BORN ON AUGUST 14
1926 – Buddy Greco, American singer and pianist
1940 - Dash Crofts (Seals and Crofts)
1941 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Byrds,
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
1941 – Connie Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1942 – Lionel Morton, English singer, guitarist (The Four Pennies)
1945 – Steve Martin, American actor, singer, writer, and producer
1946 – Larry Graham, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
(Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station)
1947 - George Newsome (Climax Blues Band)
1947 – Maddy Prior, English singer (Steeleye Span, Silly Sisters, and The
Carnival Band)
1951 – Peter Blegvad, American singer-songwriter, guitarist (Slapp Happy
and The Lodge)
1951 – Slim Dunlap, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The
Replacements)
1960 – Sarah Brightman, English soprano, songwriter
1960 – Sharon Bryant, American singer (Atlantic Starr)
1965 – Mark Collins, English guitarist and songwriter (The Charlatans and
The Waltones)
1970 – Kevin Cadogan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
(Third Eye Blind)
1974 – Martin Bulloch, Scottish drummer (Mogwai)
1974 – Ana Matronic, American singer-songwriter (Scissor Sisters)
1977 – Ed Harcourt, English singer-songwriter and producer
DIED ON AUGUST 14
1964 – Johnny Burnette, American singer-songwriter (The Rock and Roll
Trio) (b. 1934)
1988 – Roy Buchanan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The
Snakestretchers) (b. 1939)
1988 – Robert Calvert, South African singer-songwriter and poet (Hawkwind)
(b. 1945)
1992 – Tony Williams, American singer (The Platters) (b. 1928)
2002 – Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (b. 1972)
EVENTS ON AUGUST 14
1956 - Washington DC disc jockey Bob Rickman forms the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elvis Presley after reading too many news articles that make him out to be a hick and/or a threat to society.
1958 - At approximately 3:00 am, Gladys Presley, mother of Elvis, dies at age 46 from a heart attack brought on by hepatitis. His father, Vernon, calls Elvis immediately and he rushes to her bedside, wailing loudly and praying over her lifeless body. Elvis refuses an autopsy. Gladys’ body is transported to Graceland and will lie in state there for two days, with her son simply staring at her, until Vernon insists she be buried.
1962 - With producer George Martin unhappy with his drumming (and, some say, the group unhappy about his teen idol looks), Pete Best is officially let go from the Beatles. Manager Brian Epstein doesn’t tell him until three days later, however, after one more performance at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, giving him no real reason for the sacking and cutting off contact with the other members of the group. (Lennon admitted to the group’s “cowardly” handling of the event in a later interview.) Ringo Starr, drummer for fellow Liverpool scenemakers Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, is asked to join the group.
1966 - The Catholic Herald of London runs an editorial describing John Lennon’s recent “bigger than Jesus” remark as “arrogant,” while admitting it was a generally accurate remark. However, the Vatican paper of record, L’Osservatore Romano, accepts Lennon’s public apology of a few days earlier.
1967 - Britain’s new Marine Broadcasting Offences Act goes into effect, forcing all but one of the country’s famous “pirate” (i.e., unlicensed) radio stations off the air. Radio Caroline remains on the air for another six months or so.
1970 - After being found crawling along a motel hallway in La Jolla, CA, incoherent and “combative,” Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash is arrested for possession of cocaine and barbiturates.
1981-Four years after his untimely death, a Memphis judge rules that Elvis Presley’s estate is no longer financially beholden to his manager, “Colonel” Tom Parker.
1985 - Acting on the advice of his good friend Paul McCartney to invest his Thriller money in music publishing, Michael Jackson secretly makes a winning bid of $47.5 million for the rights to over 250 Lennon-McCartney Beatles songs owned by ATV publishing. When he finds out, McCartney is livid, stating “I think it’s dodgy to do things like that. To be someone’s friend and then buy the rug they’re standing on.”
1988 - Roy Buchanan died after hanging himself in a jail in Fairfax, VA.
1994 - Clifton Clowers, the real-life Tennessee mountain man who was the subject of Claude King’s 1964 country smash “Wolverton Mountain,” dies at the ripe old age of 101, still on the mountain (which is actually spelled “Woolverton”). Clowers apparently couldn’t keep suitors away from his daughters as well as the legend suggested, as he leaves behind fifteen grandchildren, twenty-seven great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
1995 - The Grateful Dead meet and decide to break up after the recent tragedy of founder/leader Jerry Garcia’s death.
1998 - PBS premiered a documentary on Robbie Robertson’s Indian heritage. “Robbie Robertson: Making A Noise _ A Native American Musical Journey.”
2000 – Police in Los Angeles, CA, fired pepper spray and rubber bullets to clear a crowd of 9,000 people when a free concert by Rage Against the Machine turned violent.
2001 - The Red Hot Chili Peppers canceled a concert planned in Israel. The concert had been planned for August 28th, but was canceled due to security concerns. The U.S. State Department had issued an advisory the recommended that U.S. citizens not travel to Israel.
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