July 31

Births

1918: Hank Jones (Jazz Painist)

1923: Ahmet Ertegun (Founder of Atlantic Records)

1931: Kenny Burrell (Jazz Guitarist)

1943: Lobo (Roland Kent LaVoie) (Pop Singer)

1945: Gary Lewis (Vocals & Drums for Gary Lewis and the Playboys)

1946: Bob Welch (Guitar for Fleetwood Mac)

1947: Karl Green (Bass Guitar for Herman's Hermits)

1953: Hugh McDowell (Cello for Electric Light Orchestra)

1957: Daniel Ash (Guitar for Bauhaus)

1958: Bill Berry (Drums for R.E.M)

1963: Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) (Producer & Bass for The Housemartins)

1971: John 5 (John Lowery) (Guitar for Marilyn Manson)

1978: Will Champion (Drums for Coldplay)

Events

1845: France's army gives legitimacy to Belgian Adolphe Sax's latest invention, the saxophone, by including it in their marching band.

1951: Ray Charles marries his first wife, Eileen Williams, a beautician from Chicago, in Fulton County, GA. The marriage lasts only one year.

1959: England's first big rock-era sensation, Cliff Richard, scores his first #1 in that country with "Living Doll," which would eventually go on to sell half a million records.

1964: Country singer Jim Reeves was killed in a plane crash when the single engine aircraft flying from Arkansas to Nashville crashed in thick fog. 41 year- old Reeves was the first country singer to cross- over into the pop market.

1967: The drug conviction appeals of the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, stemming from an earlier marijuana bust in February, are heard in London, with Richards' conviction overturned and Jagger's sentence reduced to probation.

1969: After two hours of opening acts (during which time he grapples with a severe case of stage fright), Elvis Presley debuts his new Vegas show at the International Hotel, his first stage appearance anywhere since 1961. The show goes on at 10:15 pm with a fiery rendition of "Blue Suede Shoes" and is an instant sensation, with the audience, filled with members of the press corps, A-list celebrities, and former Presley associates like Sam Phillips, rapturous in its appraisal. Later that evening manager Colonel Tom Parker renegotiates Elvis' contract on a pink tablecloth in the hotel coffee shop, a contract which will guarantee the singer one million dollars per year through 1974 (minus expenses). Presley's contract holds him to only two months a year, which will allow him to get back out on the road, as well.

1971: After being denied entrance to a Who concert in New York City's Forest Hills Stadium, an ex-convict stabs and kills the security guard.

1976: Blue Oyster Cult release the single "Don't Fear The Reaper".

1977: The Starland Vocal Band of "Afternoon Delight" infamy debut their own summer replacement variety series on CBS.

1979: Donny Osmond's wife, Debra Glenn, gives birth to their first child, Donny Jr.

1980: Mamas and the Papas founder and vocalist "Papa" John Phillips is arrested for possession of cocaine and running a phony prescription scam with a local pharmacy and eventually sentenced to eight years in prison (though this sentence would later be reduced to 30 days in jail and community service).

1980: During An Eagles concert at Long Beach, California, tempers boiled over between Glen Frey and Don Henley, who spent the entire show describing to each other the beating each planned to administer backstage. "Only three more songs until I kick your ass, pal," Frey told Henley. The group’s next album was mixed by Frey and Henley on opposite coasts after the two decided they couldn't bear to be in the same state, let alone the same studio.

1992: Michael Jackson made an unscheduled appearance on his hotel balcony in London after a man had threatened to jump from an apartment building across the street. 28 year-old Eric Herminie told police he would leap to his death if he didn't see Jackson, who was in Britain for a series of concerts. Jackson spent a couple of minutes waving to Herminie, who then climbed back into the building.

1994: Aaliyah and R. Kelly secretly married at the Sheraton Gateway Suites, Rosemont, IL. Aaliyah never admitted being married, though Vibe published a copy of the marriage certificate. Unfortunately, she was only 15 at the time, so thus the marriage was later annulled.

