This Day in Music History: Rod Stewart signs with Mercury, The Who’s Tommy wins 5 Tonys

1962 : The Beatles record at Abbey Road for the first time, demoing three songs they wrote themselves: “Love Me Do,” “Ask Me Why,” and “P.S. I Love You.” The four musicians receive payments of $12.07 each for the session. This day in 1966, they record “Eleanor Rigby,” and they lay down “Don’t Pass My By” today in 1968.

1969 : Rod Stewart signs to the Mercury label.

1971 : John Lennon makes his first stage appearance since 1969 when he and Yoko Ono jam with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore East in New York. The show is recorded and released as a bonus disc with the Lennon/Ono album Some Time In New York City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORFU3AD3N_Y

1971 : The Ed Sullivan Show airs its final episode after 23 years on the air, featuring guests Jerry Vale and Gladys Knight & The Pips.

1974 : Billy Swan records “I Can Help.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5e22JbKk2s

1979 : A gig at a British club gets a good review and leads to a record deal for Def Leppard.

1990 : The 2 Live Crew album As Nasty As They Wanna Be becomes the first album declared legally obscene when Federal District Judge Jose Gonzalez rules that the album violates community obscenity standards in three south Florida counties (Broward, Dade, and Palm Beach). The ruling sets off a censorship firestorm which drives sales of the album past 2 million copies. Two days later, a record store owner is arrested for selling the album, and two days after that, the group is arrested for performing the songs in concert. The court ruling is eventually overturned.

1993 : The Who’s Tommy, which has been converted into a Broadway play, wins five Tony Awards.

Birthdays

1936 : Levi Stubbs (The Four Tops)

1939 : Gary “U.S.” Bonds

1944 : Peter Albin (Big Brother & the Holding Company)

1947 : Terry Williams (Dire Straits)

1951 : Dwight Twilley

1989 – Ross MacDonald (The 1975)

Information for this post was gathered from This Day in Music, The Music History Calendar, On This Day, and Wikipedia.