On January 21st, 1965, guitarist, drummer, bassist, composer, producer, rapper, sequence/sampler user, record company owner, and DJ for RUN DMC-Jam Master Jay (Jason Thompson Mizell) was born in Jamaica, Queens, NY. Mizell played multiple instruments in his younger years. Around age 13, he got into Hip Hop and his mother bought him a set of turntables. He also gravitated towards the fashion side of the culture, and took on the Hollis Queens style of dress. TOV posted that MC Run from RUN DMC taught Jay how to spin. However, that was a mistake, Jay was self-taught for the most part, and a seasoned DJ when he hooked up with RUN DMC after they recorded Sucker MCs. The success of the song forced the duo to get a DJ for performance purposes, hence how Jay came into the fold. Run was Kurtis Blow’s DJ at the time as well. DMC came up with his name. Originally he went by Jazzy Jay.
Jay brought the fashion style of RUN DMC to the group. He was the first to rock Adidas without laces, and dress in all Black with a Fedora hat. For their live performances, Jay would hype the crowd up, showing off his DJ skills before RUN & DMC came out. Aside from speaking with his hands, he also became a spokesperson for the group and the larger Culture Of Hip Hop. He hired a lot of his Hollis Crew friends as security and roadies. Based on the responses of people interviewed for the Netflix documentary Who Killed Jam Master Jay, most people spoke highly of how he gave back to the community, kept a lot of his friends out of jail, and kept their families well cared for. He took the success of his earnings from Run DMC and started Jam Master Jay Records (JMJ) in 1989; and in the 90s, he produced and released The Afros, Onyx, and discovered 50 Cent. Jay was shot and killed at his studio on October 30th, in 2002. He was 37 years old when he died.
His murder remains unsolved.
His murder remains unsolved.
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...two politicians are seated across from one another. The first one speaks: ‘we will shut down the use of LSD!’…the other politician interjects: ‘But it’s not illegal.’…the first speaker delivers a blank stare at the other and responds: ‘that’s the entire purpose of government! To find things you don’t like, and make them illegal’…TOV paraphrases this line from a movie called-Pirate Radio in 2009 about the Rock music ban on BBC radio in 1966. However, the sentiment rings true here for this post and the nation overall. Laws are largely made for these reasons, not to keep order, but to suppress freedom (of thought). At any rate, on January 21st, 1966, The Trips Festival-the first major hippie counterculture music festival opened as a multiple day event. At the time of the event, LSD or ‘acid’ was not illegal (October, 6th, 1966); and some like minded individuals joined to put together a music event that allowed attendees to trip.
Ken Kesey, Zach Stewart, Owsley Stanley, and Stewart Brand organized the event. It took place at the Longshoreman’s Hall in San Francisco. A unique sound system was designed by iconic psychedelic sound engineer and Merry Prankster member-Ken Babbs who accounted for the distortion with high levels when played on concrete surfaces. Big Brother & The Holding Company was founded and performed at this event. The Grateful Dead performed as well, and acid was free for the taking. The Trips Festival was the first mass musical event that celebrated the psychedelic age and hippie counterculture (over 6,000 attendees nightly). The number of festivals that came after, and the liberal mindsets that LSD coerced out of people, put the California State Government in an awkward position, they had to outlaw LSD (much like the changes in gun laws due to The Black Panther Party). It didn’t stop the movement, it just made the catalyst, acid, illegal.
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On January 21st, 1942, singer, songwriter, and Motown recording artist-Edwin Starr (Charles Edwin Hatcher) was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Edwin grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, though, and sang with his cousins-Roger and Willie Hatcher-before starting a Doo Wop group in his early teens (The Future Tones). He honed his vocal style with them, and then moved to Detroit to pursue a solo career in the early 1960s. He performed in nightclubs and small venues around the city for a few years, before getting signed by Ric-Tic Records. It was a small local independent imprint that had the seminal Rock/Funk studio band Black Merda. For those not familiar with Black Merda, they’re like a mix between early 70s Funkadelic and The Bar-Kays. He recorded a few sides for Ric-Tic before Berry Gordy bought the company out in 1968. Berry got Starr to cut a 1968 LP on his Soul label, a subsidiary of Motown Records. Starr took Black Merda with him, and didn’t use the Motown studio musicians (The Funk Brothers) for his first few recordings.
You can definitely tell the difference in his sound-which is more gritty, and had a harder edge similar to Otis Redding & Wilson Pickett, as opposed to the more clean sound that The Funk Brothers produced. Starr’s song War is backed by Black Merda, as well as 25 Miles, and There You Go. The producer for most of his hits was Psychedelic Soul legend Norman Whitfield. I respect Starr’s independence within the 'Motown Machine.’ He came in and didn’t fall into the assembly line role of making hits. He brought his own backing band, and hooked up with their ‘outlaw’ producer-Whitfield. He was definitely a revolutionary artist on Motown, that got little credit for inspiring other artists like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder to start penning their own songs and taking more control of the music making process. He was 61 when he died.