1995: Selena's "Dreaming of You" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. It was her first English album. Selena became the first Latin artist to debut at No. 1.

1995: Jamaica issues a commemorative series of postage stamps honoring local native and reggae legend Bob Marley.

1999: Christina Aguilera scored her first US No.1 single with 'Genie In A Bottle', also No.1 in the UK. The song spent 5 weeks at No.1 on the US chart and won Aguilera the Best New Artist Grammy for the year.

1999: Wu-Tang Clan member Ol Dirty Bastard, (real name Russell Jones) was arrested for crack and marijuana possession in New York after being stopped by police during a routine traffic offence.

2004: The city of Lubbock, TX, declares today "Mac Davis Day" after its hometown singer-songwriter. Mayor Marc McDougal also dedicates a section of Avenue O as "Mac Davis Lane."

2004:  R&B Singer Mark Morrison was arrested after a fracas at Leicester's After Dark night-club in which his platinum and diamond medallion was stolen. Morrison said he was the victim and complained of wrongful arrest, unlawful imprisonment and police assault. A $40,000 reward for the return of the pendant was offered by the singer's record label.

July 30

Births

1929: Christine McGuire (Singer in The McGuire Sisters)

1936: Buddy Guy (Blues Guitarist & Singer)

1941: Paul Anka (Pop Singer)

1945: David Sanborn (Jazz Sax Player)

1946: Jeffrey Hammond (Bass for Jethro Tull)

1957: Rat Scabies (Chris Miller) (Drums for The Damned)

1958: Kate Bush (Singer / Songwriter)

1972:Brad Hargraves (Drums for Third Eye Blind)

Events

1942: Frank Sinatra ends his association with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra, recording the last two of over 90 songs before moving on to great acclaim as a solo star at Columbia.

1954: Elvis Presley makes his first official concert appearance as a solo act, opening for Slim Whitman at Memphis' Overton Park Shell outdoor auditorium, billed third as "Ellis Presley" and performing "That's All Right, Mama," "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," and "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')." In the middle of the first song, a badly stage-frightened Elvis unconsciously begins to duplicate a move he usually made in the studio, shaking his leg in time with the music. The crowd of (mostly) girls goes absolutely wild, confusing Elvis and his band.

1968: The Beatles' Apple Boutique, a psychedelic clothing store located at 94 Baker Street in London, closes for business after seven months of bad business practices and rampant theft. With the group and its intimates having had the pick of the remaining inventory the night before, Apple Boutique employees are instructed to simply let people in off the street to take whatever merchandise they like. The store was closed that evening for good.

1969: The Beatles, producer George Martin, and the Abbey Road engineers assemble the first rough cut of the proposed Abbey Road medley. Paul McCartney, feeling that the song "Her Majesty" distracts from the flow of the medley, has it removed and orders it erased. Second engineer John Kurlander, not wanting to destroy a Beatles song, instead appends it to the end of the medley tape, adding 15 seconds of leader to make sure it's kept separate. When he finds out, Paul likes the effect so much that he leaves the ending of the album just that way.

1978: Glen Goine, singer and guitarist with Parliament / Funkadelic died from Hodgkin's Lymphoma aged 24. Had the 1978 US No.16 album 'One Nation Under A Groove'.

1986: Boy George was fined $500 by a London court for possession of heroin.

1986: Variety reports that RCA has fired John Denver after learning of his new single, entitled "What Are We Making Weapons For?" General Electric, which had just bought out RCA, was one of the country's largest defense contractors.

1991: A police officer was forced to tear up a traffic ticket given to the limousine that Axl Rose was travelling in after it made an illegal turn. Rose threatened to pull that nights Guns N' Roses gig if the ticket was issued.

1993: Founder member and original bassist for The Wonder Stuff, Rob Jones died in New York aged 29. Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff had the 1991 UK No.1 with 'Dizzy', (a No.1 for Tommy Roe in 1969).

