has been launched here by Dave Prince and Jim Hampton. The firm is producing “Star Trak,” hosted by Candy Tusken and is slated soon to introduce more products. Hampton and Prince, two veteran radio men (notably in Detroit), formerly worked on “Hitbound From Billboard,” which was syndicated by A/V Programming by arrangement with Billboard Magazine. END
(Information and news source: Billboard; April 23, 1977).
Jimmy Hampton (Taylor) on WAAM-AM (Flint), 1965; Jimmy Hampton on WXYZ AM 1270, 1966; Jim Hampton on WJBK AM 1500, 1969; Jim Hampton on WCAR AM 1130; 1970
Jimmy Hampton 1270 WXYZ radio personality profile brochure from 1966(Click on image for larger view)
… “What happened to the record? Ladies and Gentleman, did you see this? The record is warped. What do I do now? Should I just, can we shut the station off?”….
In 1958, the legendary call letters WXYZ made an abrupt transition to swing into a new Top 40 music station for Detroit. The 5,000-watter station, new in its concept, did quite well early on battling in head-to-head competition with its rival, WJBK 1500, another Top 40 formatted station. Both WXYZ and WJBK became a dominate force in Top 40 radio in the Motor City then, as both calls would go on to impact further the local pop music scene. Both stations fared very well in their respective broadcasting community service and, it was then that WXYZ grew in radio popularity, for the most part early on during the early 1960s.
During the time WXYZ (“it’s easy to remember”) had ushered in their Top 40 era in the late-1950s through the early 1960s, by now affectionately known as “Wixie,” the station gifted the Motor City in hiring some of the best radio personalities that ever graced the radio airways in the city’s history. Some of the legendary 1270 notables at the time included these great names: Fred Wolf, Paul Winters, Lee Alan, Dave Prince, Joel Sabastian, Steve Lundy, Fred Weiss, Don Zee; and, for a short time in 1966, Joey Reynolds and Jim Hampton.
A native of Michigan, Jim Hampton grew up in Farmington and attended Farmington High School. Hampton honed in on his deejay skills early on by emceeing record hops at Farmington High, as added entertainment right after the school’s basketball games.
Jim Hampton on WXYZ 1270 “Personality Plus” radio in 1966(Click on image for larger view)
Immediately after graduating high school, Hampton was hired at WXYZ as a ‘record spinner,’ spinning records and filling in commercials while assisting as board-op for Paul Winter, Lee Alan, Joel Sabastian and Dave Prince. According to Jim Hampton, that given opportunity ultimately became “such an amazing experience having to work with some of the best talents in broadcasting. All of them became my mentors, particular Dave, Joel and Lee.”
While greatly appreciative of his limited capacity in radio at WXYZ with a sense of purpose and desire to go well beyond, he landed his next radio job as a deejay “weekender,” which Jim described was located “in the middle of a cow pasture,” at Ypsilanti’s Top 40 station WYSI (presently WSDS).
Having gained further radio fortitude and experience while at WYSI, Hampton’s next stop will be Flint’s own WTRX. In November of 1963, he ultimately was hired as a full-time deejay there by the station GM, who was also responsible giving him the name Jim Taylor as well.
A great studio shot of Jim Hampton on WXYZ radio in Detroit
According to “Jim Taylor,” eventually, Hampton’s tenure “at night was the number one” show during the evening hours he was on WTRX. Ever so popular in the Flint area, Terry Knight was already there at the Top 40 station when Hampton was hired at the time. Hampton’s and Knight’s popularity came to full prominence during the times they both shared together on WTRX.
In 1964, Jimmy prematurely left WTRX, having quit by having thought he had a new position lined up with his former first radio love, WXYZ in Detroit. The position open at WXYZ was granted to someone else instead, and Jim found himself without work. WTRX immediately filled his position there with Larry Morrow, who later would come to prominence as Duke Windsor on CKLW.
Moving on to Jackson, Michigan. Jimmy applied and was offered a radio position with WKHM, another Knorr Broadcasting station in Michigan at the time. According to Jim, that was short-lived, as he decided to make that daily long travel there from Farmington to Jackson, a travel prospect having proved difficult, as he recently described to mcrfb.com.
And so it’s back to Flint one more time. But this time it’s on WAMM with the afternoon drive. Now with dual duties there, Jim accepted the initial offer to be the station’s music director as well.
