Diana Ross the former lead singer of the vocal group the
Supremes, became Motown‘s most successful act during
the 1960s and one of the world’s best-selling girl groups
of all time.
They remain the best-charting female group in history,
with a total of 12 number-one pop singles on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100.
On July 9, 1962, folk singer Bob Dylan walked into a studio and
recorded the song that would make him a star: “Blowin’ In The
Wind.”
“This here ain’t no protest song or anything like that, ’cause I
don’t write no protest songs.” That was how Dylan introduced
one of the most eloquent protest songs ever written when he
first performed it
publicly. It was the spring of his first full year in New York City,
and he was onstage at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village,
talking about “Blowin’ In The Wind,” a song he claims to have
written in just 10 minutes.
Dylan’s recording of “Blowin’ In The Wind” would first be released
nearly a full year later, on his breakthrough album, The Freewheelin’
Bob Dylan.
This was not the version of the song that most people would first
hear, however. That honor went to the cover version by Peter, Paul
and Mary—a version that not only became a smash hit on the pop
charts, but also transformed what Dylan would later call “just
another song” into the unofficial anthem of the civil rights
movement.
Bob Dylan (84)
"Rock Around the Clock" was a Last-Minute Addition to
the recording session.
On April 12, 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded
“(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” at a Decca
recording session in New York City.
If rock and roll was a social and cultural revolution,
then “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” was
its Declaration of Independence. And if Bill Haley
was not exactly the revolution’s Thomas Jefferson,
it may be fair to call him its John Hancock.
The song was chosen to play over the opening
credits of the film Blackboard Jungle, which is
how it became a pop sensation, selling a million
copies in a single month in the spring of 1955.
![Panic - Bill Haley & The Comets [HQ Audio] - YouTube](https://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/yaCSRC5IMgc/hq720.jpg?resize=530%2C298&ssl=1)
William (Bill) John Clifton Haley
(July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981)
SANDY KOZEL
On July 5, 1975, Arthur Ashe defeated the heavily favored Jimmy Connors to became the first African-American male ever to win Wimbledon, the most coveted championship in tennis.
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr.
(July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993)
By the spring of 1965, Bob Dylan’s presence in the world of
music was beginning to be felt well outside the boundaries
of his nominal genre. Within the world of folk music, he had
been hailed as a hero for several years already, but now his
music was capturing the attention and influencing the
direction of artists like the Byrds, the Beatles and even a
young Stevie Wonder.
With Dylan as a direct inspiration, popular music was about
to change its direction, but so was Dylan himself. On June
16, 1965, on their second day of recording at Columbia
Records’ Studio A in Manhattan, he and a band featuring
electric guitars and an organ laid down the master take of
the song that would announce that change: “Like A Rolling
Stone.” It would prove to be “folksinger” Bob Dylan’s
magnum opus and, arguably, the greatest rock and roll
record of all time.
Bob Dylan had his 83rd birthday in May.