2003: In order to prove that the city is still safe to visit after a recent SARS outbreak, Toronto, Canada puts on the largest concert in the country's history, a massive open-air extravagaza featuring The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, Rush, The Isley Brothers, The Flaming Lips and Justin Timberlake, among others. Total attendance is somewhere around 450,000.

2003: Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records and studio, died of respiratory failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a DJ for Muscle Shoals, Alabama radio station WLAY. Phillips recorded what some consider to be the first rock and roll record, ‘Rocket 88’ by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats in 1951. He discovered Elvis Presley, worked with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Ike Turner, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis.

2004: While walking around London, the Isley Brothers' Ronald Isley suffers a minor stroke and is admitted to a local hospital. He recovers in a matter of just a few weeks.

2006: Shakira feat Wyclef Jean started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hips Don't Lie.’ A remake of Wyclef Jean's 2004 song 'Dance Like This', the song went on to top the charts in over 50 countries. The song is the biggest selling single of the 21st century by a female artist worldwide. 

July 29

Births

1946: Neal Doughty (Keyboards for REO Speedwagon)

1953: Geddy Lee (Bass & Vocals for Rush)

1953: Patti Sciafa (Background Singer for Rolling Stones & Bruce Springsteen)

1959: John Sykes (Guitar for Thin Lizzy, Audioslave & Whitesnake)

1962: Martin McCarrick (Guitar for Therapy?)

1966: Martina McBride (Country Singer)

1973: Wanya Morris (Vocals for Boyz II Men)

1977: Danger Mouse (Brian Joseph Burton ) (Producer)

Events

1959: The Isley Brothers recorded the hit single "Shout".

1961: Dick Clark presents his very first Caravan of Stars revue at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ, featuring The Jive Five, the Shirelles, and Clarence "Frogman" Henry.

1963: Capitol Records sends disc jockeys around the US a list of hot rod terms to assist DJs when talking about the latest music trend to help promote The Beach Boys latest release ‘Little Deuce Coupe’.

1963: Peter, Paul and Mary release the single "Blowin' In The Wind".

1965: The Beatles' second movie, Help!, premieres in London at the Pavilion Theatre, with none other than the Queen attending. (Though reviews are mixed, the movie is a financial success.) Later, manager Brian Epstein and the group attend a post-premiere reception at the Dorchester Hotel.

1966: While out riding his Triumph 500 motorbike near Woodstock, NY, Bob Dylan's brakes lock up, causing him to fly of the bike, seriously injuring his neck vertebrae. Dylan was absent from the public spotlight for a full nine months, with rumors circulating that he'd actually broken his neck. Decades later, there's still some doubt as to how exaggerated his condition was; some claim he privately sought to use the injury as an excuse to disappear from the spotlight (or that there was no accident at all). The hiatus gives him a chance to record what would become known as the "Basement Tapes" in a big pink house in Woodstock with a band called The Hawks, who would later record their first album, Music From Big Pink.

1966: Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker made their live debut as Cream at The Twisted Wheel, Manchester, England.

1966: The Grateful Dead played their first ever show outside the US when they appeared in Vancouver.

1966: The US teen magazine Datebook reprints a John Lennon quote from an interview, conducted by Maureen Cleave, which had been published in the London Evening Standard newspaper: "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

The resulting uproar causes the Beatles' records to be burned in America, especially the South, and death threats to be issued against the band on their upcoming US tour -- despite a hastily assembled press conference in Chicago, at which John explains, "If I had said television is more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it, but I just happened to be talking to a friend and I used the words "Beatles" as a remote thing, not as what I think - as Beatles, as those other Beatles like other people see us... I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing or whatever it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this... I never meant it to be a lousy anti-religious thing. I apologize if that will make you happy. I still don't know quite what I've done. I've tried to tell you what I did do but if you want me to apologize, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'm sorry."

