Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today July 19
1947
Brian May is born, the astrophysicist who built his guitar from a fireplace
On July 19, 1947, Brian May was born in London — Queen's guitarist and a doctor of astrophysics. His Red Special, built as a teenager with his father using wood from an old fireplace, produced one of rock's most recognizable sounds, orchestral and singing. From 'Bohemian Rhapsody' to 'We Will Rock You', his guitar is Queen's second voice.
Brian May
Queen
1941
Vikki Carr is born: the Chicana who succeeded in English and then again in Spanish
On July 19, 1941, Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martínez Cardona was born in Texas to Mexican immigrant parents. As Vikki Carr she strung together English-language hits through the sixties and sang for three United States presidents. Then she did what almost nobody did: she switched to Spanish and recorded rancheras and ballads that made her enormous in Mexico and across Latin America. She won three Grammys and founded scholarships for Chicano students.
Vikki Carr
1947
Bernie Leadon is born, the country root that founded the Eagles
On July 19, 1947, Bernie Leadon was born in Minnesota — a bluegrass multi-instrumentalist who co-founded the Eagles and gave their early records banjo, pedal steel and country credibility. Fed up with the band's rock direction and lifestyle, he quit in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. His mark remains on all Californian country-rock.
Bernie Leadon
Eagles
1954
The day Sun Records lit the fuse: Elvis's first single comes out
On July 19, 1954, Sun Records released 'That's All Right', the first single by a 19-year-old Memphis truck driver named Elvis Presley. The song had been born almost by accident two weeks earlier, when Elvis launched into Arthur Crudup's blues during a studio break and Sam Phillips knew he had something new on his hands. The single barely made noise outside Memphis, but it lit the fuse of a revolution: rock and roll had just found its first great star. Few dates on the calendar carry as much weight in the history of this music.
Elvis Presley
1986
"Rumors" hits number one and the group destroys itself arguing over money
On July 19, 1986, "Rumors" topped the rhythm and blues chart. It had been recorded by high school students from Berkeley calling themselves Timex Social Club, over a minimal backing track with a lyric mocking neighbourhood gossip. It sold more than a million copies and the group fell apart almost immediately in a fight over splitting the money. Half of them left and formed Club Nouveau, which had another number one the following year.
Timex Social Club
1868
Florence Foster Jenkins is born: the soprano who filled Carnegie Hall without being able to sing
On July 19, 1868, Florence Foster Jenkins was born in Pennsylvania — an heiress who convinced herself she had a soprano voice and gave recitals for decades to audiences who came to laugh while she believed she was triumphing. Her friends bought up the tickets and hid the bad reviews. In 1944, aged 76, she filled Carnegie Hall. She died a month later. Her recordings are still reissued, and not exactly as documents of technical excellence.
Florence Foster Jenkins
1937
Karen Dalton is born: the singer Dylan admired and who hated recording
On July 19, 1937, Karen Dalton was born in Oklahoma — a singer of Cherokee descent who arrived in 1960s Greenwich Village with a twelve-string banjo and a cracked voice Bob Dylan called his favourite on the whole scene. She loathed studios: she made only two albums, and the first was captured almost behind her back. She died poor and ill in 1993, and her work only began to be valued twenty years after her death.
Karen Dalton
Bob Dylan
1952
Allen Collins is born: the guitarist who wrote "Free Bird" and survived the plane
On July 19, 1952, Allen Collins was born in Jacksonville — guitarist and co-writer of "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama" with Lynyrd Skynyrd. He survived the 1977 plane crash that killed three bandmates, and years later a car crash in which he was driving killed his wife and left him paralysed. He spent his last years directing the band from a wheelchair, unable to play. He died in 1990, aged 37.
Allen Collins
Lynyrd Skynyrd
1976
Mark IV goes dark: Deep Purple announces its breakup
On July 19, 1976, Deep Purple's breakup was officially announced, following David Coverdale's departure and a final tour marked by exhaustion. The band that had defined hard rock with 'Machine Head' and 'Made in Japan' arrived worn out after years of lineup changes and internal tensions. The silence would last eight years, until the classic lineup reunited in 1984. That farewell closed the first era of one of heavy rock's most influential groups.
Deep Purple
1986
Ex-bandmates duel at the top: Genesis scores its only US number one
On July 19, 1986, 'Invisible Touch' took Genesis to number one on the Hot 100 for the first and only time in their career. The historical curiosity sat one spot below: that same week, Peter Gabriel — the singer who had left the band a decade earlier — held number two with 'Sledgehammer'. Never before had two sides of the same story crowded the top of the American charts like that. The episode sealed the remarkable double commercial triumph of the Genesis diaspora at the height of eighties pop.
Genesis
Phil Collins
Peter Gabriel
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