Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today May 9
1962
The day EMI said yes to the Beatles
On May 9, 1962, at Abbey Road studios, Brian Epstein got George Martin and the Parlophone label to offer the Beatles a formal recording audition, after Decca's rejection. The telegram he sent to Hamburg — congratulations, EMI requests recording session — changed the history of popular music. Sometimes everything is decided in a meeting almost nobody recorded.
The Beatles
1949
Billy Joel is born, the pianist who set New York to melody
On May 9, 1949, Billy Joel was born in the Bronx — the piano man who turned bars, working-class neighborhoods and heartbreaks into an indestructible songbook. From 'Piano Man' to 'Scenes from an Italian Restaurant', he combined classical craft with pop instinct like few others. Critics mistreated him for decades; audiences, wiser, keep him filling Madison Square Garden.
Billy Joel
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