A year goes by. By early 1966, Jimmy Hampton finally gets that call he was waiting for. Lee Alan, program director at WXYZ radio at the time, was on the horn with Jim. That call, as Hampton related, for him, “it was a dream come true.” And Jim Hampton was only every bit nineteen-years of age.
WXYZ Sound Survey; September 12, 1966(Click on image for larger view)
When that call was made, the ABC-owned radio station was the gold standard for broadcasting here in Detroit. Very prestigious in the field, WXYZ also was a television-affiliate and, as Jim Hampton had disclosed, the pay was above respectable for those who were hired to work for “Broadcast House,” located in Southfield. He disclosed his pay in 1966 at $165.00 a week, roughly $60,000 in today’s inflated money standards. In contrast, Joey Reynolds, the anticipated radio star WXYZ also hired in 1966, earned roughly “$325.00 per week” during the few months he was briefly there. Not bad.
But unfortunately, the “good times” would suddenly come to an abrupt end at “Wixie” radio. While still serving in the U.S. Army reserves, Hampton was called for active duty in late 1966, and would serve into the early months of 1967. During the six months he was away, changes were on the horizon that year for WXYZ. By the time he returned from the reserves, WXYZ dumped the Top 40 format for middle-of-the-road “beautiful music” instead, aptly christened as “The Good Life.” Lee Alan was gone by then, and while Joe Bacarella was now at the helms, Johnny Randall was hired to fill the void Hampton had left open during the time he was on reserve active duty. In the meantime, Jim filled the rest of his time on WXYZ-FM for the “obligatory six months after doing service.”
All in a row: Dave Prince, Danny Taylor, Pat Murphy, Jim Hampton, Lee Alan, Marc Avery; WXYZ 1966(Click on image for larger view)
Once again in search for higher ground, in late 1967, Hampton was introduced by a fellow radio acquaintance to John Detz at underground-rocker WABX-FM in Detroit. He was hired for the afternoon drive. About the same time, Jim recalled he got a call from KQV in Pittsburgh. He was offered an on-air position from Mike McCormick, who was the program director at the ABC-owned Top 40 station there. “I couldn’t see myself in Pittsburgh,” Hampton recalls, “but I ultimately got off the air and instead became co-manager of sales at WABX-FM.”
Having set up the new sales department for WABX, Hampton was instrumental in hiring Jim Irrer and Richard Golden for the sales team. Jim went on to say, that, “they became legends and made the station very successful with advertising.”
During his stay at WABX, another radio opportunity was left open for Jim. Late in 1968, there had been talk in the trade that WJBK was soon dropping it’s “beautiful music” format, planning it’s return to Top 40 radio in 1969 for the 50,000-watt daytimer (WJBK’s transmitted-power dropped down to 10,000 watts at night).
Detroit radio broadcasting legend Jim Hampton, photo taken several years back . . .
The new 1969 WJBK lineup were to include Marc Avery, Conrad Patrick, Hank O’Neil, K.O. Bailey and Tom Dean. Jim Hampton was asked to join the team. He became the music director while doing the all-night show once again. But the format would bomb within a few months after its inception on WJBK. Instead, WJBK decided to go with country. As the rest the lineup goes, Jim found himself out of radio one more time.
But Jim’s radio career was far from over. Ken Draper, the legendary radio programmer who created WCFL in Chicago, was coming to Detroit’s WCAR. Jim’s meeting with Draper went well. He was hired as WCAR’s Production Director. It was a first for Jim, as he said this opportunity “really honed my skills as a producer and writer, which helped me later when I went to LA to become a producer for syndication. WCAR was an amazing station at the time with names like Ray Otis, Specs Howard, Dave Prince, H.B. Phillips, Dan O’Shea, Warren Pierce, Edward Alan Busch to name a few.”
Now nearing the end of 1969, Jim was getting a little restless with the Detroit radio market. The news director at WLS in Chicago, Phil Hayes, an old friend of Jim’s, decided to give him a call. He said Mike McCormick, the new PD, who previously invited Jim over to Pittsburgh’s KQV a few years back, was now looking for a new Production Director for the legendary Windy City station. Jim and his wife decided to leave Detroit that weekend and headed straight for Chicago. After having met Mr. McCormick during an outdoor social event, and “after a few drinks,” that same night, Jim agreed to accept the offered opportunity to work for WLS.
