This Day in Music History: March 17

March 17, 2017

We cover all sorts of news, facts and historical and interesting facts that happened on this day in music history.

 

Today: March 17.

 

1957: Elvis Presley bought the Graceland mansion from Mrs Ruth Brown-Moore for the amount of $102,500. (£60,295). The mansion which was 23 room, 10,000 square foot and 13.8 acres of land, was expanded to 17,552 square feet of living space before Elvis moved in a few weeks later. The original building had at one time been a place of worship, used by the Graceland Christian Church and was named after the builder's daughter, Grace Toof.

 

1967: The Beatles finished the recording of 'She's Leaving Home' when they were working at Abbey Road studios in Londonafter. They just finished adding backing vocals to the track. Harpist Sheila Bromberg who was part of the string section on the track, became the first woman that played on a Beatles recording.

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1978: U2 won £500 ($850) and a chance to audition for CBS Ireland in a talent contest that was held in Dublin. The Limerick Civic Week Pop '78 Competition was sponsored by The Evening Express and Guinness Harp Lager.

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1979: Gloria Gaynor started a four-week run at the top of the UK singles chart with 'I Will Survive.' The song was originally released as the B-side to the song 'Substitute', which was first recorded by The Righteous Brothers.

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1979: The Bee Gees topped the UK album chart with 'Spirits Having Flown', their fifteenth studio album release. The album's first three tracks were released as singles and all of them topped the US chart. This gave the Bee Gees an unbroken run of six US chart-toppers, which tied a record set by The Beatles.

 

1984: 'Jump' by Van Halen peaked at No.1 on the US chart. Over the years, David Lee Roth has given various explanations to the meaning of the song, but most often he said that the song was about a TV news story he saw where a man was about to kill himself by jumping off a building.

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2008: Ola Brunkert, the former drummer of the Swedish band ABBA, was found dead with his throat cut at his home in Majorca, Spain. He died after he hitting his head against a glass door in the dining room at his home. Brunkert was found dead in his garden after he tried to seek for help. He had played on every Abba album and had toured with the group. He was 62 years old.

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Think we left some interesting fact out? You have anything to add? Is there anything else worth mentioning that happened on this day in music history? Write us in the comments below.

 

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