Births
1936: Kris
Kristofferson (Country Singer / Songwriter & Guitarist)
1939: Bobby
Harrison (Drums for Procol Harum)
1944: Peter
Asher (Vocals for Peter and Gordon)
1947: Howard
Kaylan (Lead Singer for The Turtles)
1948: Todd
Rundgren (Singer, Keyboards & Guitar)
1949: Larry Junstrom (Bass for .38 Special &
Lynyrd Skynyrd)
1953: Cyndi Lauper (Pop Singer)
1955: Green Gartside (Singer for Scritti Politti)
1957: Gary Beers (Bass for INXS)
1961: Jimmy Somerville (Singer for Bronski Beat)
1962: Bobby Gillespie (Guitar & Vocals for
Primal Scream & Drums for The Jesus & Mary Chain)
1964: Mike Edwards (Lead Vocals, Guitar &
Keyboards for Jesus Jones)
1970: Steven Page (Guitar & Vocals for
Barenaked Ladies)
1973: Carson Daly (Late Night Host & TRL
Host)
1976: Gordon Moakes (Multi-instrumentalist with
Bloc Party)
1981: Chris Urbanowicz (Lead Guitar for Editors)
Events
1846: Adolphe
Sax patents his new musical instrument in Paris, a new style of woodwind called
the Saxophone that would function more as a member of the brass family.
Although his patent would be challenged by other craftsmen, his instrument
became an integral part of jazz, rock and roll, and ska.
1956: Elvis Presley started a three-day run
playing 10 shows at the Paramount Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. The stage
manager was told; "Pull all white lights. Presley works all in color,
Presley act has no encore. When he leaves the stage, immediately close
curtains.”
1957:
Liverpool skiffle group The Quarrymen, later to morph into the Beatles, play
their first major gig at a local gig by performing on the back of a coal truck.
Four years later to the day, the Beatles (with Pete Best on drums) would have
their first formal recording session, performing "My Bonnie,"
"When The Saints Go Marching In," "Why Can't You Love Me
Again," "Nobody's Child," and "Take Out Some Insurance On
Me Baby" while backing singer Tony Sheridan. The sessions, produced by
Bert Kaempfert in Hamburg, Germany, also feature "Ain't She Sweet"
and the instrumental "Cry For A Shadow," which are both performed by
the group alone.
1963: The
Surfaris released the single "Wipe Out".
1963: 13-year old Stevie Wonder first entered the
US singles chart as Little Stevie Wonder with 'Fingertips Parts One and Two.'
1964: Barbra
Streisand signs a $200,000 ten-year contract with CBS for a series of
television specials.
1967: The drug possession trial of Rolling Stone
members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards opened in London.
1968: The
Jeff Beck Group makes its US stage debut in New York at the Fillmore East
ballroom.
1968: Rolling
Stone first reports on the existence of an unissued Bob Dylan album
recorded with The Band during his extended convalescence at Woodstock, NY; it
would finally see the light of day in 1975 as The Basement Tapes.
1969: Blind Faith's first and only LP was released.
The band consisted of Eric Clapton on
guitar & vocals, Steve Winwood on keyboards and Ginger Baker on drums.
1969: Judy
Garland was found dead in the bathroom of a rented Chelsea, London house. The
coroner, Gavin Thursdon, stated at the inquest that the cause of death was
"an incautious self-overdosage" of barbiturates at age 47.
1975: Eric
Clapton joins the Rolling Stones for a version of "Sympathy For The
Devil" during the band's Madison Square Garden concert.
1981: John
Lennon's murderer pleads guilty to his crime and is sentenced to 20 Years to
Life in New York's Attica State prison. He has since been up for parole five
times, and has been denied every time.
1985: Bryan Adams started a two week run at No.1
on the US singles chart with 'Heaven', his first No.1 single. The song had been
featured in the film 'Night In Heaven'.
1987: Singer & Dancer Fred Astaire died from
pneumonia ay 88 years old.
1988: Peter
Tosh's murderer, Dennis Lobban, is sentenced to hanging by a court in his
native Jamaica. Lobban, who was known to Tosh, and two others had murdered the
reggae star in his home the previous year after a failed robbery.
1988: American session guitarist Jesse Ed Davis
died of a heroin overdose after collapsing in a laundry room in Venice,
California, aged 43. Worked with Conway Twitty, The Monkees, John Lennon, Eric
Clapton, Leonard Cohen, Keith Moon, Jackson Browne, Steve Miller, Harry Nilsson
and Taj Mahal.
1990: Billy
Joel performs a concert at Yankee Stadium, the first rocker ever to do so.
1992: Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was rushed to
hospital after a gig in Belfast, Northern Ireland suffering from acute stomach
pains brought on by ulcers.
1992: Three members of M.C. Hammer's tour crew
were wounded in a drive in shooting incident, three days later Joseph Mack, a
dancer in Hammer's entourage was shot on stage during a concert in Nevada.
1996: The brother of singer Diana Ross, Arthur
Ross and his wife were murdered by suffocation in the basement of their rented
Detroit home. The badly decomposed bodies were discovered after neighbors
complained of a foul odor coming from the house. Two men were later charged
with murder and robbery. Arthur Ross had written songs for Marvin Gaye, The
Miracles and Madonna.
2000: After giving himself various new
identities' during the 90's, The Artist Formally Known As Prince announced he
wanted to be known as Prince again.
2002: U2 guitarist 'The Edge' married his
girlfriend of ten years Morleigh Steinberg in Eze in the south of France. The
couple first met when she was a belly dancer on the bands Zoo TV tour. Guest's
included Bono, Eurythmics Dave Stewart and Lenny Kravitz.
2005: Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill
opens in Oklahoma City. The singer is on hand for an opening-day ribbon-cutting
ceremony.
2008: Coldplay went to No.1 on the UK singles
chart with 'Viva La Vida', their first UK No.1. History was made by this
single, as it had no physical CD-single release in the UK, being available by
internet download only. The song won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in
2009.