Jim Hampton today
In the ensuing years after his last radio stint at WLS in Chicago, Jim Hampton’s career in broadcasting excelled to greater heights with syndication marketing. While in LA perfecting his craft in production writing and radio syndication, Jim produced over 1,000 specials for the ABC Radio Network and has interviewed many musical stars for radio affiliates across the nation and around the globe as well. Many would include various recorded specials for national distribution home and abroad, including The John Lennon Story, The Bob Seger Story, The Beach Boys Story, The Eagles Story, Michael Jackson, Super ’70s and much, much more.
Today, Jim Hampton resides in the Los Angeles area. But his heart never abated no less the love he always held for the city he affectionately still calls home. A winner of the Aegis and Telly Awards, currently he is CEO of GreenhouseMarketing Group, a marketing and sponsorship sales company that represent many organizations, events and broadcast properties across the United States and worldwide.
MCRFB would like to express our sincere gratitude to Jimmy Hampton for contributing to this exhibit. All photos courtesy of Jim Hampton. We also would like to thank Jim for permitting this website to exhibit his sensational twelve-hour radio special “Radio Recall,” which Jim locally produced for WPON-AM in Pontiac, Michigan for the 2009 Memorial Weekend.
On behalf of George Griggs, Scott Westerman and mcrfb.com,Jim Hampton, thank you so much for sharing once again those wonderful Detroit radio memories you gave us all.
From the MCRFB Aircheck Library, featuring: (Click on name for audio)
Addendum (Update): Special thanks once again to Jimmy Hampton for sharing with MCRFB the photos below, added to this exhibit September 8, 2012.
Jim Hampton on stage for a WABX-FM benefit event at the Grande Ballroom circa 1968 for The Salvation Army.Two WXYZ-AM Detroit radio greats: Jim Hampton and Marc Avery circa 1969.
WJBK SWITCH FROM ROCK TO CONSERVATIVE MUSIC FORMAT
DETROIT — The Motor City will soon lose it’s distinction of being the only city in the U.S. with four full-time contemporary music formatted radio stations.
WJBK, the Storer-owned station, will drop its rock-pop music format on August 16 in favor of an all album, conservative music format.
The post-TV situation saw a battle for the pop market between WXYZ, the ABC-owned outlet, WKMH, with Robin Seymour leading the way, and WJBK.
WJBK Radio 1500 radio survey logo from 1958
Six or seven years ago, the 50,000-watt CKLW, just across the Detroit river in Windsor, began to feature a younger deejay lineup and playing more of the top current pop singles. The RKO General station with its big wattage has been effective carving an important niche for itself in the Detroit market as well as in secondary markets in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.
The next significant important change in the contemporary station line-up was the switch of WKMH to a standard, no rock policy, leaving the field to WXYZ and WJBK, with CKLW contributing its share to the hot pop scene, but not to the same degree.
Enter WKNR
The most exciting change to the status quo took place in November of last year, when WKMH pulled a complete 360-dgree switch in music format and call letters, WKNR, came a 30 plus 1 contemporary music format, promotions galore, much fanfare in the press and also added a few new swingin’ airman to enhance the format change.
The impact of WKNR greatly altered the Detroit market picture, rating-wise and pop-music wise. The tight-playlist formula the station’s concentrated on and off-the-air promotion drove the station’s ratings from obscurity up to a position of prominence.
Although many factors must be taken into consideration in reasoning why a station decides to change it’s format, many programmers label any format changes as a certain sign of defeat. Industry observers opinion that the mitigating factor in the forthcoming WJBK change was brought on by the impact of WKNR on the market, along with the solidifying of WXYZ’s influence on its pop music audience and coupled with the increased competition in the same area from CKLW.
Other important factors to be taken into consideration is the affinity of the Storer Broadcasting Company for conservative and subdued music formats. WJBK will, along with WGBS, Miami; WHN, New York City; WJW, Cleveland and KGBS, Los Angeles, be programmed musically from Storer’s music department in Miami.
At present Storer’s 50,000-watt station in Philadelphia is the company’s foremost and highly successful exponent of contemporary music. Another tpo-rated Storer station, WSPD in Toledo, also features a pop music, news and personality format.
Current Research
WJBK is presently in the survey of the listeners in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to keep in touch with their taste, desires and preferences in radio.
“Although we have only completed approximately half of the current survey, we are learning that the majority of the people polled are desirous of the type of format we will be launching in August,” said John Grubbs, WJBK program station manager.
