March 19: This Day in Rock

In 2002 – A taping of CMT’s Crossroads is cancelled when Ryan Adams falls ill. His show partner Elton John refuses to have the audience dismissed and delights the studio listeners with a solo performance.

In 1996 – the second Beatles Anthology series was released. The album featured ‘Real Love’, a track the remaining members of the Beatles recorded using an old demo track of John Lennon’s. The song was first recorded by Lennon in 1977 with a handheld tape recorder on his piano at home, it originated as part of an unfinished stage play that Lennon was working on at the time entitled “The Ballad of John and Yoko.”

In 1982 – Randy Rhoads, the lead guitarist for heavy metal star Ozzy Osbourne, is killed when the plane in which he is flying buzzes Osbourne’s tour bus and crashes into a house in Leesburg, Fla. He is 25.

In 1976 – Paul Kossof guitarist with Free and Back Street Crawler died of heart failure on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. Kossof had a long history of drug abuse. Free had the 1970 UK No.2 & US No.4 single ‘All Right Now’.

In 1970 – David Bowie marries his first wife, Angie Barnett.

In 1958 – Simon and Garfunkel release their first single, “Our Song,” under the moniker Tom & Jerry.