ROD THE MOD DAY
Born Roderick David Stewart on this day in 1945, the 5th son of Robert and Elsie Stewart spent his happy childhood doing what he did best: playing football (soccer) and singing. He excelled at the first, becoming captain of his school’s team. Then, for his 14th birthday, Rod’s father bought him a guitar.
That was the start of something big. Music auditions and emulating British and American folk artists convinced young Rod that he needed to play a harmonica. Soon he was singing with The Ray Davies Quartet (The Kinks) as their lead singer – only to irritate some with his now signature scratchy voice.
He was just 18 when he took on another signature – his spiked hairstyle – and earned the nickname, Rod the Mod! From folk music, to rock ‘n’ roll, to rhythm and blues, Stewart was running the gamut of popular music and writing some of his own. However, he wasn’t winning attention in any area until he joined the group, Faces. Going solo in 1969 led to the beginning of winning in every direction for the throaty, extremely versatile singer. From the international smash hit, Maggie May to the even bigger hit, Tonight’s the Night to the 1978 chart-topper, Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, Rod Stewart was charming audiences around the globe. Two more decades of hit songs followed, including a version of Have I told You Lately that made one think Rod was singing only to you.
It would be hard to recognize that the seemingly quiet, retiring artist singing just to you was the same man who performed in 1994 at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro to the largest concert crowd in history: 3.5 million fans celebrating New Year’s Eve and Rod Stewart.
And, although he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Rod Stewart was never awarded with a Grammy (he had 14 nominations) until 2005 when his Stardust… The Great American Songbook, Volume III was voted the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. It was also the first time in 25 years that he had another #1 hit. That same year, Rod Stewart was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Today, audiences the world over have made the man with the most distinctive voice in pop music an icon and have purchased way more than 100 million of his records. Rod the Mod fifth decade as a performeris still singing, selling more records and gaining new fans.
1949 - The Radio Corporation of America, sometimes known as RCA, announced a new 7-inch, 45-rpm phonograph record. Soon, the 45, the record with the big hole in the middle, would change the pop music business. RCA even manufactured a record player that played only 45s -- with a fat spindle that made “stacking wax” real simple and automatic for those romantic times when hands were just too busy to be flippin’ records.
1956 - Elvis Presley recorded his first tunes as an RCA Victor artist. Recording in Nashville, Elvis sang Heartbreak Hotel, I Got a Woman and Money Honey. Heartbreak Hotel was #1 by April 11, 1956 and stayed there for eight weeks. It was #1 on the pop and rhythm and blues charts and number five on the country music list.
1960 - Marty Robbins’ hit tune, El Paso, held the record for the longest #1 song to that time. The song ran 4 minutes and 20 seconds, giving many radio station program directors fits; because the average record length at that time was around 2 minutes, and formats didn’t allow for records much longer than that, (e.g., 2-minute record, 3 minutes for commercials, 60 seconds for promo, 2-minute record, etc.). DJs got used to the longer length quickly, however, realizing it gave them time, before the record ended, to actually think of something to say next..
1969 - Elvis Presley’s single, Don’t Cry Daddy, entered the Top 10 on the pop charts this day. If you listened to this song carefully, you’d hear a vocal duet with country artist Ronnie Milsap.
1976 - C.W. McCall’s Convoy was the #1 single in the U.S. -- on both pop and country charts. “Ah, breaker one-nine, this here’s the Rubber Duck ... You gotta copy on me, Pig Pen, c’mon? Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, fer shure, fer shure. By golly, it’s clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon. Yeah, that’s a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy...”
1984 - Cyndi Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry [1967] to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Lauper went one better for copping the award for Worst Hair Coloring by a Woman on the Planet. Girls Just Want to Have Fun ya know... fer sure.
1984 - “WHERE’S THE BEEF?” Clara Peller was first seen by TV viewers this day in the famous and successful commercial campaign for Wendy’s fast-food chain. Dave Thomas spent $8 million on the ads that promoted hamburger sales plus T-shirts, baseball caps, records, greeting cards and countless other items bearing the picture of the elderly cult star.
1996 - The third day of the ‘Blizzard of ’96’ saw the northeastern U.S. buried under 1.5 to 3 feet of snow. The big storm caused $1 billion in damage and killed 100 people. New York City had the heaviest snowfall in 48 years. Quick, let’s go make snow angels.
1997 - These films debuted in U.S. theatres: Evita (“The Most Anticipated Motion Picture Event of The Year”), starring Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce and Jimmy Nail; Jackie Chan’s First Strike (“Jackie Chan fights for America in his biggest action film ever.”; The Relic (“They did the unthinkable. They brought it back.”), with Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt and James Whitmore; and Turbulence (“If you weren’t afraid of flying before, you will be now.”, starring Ray Liotta Lauren Holly Hector Elizondo Brendan Gleeson.
1943 - Jim Croce
singer, songwriter: You Don’t Mess Around with Jim, Time in a Bottle, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, I’ve Got a Name; killed in plane crash Sep 20, 1973
1944 - Frank Sinatra Jr.
singer: It’s All Right; bandleader; died Mar 16, 2016
1945 - Rod Stewart
singer, musician: Maggie May, Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?; [see Rod the Mod Day - above]
1949 - George Foreman
boxer: oldest heavyweight champion at age 45 [Nov 5, 1994]; commercial pitchman
1953 - Pat Benatar
Grammy award-winning singer: Crimes of Passion [1980], and Fire and Ice [1981], Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Chart
It Might as Well Be Spring - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy
Williams)I Can’t Begin to Tell You - Bing Crosby with the Carmen CavallaroOrchestraWhite Cross on Okinawa - Bob Wills1954Changing Partners - Patti PageThe Gang that Sang ‘Heart of My Heart’ - The Four AcesBimbo - Jim Reeves
1962
The Lion Sleeps Tonight - The Tokens
The Twist - Chubby CheckerPeppermint Twist - Joey Dee & The StarlitersWalk on By - Leroy Van Dyke
1970
Raindrop Keep Fallin’ on My Head - B.J. ThomasI Want You Back - The Jackson 5Baby, (Baby I Know You’re a Lady) - David Houston
1978
How Deep is Your Love - Bee GeesBaby Come Back - Player
You're In My Heart - Rod StewartTake This Job and Shove It - Johnny Paycheck
1986
Say You, Say Me - Lionel RichieParty All the Time - Eddie MurphyThat’s What Friends are For - Dionne & Friends