According to Billboard’s May 16 Radio Response Rating for Detroit, WQTE and WWJ reported conservative music formats. WCAR and WWJ features music of the standard variety, culled primarily from albums.
“WJBK’s ‘Sound of (Just Beautiful) Music and Total Information News’ format is being designed to incorporate all members of the staff,” said Grubbs. “Our air personalities are all top pros and are capable of handling any format.”
WJBK staffers include Marc Avery, Clark Reid, Robert E. Lee, Robin Walker and Bobby Layne. Grubbs scotched rumors circulating in the trade in recent weeks that he is being transferred to WIBG in Philadelphia as program manager replacing William Wheatley.
“The rumors circulating to the effect that I am being moved to WIBG or any other station are not in any way based on fact,” emphasized Grubbs. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; August 1, 1964)
FROM WKMH TO WKNR, FOUR-WAY BATTLE HEATS UP RADIO DIALS ACROSS DETROIT
DETROIT — A four-way battle is shaping up in this market with the immediate changeover in programming at WKMH.
The Dearborn-based 5,000 watter has introduced a new set of calls, WKNR, several new deejays, and a radical switch from the soft sound in music to a “30 plus 1” format. Detroit will be one of the few markets where severe competition is taking place among three or more pop music stations.
1310 WKMH logo circa 1962.
The Knorr-owned radio outlet has been under the programming consulting of Mike Joseph for many months. Soft standards have been the path for more than a year. WKMH (now WKNR) was once the major pop music outlet in the market. Today a major fight is now developing between the new WKNR, RKO radio’s 50,000 watter, CKLW, WJBK, Storer-owned “teen’s swinger” radio, and WXYZ, the ABC-owned pop-rater on the 1270 radio dial in Detroit. Recently CKLW had added Tom Clay in the afternoon-evening drive to help accentuate CKLW’s positive pop sound.
Mort Crowley, a KHJ defector, broadcasts 5 to 9 a.m., followed by the former-WKMH mainstay Robin Seymour in the 9 to 12 p.m. time slot. Jim Sanders is handling the noon to 3 p.m. shift, and Gary Stevens will be hosting the 3 to 7 p.m. segment. Bob Green will deejay from 7 to 12 a.m., while Bill Phillips will hold down the fort all night long until 5 a.m. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; November 16, 1963).
1959: The Fleetwoods “Come Softly To Me” hits No. 1 on the charts.
1962: The Beatles begin their legendary stint at the new Star Club
The Fleetwoods circa 1959.
in Hamburg, Germany. Performing three to four hours a night for 48 days with just one day off, the group logs a total of 172 hours of performance. When the band returns to England, they are already stars with a record contract.
1965: At tonight’s Grammy Awards ceremonies in Los Angeles, Roger Miller is the big winner, taking home five awards (a first for a country artist at the Grammys). Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto wins the
Roger Miller with his five Grammy awards in 1965.
Record Of The Year Award for “The Girl From Ipanema” and Album Of The Year for Getz/Gilberto. The Beatles win the Best New Artist Award and Best Performance By A Vocal Group for “A Hard Day’s Night.”
1967: The Rolling Stones play their first-ever gig behind the “Iron Curtain” of Soviet countries with a performance in Warsaw. When the club is overrun by fans without tickets, the local police react by dispersing the crowd with tear gas.
1968: Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey” hits No. 1 on the national chart.
David Crosby mugs two for the Dallas cops; April 13, 1982.
1969: Diana Ross makes her first television appearance as a solo-act, performing on Dinah Shore’s NBC-TV special, Like Hep.
1974: Paul McCartney and Wings LP album “Band On The Run” hits No. 1 on the national LP chart.
1982: Still awaiting trial on a concealed weapon and illegal drug charges three weeks earlier, David Crosby, formerly of the Byrds and with Crosby, Stills and Nash, is again arrested in Dallas after local police found him preparing a “speedball” of cocaine backstage before he was to perform.
1989: Jack Jones is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Blvd. in L.A.
1999: After nine years of a very public marriage, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley announce they are separated. They will divorce later on in the year.
2008: Cult ’60s Detroit soul man Nathaniel Mayer collapses from a brain hemorrhage that will, within the year, will take his life.
And that’s a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day….
It is high time we give thanks to the nation’s deejays who are performing an invaluable service for music publishers and record companies by bringing to their attention talent from their area — talent which otherwise might never had the opportunity to have been heard by publishers and recording companies.
