Today in Music History for April 26:
In 1886, pioneer blues singer Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was born in Columbus, Ga., During her heyday in the 1920s, she was billed as the "Mother of the Blues" and served as a model for the more famous Bessie Smith. She died in 1939. Her life inspired the 1985 Broadway musical "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."
In 1938, guitarist Duane Eddy, the top rock 'n' roll instrumentalist of the late '50s and early '60s, was born in Corning, N.Y. Scores of young musicians took up the guitar after hearing his distinctive "twangy" sound, which came from playing the melody on the bass string of his instrument. Beginning in 1958, Eddy had 25 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart including "Rebel Rouser," "Because They're Young" and "Dance With the Guitar Man." Eddy returned to the charts in 1986 as a guest artist on the "Art of Noise's" Grammy-Award-winning hit, "Peter Gunn." He had a hit with the TV theme in 1960.
In 1942, former teen idol Bobby Rydell, whose real name is Robert Lewis Ridarelli, was born in Philadelphia. At the age of eight, he won an amateur contest run by bandleader Paul Whiteman, who gave Rydell his stage name. His hits included "Kissin' Time," "Wild One" and "Volare."
In 1946, the "Hart House String Quartet" performed its final concert at Hart House at the University of Toronto. The quartet was Canada's most famous chamber music ensemble of the first half of the 20th century.
In 1959, conductor Zubin Mehta made his North American debut with the "CBC Symphony Orchestra."
In 1969, "The Beatles" entered the British charts with "Get Back." It had been recorded on the roof of the Apple Records building in London.
In 1969, a so-called "Rally For Decency" in Baltimore erupted into a race riot after James Brown did not appear as promised.
In 1970, the Stephen Sondheim musical "Company" opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York.
In 1977, the disco haven, "Studio 54," opened in New York. It became the centre of the jet-set disco society in the late '70s, attracting the likes of Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger.
In 1982, Joe Strummer of "The Clash" disappeared for three weeks, forcing the band to cancel their U.K. tour. Strummer later explained that he had doubts about his career, so he went to Paris and in his words, "lived like a bum."
In 1982, singer Rod Stewart was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight on Los Angeles's Sunset Boulevard.
In 1984, jazz great William "Count" Basie died of pancreatic cancer at age 79. He was considered second only to Duke Ellington among jazz band leaders, directing his orchestra for nearly 50 years. Their biggest hit was a 1947 novelty song called "Open the Door Richard." But Basie is best remembered for such swing classics as "Jumpin' at the Woodside" and "One O'Clock Jump" -- the band's theme song.
In 1990, Wesley Rose, a major force in Nashville music publishing for 40 years, died at age 72. In 1945, he took over the Acuff-Rose publishing company formed by his father, Fred Rose, and Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff. Wesley Rose made it Nashville's most powerful music publisher, with operations in 10 foreign countries. He and Acuff sold the firm in 1985 to Opryland U.S.A. for $22 million.
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In 1993, a judge in Los Angeles awarded ownership of 23 bronze casts of rock stars' genitalia to pop artist Cynthia Albritton, who made the original plaster moulds. Albritton, better known as "Plaster Caster," had sued music publisher Herb Cohen for the return of the bronze casts. She testified she made the original plaster moulds in the late '60s as a way to meet rock stars. Among her subjects were Jimi Hendrix, Zal Yanovsky of "The Lovin' Spoonful" and Eddie Brigati of "The Young Rascals."
In 1994, fiddler King Ganam, one of the most popular western musicians on Canadian television in the 1950s, died in Carlsbad, Calif., at age 78. He was one of the stars of "Country Hoedown" on CBC television from 1956-59, and host of "The King Ganam Show" on CTV in 1961. He had earlier performed regularly on CBC Radio. At the peak of his fame, Ganam was reported to have received 700 fan letters a week.
In 1997, ABC's broadcast of "U2 - A Year in Pop" set a record -- it was the lowest-rated non-political prime-time program ever shown by the big three U.S. television networks.
In 2010, thousands of frenzied teenagers, who spent the night camped out by Sydney Harbour awaiting a concert by Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber, surged toward the venue sending at least eight girls to the hospital and injuring several more. Police cancelled the performance.
In 2011, Phoebe Snow, a bluesy singer, guitarist and songwriter who sang the 1975 hit "Poetry Man" but then largely dropped out of the spotlight to care for her brain-damaged daughter, died from complications of a brain hemorrhage she suffered in January 2010. She was 58. Her daughter, Valerie, died in 2007 at age 31.
In 2011, John Cossette, the executive producer of the Grammy Awards for more than 20 years, died at age 54. His other credits included the Latin Grammys, BET Awards and BET Hip Hop Awards. He was the son of Grammy telecast founding producer Pierre Cossette of Valleyfield, Que., who died in 2009 at the age of 85.
In 2013, George Jones, the peerless, hard-living country singer who recorded dozens of hits about good times and regrets and peaked with the heartbreaking classic "He Stopped Loving Her Today," died in Nashville while in the middle of his farewell tour. He was 81. In a career that lasted more than 50 years, "Possum" recorded more than 150 albums and became the champion and symbol of traditional country music, a well-lined link to his hero, Hank Williams.
In 2014, country music icon Willie Nelson was inducted into the inaugural class of the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. Nelson was the first performer on Austin City Limits in 1974 on what is now the longest-running television music program in the U.S. Also inducted were Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.
In 2018, a 118-year-old statue of "Oh! Susanna" songwriter Stephen Foster was removed from a Pittsburgh park after criticism that the work is demeaning because it includes a slave sitting at his feet, plucking a banjo.
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The Canadian Press