Births
1932: Sammy Turner (Pop Singer)
1934: Johnny Carter (Doo-Wop Singer in The Flamingos & The Dells)
1937: Jimmy Jones (R&B Singer)
1941: Charlie Watts (Drummer for The Rolling Stones)
1941: William Guest (Gladys Knight and the Pips)
1944: Marvin Hamlisch (Piano Player)
1949: Anthony Jones (Bass for Humble Pie)
1950: Chubby Tavares (Lead Singer for Tavares)
1951: Steve Brookins (Drummer for .38 Special)
1955: Michael Anthony (Drummer for Van Halen)
1960: Tony Hadley (Vocals for Spandau Ballet)
1962: Thor Eldon (Guitar for The Sugarcubes)
1970: Louis Freeze (B- Real in Cypress Hill)
1976: Tim Rice-Oxley (Piano for Keane)
1980: Fabrizio Moreti (Drummer for The Strokes)
Events
1953: Elvis Presley graduates from Humes High School in Memphis.
1956: Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps released "Be-Bop-A-Lula".
1958: Massively influential DJ Alan Freed joins the staff of New York's WABC, where he gets his own weeknight spot.
1958: After wandering the US for a year, 17-year-old Barry Sadler, later of "Ballad of the Green Berets" fame, joins the Air Force. (He wouldn't become an Army Green Beret for a few years.)
1962: "Twist Baby," by Owen Gray, becomes the first 45 issued on the new Island Records label. The label became home to Free, Traffic, Jethro Tull, Bob Marley and U2.
1964: The Rolling Stones play their first US gig at a high school in Lynn, MA; that same day, they make their American TV debut on WABC's Les Crane Show in New York.
1964: Gerry and the Pacemakers begin filming their film debut, Ferry Cross The Mersey, also starring Cilla Black.
1965: James Brown released the single "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag".
1967: The Beatles released the Album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
1967: David Bowie released his debut Album, David Bowie.
1972: For the first time since 1960, Dion reunites with his old group, the Belmonts, for an oldies revival show at Madison Square Garden.
1976: Paul McCartney and Wings set a new indoor stadium attendance record of 67,100 at the Seattle Kingdome.
1978: Bruce Springsteen's album, "Darkness On The Edge of Town" was released.
1981: Prince made his live British debut at The Lyceum Ballroom, London, (he will not play the UK again for five years).
1988: James Brown's wife Adrienne attempts to claim diplomatic immunity on charges of drugged driving, speeding and criminal trespass, invoking her status as the wife of the "Ambassador of Soul." Seriously.
1988: Ex-Temptation David Ruffin is sentenced to two years probation in Detroit for a cocaine possession rap the previous year.
1989: Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, 52, marries model Mandy Smith, 19, in a secret ceremony. Wyman's 28-year-old son was best man. All other four Stones attended. They would divorce two years later.
1993: Ronald Ray Howard's murder trial began in Austin, TX. Howard killed a state trooper after listening to Tupac Shakur's "2Pacalypse Now" album. Howard was convicted and sentenced to death.
1995: Stone Roses guitarist John Squire smashed his collarbone in a cycling accident causing the band to pull out of major gigs.
1998: Helen Carter (The Carter Family) suffered from gastrointestinal problems which led to heart problems that took her life at age 70.
1999: Junior Braithwaite (Bob Marley and the Wailers) was murdered in the home of a fellow musician in Kingston at age 46.
2002: Jimmy Buffett catches an unexpected gust of wind and crashes his plane into a sign while landing at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida.
2003: After a public outcry (and legal protests from Yoko Ono), Paul McCartney agrees to drop his mission to have certain Beatles songwriting credits reversed to read "McCartney-Lennon."
2005: Franz Ferdinand's frontman, Alex Kapranos was detained by Russian police after being suspected of being a spy. Kapranos was attempting to board a plane in Moscow when the altercation took place. Travelling under his actual surname, Huntley, Alex was accused of being an MI6 agent who was previously suspected of stealing information on Russian weaponry. Unlucky for Alex that the surname Huntley was also used by actual former MI6 agent Richard Tomlinson who did steal secrets in the early 90s. The singer was freed after he pointed out that the Huntley they were so concerned about was 42, 13 years older than him.
2008: Bo Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida at age 79.
2009: Cher sues Universal Music Group on behalf of herself and her late partner Sonny Bono, claiming the label owes them five million in unpaid royalties.