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On January 21st, 1984, singer, songwriter, dancer, Soul & Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Famer-Jackie Wilson (Jack Leroy Wilson Jr) AKA 'Mr. Excitement' passed away in Mount Holly, New Jersey. The Detroit native had a unique tenor voice with a four-octave range. He used his dancing skills and voice to mesmerize the crowd. 'The Godfather Of Soul' James Brown, and 'The King of Pop' Michael Jackson both site Wilson as one of their major musical and performance influences. He got his start singing in the church with his mother. In his teens, he joined a gang called The Shakers, and was a member of The Ever Ready Gospel Singers quartet. Jackie didn’t really care for Gospel music as much as he did the earnings he made from it-not to mention the feeling he got when performing in front of others.
He got into some trouble a few times as a teen, and was detained at the juvenile facility in Lansing, Michigan. He started boxing while inside, but wasn’t very good at it (2 wins & 8 losses). By the time he was 17, he'd married his first wife Freda Hood. It was also rumored that he had fathered over 10 children. He started singing at Lee’s Sensation Club in Detroit, and formed a group called The Falcons with his cousin (Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs). Johnny Otis took Wilson under his wing in the early 1950s, for his vocal group The Royals (formerly The Thrillers). He recorded some sides for Dizzy Gillespie's Dee Gee Records. In 1953, he joined The Dominoes as Clyde McPhatter’s replacement. In 1957, he went solo and signed with Decca Records. He released Lonely Teardrops in 1958, and pretty much soared to stardom after that. He was 49 years old when he passed away.
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On January 21, 1999, Bluesman, singer, songwriter, composer, arranger, producer, and classically trained pianist-Charles Brown (Tony Russell Brown) passed away in Oakland, California. He learned classical piano as a youth, and during his teens became interested in science. He went to Prairie View A&M College (HBCU) in 1939, and graduated with a degree in Chemistry in 1942. Brown worked a few jobs in 1942, in a few different states after graduating from Prairie View. First, he taught chemistry at George Washington Carver High School in Galveston, TX, then became a mustard gas worker in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. His last job was as an electrician at the shipyards in the San Francisco Bay Area. He ended up moving to Los Angeles in 1943, and started performing with Johnny Moore (The Three Blazers) while the regular house artist-Nat King Cole was on the road.
The style of blues and jazz piano that Brown used was born in the lounges and nightclubs post-Great Depression, going into WWII. It used a lighter bass sound, and more fingering/tinkering of notes with the dominant hand-while the other played the rhythm. Thus the term ‘lounge pianist’. Nat King Cole made the style more famous by adding sultry vocals. Charles Brown mimicked this style in a soulful & bluesy way. In the mid 1940s, The Three Blazers got a deal with Exclusive Records and released their debut single Drifting Blues-with Brown on lead vocals and piano. It became a R&B smash hit! The late 40s belonged to Brown, as he released three other hit singles: Merry Christmas Baby (1947), New Orleans Blues (1947), and More Than You Know (1948). Soon his more soulful, and less crossover appealing, sound took over the R&B scene. He influenced Ray Charles, Ivory Joe Hunter, and Johnny Ace, to name a few. Brown was 76 years old when he passed away.
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HONORABLE MENTION: On January 21st, 1966, a rock star’s love triangle was put into motion, that would result in a hit song and two divorces. Beatles’ guitarist and songwriter George Harrison wed infamous British model and photographer Pattie Boyd. At the time, both were embracing and practicing Indian spirituality. They remained married for 11 years, until they divorced in 1977. During the latter years of their marriage, Pattie started having an affair with Eric Clapton (Harrison’s friend and sometimes musical collaborating partner). Clapton married her in 1979, and wrote the song Layla about her. They divorced in 1989.
On January 21st, 1968, singer, songwriter, and Rolling Stone Magazine’s Greatest Rock Guitarist Of All-Time-The Jimi Hendrix Experience were at Olympic Studios in London, England. They recorded a cover song that Jimi made his own. It was Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower, and the contrast between both is vastly different. Two other people joined The Experience for added instrumentation. Traffic’s Dave Mason played 12-string guitar, and The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones added some percussion. Although it’s one of Jimi’s better tracks, it only made the Top 20 in the US, when it was released in 1968.
On January 21st, 1982, Bluesman, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, producer, businessman, Hall Of Famer, and one of the Three Kings Of The Blues Guitar-B.B. King (Blues Boy King) made an extremely generous donation to the Study of Southern Culture at Mississippi University. He donated his entire record collection of over 20,000 LPs, 78s, and 45s. Over 7000 of the albums came from his DJing days during the 1950s, which consisted of several long ‘lost’ songs. S.O. to B.B. King for helping to preserve the American Music Culture.
On January 21st, 1987, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame held its Second Annual Induction Ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC, NY. This is one of the largest classes to date, with 15 musicians being inducted, including: Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Jackie Wilson, Bo Diddley, B.B. King, Roy Orbison, Clyde McPhatter, Muddy Waters, Eddie Cochran, Bill Haley, Hank Williams, Carl Perkins, and The Coasters. Doo Wop, Blues, Pop, Rockabilly, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and Soul round out the genres represented.
Interesting Fact: Bo Diddley had a jam session with Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, Daryll Hall, Keith Richards, Sting, and Roy Orbison.
Interesting Fact: Bo Diddley had a jam session with Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, Daryll Hall, Keith Richards, Sting, and Roy Orbison.
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