March 31

Births

1928: Lefty Frizzell (Country Artist)

1933: Ina Anita Carter (The Carter Family)

1934: Shirley Jones (Singer & Mother on The Partridge Family)

1935: Herb Alpert (Jazz Musician)

1944: Mick Ralphs (Guitar for Mott The Hoople & Bad Company)

1946: Allan Nichol (The Turtles)

1953: Sean Hooper (Keyboards for Huey Lewis and the News)

1954: Tony Brock (Drummer for The Babys)

1955: Angus Young (Guitarist for AC/DC)

1958: Paul Ferguson (Drummer for Killing Joke)

1964: Erik Turner (Guitar for Warrant)

Events

1949: After nine years of development, the first 45 rpm record is introduced by the RCA Victor label, a 7-inch wonder promising better sound and easier playability than the current standard, the 12" 78 rpm record.

1957: Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins begin their first and only tour together, a Southern swing that begins tonight in Little Rock, AK.

1958: Chuck Berry releases "Johnny B. Goode".

1959: NBC-TV's Jimmie Rodgers Show -- featuring a regular performer by the name of Connie Francis -- debuts.

1967: Jimi Hendrix plays his first British concert, on a bill with Cat Stevens, The Walker Brothers, and Englebert Humperdinck at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, England. (Seriously.) On a whim, Hendrix sets fire to his guitar with lighter fluid for the first time, but burns his hands so badly he is admitted to a nearby hospital.

1969: George Harrison and his wife, Pattie, appear in court in Surrey, England, to answer recent charges of marijuana resin possession. Both are fined $450. On the same day, John Lennon and new wife Yoko Ono leave their "bed-in" at the Amsterdam Hilton in order to "make a lightning trip" to Vienna and premiere Yoko's new film Rape. The Viennese trip is detailed in the next Beatles single, "The Ballad Of John And Yoko."

1977: During intermission at Elvis Presley's latest show in Baton Rouge, LA, the King becomes too ill to return to the stage. The concert is canceled and Elvis is admitted to Baptist Hospital in Memphis the next day, suffering from "fatigue" and "intestinal flu."

1981: 1st Golden Raspberry Awards: The Village People movie “Can't Stop the Music” wins.

1982: After twelve years together, the Doobie Brothers announce their breakup.

1986: O’Kelly Isley (The Isley Brothers) suddenly died of a heart attack at the age of 48.

1992: White Zombie's "La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. One" was released. It was their major label debut album.

1992: “Human touch” and “Lucky Day”, both by Bruce Springsteen were released.

1994: Madonna appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman from New York City. The network had to delete 13 offending words from the interview before the show aired. Madonna also handed Letterman a pair of her panties and told him to sniff them. He declined and stuffed them into his desk drawer.

1995: An audience member rushes the stage at a Jimmy Page/Robert Plant concert at The Palace in Auburn Hills, MI, determined to stab the guitarist to end his "Satanic" music. Two security guards that apprehend him are stabbed instead, but recover.

1995: Mexican American singer Selena was murdered aged 23 by the president of her fan club Yolanda Saldívar.

2001: Whitney Houston and husband Bobby Brown were banned for life from Hollywood's Bel Air hotel after wrecking their room. Hotel workers said a TV was smashed, two doors were ripped of their hinges and the walls and carpets were stained by alcohol. It was reported that Whitney called in her lawyers to plead with the hotel management not to call the police. The suite was so badly damaged it had to be shut for five days for repairs.

2005: Rap record company boss Marion "Suge" Knight was ordered to pay $107m to a woman who claimed she helped found Death Row label in 1989, one of hip-hop's top labels with artists including Tupac Shakur, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. Lydia Harris said she invested in Death Row but was pushed out by Mr Knight.

