10 ready-to-read segments for January 23, lead story first. Free to use on air; a quick credit to Today in Tunes is appreciated.
On this day in 1965, 61 years ago: Petula Clark's "Downtown" hits No. 1 in America. Written and produced by Tony Hatch, the song made Clark the first British woman of the rock era to top the US chart. It went on to win a Grammy for Best Rock and Roll Recording. Here's Petula Clark with “Downtown.”
On this day in 1943, 83 years ago: Duke Ellington premieres Black, Brown and Beige. Ellington's ambitious suite debuted at his first Carnegie Hall concert. Critics were lukewarm and he never played the whole thing again, but its hymn-like "Come Sunday" became a jazz standard.
On this day in 1976, 50 years ago: David Bowie releases Station to Station. The album introduced the Thin White Duke, a cold, sharply dressed persona Bowie lived in for months. It reached No. 3 in the US and included the hit "Golden Years."
On this day in 1986, 40 years ago: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first class. The first inductees included Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, James Brown, Little Richard and Buddy Holly, with Robert Johnson and Jimmie Rodgers honored as early influences.
On this day in 1988, 38 years ago: Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" hits No. 1. It was the third single in a row from Bad to top the Hot 100, arriving after five weeks in the top ten.
On this day in 1910, 116 years ago: Django Reinhardt is born in Belgium. After a 1928 caravan fire badly burned two fingers of his fretting hand, he relearned guitar using mostly two fingers, then co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Stéphane Grappelli.
On this day in 1948, 78 years ago: Anita Pointer is born in Oakland, California. She sang lead on many Pointer Sisters hits, including "Fire," "Slow Hand" and "I'm So Excited," and co-wrote "Fairytale," which won the group a country Grammy.
On this day in 1950, 76 years ago: Luis Alberto Spinetta is born in Buenos Aires. A founder of Argentine rock with bands like Almendra and Pescado Rabioso, he helped prove rock could be sung in Spanish. Argentina marks his birthday as National Musician's Day.
On this day in 1981, 45 years ago: Composer Samuel Barber dies in New York. Barber won two Pulitzer Prizes, but he is best remembered for his Adagio for Strings, arranged from the slow movement of his String Quartet and championed by Toscanini and the NBC Symphony in 1938.
On this day in 2018, 8 years ago: Hugh Masekela dies in Johannesburg at 78. The South African trumpeter scored a US No. 1 with "Grazing in the Grass" in 1968, and his 1987 "Bring Him Back Home" became an anthem of the campaign to free Nelson Mandela.
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