On June 18th, pop culture icon, innovative rock musician, guitarist, songwriter, bassist, actor, keyboardist, producer, singer, composer, arranger and former member of the Beatles, co-founder of The Fireman and founder of Wings-(James) Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool, England. Paul’s been well known for his music for six decades. In the 60s, he was a integral part of the Beatles who were one of several pioneering bands that helped shape the modern/classic rock sound. In the 70s, he worked as a solo artist and with the band Wings. They were similar to Steely Dan. In the 80s, he worked closely with Michael Jackson and other 80s music icons keeping himself in the public's ear. In the 90s he started working with Youth in the band called-Fireman. Their sound is eclectic-they play soul, electronica, rock, pop, etc.
For the first decade of 2000, he embarked on a world tour, performed at Super Bowl XXXIX (39) and performed on several TV shows. From 2010 to the present, he scored a dance sequence for the New York City Ballet, performed at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and collaborated with Kanye West & Rihanna. He got his start with the Quarrymen in 1957. Their then bandleader-John Lennon recruited him for rhythm guitar. They eventually became the Beatles (1960). In 1962, they released their first hit-Love Me Do. It took a couple years for the song to catch on in the states (1964). However, Beatlemania was in full-effect by the mid 60s. Lennon & McCartney composed and wrote most of the group’s songs. They split at the end of the 60s. McCartney is 77 today.
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On June 18th, in 1942, seminal multi-genre producer, songwriter, former singer and owner of Planet Records-Richard Perry (l) was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He’s most known for his production work with the Pointer Sisters from the late 70s to the early 80s. He amassed over a dozen gold records by various artists from 1970 to 1982. He grew up during the birth of rock ‘n’ roll which contained elements of jump blues, swing jazz, blues, rockabilly/folk and soul/gospel. It gave him the opportunity to hear a lot of genres that he otherwise may not have known about, like southern music-namely rockabilly/folk & blues. These genres weren’t readily accessible or popular in New York City at the time (jazz and jump blues were). Rockabilly/folk and blues were a Midwest and West Coast favorite. The music was brought to the urban areas by southerners during the great Migration and post-Great Depression/Dust Bowl tragedies.
White migrants brought rockabilly/folk, the Black migrants brought blues/folk, while both groups transformed the sound of gospel. Exposure to these ‘southern’ genres helped influence his songwriting and production work later in life. He became serious about music during his early teens after attending the Alan Freed show at the Paramount Theatre (NYC, 1955). He started writing songs and joined a few local bands. They preformed Perry's originals and popular covers during the late 50s. In the early 60s, he enrolled at the University of Michigan, continuing to write songs. He was 45 minutes from Detroit, where the Motown and jazz explosion was occurring, and 2 hours from Chicago, where the Chess and Brunswick sound was booming (Chicago Blues, Chicago Soul). By the time he graduated, he was well abreast on several genres, discerning what worked, and what didn’t. He used this knowledge to produce his first album for Captain Beefheart-Safe as Milk (Budhha Records, 1967). He’s 77 today.
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On June 18th, in 1971, 90s R&B musician, singer, trumpeter, businessman, songwriter, keyboardist, composer, arranger and founding member of Boyz II Men-Nathan Morris (2nd l) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s most known for his baritone vocals on Boyz II Men songs. He played trumpet and sang in church as a child. When he was 10, his music teacher recognized that he could detect pitch by ear when he told her the song was being played in the wrong key. He took formal lessons in singing and piano from that point on. He went to performing arts schools for middle and high school. He met the other members of Boyz II Men while attending CAPA (Creative & Performing Arts High School). Morris had aspirations of becoming a football player, and was rather good at it.
However, CAPA didn’t have a football team. Instead, he co-founded Boyz II Men with classmate Marc Nelson who went solo before the group released their first LP in 1991 (Cooleyhighharmony, Motown). At the time when Nelson left, the group had developed a strong local following. They were discovered by Michael Bivins of New Edition/BBD after a show when they sang an acapella version of New Edition’s Can You Stand the Rain. Bivins signed them to his Biv10 Production company via Motown Records in 1990. After their first release, they recorded a Christmas album (1993) and two more commercially successful LPs (1994, 1997). By the early 2000s, their popularity had tapered off. Although Nathan has released 9 albums with Boyz II Men members since 2000, he’s been unable to duplicate his success from the 90s. He’s 48 today.
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HONORABLE MENTION: On June 18th, in 1948, the 12 inch vinyl record for mass consumption was introduced on the market by Columbia Records. The 12 or 10 inch record used microgroove technology that allowed the Long Playing (LP) disc to hold 23 minutes of recorded music on either side. The 78 RPM record could only hold about 5 minutes. The LP was also made with PVC or vinyl, while the 78 RPM was heavy, fragile and used shellac. The other major difference was the size of the stylus (needle). The 33 RPM record required a smaller diameter stylus giving off a higher fidelity sound, where as the 78 RPM had a more treble based tone and larger needle. RCA Victor released the first version of the 33 RPM LP, but it failed to sell. Columbia revamped and perfected it!
On June 18th, in 1963, rock musician, innovative keyboardist, composer, percussionist, singer, guitarist, vibraphonist, bassist and member of Guns N’ Roses-Dizzy Reed was born in Hinsdale, IL. Reed joined the band in 1990 and has remained with them since. He’s one of the longest lasting members (with Axl Rose). He was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Reed has worked with other bands, mostly splinter groups containing Guns N’ Roses members-The Dead Daisies, Slash, Tommy Stinson and Hookers N’ Blow. He’s also done Christian music with Larry Norman. Reed is a multi-instrumentalist that’s considered one of the best keyboardist in rock. He’s 56 today.
On June 18th, in 1993, the iconic third annual 90s concert/tour-Lallapalooza opened. The concert ran for 7 weeks (June 18th-August 7th). Several stops were made in various cities on two legs of the tour. They traveled first from New York to Texas, and then from Texas to California. Some of the acts that performed along the way were: Redman, George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, Green Day, A Tribe Called Quest, Guided by Voices, Busta Rhymes, the Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, Fishbone, Smashing Pumpkins, The Black Crowes, Stereolab, Souls of Mischief, The Flaming Lips, Pharcyde, Luscious Jackson, Fu-Schnickens and L7.
On June 18th, in 2009, we lost a pioneering classical musician, sarod player, innovative Indian musician, film scorer, composer, and educator-Ali Akbar Khan. He’s most known for his compositions in the Hindustani classical music genre. In 1967, he founded his own music school-Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta, India. It has branches in Basel, Switzerland and is currently based in San Rafael, CA (San Francisco area). He started playing professionally in Allahabad when he was 13 (1936). By the time he reached 20 (1942), he’d become a regular performer and the musical director on AIR Radio (All India Radio). In the 50s he started scoring films. He moved to the states in the 60s. He was 87 when he passed.
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