1967: The Doors started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Light My Fire'. The group's first US No.1.

1968: Refusing to play in front of the country's segregated audiences, Gram Parsons leaves the Byrds on the eve of a South African tour.

1968: The Beatles recorded the single "Hey Jude".

1970: The Rolling Stones' contract with Decca expires, and the group takes the opportunity to split with notorious manager Allen Klein. Delivering one more song to the label to fulfill its obligation, the famously unreleasable "C********* Blues," they also begin the process of forming their own label, Rolling Stones Records (which will feature the debut of the band's new "lips" logo).

1973: While performing on stage at Madison Square Garden, Led Zeppelin has $180,000 of their gate receipts from the previous night's show stolen from their safe at the Drake Hotel. This incident, one of the largest such crimes in the history of NYC, will be immortalized in the band's 1976 concert documentary The Song Remains The Same. The crooks are never found.

1974: Mamas And The Papas singer Cass Elliot died in her sleep from a heart attack after playing a sold out show in London, England. She was staying at Harry Nilson's London flat when she died. Her only solo hit was 'Dream a Little Dream of Me,' which also featured the rest of The Mamas and The Papas.

1978: Prince appeared on the US charts for the first time with 'Soft and Wet'.

1978: The film soundtrack to Grease featuring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John went to No.1 on the US album chart.

1982: Andy Taylor of Duran Duran weds Tracie Wilson

1986: Seventies soft-rocker Paul Davis ("I Go Crazy") is shot during an attempted robbery at a Nashville hotel. He eventually recovers.

1987: Michigan governor James Blanchard declares today "Four Tops Day" in honor of the Motown legends.

1990: Elton John checks into a hospital in Chicago, IL, for bulimia and substance abuse.

1998: Miramax studios announces their purchase of the rights to the Beatles' 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, intending to remaster it in time for the film's 35th anniversary.

2005: An anonymous bidder pays one million dollars for the original handwritten lyrics to the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" at the Hippodrome nightclub in London.

2006: Primal Scream singer Bobby Gillespie married his girlfriend Katy England at a service in Staffordshire, England.

2006: Pamela Anderson married for the second time to US rapper Kid Rock, on a yacht off the French resort of St Tropez. The 39-year-old former Baywatch star divorced from rock star Tommy Lee in 1998, had recently got back together with Kid Rock, after a brief engagement ended in 2003. Anderson and Rock split after four months of marriage. 

July 28

Births

1901: Rudy Vallee (Singer & Band Leader)

1938: George Cummings (Guitar with Dr. Hook)

1943: Mike Bloomfield (Guitar for Paul Butterfield Blues Band)

1945: Rick Wright (Keyboards & Vocals for Pink Floyd)

1946: Jonathan Edwards (Folk Singer)

1949: Simon Kirke (Drummer for Free & Bad Company)

1949: Steve Took (Percussion for T. Rex)

1954: Steve Morse (Guitar for Dixie Dregs & Deep Purple)

1962: Rachel Sweet (Country Singer)

1965: Nick Banks (Drums for Pulp)

1972: Dan Warton (Drums for Neds Atomic Dustbin)

1986: Jacoby Dakota Shaddix (Lead Singer for Papa Roach)

1990: Soulja Boy (DeAndre Cortez Way) (Rapper)

Events

1750: Johann Sebastian Bach died after an unsuccessful eye operation. He was 65 years old.

1933: The first singing telegram is sent -- to a popular singer, crooner Rudy Vallee, on the occasion of his 32nd birthday.

1939: Judy Garland recorded "Over The Rainbow".

1954: Elvis Presley gets his first interview, with an article published in his hometown paper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar.

