Births
1948: Alice Cooper (Vincent Damon Furnier) (Singer)
1952: Jerry Shirley (Drummer for Humble Pie)
1960: Tim Booth (Singer for James)
1962: Clint Black (Country Singer / Songwriter)
1963: Kevin John Wasserman (Lead Guitar for The Offspring)
1975: Natalie Imbruglia (Singer / Songwriter)
1976: Cam'ron (Rapper)
1977: Gavin DeGraw (Singer / Songwriter)
Events
1959: Following the tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper the night before, Frankie Avalon and Jimmy Clanton take over the headlining spots on the "Winter Dance Party" tour.
1966: The Who play their first show as headliners, at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, England. Also appearing are The Fortunes and The Merseys.
1968: US Attorney General John Mitchell receives a secret memo from Senator Strom Thurmond, in which Thurmond suggests deporting John Lennon due to his antiwar stance.
1971: Diana Ross guest stars on ABC's Make Room For Granddaddy, a spin-off of sorts of Danny Thomas' Make Room For Daddy series.
1974: John Lennon and Yoko Ono mutually agree to a trial separation, which effectively kicks off John's notorious eighteen-month "lost weekend." During this time, Lennon would consume lots of drugs and alcohol, carouse on the town with singer-songwriter and friend Harry Nilsson, and -- at Yoko's request -- take up with Ono associate May Pang.
1975: Jazz & blues songwriter and saxophonist Louis Jordon died aged 66 from a heart attack. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", between 1942-1950 he scored eighteen No.1 singles and fifty-four Top Ten hits on the US R&B chart.
1976: Elvis Presley records the song "Moody Blue" in the Jungle Room at Graceland.
1977: Fleetwood Mac release the album “Rumours” that goes to sell over 40 Million copies.
1983: Singer Karen Carpenter (The Carpenters) died from "heartbeat irregularities brought on by chemical imbalances associated with anorexia nervosa” at age 32.
1987: Liberace died from complications from AIDS at age 67.
1996: Former Milli-Vanilli member Rob Pilatus was hospitalized after a man hit him over the head with a baseball bat in Hollywood, California. Pilatus was attempting to steal the man's car at the time of the attack.
2001: Jimmy Buffet was ordered by NBA referee Joe Forte to give up his courtside seat due to the use of profanity. After a several-minute delay, the game between the Miami Heat and the visiting New York Knicks continued.
2002: On the occasion of civil-rights activist Rosa Parks' 89th birthday, Stevie Wonder sings his song "Happy Birthday" to her at the premiere of her TV-movie biography The Rosa Parks Story. The song had originally been written by Wonder to help bring about a national Martin Luther King holiday.
2003: Courtney Love was arrested at Heathrow airport for 'endangering an aircraft' on a transatlantic flight. The singer was said to have hurled abuse at the cabin crew on the flight from Los Angeles to London after her nurse who was in an economy seat was barred access to sit with Love in the upper class cabin.
2009: Lux Interior (Erick Lee Purkhiser) singer and founding member of The Cramps died aged 62. The cause of death was aortic dissection.
