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THE FOLLOWING EVENTS TOOK PLACE ON FEBRUARY 9
1942--Carole King, singer-songwriter and partner of Gerry Goffin, is born in Brooklyn, New York. The songwriting team wrote some of the most popular songs in the 1950s and 1960s. Carole King went on to become a solo artist, recording one of the longest-charting albums of all time, Tapestry.
1945--Actress Mia Farrow is born in Los Angeles, California. Daughter of actress, Margaret O'Sullivan, Farrow would marry a trio of powerful, famous men: Frank Sinatra, composer Andre Previn and filmmaker Woody Allen.
1961--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at lunchtime. Although The Quarry Men had played here three years previously, this is The Beatles' first performance at the club that will become an important part of their legend. Their fee for this day's appearance is £5.
1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at lunchtime and then again at night. They also perform at Technical College Hall, Birkenhead, Cheshire.
1963--On the Helen Shapiro tour, The Beatles perform at the Empire Theatre, Sunderland, Durham, playing for two houses. The first leg of the Shapiro tour is due to finish the next evening with two shows in Peterborough, but The Beatles will be replaced at Peterborough by Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, because The Beatles have a recording session booked in London for February 11, for the purpose of recording their first album.
1964--The Beatles appear live on US television on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Before a live audience of 728 screaming fans, The Beatles perform three songs at the beginning of the program: All My Loving, Till There Was You, and She Loves You. During the second half, on another stage set, they perform I Saw Her Standing There and I Want to Hold Your Hand. During the song Till There Was You, close-ups of each Beatle are shown, with their first names appearing on the screen for each of them. When John's picture and name are shown, there is an additional caption, "Sorry Girls, He's Married." Watching The Beatles that night were 73 million Americans, the largest US television audience for any one show up to that time. That had to have been gratifying to the advertisers whose ads bracketed The Beatles' two sets: Aero Shave, Anacin, Kent, and Pillsbury. Earlier that morning, while The Beatles were rehearsing for their TV appearance, George Harrison was missing, suffering from a sore throat. To help the cameras set up for all four Beatles, Neil Aspinall stood in George's place during the rehearsal. That afternoon, with George back in full swing, The Beatles taped their third appearance on the show, for broadcast by Sullivan on February 23 (after The Beatles had returned to England). The performance was taped before a different live studio audience, with The Beatles performing Twist and Shout, Please Please Me, and I Want to Hold Your Hand. It was surely somewhat bizarre for The Beatles, who had yet to appear on the Sullivan show, to hear their host introducing their "third performance" during the taping, with Sullivan saying, "All of us on the show are so darned sorry, and sincerely sorry, that this is the third and thus our last current show with The Beatles, because these youngsters from Liverpool, England, and their conduct over here, not only as fine professional singers but as a group of fine youngsters, will leave an imprint on everyone over here who's met them..." In addition to this show's first broadcast on February 23, it was repeated on August 23. The Beatles Anthology 1 includes All My Loving from the first Ed Sullivan show (Disc 2, Track 9). CLICK HERE TO SEE A SPECIAL SECTION OF PHOTO ALBUMS AND FEATURES ABOUT THE BEATLES ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW.
1967--The Beatles in the recording studio (Regent Sound Studio, Tottenham Court Road, London). The first Beatles recording session outside of Abbey Road studios since The Beatles signed their recording contract with EMI. They record three takes of Fixing A Hole.
1967--The film for Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever are shown on BBC-TV's Top Of The Pops. It was the first Beatles single not to make No. 1 since 1963, being held off the top by Engelbert Humperdink's Release Me.
1971--Fans celebrate at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, in honor of the 10th anniversary of The Beatles debut there.
1974--John Lennon is featured in the second part of the Melody Maker tribute series, Rock Giants: From A-Z.
1981--Bill Haley dies of natural causes in Harlingen, Texas, at the age of 56. He was one of the first white performers to play R&B and began working the roots of rock and roll in the early fifties. In 1954, he and the Comets released his most famous song, Rock Around The Clock, which did not do well commerically.
1982--George Harrison presented UNICEF with a check for $9 million, 10 years after the fund-raising concert for Bangladesh. He is presented with the UNICEF award by Hugh Downes, the chairman of the US committee for UNICEF. George makes this statement at a press conference: Its nice to know you can achieve these sort of things. Even though the concert was over 10 years ago and the public has probably forgotten about the problems of Bangladesh, the children still probably need help and the money will have significant impact.
1993--Paul McCartney releases his solo album Off the Ground.
For more day-by-day history go to HistoryUnlimited.net
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