August 16

Births

1928: Eydie Gorme (Singer)

1944: Kevin Ayers (Guitar for The Soft Machine)

1948: Barry Hay (Lead Vocals for Golden Earring)

1949: Scott Asheton (Drums for Iggy Pop and the Stooges)

1953: James "J.T." Taylor (Singer for Kool and the Gang)

1957: Tim Farriss (Guitar for INXS)

1958: Madonna (Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone) (Singer)

1964: Matt Lukin (Bass for Mudhoney & Melvins)

1972: Emily Erwin (Singer & Banjo for Dixie Chicks)

1980: Vanessa Carlton (Pop Singer & Pianist)

1980: Bob Hardy (Bass for Franz Ferdinand)

Events

1938: Blues legend Robert Johnson died (probably poisoned by a jealous husband) at the age of 27 at a country crossroads near Greenwood, Mississippi. His recordings from 1936–1937 have influenced generations of musicians including Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton..

1957: Buddy Holly and The Crickets, still being billed by the band name only, begin a six-night engagement at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater, the first white rock act to play the venue. Although crowds boo a little at first -- many, including the venue, assumed they'd be seeing R&B vocal group The Crickets -- by the third night of the engagement Buddy's energy and songs have won them over.

1962: Detroit harmonica prodigy "Little" Stevie Wonder releases his first single, "(I Call It Pretty Music, But...) The Old People Call It The Blues," featuring another newcomer, Marvin Gaye, on drums. It fails to chart.

1965: David Jones' official stage name became David Bowie.

1968: The Jackson Five perform their first official live gig, opening for Diana Ross and the Supremes at the (Great Western) Forum in Los Angeles.

1969: During the Who's performance of their rock opera Tommy at Woodstock (specifically, during the instrumental "Underture") activist and hippie leader Abbie Hoffman leaps on stage, grabs the microphone, and yells "I think this is a pile of s**t, while John Sinclair rots in prison!" (Sinclair, a fellow activist, had been sentenced for ten years for two marijuana joints.) Pete Townshend, not knowing who Hoffman is, hits him over the head with his guitar and orders him to "**** off my ****ing stage!"

1974: The Ramones played their first concert at New York's CBGB’s.

1975: Peter Gabriel announced he was leaving Genesis to go solo. Phil Collins would be the new lead singer after the group auditioned more than 400 potential musicians.

1977: Elvis Presley died at the age of 42 in Memphis. He died of coronary arrhythmia.

1977: Manchester punk band The Buzzcocks signed to EMI's United Artists label.

1980: Alabama registers its first #1 single in Billboard with "Tennessee River".

1983: Paul Simon marries Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher at his New York duplex. The couple would divorce just two years later.

1985: Madonna married Sean Penn in Malibu.  She would file for divorce the next year.

1995: Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys performs live for the first time with his daughters Carnie and Wendy, recently famous for their stint in the trio Wilson Phillips.

1995: R&B musician Robert "Robby" Debarge dies at 36 from complications from AIDS.

1997: Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died of cardiac arrest at age 48. He had recorded with Bruce Springsteen Eddie Vedder and Peter Gabriel.

2005: Madonna suffered three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand in a horse-riding accident on her country estate. The accident happened when she fell off a new horse in the grounds of her Ashcombe House on the border of Wiltshire and Dorset on her 47th birthday. The singer was treated at hospital in Salisbury, 90 miles south-west of London.

2005: P Diddy appeared on the TV Today Show and announced that he was altering his stage name again, dropping the "P." and referring to himself simply as "Diddy." The name change to Diddy upset Richard "Diddy" Dearlove, a London based DJ who took out court proceedings against P Diddy over the use of the name. He won when an out of court settlement of $200,000 was agreed and as a result, Combs is no longer be able to use the name Diddy in the UK.

2011: Rock veteran John Mellencamp and model Elaine Irwin officially divorced after an 18-year-marriage. The couple, which shares two teenage sons, separated in September of 2010 and filed for divorce on Jan. 14, 2011. 

