Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Music History Today: May 6, 2021

May 6, 1945: Bob Seger was born at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

Bob Seger
Bob Seger
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Bob Seger is the voice of the Midwestern everyman, a singer and songwriter who has spent his four-decade recording career celebrating the nobility of the "Beautiful Loser" and the workers on the automotive assembly lines in "Makin' Thunderbirds." 
Read more: Detroit Historical Society

May 6,  1967: The Spencer Davis Group peaked at Number 10 with "I'm A Man."

The original recording was a fast, Hammond organ-driven blues rock track. It was included on the band's summer 1967 album, I'm a Man, as well as being featured on the 2005 Spencer Davis Group DVD Gimme Some Lovin' Live 1966.

The Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group

Although the recording is said to be late 1966, this date is in fact controversial. In an article and an interview on the "Living Archives" website of YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, the producer of the original live recording, Mr. Tapani Karhu, clearly states that the date of the show was 19 March 1967.
Read more: Wikipedia

May 6,  1972: The Staple Singers took over at Number 1 on the R&B chart with "I'll Take You There."

The Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” never mentions any particular god, or any set of beliefs. It only imagines a place where things are better. But it’s still hard to hear it as anything other than a gospel song — one of the purest and most direct that ever went to #1 in America.

The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers

Like Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin and Al Green, the Staple Singers came from gospel. And they also kept using gospel to inform their pop music. But the Staple Singers’ transition to pop music wasn’t as simple and immediate as those other stars’. It was more of a gradual thing. 

Read more: Stereogum

May 6, 1974: The Righteous Brothers released the single "Rock And Roll Heaven."

“Rock And Roll Heaven” was originally performed by Climax but was popularized by the Righteous Brothers. The song follows a series of tributes mentioning names of rock and roll artists who have already passed away. 
Read more: I Love Classic Rock

 

May 6, 1995: Melissa Etheridge set a record with back-to-back singles – "Come to My Window" and "I'm The Only One" – on Billboard's Hot 100 for at least 40 weeks.

"Come to My Window" is a song by Melissa Etheridge released as the second single from her 1993 album Yes I Am. This was the first song to become a hit after Etheridge publicly announced that she was a lesbian.

Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge

When the song was being promoted, a portion of the song's beginning was omitted. This was to help accommodate some radio stations that wanted an instrumental beginning rather than a vocal one. The song's lyrics describes the intense love that Etheridge has for another person.

Read more: Wikipedia

Old Time Rock n' Roll
Bob Seger

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