Browsing: Music

A Brief History On this date, February 29, 1992, American Idol Season 13 finalist Majesty Rose was born.  She is one of many great African-American female singers! Digging Deeper Hailing from Goldsboro, North Carolina, Rose auditioned in Atlanta, where she sang Coldplay’s “Violet Hill”.  Prior to auditioning, she was a pre-school teacher and she graduated in Eastern Wayne High School on 2011.  In Hollywood, she performed “1234” and “Stars”.   She was ultimately eliminated on March 27, 2014, and came in ninth place. Of course, she is but one example of the many great African-American female singers in history.  Three African-American women…

A Brief History On January 8, 1935, Elvis Aron Presley, the King of Rock and Roll was born in Mississippi.  Major Dan once spent 3 weeks in Mississippi, and was born on January 7.  Elvis had dark hair,  Dan likewise.  Both liked jelly donuts and peanut butter, not to mention cheeseburgers.  Alas, both estimable gentlemen were slightly overweight, but not as young men. Digging Deeper Elvis was born to a Christian family, the good Major was born into a Christian family.  The King was heterosexual, and most people think Major Dan is, too.  Long sideburns were once a trademark of both…

A Brief History On December 30, 1999, 56 year old former Beatle George Harrison was attacked in his own home by a stranger, later identified as Michael Abram, age 36.  Harrison was stabbed more than 40 times in the head and body, and suffered a punctured lung.  All that kept Harrison from being killed was his heroic wife, Olivia, who disabled Abram by beating him with a poker and a lamp. Digging Deeper Harrison had already been diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997, and later died of lung and brain cancer in 2001, something he attributed to his long habit…

A Brief History On December 6, 1969, the Rolling Stones were performing at the Altamont Free Concert when the Hells Angels motorcycle club members contracted as security got into a fatal confrontation with a music fan. Digging Deeper Never particularly famous for good judgment, rock and roll bad boys The Rolling Stones reached a new low in intelligent decisions when they contracted the brutal outlaw motorcycle gang, The Hells Angels, to serve as ushers and security for the concert at Altamont, California.  Why they would pick a known gang of criminal ruffians boggles the imagination, except perhaps the Stones were…

A Brief History On May 4, 1959, the first ever Grammy music awards were held, with no category for rock and roll despite the fact that this new type of music had already long taken the country by storm.  Digging Deeper The big winners with 2 Grammys apiece were: Ella Fitzgerald (Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Female and Best Jazz Performance by an Individual, for compilations of the Irving Berlin songbook and the Duke Ellington songbook, respectively); Henri Mancini (Best Arrangement and Album of the Year, both for The Music from Peter Gunn); Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., better known by his stage persona…