A Brief History On August 6, 1994, Italian singer, Domenico Modugno, died of a heart attack at the age of 66. Americans remember his 1958 hit song, “Nel blu dipinto di blu,” better known in the US as “Volare.” Digging Deeper Covered by many artists, “Volare” was the first foreign language song to rank #1 on the US Billboard Chart. Modugno won Grammys for Best Song and Record of the Year, as the singer and composer of the hit. There have been many songs not in English in the US but only eight hit #1. A Japanese song, “Sukiyaki,” by…
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A Brief History On July 9, 1994, the world suffered the loss of another Bill, this time Bill Mosienko, a Ukrainian-Canadian former pro hockey player. Scoring a “hat trick” in an NHL record 21 seconds and being named “the most gentlemanly player in the league” by winning the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1945 are feats worthy of a song being sung about this Hall of Fame skater. Digging Deeper The name “Bill” appears in many notable songs, which today we list, asking you what “Bill” songs you would add? “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town,” a plea to a…
A Brief History On February 23, 1778, the Baron von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge to assist George Washington with training the Continental Army. Washington was waging a war of independence against Britain, to forever remove what would become the United States from the tyranny of living under a King. Today, we find there are many “kings” in the USA and we list some of these from the 20th and 21st Centuries. Digging Deeper First, we have “The King of all media,” Howard Stern, shock jock of radio, television, literature, and the internet. Several musical “kings” have reigned, including Elvis…
A Brief History On January 12, 2023, Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, died at the age of 54, one of the many early deaths of those related to Elvis. Digging Deeper Lisa Marie died of cardiac failure due to complications of bariatric surgery she had undergone. Her death at a premature age is only one such tragedy associated with Elvis. Of course, the King himself died at the age of 42 in 1977, also of cardiac arrest and not of complications of his extensive prescription drug regimen. Elvis was touched…
A Brief History On January 4, 1970, the Beatles, minus John Lennon, had their last studio session as the iconic group, marking an end of the phenomenon that was The Beatles, probably the greatest rock band of all time, and possibly the greatest musical act of any genre in music history. Digging Deeper That sad but sweet last session saw the three mop tops overdub and polish Paul McCartney’s “Let it Be,” a song that would go on to have the highest debut on Billboard and then reach #1 in the US. By April of 1970, Paul had announced he…