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Today in Music History

July, 17

  • 2000 British vocalist Paul Young, who sand with Mike And The Mechanics and Sad CafĂ©, dies of a heart attack in Chesire, U.K. He is 53.
  • 1998 Marc Hunter, lead singer with Dragon, dies after a nine-month battle with throat cancer. He is 44. New Zealand-born Hunter is one of Australia’s most flamboyant performers, known as much for his off-stage antics as for his Dragon chart-toppers, such as “April Sun In Cuba,” “Get That Jive,” and “Rain.”
  • 1996 Musician and manager Chas (Bryan) Chandler dies at the age of 57.
  • 1974 The Moody Blues open the first quadraphonic studio in London.
  • 1968 The full-length animated film “Yellow Submarine,” with songs by the Beatles, premieres in London.
  • 1959 Jazz singer Billie Holiday dies. She posthumously receives a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 and three of her recordings receive Grammy Hall of Fame Awards: “Strange Fruit” (1939), “God Bless the Child” (1941) and “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” (1945). The 1972 film “Lady Sings the Blues“ is based on her life.
  • 1958 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Hard Headed Woman,” Elvis Presley. The song is taken from the Presley film “King Creole.”
  • 1932 Composer Niccolo Castiglioni is born.