On This Day in Rock: April 3

In 1956, Elvis Presley appeared on ABC-TV’s ‘The Milton Berle Show’ live from the flight deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, California. He performed ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ ‘Shake Rattle And Roll’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’ It was estimated that one out of every four Americans saw the show.

In 1967, Working on The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album at Abbey Road studios in London, George Harrison recorded his lead vocal on his song ‘Within You Without You’. as well as a sitar part, and some acoustic guitar parts.

In 1971, The Temptations scored their second US No.1 with ‘Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)’. The track is considered one of the Temptations’ signature songs, and is notable for recalling the sound of the group’s 1960s recordings. It is also the final Temptations single to feature founding members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams.

In 1975, Steve Miller was charged with setting fire to the clothes of a friend, Benita Diorio. When police arrived at Miller’s house, Diorio was putting out the flames, Miller then got into a fight with some of the policemen and was charged with resisting arrest.

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.

Feb. 23: On This Day in Music

In 2003 – Howie Epstein, 47, former bassist for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, dies at a hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A female companion who transports Epstein to the hospital claims that he had been doing heroin and taking prescription antibiotics for an illness.

In 1983 – A collection of former studio musicians who call themselves Toto win Album Of The Year for “Toto IV” and Record Of The Year for “Rosanna”, at the 25th Grammy Awards.

In 1979 – The first tour of the U.S. and Canada by Dire Straits opens at the Paradise Club in Boston. The group logs 51 sold-out shows in 38 days.

And in 1944 – Johnny Winter is born. Signing to Columbia records in 1969 called largest solo artist deal of it’s time, Johnny immediately laid out the blueprint for his fresh take on classic blues a prime combination for the legions of fans just discovering the blues via the likes of Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. Constantly shifting between simple country blues in the vein of Robert Johnson, to all-out electric slide guitar blues-rock, – Johnny has always been one of the most respected singers and guitar players in rock and the clear link between British blues-rock and American Southern rock (a la the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.) Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Johnny was the unofficial torch-bearer for the blues, championing and aiding the careers of his idols like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.