Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for September 26th

Mrs. Orbison inspires a chart-topper -- Remembering a singer who was mighty hard to pin down -- A b'day for one of the U.K.'s most stylishly influential...

9/26/1964 (52 years ago today) - Roy Orbison begins three weeks at No. 1 with the almost-beyond-description joy that is the "Oh Pretty Woman" single. Know where the title came from? Orbison's wife Claudette interrupted a conversation to announce she was going out; when the future Wilbury inquired if she needed any cash, his co-writer Bill Dees interjected "A pretty woman never needs any money". Presto!!! (The Everly Brothers cover of Roy's "Claudette" is pretty classic, too!)

9/26/2003 (13 years ago today) - There wasn't any kind of music this guy couldn't tackle and turn into something special: British singer-songwriter Robert Palmer passed away on this date after suffering a heart attack in Paris; he was just 54 years old. Musically unstoppable and fearless: from the gritty R&B of his first band Vinegar Joe, to the Little Feat funk of "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley", to the infectious rasta covers of Toots & the Maytals ("Pressure Drop") -- whether it was swooning, swirling orchestral ballads ("Give Me An Inch"), German electro-synth experiments ("Johnny & Mary"), Caribbean dance ("Pride") or classic Top 40 rock ("Bad Case Of Loving You", "Addicted To Love"), Palmer did them all with much convincing finesse. Sorely missed.

9/26/1945 - Happy Birthday to the completely unique Bryan Ferry, 71 years old today. There's not enough room on the web site or enough time in the day to get into just how important Bryan's contributions have been to world of rock and art since Roxy Music's July 1972 debut.  Maybe if you put Bowie 'n' Elvis 'n' Dylan 'n' Lennon/McCartney 'n' Warhol 'n' Picasso 'n' Bogart 'n' Bradbury in a nuclear-powered blender, then turn it up to eleven and run for your life...well, that's pretty much a kind of a start in trying to describe the Bryan Ferry catalog of works. League of his own.

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"Baby Jane's in Acapulco/We are flying down to Rio...", xoxo!