David Bowie and members of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Who and Pink Floyd are among those who'll be honored with blue historic marker plaques that are posted at British locations with ties to famous people.
47 music-related sites were announced in advance of today's (Thursday's) BBC Music Day. Blue plaques have been around since 1863, but popular-music-related spots are a relatively recent addition. Here are some of this year's highlights:
- Led Zeppelin - Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle, where the band played its first British gig on October 4th, 1968, and the house where John Bonham was born in Headless Cross, Redditch, Worcestershire.
- David Bowie - Trident Studios in London, where he recorded Hunky Dory; Royal Star Arcade in Maidstone, where his early group The Manish Boys regularly played the Royal Star Hotel Ballroom; and Hull Paragon [Train] Station, where his band The Spiders From Mars "left for many musical adventures" with Bowie.
- The Beatles - The Fox and Hound Pub in Caversham, where John Lennon and Paul McCartney played their only duo gig as The Nerk Twins on April 23rd, 1960.
- The Who - The Royal British Legion in Gloucester, to commemorate the career of their late bassist John Entwistle, who owned a home in Gloucestershire from 1976 until his death in 2002.
- Pink Floyd - The Cambridge School of Art in Cambridge, attended by founding guitarist Syd Barrett.
- Small Faces, Humble Pie - Beehive Cottage in Morton, the house where their late frontman Steve Marriott lived between 1968 and 1977.
- Motorhead - Port Vale Football Club in Stoke-on-Trent, which adopted the band's "Ace of Spades" as its anthem, to celebrate their late frontman Lemmy.
- ABBA - The Brighton Dome in Brighton, where their career was kick-started when they won the Eurovision Song Contest there.