This Day In Rock History: March 30th
1963: 16-year-old Lesley Gore recorded her debut hit single “It’s My Party” at Bell Sound Studios in Manhattan. First recorded by The Chiffons in 1962 and Helen Shapiro in 1963, it was Gore’s version that eventually reached #1 in the following Summer (June 1). Gore later recalled that the song was one of roughly two hundred demos brought to her home by producer Quincy Jones, and out of the bunch, it was the only one the two found agreeable. The evening after Gore had finished her recording, Jones happened to meet producer Phil Spector at a Carnegie Hall concert, and learned that Spector had also intended to have the song recorded by The Crystals. Jones skipped the concert and spent the rest of the night pressing one hundred copies of the record to send out to radio programmers across the US. By the next weekend, Gore began hearing her record on the air. The official release came out later that month and rose to #1 a month later. Written by freelance songwriter Seymour Gottlieb, the song was based on actual events related to Gottlieb’s daughter’s 16th birthday party, before which she cried over the prospect of her grandparents being invited.
1994: Pink Floyd played their first concert in over five years to open the North American leg of their Division Bell Tour before more than 54,000 fans in Miami. It ended up being the band’s final tour.
source: wwcfradio