A case in point is Dave Prince of WXYZ, Detroit. About two years ago, Mr. Prince wrote us about Billy Lee & The Rivieras, a group appearing around Record Hops in Detroit. He was so impressed with their musical talent and performance abilities that he felt it was his duty to help them. He waxed so enthusiastically about the boys that we agreed to hear them. We liked what we heard and we signed them.
Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels’ “Sock It To Me” LP; New Voice Records; 1967.
The rest is musical history, the group now known as Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels has soared to stardom. As for Dave Prince, he derives much satisfaction in realization he discovered a stellar group, and in knowing that was truly a great judgment in talent found.
There are other cases where deejays discovered writers, musicians, and singers, and have done much to help them. This speaks well for the radio personalities of the USA who feel a sense of responsibility for their listeners. So, we say thank you one and all, you dedicated people in radio wherever you are.
Dan Crewe,
Vice-President,
Saturday Music, Inc.
1841 Broadway, New York, New York 10023
212-CI 5-3535
(Information and news source: Billboard; August 13, 1966).
LONDON — The Animals, the Bachelors, the Nashville Teens, the Isley Brothers and Paul Jones, lead singer of the Manfred Mann group, recently took part in a unique broadcast from London to 26 States and much of Canada via transatlantic cable telephone.
A poor, grainy newspaper image of WJBK/CKLW deejay Terry Knight from 1963.
The program was the first from a series to be beamed by Britain’s leading “pirate” station Radio Caroline to CKLW, Detroit. The two stations are taking turns to phone a 30-minute show from each other’s country every week.
The British part is phoned from Caroline House in London and used in disc jockey Terry Knight’s CKLW four-hour radio show. Knight interviews all the artists in the British studio and later plays each artist’s their respective records. CKLW returns the same kind of material for similar use here. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; November 28, 1964).
99 WABX-FM vintage poster ad from the late-1960s. (Click on image for larger view).
Detroit — Last Monday, on August 14, 1967, WABX-FM began a new all-girl deejay policy and the ladies will be playing jazz oriented pop music and humor. The girls will be featured 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. daily, and noon to midnights on Sundays. Jim Rockwell remains to do his daily 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. jazz show. John Small is the WABX station manager.
The man responsible for the station’s new image is Mickey Shorr, program manager and creative director of Century Broadcasting Corp., which owns WABX-FM. Shorr is originally from Detroit, where he once was a Top 40 disc jockey with WJBK, WXYZ, CKLW and the former WKMH, now presently WKNR.
Shorr first used the all-girl formula on WSDM-FM in Chicago where it became very successful. Instead of calling his WABX-FM girls “disc jockeys,” Shorr labels them as “Mickey’s Collection.”
The girls will tape lead-outs from records, commercials, and humorous bits rather than actually broadcasting live from the studio. They represent different nationalities and have names like Curry, Halavah, Supersport and Lo-Cal. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; August 19, 1967).
1956: Elvis Presley’s tour plane developed engine trouble while flying the singer from Amarillo, Texas to Nashville, forcing an emergency landing in Arkansas. When he calls his mother Gladys to tell her, she begs him to never fly again, instilling a fear in Elvis which will take him years to overcome.
(Click image for larger view).
1961: New York City gets its first introduction to a young folk singer named Bob Dylan when he makes his live debut at Gerde’s Folk City, opening for John Lee Hooker and performing a new song entitled, “Blowin’ In The Wind.”
1964: Having already set a record the week before by holding the entire Top Five positions of the Billboard singles charts, the Beatles set another record when 14 of their singles are listed at the same time in the “Hot 100.” “Can’t Buy Me Love” is at No. 1, while “Love Me Do” holds down the bottom at No. 81.
1965: The British music trade paper New Musical Express holds its Third Annual NME Poll Winners Concert in London’s Wembly Empire Pool. The concert features the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Animals, Moody Blues, Tom Jones, Them, Donovan, Seekers, Freddie and the Dreamers, Herman’s Hermits, and Cilla Black.
1966: NBC-TV’s musical variety show Hulabaloo airs it’s last episode after sixteen months on the air, featuring Lesley Gore, Peter and Gordon, Paul Anka, and the Cyrkle.
1967: Flying back to England after participating in the Beach Boys’ aborted “Smile” sessions, Paul McCartney comes up with the idea for the Beatles film and album Magical Mystery Tour.