1956: Gene Vincent made his first appearance on national TV in the US on The Perry Como Show. Vincent had released ‘Woman Love’ the previous month, but it was the B-side, ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula,’ that eventually made the top 10. The song had been purchased from a fellow hospital patient when Vincent was recovering from leg injuries. A demo of the song made its way to Capitol Records as part of an Elvis sound-alike contest and a re-recorded version gave Vincent a hit.

1957: Jerry Lee Lewis makes his first national TV appearance, singing "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" on NBC's The Steve Allen Show.

1969: After a Moscow magazine explains how to turn an acoustic guitar into an electric one using only parts from a telephone, police report that thousands of the city's phone booths have been stripped.

1970: The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger makes his acting debut in Ned Kelly, a film about the legendary Australian outlaw, which makes his debut in Kelly's own hometown of Glenrowan.

1973: One of the last of the great outdoor rock festivals was held at Watkins Glen racetrack in New York, with over 600,000 attending a "Summer Jam" featuring the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, and The Band. This was the largest human gathering ever assembled at the time.

1973: Grand Funk Railroad released the single "We're An American Band".

1979: 'I Don't Like Mondays' gave The Boomtown Rats their second UK No.1 single. Bob Geldof wrote the song after reading a report on the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who fired at children playing in a school playground across the street from her home in San Diego, California. She killed two adults and injured eight children and one police officer. Spencer showed no remorse for her crime, and her full explanation for her actions was "I don't like Mondays, this livens up the day."

1985: Portland, OR, declares today "Kingsmen Day" in honor of their garage-rock native sons, who scored a legendary hit with their version of "Louie Louie."

1987: The Beatles' company, Apple, sues shoemaker Nike, Capitol Records, EMI, and Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency for $15 million for unauthorized use of the Beatles' song "Revolution" in one of their "Nike Air" TV ads. Nike claimed it had paid their US label, Capitol, $250,000 for the rights, and also that Yoko Ono had given her blessing. The suit was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

1989: Anne Murray opens the Anne Murray Centre, a multimedia museum of her career, in her hometown of Springhill, Nova Scotia.

1991: Almost 100 arrests were made after an estimated 2,000 Youths rioted after a MC Hammer concert in Penticon, Canada.

1992: Patti Labelle walks offstage during her concert in Warwick, RI, having complained to the audience about the catering backstage.

1992: Mary J. Blige's first album "What's the 411?" was released.

1993: The 10,000 Maniacs played their last show with lead singer Natalie Merchant. Merchant left the group to pursue a solo career.

1995: After decades of legal wrangling, James Al Hendrix, surviving father of Jimi, is once again granted legal use of his son's name and likeness for merchandising.

1998: It was announced that Toad The Wet Sprocket was disbanding.

2004: American soul singer George Williams from The Tymes died of cancer. Had the 1963 US million seller ‘So Much in Love’ and the 1975 UK No.1 single 'Ms Grace'.

2004: Justin Timberlake obtained a restraining order against a photographer who allegedly stalked him. A judge in Santa Monica, California, granted the order against photographer Artemus Earl Lister.

2006: Prince's second wife Manuela Testolini Nelson filed for divorce. His first marriage, to dancer Mayte Garcia, took place in 1996 but only lasted two years.

2008: Amy Winehouse was rushed to hospital after she started to have fits at her home in Camden North London. A spokesman said it appeared the singer had suffered a reaction to medication she was taking to help her off hard drugs.

July 27

Births

1929: Harvey Fuqua (R&B Singer in The Moonglows)

1933: Nick Reynolds (Guitar & Vocals for The Kingston Trio)

1944: Bobby Gentry (Roberta Lee Streeter) (Singer / Songwriter)

1949: Maureen McGovern (Singer)

1955: Bobby Rondinelli (Drummer for Rainbow, Quiet Riot, Black Sabbath & Blue Oyster Cult)

1960: Conway Savage (Bass for Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds)

1962: Karl Mueller (Bass for Soul Asylum)

1964: Rex Brown (Bass for Pantera & Down)

1967: Juliana Hatfield (Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1958: A study by Esso oil (formerly Standard Oil, eventually Exxon) finds that drivers speed more and therefore waste more gas when listening to the new fad of rock and roll music.

