Johnny Nash, Don Webster, Billie Joe Royal and Terry Knight on the Upbeat TV show
I reckon this may turn out to be quite a short post but I couldn’t let this auspicious day pass without wishing a very happy 69th birthday to the supremely talented Mr Johnny Nash. I don’t know which record companies own all his rights now but if you’re reading it’s about time more of his stuff was issued on CD and I’m not talking about yet another greatest hits package! Johnny was born John Lester Nash Jr in Houston Texas on 19th August 1940. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have posted about Johnny a few times before as he is and always will be one of my favourite singers of all time.
I believe that he now lives in Jamaica which is quite fitting as he became the first American to record reggae in Jamaica back in the 60s. I first got into him when I heard his excellent version of Bob Marley’s “Stir It Up“. It was that which also got me into the late great (ls & gs are back again!) Robert Nesta Marley. Johnny was influenced by the late great (ls & g sback with a vengeance now!) Sam Cooke. In fact he recored and had hits with two Cooke songs “(What A) Wonderful World” and “Cupid” If you’ve never really listened much to Johnny do yourself a favour and get yourself a copy of one of the many greatest hits packages available, you won’t regret it!
Johnny appeared to be a big fan of...... grass! 😉
And to make this post just a little longer I’ll add just a few onthisdays for your pleasure. Starting with those well known pensioners the Rolling Stones. On this day in 1964 the Stones played the first of six nights at the New Theatre Ballroom in Guernsey in the Channel Isles. On the very same day the band were told that they had been banned by British United Airways (presumably a forerunner of British Airways) from flying with them, presumably due to bad behaviour. Click here to see some pictures of the Stones soundtracked by what is in my opinion one of their finest songs “Gimme Shelter”
Mick knew he would never be as good a guitar player as Keef, but he would always be the best at making fart noises with his microphone
On this day in 1967 the Beatles had their 14th US number one single with “All You Need Is Love“. Backing vocals on the song were provided by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Marianne Faithfull and Gary Leeds off of the Walker Brothers. Elvis Costello played a reasonable cover of the song at the Wembley leg of Live Aid in July 1985.
In their early days the moptops were so poor that they could only afford one seat between them
And finally, on this day in 1977 the Sex Pistols began an undercover tour of the UK as the Spots. The name was actually an acronym of ‘Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly’ after they had been banned from countless UK venues due to the ridiculous witch hunt engineered by the shabby right wing UK tabloid press. Yep you guessed it I believe that the tabloids are the scum of the earth! Click here to see the Bill Grundy interview with the Pistols that led to those ‘Filth And Fury’ headlines and as a special bonus click here to see the then Johnny Rotten on Juke Box Jury
The Pistols had been banned from so many venues they resorted to playing in rubbish skips!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 