Today in Music History for April 5: In 1922, Canadian composer Harry Freedman was born in Lodz, Poland. In 1970, he became the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's first composer-in-residence.
Today in Music History for April 5:
In 1922, Canadian composer Harry Freedman was born in Lodz, Poland. In 1970, he became the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's first composer-in-residence. Freedman composed ``Graphic One (Out of Silence)'' for the orchestra's 50th anniversary celebrations in 1971. He also wrote scores for such movies as ``The Pyx,'' ``Lies My Father Told Me'' and ``Act of the Heart.'' He died on Sept. 16, 2005.
In 1928, Tony Williams, the original lead singer of ``The Platters,'' was born. The group's string of hits from 1955-64 included ``The Great Pretender,'' ``Only You'' and ``Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.'' Williams quit ``The Platters'' in 1961, and died in 1992.
In 1942, Allan Clarke, lead singer of ``The Hollies,'' was born in Manchester, England. ``The Hollies'' were one of the most enduring of the British invasion groups, hitting the charts 21 times from 1963-70. Their singles included ``Bus Stop'' and ``He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother.''
In 1950, Agnetha Faltskog of ``Abba'' was born. The Swedish quartet's bright, bouncy songs dominated the airwaves on both sides of the Atlantic in the latter half of the 1970s. They also spawned the '90s hit stage musical, ``Mamma Mia.''
In 1961, Bob Dylan played his first paid gig in New York, at the Loeb Music Center.
In 1964, ``The Searchers'' appeared on ``The Ed Sullivan Show,'' becoming the second British Invasion group to appear on the show, after ``The Beatles.''
In 1968, one day after Martin Luther King's assassination, Boston officials urged James Brown to allow his concert to be televised. Civic leaders hoped teens would stay home instead of venting their anger in the streets. Brown was paid $60,000 compensation for the loss of ticket sales. Only about 2,000 people showed up at the Boston Garden -- and the city's streets were quiet.
In 1980, ``R.E.M.'' played their first paid gig, in their hometown of Athens, Ga., at a party given by a friend of the band. The played under the name Twisted Kites but renamed themselves a few weeks later.
In 1981, Bob ``Bear'' Hite, lead vocalist of ``Canned Heat,'' died of a heart attack in Venice, Calif. He was 36. ``Canned Heat's'' mixture of blues and progressive rock placed them at the top in the late '60s.
In 1983, Danny Rapp, lead singer of ``Danny and the Juniors,'' committed suicide at age 41. Their ``At the Hop'' was a No. 1 record in 1958 and remains one of the most popular rock 'n' roll oldies.
In 1985, the Bryan Adams' song, ``Heaven,'' was released as a single. That was a year after its inclusion in the soundtrack of ``A Night in Heaven,'' a film about male strippers.
In 1985, more than 5,000 radio stations around the world simultaneously played ``We Are the World.'' The Michael Jackson-Lionel Richie composition was recorded to raise money for African famine relief.
In 1987, rock guitarist Carlos Santana and his band played before a packed house of 2,500 in East Berlin. After the non-stop three-hour show, Santana said the fans' enthusiasm ``brought tears of joy and gratitude'' to his eyes.
In 1988, soul singer James Brown turned himself in to police in Aiken, S.C. He was accused of beating his third wife with a pipe and firing a gun into a car while she was inside.
In 1993, criminal charges were dropped in Boston against rapper Marky Mark. He had settled a lawsuit accusing him of repeatedly kicking a man in the face and breaking his jaw.
In 1994, ``Nirvana'' singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain fatally shot himself above his garage in Seattle. His body was not found for three days.
In 1997, Notorious B.I.G,'s album ``Life After Death'' debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart a month after the rapper was gunned down in Los Angeles. ``Life After Death'' sold nearly 700,000 copies in its first week of release.
In 1997, country singer Stoney Edwards died of cancer at age 67. He was one of the few successful black performers in country music. He had 15 singles on the charts in the 1970s, including ``She's My Rock'' and ``Mississippi You're On My Mind.''
In 1998, rock drummer Cozy Powell, who played with ``Black Sabbath,'' ``Rainbow'' and ``Whitesnake,'' died in a highway crash near Bristol, England. He was 50. Powell had a top-10 British hit under his own name in 1973 with the instrumental ``Dance With the Devil.''
In 2002, ``R.E.M.'' guitarist Peter Buck was acquitted in his air-rage trial. Buck was accused of going on a drunken rampage aboard a British Airways flight from Seattle to London.
In 2003, Avril Lavigne won four Juno awards including Single of the Year and Pop Album; Shania Twain won three awards including Artist of the Year.
In 2006, singer Gene Pitney was found dead in his hotel room in Cardiff, Wales. He was 66.
In 2009, Carrie Underwood captured the Entertainer of the Year title at the Academy of Country Music Awards. She was the first female act to win the honour since the ``Dixie Chicks'' won the award back in 2000 and only the seventh to do so in the show's nearly four-decade existence.
In 2009, also at the ACM's, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley were named Female and Male Vocalists of the Year. Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for ``Fearless,'' ``Rascal Flatts'' won Vocal Group, ``Sugarland'' won Vocal Duo, Trace Adkins won Single of the Year for ``You're Gonna Miss This,'' and Jamey Johnson won Song of the Year for ``In Color.''
In 2011, ``Death Cab For Cutie'' made history when ``You Are a Tourist'' became the first-ever scripted single-take music video to be broadcast as it was filmed.
In 2011, a three-metre sculpted concrete guitar memorial to Kurt Cobain was unveiled in a park next to the Young Street Bridge in the ``Nirvana'' frontman's Washington state hometown of Aberdeen. It marked the 17th anniversary of his suicide in Seattle. Besides the concrete guitar, there is a steel ribbon dangling in the air with lyrics from the Nirvana song ``On a Plain'' that say: ``One more special message to go and then I'm done and I can go home.''
In 2012, Jim Marshall, ``the father of loud'' who created the definitive amplifier for rock, died at the age of 88. The first Marshall amp in 1960 was small and basic but packed a punch. Soon rock bands were stacking multiple Marshall amps for even more power.
In 2012, Barney McKenna, the last original member of the Irish folk band ``The Dubliners,'' died at age 72. He was considered the most influential banjo player in Irish folk music. He spent a half-century performing, recording and touring with the band since its 1962 creation in the Dublin pub O'Donoghue's.
In 2012, rapper Young Jeezy had to cancel two Canadian shows after shootings occurred prior to him taking the stage. Just after midnight in Toronto, one man was shot in the chest while later that night in London, Ont., three more people were shot. No one was killed.
In 2017, Paul O'Neill, who founded the progressive Trans-Siberian Orchestra that blended heavy metal with classical music and was known for its spectacular holiday concerts filled with theatrics, lasers and pyrotechnics, was found dead in a hotel room in Tampa, Fla. He was 61. (A medical examiner said he died from an accidental drug overdose.)
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The Canadian Press
