Births
1942: Ronnie
James Dio (Singer for Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath & Solo)
1947: Arlo
Guthrie (Folk Singer)
1949: Greg Kihn (Guitarist & Singer)
1953: Rik
"The Rocket" Emmett (Vocals & Guitar for Triumph)
1954: Neil Tennant (Vocals for Pet Shop Boys)
1958: Béla Fleck (Bluegrass Artist)
1959: Sandy West (Drummer for The Runaways)
1965: Peter DiStefano (Guitar for Porno For
Pyros)
1970: Gary LeVox (Singer for Rascal Flatts)
1980: Jessica Simpson (Singer)
Events
1941: Jazz
pianist Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton dies in LA at 56 from an asthma
affliction.
1950: The
Victor Talking Machine Company, later to become RCA Victor and the world's
first great record label, trademarks its slogan "His Master's Voice,"
which referred to the iconic image of the Victor dog, Nipper, cocking an ear to
the gramophone as if his master were actually in the room.
1954: WINS AM
in New York hires legendary DJ Alan Freed away from his home at Cleveland's
WJW, where, among other things, he helped popularize the term "rock and
roll." Freed would move across town to WABC two years later, where he
would eventually be fired for his participation in the "payola
scandal."
1959: One of
the most popular Fifties "rock and roll movies," Alan Freed's Go,
Johnny, Go! opens nationwide, featuring Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, Eddie
Cochran, Sandy Stewart, the Cadillacs, Harvey Fuqua of the Moonglows, Jimmy
Clanton, and -- in his one and only film appearance -- Ritchie Valens.
1964: The
Beatles A Hard Day's Night film has its Liverpool premiere, with over
200,000 locals (!) turning up to celebrate their hometown boys making good.
1965: The Rolling Stones started a four week run
at No.1 on the US singles chart with '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', the
group's first US No.1. Some US stations cut out the last verse believing it
referred to women's 'time of the month'.
1967: Singer
Kenny Rogers leaves the folk group The New Christy Minstrels and, the next day,
forms the First Edition.
1967: Bobbie Gentry recorded "Ode to Billie
Joe."
1968: Eric
Clapton announces the breakup of the supergroup Cream, currently finishing up
its last tour.
1968: Early
prog-rockers The Nice (Featuring Keith Emerson) are banned from London's Royal
Albert Hall after burning an American flag on stage.
1969: The
Rolling Stones founding member, Brian Jones, is laid to rest at Hatherley Road
Parish Church in his hometown of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, after
drowning (or, some say, being drowned) in a swimming pool a few days earlier.
Brian is buried 12 feet in the ground so as to discourage trophy-seeking fans.
His epitaph: "Please don't judge me too harshly." Bill Wyman, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts
from The Stones attended the funeral, not Mick Jagger.
1975: Gregg
Allman and Cher's famously rocky marriage almost ends in divorce after only ten
days.
1975: Gladys
Knight and the Pips debut their own summer variety music show on NBC TV.
1976: Vernon
Presley, at the behest of his son Elvis, fires longtime "Memphis
Mafia" members Sonny West, his cousin Red West, and Dave Hebler -- not
coincidentally the three most adamant about getting him off his addiction to
prescription drugs. Red would eventually write a book called Elvis: What
Happened? which would alert the public to the King's drug problem for the
first time.
1977: Cher
gives birth to Elijah Blue Allman, her first and only child with Gregg Allman
of the Allman Brothers.
1978: Rolling
Stones bassist Bill Wyman falls from the stage at a gig St. Paul, MN and is
knocked unconscious.
1979: Chuck
Berry is sentenced to jail for the second time, this time a tax-evasion charge
that nets him four months (for allegedly bilking Uncle Sam out of $200,000 back
in 1973).
1979:
Orchestra leader Arthur Fiedler dies at 84 after having a heart seizure. He was
in his 50th year as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.
1981: Jerry
Lee Lewis enters a Memphis hospital for the first of two emergency operations
to counteract a bleeding ulcer.
1986: Jerry
Garcia of the Grateful Dead slips into a diabetic coma. He recovers five days
later.
1989: The
Monkees get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the ceremony, all four
Monkees reunite for the first time.
1989: David F Pearsall age 18 from Manchester,
New Jersey was charged with theft after stealing a guitar at a concert in
Riverfront Park belonging to Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi.
1993: Bob
Seger marries his third and current wife, Juanita Dorricott.
1994:
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian weds Debbie Leavitt.
1997: Chrissie Hynde (Singer for The Pretenders)
and Lucho Brieva were married.
1998: Singer
Sheena Easton filed for divorce from her husband of 11 months, Timothy Delarm.
2000: A
much-ballyhooed Supremes "reunion" tour, "Return To Love,"
which features only Diana Ross from the original group, is canceled after
initial ticket sales don't match expectations.
2002: Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli
announced that they had secretly separated 10 months before. They divorced in
2007.
2008: The drum skin used on the
cover of The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album sold for $1 M at Christie's Memorabilia
auction in London. Other items sold included John Lennon's lyrics for ‘Give
Peace a Chance’ which sold for $832,257 and a pair of tinted prescription
sunglasses belonging to Lennon, which he wore for the cover of the single ‘Mind
Games’, sold for $79,000. A rare 1/4 inch reel to-reel master tape recording of
the Jimi Hendrix Experience performing at the Woburn Music Festival in 1968
went for $95,000, a Marshall amplifier used by Hendrix in concert fetched
$50,000 and a pair of his stripy flared trousers made $49,000.
2010: Carrie Underwood marries hockey player Mike Fisher at
the Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia. Attending celebs include Garth
Brooks, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.