March 30

Births

1914: Sonny Boy Williamson (Blues Harmonica Player & Singer)

1943: Ken Forssi (Bass for Love)

1945: Eric Clapton (Guitar Legend & Singer)

1948: Jim "Dandy" Mangrum (Singer for Black Oak Arkansas)

1950: Dave Ball (Guitar for Procol Harum)

1962: MC Hammer (Stanley Kirk Burrell) (Rapper)

1964: Tracy Chapman (Singer /Songwriter)

1966: Joey Castillo (Drummer for Queens Of The Stone Age & Eagles Of Death Metal)

1968: Celine Dion (Singer)

1973: Adam Goldstein (DJ AM)

1976:  Mark McClelland (Bass for Snow Patrol)

1979:  Norah Jones (Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1923: The world's first dance marathon, which would become quite the fad in the Roaring Twenties, was held in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.

1957: Buddy Knox became the first artist in the Rock 'n' Roll era to write his own number one hit when ‘Party Doll’ topped the US singles chart.

1962: Pravda, the official newspaper of the USSR, runs an article warning Russians against falling victim to the decadent new Western fad known as "The Twist."

1963: 16 year old Lesley Gore recorded "It's My Party".  She also appeared on “American Bandstand” on the same day.

1963: The Chiffons started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘He’s So Fine’. In 1971 George Harrison was taken to court accused of copying the song on his 1970 ‘My Sweet Lord’ and ordered to pay $587,000 to the writers.

1966: A famous riot occurs at a Rolling Stones show in Paris, one which leads to the arrest of no less than 85 concertgoers.

1967: The Beatles visit Chelsea Manor Studios in London to photograph the cover of their newest album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, wearing satin marching band outfits of various bright colors and posing amid cardboard cutouts of several dozen famous personages. Michael Cooper's series of photographs would become amongst the most famous in rock history.

1967: While set to perform "Purple Haze" on BBC-TV's Top Of The Pops, a technician instead mistakenly cues up Alan Price's version of Randy Newman's "Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear." Hendrix good-naturedly replies: "I don't know the words to this one, man."

1970: Miles Davis releases the Album Bitches Brew.

1974: John Denver went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Sunshine On My Shoulders', the singers first of four US No.1's. Denver was killed in a plane crash on 12th October 1997.

1975: Jeff Beck (Yardbirds Guitarist) released his first solo album, "Blow by Blow," in the U.S

1976: The Sex Pistols played their first show at The 100 club, London for 50 people. They begin a weekly residency at the club in June.

1978: Paul Simonon and Nicky Headon, from The Clash, were arrested in Camden Town, London after shooting down racing pigeons with air guns from the roof of Chalk Farm Studios. Four police cars and a helicopter were required to make the arrest. Their fines totalled $1,360.

1989: Gladys Knight performs her first solo show ever at Bally's in Las Vegas.

1999: Kiss cancelled three concert dates in Russia due to anti-American sentiment over the U.N. bombing of Yugoslavia.

2001: LeAnn Rimes reached an out of court settlement with her father and her former manager. The country star filed a lawsuit claiming the pair had stolen $12 million from her.

2004: At a restaurant near Lake Tahoe, the jazz trio house band are shocked when Paul McCartney steps onstage to join them for a rendition of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."

2005: Neil Young undergoes successful surgery to remove a brain aneurysm.

2007: A crazed stalker is arrested in Peasmarsh, Sussex, England, after driving at high speed through Paul McCartney's security checkpoint and up to just a few yards from his mansion. Led away after leading police on three-mile chase, the trespasser began screaming "I must get to him!" He was later judged mentally ill.

March 29

Births

1918: Pearl Bailey (Singer)

1940: Raymond Davis (Bass Singer in Parliament & Funkadelic)

1943: Chad Allan (Original Singer for The Guess Who)

1943: Vangelis (Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou) (Composer)

1947: Bobby Kimball (Singer for Toto)

1956: Patty Donahue (Singer for The Waitresses)

1959: Perry Farrell (DJ Peretz) (Singer for Jane's Addiction & Porno For Pyros & DJ)

1967: John Popper (Singer & Harmonica for Blues Traveler)

Events

1958: New Army recruit Elvis Presley arrives for boot camp at Ft. Hood, TX. He is stationed there for six months, and insists on performing KP and guard duty like any other soldier. With a bank account larger than most soldiers, he is able to afford his own housing. His family arrives and moves into an off-base trailer.

