Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today July 4
1938
Bill Withers is born, the factory worker who wrote eternal anthems on his lunch break
On July 4, 1938, Bill Withers was born in West Virginia; he was assembling airplane toilets in a factory when he recorded 'Ain't No Sunshine'. With 'Lean on Me' and 'Lovely Day' he built an essential soul songbook, without ornament or pose. He retired in 1985, fed up with the industry, with the calm of a man who had said everything important in the fewest possible words.
Bill Withers
1943
Fred Wesley is born: the trombone that organised James Brown's chaos
On July 4, 1943, Fred Wesley was born in Columbus, Georgia — trombonist and musical director of the J.B.'s, the band James Brown built funk with. His job was to translate into notation whatever the boss shouted on stage, and to hold a riff without moving a millimetre for nine minutes. Out of that discipline came "The Payback" and "Doing It to Death". He later moved to Parliament-Funkadelic and took the horn section to planet George Clinton.
Fred Wesley
James Brown
Parliament-Funkadelic
1971
The Fillmore West closes: the end of San Francisco's rock cathedral
On July 4, 1971, the final night at the Fillmore West came to an end — Bill Graham's hall where the whole San Francisco psychedelic scene matured — with Santana and Creedence in the farewell. Graham was closing both his temples, exhausted by an industry turning gigantic. With the Fillmore went an era when rock still fit inside a ballroom.
Santana
Creedence Clearwater Revival
1976
The Ramones land in London and light the fuse of British punk
On July 4, 1976 — America's bicentennial — the Ramones made their UK debut before 2,000 people at London's Roundhouse, on a bill with the Flamin' Groovies and The Stranglers. Fourteen songs at full throttle, three encores and Marc Bolan invited on stage were enough for the night to go down in history as the moment punk crossed the Atlantic. In the crowd, and at the next night's Dingwalls show, lurked future members of The Damned, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Pretenders. The British scene would never play that slow again.
Ramones
1981
"Give It to Me Baby" crowns Rick James and names punk-funk
On July 4, 1981, "Give It to Me Baby" reached number one on the soul chart and made Rick James the face of that decade's funk. It came from "Street Songs", recorded when the industry had written the genre off in the hangover after disco. James called himself punk-funk: braids, high boots and a band that played loud as though it were rock. The album sold millions, and its bass lines became raw material for 1990s hip-hop.
Rick James
1826
Stephen Foster is born: the first man who tried to live off writing songs
On July 4, 1826, Stephen Foster was born near Pittsburgh — regarded as the first professional songwriter in the United States, the first to try to live on his royalties alone. He wrote "Oh! Susanna" and "Camptown Races", melodies the whole country sang without knowing whose they were. The publishing business of the day protected nobody, and he died in 1864, aged 37, in a New York hospital with 38 cents in his pocket.
Stephen Foster
1910
Champion Jack Dupree is born: the boxer who played boogie-woogie
On July 4, 1910, Champion Jack Dupree was born in New Orleans, an orphan raised in the same institution that had housed Louis Armstrong. He made his living in the ring for years — hence the nickname — and played bar piano between fights. After the war he recorded dozens of boogie-woogie sides with darkly funny lyrics about jail, hunger and heartbreak. In 1960 he settled in Europe, where blues paid better, and never lived in the United States again.
Champion Jack Dupree
1943
Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson is born, the shy scholar who sang Woodstock
On July 4, 1943, Alan Wilson was born in Boston, nicknamed 'Blind Owl' for his extreme nearsightedness and scholarly air. Co-founder of Canned Heat, he lent his high, unmistakable voice to 'On the Road Again' and 'Going Up the Country', Woodstock's unofficial anthem. An obsessive student of rural blues, he even helped rediscover forgotten legends like Son House. He died in 1970 at just 27, leaving behind one of blues-rock's most singular bodies of work.
Alan Wilson
Canned Heat
1951
Ralph Johnson is born: the drummer who kept Earth, Wind & Fire in orbit
On July 4, 1951, Ralph Johnson was born in Los Angeles. He joined Earth, Wind & Fire in 1972 and stayed for half a century. His was the least showy job in a band built on pyramids, gold capes and onstage magic tricks: holding a clean pulse so the horns, the kalimba and four voices could sit on top of it. On that foundation came "Shining Star" and "September", songs that have not stopped playing at parties since.
Ralph Johnson
Earth, Wind & Fire
2003
Soul's deepest voice goes silent: Barry White dies
On July 4, 2003, Barry White died in Los Angeles at 58, of kidney failure. His velvet bass voice and his orchestral arrangements with the Love Unlimited Orchestra defined the romantic sound of the seventies with hits like 'You're the First, the Last, My Everything' and 'Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe'. He sold over one hundred million records, and his influence crossed from soul to the dance floor and into pop. No deep voice ever sounded quite the same after his.
Barry White
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