Brooklyn Music Milestones – March 2015

Leader of the Pack Playbill Courtesy of Wikipedia

March 11, 1972: Brooklyn Heights’ own Harry Chapin releases his first studio album, Heads & Tales. Featuring his brother Steve Chapin on keyboards and fellow Brooklynite Timothy Scott on cello, the LP includes the iconic song Taxi.

March 17, 1972: Harry Nilsson’s rendition of Without You completes a four-week run as the top single in the U.S. The Bushwick native’s only number one hit will remain in the top 40 for five more weeks.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

March 28, 1995: The release of Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version marked the solo debut of East New York native Ol’ Dirty Bastard, following his departure from Wu-Tang Clan. The album will peak at number seven on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop charts.

April 8, 1985: Ellie Greenwich’s autobiographical musical, Leader of the Pack opens on Broadway at the Ambassador Theater. Starring Greenwich herself and fellow Brooklynite Annie Golden (The Shirts), as well as pop legend Darlene Love, it features more than a dozen hit songs and originals written or co-written by Greenwich, including Be My Baby, Baby I Love You, I Can Hear Music and the title tune, all sung by Golden; Greenwich’s own renditions of Maybe I Know and Da Doo Ron Ron, and several numbers by Love.

April 8-14, 1955: Alan Freed and His Rock ‘n Roll Easter Jubilee — the first of the legendary deejay’s 19 holiday extravaganzas at Downtown Brooklyn’s Paramount Theatre —  features local sensations The Three Chuckles along with The Penguins and La Vern Baker, among others.

April 17, 1976: Shannon, Sha Na Na co-founder Henry Gross’s only top 10 solo hit, reaches number six on the Billboard singles charts. Twenty-eight years later the song reaches a new audience when it is included on the soundtrack of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

April 28, 1979: Co-written by Midwood native Chris Stein and his bandmate/soulmate Deborah Harry, Heart of Glass becomes Blondie’s first number one single. Stein would later give much credit for the song’s success to Jimmy Destri, the group’s Boro Park-born keyboard player, for his synthesizer work and use of a CR78 drum machine.