November 20

Births

1925: June Christy (Jazz Singer)

1946: Duane Allman (Guitar for The Allman Brothers & Derek and the Dominoes)

1947: Joe Walsh (Guitar & Vocals for The Eagles & Solo)

1965: Mike D (Mike Diamond) (Rapper in The Beastie Boys)

1965: Sen Dog (Senen Reyes) (Rapper in Cypress Hill)

1975: Davey Havok (Lead singer for AFI)

1975: Dierks Bentley (Country Artist)

1977: Josh Turner (Country Artist)

1986: Jared Followill (Bass for Kings Of Leon)

Events

1955: At New York City's Warwick Hotel, Sun Records owner and producer Sam Phillips sells Elvis Presley's contract to RCA for an unheard-of $35,000, at that time the largest amount ever paid to sign a recording artist. Elvis receives $13,500 of the total; Phillips invests his share in a local hotel chain called the Holiday Inn.

1955: After agreeing to perform Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit "Sixteen Tons" on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show, Bo Diddley instead plays the song he was actually there to promote, his own hit "Bo Diddley." A furious Sullivan blackballs Bo from ever appearing on the show again. The singer has claimed he was never paid for the performance.

1961: Billboard reports on the stunning popularity of the "Twist" craze: three separate films, starring Chubby Checker, Joey Dee and the Starlighters, and Dion, are scheduled for production, and New York television station WOR is airing hourly twist lessons of between one and five minutes, also featuring Checker.

1970: The Kinks' Ray Davies flies to London to re-record a section of the lead vocals for the group's latest single, "Apeman." Radio stations are objecting to the line "The air pollution is foggin' up my eyes," claiming "foggin'" sounds too much like another f-word.

1973: 19-year-old Who fan Scot Halpin has his dream come true when the group invites him onstage to play the last three songs of their set at San Francisco's Cow Palace. Drummer Keith Moon, who was said to be suffering from "jet lag," was in a near-coma after ingesting seven horse tranquilizers and passing out on his kit. Halpin performs "Smokestack Lightning," "Spoonful," and "Naked Eye" with the group, then takes a bow with them. Later. Rolling Stone awards Halpin their "Pick-Up Player Of The Year Award."

1975: Bay City Rollers lead singer Les McKeown is found not guilty of vehicular homicide after striking and killing 76-year-old Euphemia Clunie with his car the previous May, after it was ruled that Clunie was walking very erratically while crossing the street. The singer is, however, charged with reckless driving, fined $250, and has his license suspended for a year.

1975: George Harrison and Paul Simon duet on "Homeward Bound" and "Here Comes The Sun" in pre-recorded versions aired on tonight's episode of NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live. Harrison also does an opening sketch where he asks for his quarter of the famous $3,000 offered by show producer Lorne Michaels, earlier in the year, for the Beatles to reunite.

1984: Michael Jackson is awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame directly in from of Mann's famous Chinese Theatre, creating the largest-ever crowd for such an unveiling.

1991: Randy Jackson of the Jacksons is sentenced to a month in a Los Angeles jail for violating his probation for spousal abuse.

1993: August, GA mayor Charles DeVaney re-dedicates the city's Ninth Street as "James Brown Boulevard" in honor of its native son.

1994: Former Byrds and CSNY member David Crosby receives a liver transplant.

2001: Charlie Daniels undergoes surgery in Nashville for prostate cancer.

2002: Stevie Wonder threatens to sue his mother, Lula Hardaway, for a passage in her new autobiography where she claims Stevie lost his virginity to a prostitute. The story was deleted from future copies.

2003: Famed "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector is formally charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of b-movie actress Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles home. Spector enters a plea of "not guilty."

2003: After returning to his Neverland home after a raid on it a few days before, and in response to an arrest warrant, Michael Jackson is charged with child molestation in Santa Barbara, CA. The singer is immediately released after posting three million dollars' bail.