Music History Today: September 9, 2020

September 9, 1941:  Otis Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia. He died in a plane crash three days after recording the single "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay."

When the phone rang at the Stax/Volt studios in Memphis in late November of 1967, guitarist Steve Cropper was surprised to hear Otis Redding on the other end, calling from the airport. 

Otis Redding

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 “Usually Otis would check into the Holiday Inn or whatever hotel he was staying at and then he’d call for me to come over and do some writing,” Cropper recalls. But this time Redding was too excited to wait. “I’ve got a hit,” he told Cropper, so he wanted to come straight to the studio to flesh his idea out into a full-fledged song.    

Read more: Rolling Stone

September 9, 1967:  The Association soared from 59 to 25 with "Never My Love."

Written by Don and Dick Addrisi, “Never My Love” hit radio on the heels of “Windy,” the first single from The Association’s 1967 album INSIGHT OUT and the second #1 hit of their career. 

With success like that, you can imagine that the boys in the band had high hopes that they’d see similar returns from the album’s second single as well, and while it didn’t quite match its predecessor in terms of its chart success, it still climbed all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, which is a pretty impressive feat.  

Read more: Rhino

September 9, 1971: John Lennon's "Imagine" LP is released. It would reach Number 1 on both sides of the Atlantic.

Imagine is the second studio album by John Lennon. Recorded and released in 1971, the album is more heavily produced in contrast to the basic, raw arrangements of his previous album, the critically acclaimed John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. 

The album is considered the most popular of his works and the title track is considered one of Lennon's finest songs. In 2012, Imagine was voted 80th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."  

Read more" Elusive Disc

September 9, 1972:  A new group, the Doobie Brothers, had a hot song on this date, moving from 89 to 62 with their first release "Listen To The Music."

This was the Doobie Brothers' first big hit in 1972. It was written by Tom Johnston. In June, 2020, four members of the band released an acoustic version of the song on YouTube, with each performing from their home during the coronavirus pandemic; the recording included a more prominent banjo part, but no lead electric guitar or drums. 

Read more:  Wikipedia

September 9, 2000: Duets, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis, is released at the Toronto Film Festival. Paltrow and Lewis's duet cover of "Cruisin'" reaches Number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

"Cruisin'" is a 1979 single written, produced, and recorded by Smokey Robinson for Motown Records' Tamla label.  Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis performed a cover of the song in the 2000 film Duets. The song is included on the soundtrack of the film. 

The duet spent one week at number one on the US Adult Contemporary chart. It was an even bigger hit in Australia and New Zealand, reaching number one on both country's singles charts, and in Iceland, where it climbed to number four in November 2000.  

Read more: Wikipedia

Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay
Otis Redding