1966: During a show in Marseilles, France, a rabid Rolling Stones fan throws a chair at singer Mick Jagger, opening a gash in his forehead that would require eight stitches to close.

1967: The Beatles record "With A Little Help From My Friends" (originally titled ‘Bad Finger Boogie’).

1970: Tonight's Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV features performances by Bobbie Gentry and Gladys Knight and the Pips, broadcast live from VA hospitals caring for Vietnam wounded.

1972: Elvis Presley records "Always On My Mind".

1972: Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page travel to Bombay (Mumbai) India to record versions of the band's songs "Friends" and "Four Sticks" with the city's symphony orchestra. Musical and cultural barriers prevent the experiment from being a success, but the duo would return two decades later triumphant, recording those songs and many more for the MTV special Unledded.

1973: In a move that was destined to happen, the group Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show get their picture (an illustration) on the cover of Rolling Stone after their recent novelty hit, in which they daydreamed about doing just that. The cover puckishly refers to the group as "What's-Their-Names," but the band does indeed "buy five copies for (their) mother(s)."

1975: This week's Billboard shows Led Zeppelin with all six of their studio albums currently present on the "Billboard 200" album chart, including a Number One with their latest, Physical Graffiti.

1976: In Memphis, Bruce Springsteen jumped a fence at Graceland in an attempt to see his idol, Elvis Presley.

1978: Tina Turner is officially divorced from husband Ike.

1980: Mantovani Died at the age of 74.

1980: A Chicago antiques dealer named Ronald Selle sues the Bee Gees, claiming that their 1978 hit "How Deep Is Your Love" borrows heavily from his own composition "Let It End." Although the Bee Gees deny the charge and claim to have never heard the track, a court would rule in Selle's favor. The group would win an appeal three years later.

1980: Pink Floyd's 1973 album Dark Side Of The Moon marks its 303rd week on the Billboard album charts, passing Carole King's Tapestry for longest stay on the "Billboard 200."  It remained on the charts for 741 weeks (from 1973 to 1988), longer than any other album in history, with an estimated 45 million copies sold.

1985: Michael Jackson is honored with a wax statue at London's famous Madame Tussaud's museum.

1985: Jeanine Deckers, The Singing Nun, died at age 52 after taking an overdose of sleeping pills in a suicide pact with a friend.

1986: Beatle records officially go on sale in Russia.

1986: Austrian singer Falco started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Rock Me Amadeus'. Falco became the first German speaking artist to achieve a No.1 on the US charts.

1988: Madonna debuted on Broadway in "Speed The Plow."

2000: Phil Collins took out a high court action against two former members of Earth, Wind And Fire. Collins claimed his company had overpaid the musicians by $85,000 in royalties on tracks including ‘Sussudio’ and ‘Easy Lover’.

2001: A three-hour musical tribute is held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall in honor of the Beach Boys' guiding genius Brian Wilson, with vocal tributes in the form of covers by Paul Simon ("Surfer Girl"), Elton John ("God Only Knows"), and Billy Joel ("Don't Worry Baby"), as well as Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson, the Go-Go's, Carly Simon, David Crosby, Wilson Phillips, Aimee Mann, and songwriter Jimmy Webb. Wilson himself performs "Barbara Ann," "Fun, Fun, Fun," and "Surfin' U.S.A."

2005: After experiencing blurred vision at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony the month before, Neil Young enters a New York hospital to have a brain aneurysm removed.

2006: Tom Jones is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

2007: U2 singer Bono accepted an honorary knighthood at a ceremony in Dublin. Bono, 46, was not entitled to be called "Sir" because he is not a British citizen. His new title is Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE).