Music History Today: July 17, 2020

July 17, 1959: While under arrest for illegal possession of narcotics, Billie Holiday dies at age 44 at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City.

On May 31, 1959, Billy Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. 

Lady Day in 1953
Photograph: Charles Hewitt/Getty Images

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Lady Day in 1953

Charles Hewitt/Getty Images

She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959.  

Read more: Great Entertainers

July 17, 1950: Phoebe Snow is born in New York City.

Phoebe Snow had one of the most distinctive voices in pop music. She actually thought she'd never be a singer because she was so shy. Snow was 22 when "Poetry Man" reached the Top 10 in 1975. The song sounded like nothing else on the radio.    

Read more: NPR

July 17, 1972: Bread released the single "Guitar Man."

"The Guitar Man" first appeared on Bread's 1972 album, Guitar Man. 

The song is a mixture of the sounds of soft rock, including strings and acoustic guitar, and the addition of a wah-wah effect electric guitar, played by Larry Knechtel. It peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.  

Read more:  Wikipedia

July 17, 1975: Bob Marley and the Wailers play a historic concert at London's Lyceum Theater that features the acclaimed Legend version of "No Woman No Cry."

If ever there was an anthem that took the experience of the Jamaican poor to the world, it was ‘No Woman, No Cry’. 

Bob Marley

There had been earlier pop hits that related the struggles of Jamaican ghetto dwellers, notably Desmond Dekker’s ‘Israelites’ in 1968, but most listeners who heard Dekker’s record would not have understood his message. It was delivered in such bright tones that few would have suspected it was serious. But you couldn’t mistake Bob Marley’s intent on ‘No Woman, No Cry.' 

Read more: U Discover Music

July 17, 1976: Heart releases "Magic Man."

"Magic Man" was released in Canada in July 1975, and in America in 1976, as the second single from the band's debut album, Dreamboat Annie. Written and composed by Ann and Nancy Wilson, the song is sung from the viewpoint of a young girl who is being seduced by an older man (referred to as a Magic Man), much to the chagrin of her mother, who calls and begs the girl to come home. 

Read more: Wikipedia

God Bless the Child
Billy Holiday