SANDY KOZEL

Jerry Lee Lewis turned 87 September 29th.

  Willie Mae Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984 

Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” (1956) is one of the biggest and
most instantly recognizable pop songs in history. It’s a song
so closely associated with the King of Rock and Roll, in fact,
that many may mistakenly assume that it was a Presley original.
In fact, the story of the song that gave Elvis his longest-running
#1 hit (11 weeks) in the summer of 1956 began four years earlier,
when “Hound Dog” was recorded for the very first time by the
rhythm-and-blues singer Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton in
Los Angeles, California. According to Maureen Mahon, a music
professor at New York University,"the song is seen as an
important beginning of rock-and-roll, especially in its use of
the guitar as the key instrument".

Thornton was found dead at age 57 by medical personnel in a
Los Angeles boarding house on July 25, 1984. She died of heart
and liver disorders due to her longstanding alcohol abuse.

SANDY KOZEL

The Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania, a civilian ship, was
sunk by a German submarine on this day in 1915, killing
1,201 people. It sank in 18 minutes.

The Bob Dylan’s "Like a Rolling Stone" was recorded as
part of the sessions for the forthcoming album Highway
61 Revisited. The song reached No. 2 in the Billboard
charts (No. 1 in Cashbox) and became a worldwide hit.