This Day in Music
On this day in music, July 22, 1977, Elvis Costello released his debut album, My Aim Is True, in the UK via Stiff Records. The artist, who was born Declan McManus in London, was accompanied by members of the San Francisco country rock band Clover, who had moved to the UK, though their names were omitted from the credits due to record company politics. My Aim Is True marked Costello’s first of five LPs helmed by producer Nick Lowe and featured such enduring favorites as “Alison” and “The Angels Wanna Wear My Shoes.”
In 2006, the late country legend Johnny Cash scored the second and final chart-topping LP of his career with the Rick Rubin-produced American V: A Hundred Highways, released nearly four years after his death. Rubin, who had signed the aging country star to his American label in 1994, added the instrumental parts to pre-existing vocal tracks after Cash’s death. Cash first topped The Billboard 200 more than three decades earlier with At San Quentin.
In 2019, 81-year-old singer, songwriter, and keyboardist, Art Neville, passed away. The New Orleans-born artist rose to fame in the late 60s with The Meters, scoring such instrumental hits as “Sophisticated Cissy” and “Cissy Strut.” After the group split in 1977, Neville joined his siblings to form the Neville Brothers, whose track “Healing Chant” from 1989’s Yellow Moon won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Neville also appeared on tracks by Paul McCartney, Labelle, and Robert Palmer.
In 1989, American singer and actress Martika scored her sole US chart-topper with “Toy Soldiers,” a song about drug addiction that was a No. 5 smash in the UK. Born Marta Marrero in California, Martika attracted the interest of Prince, who worked with her in 1991 on her second and final studio album, Martika’s Kitchen.
In 2005, Eugene Record, a founder member of the Chicago-based R&B harmony group The Chi-Lites, died of cancer at the age of 64. Famed for his falsetto voice, Record led the group on 43 R&B chart hits between 1969 and 1998, including the two early 70s No.1s “Have You Seen Her” and “Oh Girl.” Record also put out three solo albums.
In 2019, Queen‘s iconic “Bohemian Rhapsody” video reached one billion views on YouTube, making it the first pre-1990s visual to reach the milestone on the platform. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was also named the most Googled song of 2018.
BORN ON JULY 22
1941: George Clinton (Parliament-Funkadelic)
1944: Rick Davies (Supertramp)
1947: Don Henley (Eagles)
1961: Keith Sweat
1963: Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls)
1964: Will Calhoun (Living Colour)
1967: Pat Badger (Extreme)
1973: Daniel Jones (Savage Garden)
1973: Rufus Wainwright
1992: Selena Gomez