1968: Janis Joplin makes her television debut when Big Brother and Holding Company perform on ABC-TV’s Hollywood Palace.
1970: In Germany, Fleetwood Mac founding member and lead-guitarist Peter Green, having just come down from a long acid trip, announces his intent to leave the band to follow an obscure religion. After pleads of coercion from other members of the group that he remain, he agrees to stay on the current tour to satisfy the band’s contract.
Alice Cooper. (Click on image for larger size).
1976: Relaxing in his hotel after his record-breaking Sydney concert, Alice Cooper is placed under arrest for alleged breach of contract after refusing to pay another promoter $59,000 for an Australian tour the year before. When it is discovered that the promoter’s fallen short on his end of the deal as well, Cooper is released to fly back to the States.
1988: Cher wins Best Actress for the romantic comedy Moonstruck at tonight’s Oscar Awards in New York.
1990: Elton John performs at the Indianapolis, IN funeral of Ryan White, the hemophiliac 18 year-old who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion and has been shunned for it. Michael Jackson also attends the service.
2002: Aretha Franklin and seven other Motown stars are honored with street names in Detroit’s new low-income housing district off the John C. Lodge expressway, near the the site of the old Brewster projects.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day….
1953: Eddie Fisher is discharged from the U.S. Army, having sold seven million records during his stint in military service.
Leo Fender’s “Stratocaster” was first introduced in 1956.
1956: Leo Fender patents the successor to his popular “Telecaster” model of electric guitar, the new model is named the “Stratocaster” and it becomes a very popular model for guitarists taking up the newest Fender brand.
1956: While performing at the Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama, Nat King Cole is assaulted by five segregationists and tackled on stage, although local police quickly arrest the perpetrators, who had originally planned to kidnap the singer. Cole bravely performs a second show later that night.
1957: Ricky Nelson, then all of sixteen, performs his recently-recorded version of Fats Domino “I’m Walking” — done to impress a date — on his family’s show The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet on ABC-TV. Nelson’s cover record sells a half-million copies in the next week alone.
Del Shannon circa 1962.
1961: Del Shannon makes a guest appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand on ABC-TV, singing his recent breakthrough-hit “Runaway.”
1965: Freddie and the Dreamers hits No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their single, “I’m Telling You Now.”
1970: Paul McCartney makes the Beatles secret-breakup public by issuing a press release to announce that he has left the group, done in a form of a fake interview: “Q: Is your break with the Beatles temporary or permanent, due to personal reasons or musical ones? PAUL: Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because i have a better time with my family. Temporary or permanent? I don’t really know.” John Lennon is furious, especially since the breakup, already agreed upon by the group, was announced just one week prior to the British release of McCartney’s first solo album. When a reporter track down Lennon for his thoughts, he replies, “Paul hasn’t left. I sacked him.”
Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
1970: Keith Emerson of the Nice, Greg Lake of King Crimson, and Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster join forces to form Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
1970: At one of the band’s last concerts, in Boston, Doors front-man Jim Morrison asks the audience if they’d like to see something of his “that rhymes with ‘sock,'” and then, more bluntly, screaming “would you like to see my genitals?” The power at the stadium is switched off, and keyboardist Ray Manzarek pulls the singer off the stage. Morrison already is facing similar charges stemming from a recent gig the band held in Miami.
Frampton came alive in 1976: his premier U.S. tour grossed $45,000,000 that year, becoming the all-time highest net-grossing tour for an artist, then, at the time, according to People magazine in 1976.
1976: Peter Frampton’s LP Frampton Comes Alive reaches No. 1 on the Billboard LP Chart.
1978: Aretha Franklin marries her second husband, actor Glynn Turman, in New York City. The Four Tops sings Stevie Wonders’ “Isn’t She Lovely” for the couple at the ceremony.
1999: The all-star tribute concert Here, There And Everywhere: A Concert For Linda is held at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where Paul McCartney, George Michael, Chrissie Hynde, Elvis Costello and Sinead O’Connor raise money for animal charities while remembering Paul’s wife Linda, who has recently succumbed to breast cancer.
2002: South Carolina Governor James Hodges makes it official by declaring James Brown the state’s “Godfather Of Soul.”
Deaths: Chuck Willis, 1958; Stuart Sutcliffe, 1962; Nate Nelson (The Flamingoes), 1984; Noel Fox (Oak Ridge Boys), 2003; Little Eva; 2003.
And that just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day….
A MCRFB news brief: 1977
