Music history: what happened on 10 January?

10 Jan 2023

English guitarist Jeff Beck died age 78 from a bacterial meningitis infection at a hospital near Riverhall, England. He rose to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to an instrumental style with focus on an innovative sound, and his releases spanned genres and styles ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica. Beck's highest-charting album Blow by Blow (1975) and produced by George Martin was a hit in the US, reaching No.4 on the Billboard album charts, eventually selling a million copies.

10 Jan 2016

English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, painter, and actor David Bowie died from liver cancer at his New York home two days after releasing the album Blackstar on his 69th birthday. His first UK Top 40 single was the 1969 'Space Oddity' which became a UK No.1 in 1975, plus over 50 other UK Top 40 hits including five No.1's. Bowie has also scored two US No.1 singles, the 1975 'Fame' and 1983 'Let's Dance'. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million albums worldwide, made him one of the world's best-selling music artists.

10 Jan 2006

An Australian woman appeared in court charged with repeatedly stabbing her partner with a pair of scissors in the back, shoulder and thigh because he played Elvis Presley's song 'Burning Love' over and over again.

10 Jan 2005

A woman was suing Gene Simmons from Kiss for slander, alleging a documentary made her out to be a "sex-addicted nymphomaniac". Georgeann Walsh Ward, 53, of New York, said during a VH1 documentary her photo was flashed up as Simmons talked about his past sexual encounters. Ms Walsh Ward had dated Simmons for three years when he was a student. In the documentary, Simmons boasted of having sex with over 4,600 women.

10 Jan 2003

A haul of 500 Beatles tapes known as the 'Get Back sessions' stolen in the 1970s were found after UK police cracked a major bootleg operation in London and Amsterdam. Five men were arrested.

10 Jan 1984

Cyndi Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry in 1967 to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

10 Jan 1981

John Lennon's Imagine started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart, 10 years after it was recorded. Lennon had two other songs in the Top 5 this week, 'Happy Christmas, (War Is Over') and '(Just Like) Starting Over.' 'Imagine' was voted by the viewers of BBC TV as the best lyrics of all time in a poll broadcast in Oct 1999. Also on this day John and Yoko's 'Double Fantasy' album started an eight-week run at No.1 on the US chart. 'Just Like Starting Over' was at No.1 on the US singles chart.

10 Jan 1964

The Rolling Stones recorded 'Not Fade Away' at Olympic Studios, London, England. The song which was first recorded by Buddy Holly and his band, the Crickets, became The Stones first US single.

10 Jan 1964

The first US Beatles album, 'Introducing The Beatles', was released on Vee-Jay records. The album cover showed John, Paul and George with their now famous "mop top" haircuts, but Ringo had yet to convert. Vee-Jay would be forced to stop selling the disc by the end of the year because of legal complications, but by then over 1.3 million copies had been sold.

10 Jan 1958

Jerry Lee Lewis was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Great Balls Of Fire'. Lewis was the only major white rock 'n' roll star to play piano rather than guitar.

10 Jan 1956

Elvis Presley made his first recordings for RCA Records at The Methodist television, radio & TV Studios in Nashville. 'Heartbreak Hotel' was one of the songs recorded during this session.

10 Jan 1978

Matt Roberts, guitarist, with American rock band 3 Doors Down who had the 2003 US No.4 single When I'm Gone', and the 2005 US No.1 album Seventeen Days. Roberts died on 20 Aug 2016 at the age of 38 from a prescription drug overdose.

10 Jan 1965

Nathan Moore, vocals, Brother Beyond, (1988 UK No.2 single 'The Harder I Try').

10 Jan 1964

Brad Roberts lead singer and guitarist for the Canadian folk-rock band Crash Test Dummies best known internationally for their 1993 single 'Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm' taken from their 1993 album God Shuffled His Feet.

10 Jan 1955

German rock guitarist, Michael Schenker. Nicknamed the "Blonde Bomber", he first rose to fame as an early member of Scorpions, then achieved fame in the mid-1970s as the lead guitar player for UFO. Since leaving UFO in 1978, he has been leading the Michael Schenker Group.

10 Jan 1953

American rock singer and songwriter Pat Benatar. She is a four-time Grammy winner and had the 1985 US No.5 and UK No.17 single 'Love Is A Battlefield' plus 10 other US Top 40 singles.

10 Jan 1948

American singer Fayette Pinkney from The Three Degrees. Their 1974 single 'When Will I See You Again', which was a huge international success topping the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number 2 on the US chart. Pinkney died on 27 June 2009 of acute respiratory failure after a short and sudden illness at the age of 61.

10 Jan 1946

British bassist Bob Lang. With The Mindbenders he had the 1965 US No.1 single 'Game Of Love' and the 1966 UK No.2 single 'Groovy Kind Of Love'. The name of the group was inspired by the title of a 1963 UK feature film, starring the British actor Dirk Bogarde.

10 Jan 1939

Scott McKenzie, (1967 UK No.1 & US No.4 single 'San Francisco, Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair'. McKenzie also auditioned for The Monkees.) McKenzie died on August 18, 2012 aged 73.

10 Jan 1930

American jazz ukulele musician Lyle Ritz who as session musician on the bass guitar joined the Wrecking Crew a popular group of studio musicians in the Los Angeles recording industry. Ritz compiled over 5,000 recording credits including such notable tracks as Herb Alpert's 'A Taste of Honey', The Righteous Brothers' 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'', and The Beach Boys 'Good Vibrations.' Ritz died on 3 March 2017 at the age of 87.