Today in Music History: February 15th

1964 – The Beatles scored their first U.S. No. 1 album with Meet The Beatles! The album stayed at No. 1 for eleven weeks.

1965 – The much loved and respected crooner/jazz singer and pianist Nat King Cole died of complications following surgery for lung cancer in Santa Monica. He was 48. First famous for his jazz piano stylings, he also had an unforgettable voice and was one of the first African Americans to host a national television variety show, “The Nat King Cole Show”.

1969 – Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” zoomed to No. 1 on the singles chart. The song is one of Sly Stone’s pleas for peace and equality between differing races and social groups, a major theme and focus for the band.

1971 – The Who debut a new rock opera called “Lifehouse” at the Young Vic Theatre in London. The project is shelved after a short run of shows, but some of the songs, including “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Behind Blue Eyes”, become Who standards after being included on the album Who’s Next.

1977 – Sid Vicious replaced Glen Matlock on bass with the Sex Pistols.

1994 – A federal court jury ruled Michael Jackson did not steal the idea for his hit song “Dangerous” from a Denver woman who had sent him a demo tape.

2013 – Chubby Checker launched a $500,000 lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard for including an app on its phones and tablets that was not only named after the 71-year-old musician, but measured a man’s manhood based on his shoe size.

2016 – Denise Katrina Matthews, better known as Vanity, died at the age of 57 after years of health problems. Vanity was the lead singer of the female trio Vanity 6 from 1981 until it disbanded in 1983, and the group was known for their song “Nasty Girl”. She also had two solo albums and a film career, and was connected professionally and romantically to Prince after meeting him in 1982 when she was Rick James’ date at the American Music Awards.

2016 – In her Grammy acceptance speech for Album of the Year, Taylor Swift warned of “people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.” This was in response to Kanye West, who rapped about Swift in his song “Famous.”

—

Photo credit: haroldguevara / Shutterstock.com