Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 2
1997
Fela Kuti dies, the rebel president of Afrobeat
On August 2, 1997, Fela Kuti died in Lagos at 58. Inventor of Afrobeat alongside drummer Tony Allen, he turned every song into a rally against Nigeria's dictatorships, paying for his insolence with prisons and beatings. A million people saw off his coffin. His hypnotic groove beats today inside half of global pop, from hip-hop to electronica.
Fela Kuti
Listen
Via YouTube
1937
Garth Hudson is born, the organ sage who illuminated The Band
On August 2, 1937, Garth Hudson was born in Ontario — the classically trained multi-instrumentalist who gave The Band its rural-cathedral depth. His organ on 'Chest Fever' and his textures on 'The Weight' turned wooden songs into sonic architecture. Quiet and encyclopedic, he was the secret weapon of the group that taught America to sound like itself.
Garth Hudson
The Band
Listen
Via YouTube
1955
Butch Vig is born, the producer who gave grunge its shape
On August 2, 1955, Bryan 'Butch' Vig was born in Wisconsin, the man behind the console on Nirvana's 'Nevermind', the record that changed the course of rock in the nineties. From his modest Smart Studios in Madison he also polished Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth, translating alternative noise into a language radio could not ignore. He later crossed to the other side of the glass as Garbage's drummer, selling millions of records. Few producers defined the sound of a decade so completely.
Butch Vig
Nirvana
Garbage
Listen
Via YouTube
1983
James Jamerson dies: the invisible bassist who held up all of Motown
On August 2, 1983, James Jamerson died in Los Angeles aged 47 from complications of cirrhosis, heart failure and pneumonia. As the Funk Brothers' bassist he played on 23 Billboard Hot 100 number ones and 56 R&B chart-toppers, almost always without his name on the sleeve. His bass line didn't accompany the song — it answered back. Nobody ever sold that many records while staying that anonymous.
James Jamerson
The Funk Brothers
Listen
Via YouTube
2014
Rosetta Hightower dies: the voice that got the wah-watusi dancing
On August 2, 2014, Rosetta Hightower died in Clapham, London, aged 70. As lead singer of The Orlons she strung together three gold singles for Philadelphia's Cameo-Parkway in the early sixties: 'The Wah-Watusi', 'Don't Hang Up' and 'South Street'. When the group folded she crossed the Atlantic and became a session backing vocalist in England — the trade that props up other people's records. Huge on the radio, invisible in the credits.
Rosetta Hightower
The Orlons
Listen
Via YouTube
1951
Joe Lynn Turner is born, the melodic voice of Rainbow and Deep Purple
On August 2, 1951, Joe Lynn Turner was born in New Jersey, the singer who gave Rainbow its most radio-friendly era. With him at the microphone, 'Stone Cold' became the first American Top 40 hit for Ritchie Blackmore's band, with heavy rotation on MTV. He later recorded with Yngwie Malmsteen and joined Deep Purple for 'Slaves and Masters'. His melodic range proved that hard rock could also be sung in silk.
Joe Lynn Turner
Rainbow
Listen
Via YouTube
1961
Pete de Freitas is born, the human pulse of Echo & the Bunnymen
On August 2, 1961, Pete de Freitas was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the drummer who in 1979 replaced Echo & the Bunnymen's drum machine. His elegant, powerful touch carried the Liverpool band's first five albums, including classics like 'Ocean Rain'. That switch from machine to musician turned the Bunnymen into one of post-punk's great live bands. He died in 1989, at 27, in a motorcycle accident.
Pete de Freitas
Echo & the Bunnymen
Listen
Via YouTube
1980
'diana' tops the chart and Diana Ross wins her fight with Chic
On August 2, 1980, 'diana' was the number one R&B album in the United States. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic had produced it, but Ross remixed the whole record behind their backs, trimming the instrumental passages and speeding up the tempos. Both producers threatened to pull their names from the credits. It sold over ten million copies and left behind 'I'm Coming Out', which became an anthem of the gay movement. She was right.
Diana Ross
Nile Rodgers
Bernard Edwards
Listen
Via YouTube
1987
Billy Joel opens three nights of rock behind the Iron Curtain in Leningrad
On August 2, 1987, Billy Joel opened the first of three nights at Leningrad's Lenin Sport & Concert Complex, the closing leg of a Soviet run that had begun six days earlier in Moscow. He paid out of his own pocket to bring his full production and refused to scale the show down: he wanted it to sound like a rock concert, not a diplomatic gesture. The audience, who had spent decades hearing those songs on bootleg copies, carried him out of the arena on their shoulders. Those nights produced the live album 'Kohuept' and the song 'Leningrad'.
Billy Joel
Listen
Via YouTube
1997
'Supa Dupa Fly' hits number one and hip-hop changes shape
On August 2, 1997, 'Supa Dupa Fly' topped Billboard's R&B and hip-hop albums chart. It was Missy Elliott's debut, cut in little over a week in Virginia Beach and produced entirely by Timbaland, with those stuttering rhythms that sounded as if the beat were missing pieces on purpose. It was the highest debut by a female rapper up to then, and it erased the handful of roles the genre had reserved for a woman.
Missy Elliott
Timbaland
Listen
Via YouTube
One ephemeris a day, one editorial a week. Zero spam, pure archive.