Birthdays
1919: Don Cornell (Singer)
1939: Ernie Maresca (Doo Wop Singer)
1945: Robert Knight (Singer)
1947: Alan Warner (The Foundations)
1947: Iggy Pop (James Osterberg) (Punk Singer with The Stooges)
1949: Paul Davis (Singer)
1951: Paul Carrack (Singer for Ace, Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics)
1959: Michael Timmins (Guitar for The Cowboy Junkies)
1959: Robert Smith (Guitar & Vocals for The Cure)
1963: Johnny McElhone (Guitarist for Altered Images)
Events
1945: One of the world's first great R&B labels, Modern Records, is formed by Saul and Jules Bihari in Los Angeles. It would prove to be the launching pad for everyone from John Lee Hooker to Etta James.
1960: Testifying before the US Congressional committee on "payola," DJ and TV host Dick Clark admits to having taken money and gifts to play songs on the radio, going so far as to declare 27 percent of his playlist as containing some sort of financial interest for him. For his penitence, Clark is ordered to sell off some of his conflicting interests, but has his name cleared -- unlike DJ Alan Freed, who refuses to admit that payola was an illegal or immoral practice.
1963: The Beatles meet the Rolling Stones for the first time, backstage after the Stones' gig at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, England. The bands get along well after some initial nervousness, but contrary to myth, this is not the occasion where the Beatles write "I Wanna Be Your Man" for their rivals.
1965: The Beach Boys appear on today's episode of Shindig! on ABC-TV, performing their version of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance?"
1967: The Beatles finish work on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by recording a two-second snippet of gibberish for use in the original vinyl LP's run-out groove, meaning that the listener would hear the noises repeated on a loop until they got up and took the record off the turntable. The only actual vocal is a Beatle saying something like "never could be any other way," which, when played backwards, allegedly reveals the words "We'll f*** you like Supermen." As a practical joke, John Lennon also adds a special 15Hz tone before the groove, one so high only dogs can hear it. Not present on the US LP, both were added back to the CD.
1969: Janis Joplin makes her stage debut in London when she and her Kozmic Blues Band perform a legendary concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
1969: Janis Joplin appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London, (her first London appearance). The opening act was Yes.
1970: Elton John makes his stage debut as a solo act when he opens for T. Rex, Spooky Tooth, and Jackie Lomax at the Roundhouse in London.
1970: Blues Guitarist Earl Hooker died at age 41 from complications due to tuberculosis.
1971: Don Drummond (The Skatalites) died. The official cause of death was "natural causes", possibly heart failure caused by malnutrition or improper medication.
1973: Tony Orlando & Dawn started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree', (it became the biggest seller of 1973, selling over 6 million copies). The song was based on a true story of a prisoner who wrote to his wife asking her to tie a yellow ribbon around an oak tree in the town square in White Oak, Georgia, if she still loved him.
1977: ABC airs Frank Sinatra's TV special Frank Sinatra and Friends, featuring guest stars Natalie Cole and John Denver.
1978: UK folk singer Sandy Denny died aged 31. While on holiday with her parents in Cornwall, England, Denny was injured in a fall down a staircase. A month after the fall she collapsed at a friend's home; four days later she died in Hospital, her death was ruled to be the result of a traumatic mid-brain hemorrhage. She was a member of Fairport Convention and a solo artist. Her 1967 song 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes', was covered by Judy Collins. Denny sang on the Led Zeppelin track 'Battle Of Evermore' on the bands fourth album, (the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin album).
1982: Clash frontman Joe Strummer disappeared for three weeks, which resulted in the group cancelling a tour. The singer was found living rough in Paris, France.
1984: Phil Collins started a three week run at No.1 in the US singles chart with the theme from 'Against All Odds'. It was Phil's first US No.1 as a solo artist.
1984: After 37 weeks, "Thriller" is knocked off as top album by "Footloose".
1990: Paul McCartney sets a new world record for attendance at a concert by a single artist when his tour-ending concert at the Maracana Stadium in Rio draws 184,000 people.
1990: Christian Singer Amy Grant sued Marvel Comics for including her likeness in a Dr Strange Comic.
1990: Sinead O'Connor started a four week stay at No.1 in the US singles chart with her version of the Prince song 'Nothing Compares To You'. The track was also a No.1 hit in 18 other countries.
1993: Bill Wyman, formerly of the Rolling Stones, marries his third wife, 33-year-old fashion designer Suzanne Accosta, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.
1993: Bill Kreutzmann, drummer for the Grateful Dead, spots a 17-year-old surfer foundering in a riptide near Mendocino, CA and dives in, saving his life.
2000: Neal Matthews Jr. (The Jordanaires) died of a heart attack at age 70.
2001: R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck was charged by police at Heathrow airport with being drunk on an aircraft and assaulting British Airways crew. Buck was taken into custody after landing on a flight from Seattle and questioned by police for 12 hours.
2003: Setting off a five-year legal battle, the Beach Boys' label, Brother Records, sues former group member Al Jardine for using the group's name to promote his solo concerts.
2003: Nina Simone died. She had been ill with breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhôn.
2003: EMI and Universal Music sue the file-sharing service Napster for copyright violations.
2004: Michael Jackson is officially charged with child molestation after a California grand jury determines there is enough evidence to proceed with allegations made against him for time spent at his Neverland Ranch.
2004: Former Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan was attacked in a London pub. The singer was assaulted at the Joiner's Arms pub in central London and suffered a fractured cheekbone after being kicked, punched and hit with a metal bar. Two men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested and later released on bail.
2006: The Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 a co-headlining tour between country music singers, and husband and wife, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill kicked off at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus ending after 73 shows on September 3, 2006 in Las Vegas. The tour became the highest grossing country music tour ever with a gross of $90 million.
2007: Lobby Loyde (Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, The Coloured Balls) died, from lung cancer, in Box Hill, Melbourne, aged 65.
