... and more December 8 birthdays – Floyd Tillman (1914) – Country musician/songwriter (“They Took The Stars Out Of Heaven”). Jimmy Smith (1925) – Jazz organist. David Carradine (1936) – actor/musician, singer/songwriter, Cosmic Rescue Team. James Galway (1939) – Irish flautist, “The Man with the Golden Flute.” Bobby Elliott (1941) – drummer for The Hollies. Mike Botts (1944) – drummer for Bread. Geoff Daking (1947) – drummer for Blues Magoos. Ray Schulman (1949) – bassist for Gentle Giant. Dan Hartman (1950) – The Edgar Winter Group. Colin Gibb (1953) – bassist for Black Lace. Warren Cuccurullo (1956) – guitarist with Frank Zappa and Duran Duran. Phil Collen (1957) – guitarist for Def Leppard. Paul Rutherford (1959) – Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Marty Friedman (1962) – guitarist for Megadeth. Sinéad O'Connor (1966) Ryan Newell (1972) – guitarist for Sister Hazel. Corey Taylor (1973) – vocalist for Slipknot. ____________________
Birthday correction -- Graham Knight was born in 1943. ____________________ December 8 R.I.P. – John Mills, Sr. (1967) – Age 85. The Mills Brothers. Gary Thain (1975) – heroin overdose. Age 27. Bassist for Uriah Heep. Big Walter Horton (1981) – heart failure. Age 64. Blues harmonica player. Marty Robbins (1982) – complications from heart surgery. Age 57. Country music singer/songwriter. Herbert “Toubo” Rhoad (1988) – heart attack. Age 44. The Persuasions. Buck Clayton (1991) – died in his sleep. Age 80. Jazz trumpeter for Count Basie. Antônio Jobim (1994) – cardiac arrest. Age 67. Brazilian songwriter/ pianist (“The Girl From Impanema”). "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott (2004) – murdered on stage. Age 38. Pantera and Damageplan. Martha Tilton (2006) – Age 91. Swing singer (“And The Angels Sing”). Dick Sims (2011) – cancer. Age 60. Keyboardist for Eric Clapton. Dan “Bee” Spears (2011) – exposure after falling outside. Age 62. Bassist for Willie Nelson. December 8 album releases – The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour (1967) EP (UK) The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) UK Stevie Wonder – For Once In My Life (1968) Wings – Wild Life (1971) U.S. Lou Reed – Transformer (1972) Marvin Gaye – Trouble Man (1972) The Eagles – Hotel California (1976) Motörhead – On Parole (1979) Queen – Flash Gordon (1980) Fleetwood Mac – Live (1980) Tesla – Mechanical Resonance (1986) Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions – The Anthology 1961-1977 (1992) Jimmy Buffet – Buffet Hotel (2009) December 8 events – 1928 – The WSM Barn Dance radio show changes its name to The Grand Ole Opry. 1941 – Ray Eberle and The Modernaires, along with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, record "Moonlight Cocktail." 1957 – The Platters sing “Only You,” and Ray Peterson sings “Fever” on The Ed Sullivan Show. Also on the show is Noel Coward, who sings a medley of his hits. 1960 – The Henry Mancini Orchestra records “Moon River.” 1960 – Teen idol Fabian visits Elvis Presley at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, where Elvis rips his pants demonstrating his new passion: karate. 1961 – The Pendletones release their debut single, “Surfin’” b/w “Luau” on Candix Records, and find that their name has been changed to The Beach Boys. 1961 – The Supremes record the Smokey Robinson song “Your Heart Belongs To Me,” with Smokey producing. 1962 – DJ and promoter Alan Freed appears at his payola trial in New York City and testifies to receiving money from labels to play their records on the air. He is found guilty and fined $300 and given six months probation, but the irreparable damage to his career has been done. 1962 – Flatt and Scruggs and The Foggy Mountain Boys, along with Merle Travis, appear at Carnegie Hall in front of a sold-out audience. 1966 – At an early session at Abbey Road Studios, Paul McCartney records his vocals to “When I’m Sixty-Four.” No other Beatles are present. Later in the evening, the group re-records the basic track for “Strawberry Fields Forever.” 1968 – Ray Charles, The Association and Liza Minnelli all appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. 1968 – Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits plays the title role in NBC- TV's Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Pinocchio. 1969 – In a Toronto courtroom, Jimi Hendrix testifies in his trial for possession of hashish and heroin. Claiming to have outgrown drugs, Hendrix gives a very detailed history of his drug use, and after eight hours of deliberation, the jury returns a verdict of not guilty. 1970 – Jim Morrison holds a recording session to record some of his poetry, much of which will find its way onto the album An American Prayer. 1976 – John Denver appears along with Victor Borge on The Carpenters’ Very First TV Special on ABC. 1977 – A riot breaks out at Her Majesty's Theatre in Brisbane, Australia, after nearly 1,000 fans who wait for more than an hour for Blondie to appear on stage are told that the show is canceled because Blondie is ill. Four people are arrested. 1980 – Photographer Annie Leibovitz takes a series of photographs of John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their Dakota apartment for a Rolling Stone magazine story. Afterward, John and Yoko travel to the Record Plant to finish recording Yoko’s song “Walking On Thin Ice.” Upon returning home, Mark David Chapman shoots Lennon five times in the back outside his Dakota Apartment home, after getting his autograph earlier in the evening. 1984 – Former Coasters manager Patrick Cavanaugh is convicted of first degree and sentenced to death for the murder of group member Buster Wilson, whose dismembered body was discovered in Modesto, California, in 1980. 1984 – Ringo Starr hosts Saturday Night Live, with musical guest Herbie Hancock. 1995 – The Grateful Dead officially break up. 1995 – Courtney Love is interviewed by Barbara Walters for ABC's 10 Most Fascinating People Of 1995, and says she wishes she had done “eight thousand million things differently” to prevent the death of her husband Kurt Cobain. 1998 – The FBI opens its 1,300 page file on Frank Sinatra to the public. 1999 – Prince appears on NBC’s Today Show for a live interview. 1999 – James Brown releases his new MP3-only holiday album, "James Brown Christmas For The Millennium & Forever," exclusively through Emusic.com. 2000 – Numerous tributes and memorials take place marking the 20th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder, including the Fidel Castro unveiling of a Lennon statue in Cuba, and the installation of an English Heritage Blue Plaque at Lennon’s childhood home in Mendips. 2000 – Sting receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 2003 – Ozzy Osbourne is seriously injured when he crashes while riding an ATV, breaking his collarbone, six ribs (which punctures one of his lungs) and a vertebrae in his neck. Osbourne requires immediate emergency surgery to repair the collarbone which is crushing a major artery, and to stop the blood flow in his lung. 2004 – Former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott is one of five people shot and killed after a man storms the stage during a Damageplan show at the Alrosa Villa Club in Columbus, Ohio. Nathan Gale walked onstage and shot Abbott point blank in the head, then began firing into the crowd, before being shot and killed by a police officer who arrived shortly after the first shots were fired. 2004 – Dick Clark is hospitalized after suffering a stroke, which affects his speech and appearance. 2010 – Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson’s divorce from movie director and former rock writer Cameron Crowe becomes finalized. 2010 – Movie composer Hans Zimmer (The Lion King) receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 2011 – Singer Sinéad O'Connor marries her fourth husband, therapist Barry Herridge.