1959: Santo and Johnny released the single "Sleepwalk".

1961: The Tokens recorded the single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" .

1968: A riot erupts at Chicago's Grant Park after Sly and the Family Stone fail to appear for a free concert.

1968:  ‘Mama’ Cass Elliot released her first solo single following the break up of The Mamas and Papas. ’Dream a Little Dream of Me’ had been around since 1931 and had been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine and many others. Cass' version would be the most successful when it peaked at No. 12 on the US chart, and No.11 in the UK.

1969: Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees collapses from "nervous exhaustion" just as the group is about to embark on its first US tour, but it's actually a ruse designed to hasten his exit from the group.

1974: After 23 years, Dinah Shore leaves the NBC-TV network when it cancels her morning program Dinah's Place in order to concentrate on game shows.

1974: John Denver started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Annie's Song', the singers second US No.1. The song was a tribute to his wife and was written in 10 minutes while he was on a ski lift.

1974: Lynyrd Skynyrd released the single "Sweet Home Alabama".

1976: John Lennon ends his four-year fight to stay in the US as a special government hearing granted him a green card (Number A-17-597-321).

1976: Bruce Springsteen's meteoric career rise is stalled when he sues manager Mike Appel for fraud and breach of contract, keeping him from performing or recording for over a year.

1976: After years of alleged physical and verbal abuse, and having left over the Fourth of July with nothing but pocket change and a gas station credit card, Tina Turner files for divorce from her husband of sixteen years, Ike.

1979: A firebomb destroys Alice Cooper's Indian art store in Scottsdale, AZ, causing $200,000 in damage to, among other things, some of Cooper's gold records. The singer jokes that perhaps a "disco music freak" torched the place, as Alice had been quite vocal about not liking the new musical trend.

1983: Madonna's self-titled debut album was released.

1983: Metallica began their first tour entitled "Kill 'em all for one." The tour ended on September 3, 1983.

1985: Paul Young went to No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of the Daryl Hall song 'Every Time You Go Away'.

1985: The Eurythmics were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)', the duo's only UK No.1 single. The song featured a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder.

1990: R&B Singer Bobby Day died of cancer.

1991: Jesus Jones went to No. 2 on the US chart with 'Right Here, Right Now', unable to shift Bryan Adams '(Everything I Do), I Do It for You', from a seven week stay at the No.1 position.

1991: Jani Lane (Singer for Warrant) marries model Bobbie Brown.

1992: Michael Jackson sues the London tabloid Daily Mirror over claims that too many plastic surgeries had left him permanently disfigured.

1994: Bob Seger serves jury duty in Michigan and, as the foreman in a criminal trial, finds the defendant guilty.

1996: The Spice Girls scored their first No.1 UK single with 'Wannabe'. Seven weeks at No.1 the song won Best British-Written Single at the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards and Best Single at the 1997 Brit Awards. The Girl Power song became the best-selling single by a female group selling over six million copies worldwide.

2001: Leon Wilkeson (Bass for Lynyrd Skynyrd) apparently had been suffering from chronic liver and lung disease and his cause of death on this day was deemed 'from natural causes.' He was 49 years old.

2002: Mariah Carey checked herself into an undisclosed hospital suffering from "extreme exhaustion." The singer cancelled all public appearances, including her headlining appearance at MTV's 20th birthday party. Her record company denied tabloid reports that Carey tried to commit suicide, saying she did have cuts on her body, but the injuries were unintentional after breaking some dishes and glasses.

2006: The company behind file-sharing service Kazaa agrees to pay record labels over $115 million in damages for piracy.

2007: Paul Stanley (KISS) had to leave a concert due to his pulse being twice the normal level. The band performed as a trio with Gene Simmons singing all songs.