August 15

Births

1925: Oscar Peterson (Jazz Pianist)

1925: Bill Pinkney (Singer in The Drifters)

1933: Bobby Helms (Country Singer)

1948: Tom Johnston (Guitar & Vocals for The Doobie Brothers)

1950: Tommy Aldridge (Drums for Whitesnake, Ozzy & Thin Lizzy)

1951: Bobby Caldwell (Singer)

1952: Johnny Thunders (Guitar for The New York Dolls & The Heartbreakers)

1961: Matt Johnson (Singer for The The)

1978: Tim Foreman (Bass for Switchfoot)

1984: Dave Welsh (Guitarist for The Fray)

1989: Joe Jonas (Singer for The Jonas Brothers)

Events

1939: After five directors, several script drafts, and endless casting changes, The movie musical The Wizard Of Oz premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

1956: "Colonel" Tom Parker, actually a Dutch immigrant who merely played at being a Southern aristocrat, becomes "special adviser" to Elvis Presley, effectively taking over management duties from Bob Neal, who knew managing the King was about to become a full-time job.

1958: Buddy Holly marries Maria Elena Santiago, a former receptionist at his music publishing company, in a private ceremony held at Holly's boyhood home in Lubbock, TX.

1964: After the massive success of the Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night, United Artists rushes to sign up-and-comers The Dave Clark Five to a film project entitled Catch Us If You Can (which was released in the US as Having A Wild Weekend).

1965: At 8 pm EST, the Beatles take the stage at Shea Stadium in New York City, marking the very first time a rock band would headline a stadium concert and a major victory for promoter Sid Bernstein, who had arranged the gig after his gamble of booking the then-unknown group at Carnegie Hall had paid off. Tickets for the show, sold merely by word of mouth created by kids who asked Bernstein about the next Beatles show while he strolled in Central Park, sold out in just three weeks, beating the stadium's old seating record with 56,000 seats sold.

1969: Promising "three days of peace, love, and music," The Woodstock Music and Art Fair begins on Max Yasgur's sixty-acre farm in Bethel, NY (nearby Woodstock being the original location). Featuring two dozen of the country's hottest bands, the festival draws over 450,000 hippies to the tiny town, causing unimaginable traffic and logistics problems but nevertheless impressing the ordinary citizens. Three deaths, two births, four miscarriages, and a wedding are all reported before Jimi Hendrix ends the festivities with his legendary rendition of the US national anthem. Also appearing were (in part) Joe Cocker, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Santana, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Canned Heat, Joan Baez, Santana, Melanie, Ten Years After, Sly and the Family Stone, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, Country Joe and the Fish, Blood Sweat and Tears, and Arlo Guthrie. Among those who elected not to attend were Tommy James and the Shondells, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Jethro Tull, and The Moody Blues.

1973: Baltimore, MD, declares today "Cass Elliot Day" in honor of the native singer for The Mamas and the Papas.

1980: John Lennon enters the Record Plant Studios in New York to record his "comeback" album, Double Fantasy.

1983: Ramones guitarist Joey Ramone, beaten in a fight-undergoes brain surgery.

1996: A New York women's shelter refuses to take money raised by a recent benefit concert when they learn that one of the performers was James Brown, often accused of emotional and physical abuse of women.

2000: David Bowie and his wife, supermodel Iman, become the proud parents of their first child, Alexandria Zahra Jones.

2004: Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was being treated for throat cancer after being diagnosed with the disease in June.

2005: Sly Stone comes out of a long seclusion to visit the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles, where his little sister Vet headlines with the latest version of the Family Stone.

2011: Singer/actress Hilary Duff, 23, announced that she is expecting her first child with husband Mike Comrie, 30. 

August 14

Births

1940: Dash Crofts (Singer in Seals and Crofts)

1941: David Crosby (Guitar & Vocals for The Byrds & Crosby, Stills and Nash)

1941: Connie Smith (Country Singer)

1946: Larry Graham (Bass & Vocals for Sly and the Family Stone & Solo)

1951: Slim Dunlap (Guitar for The Replacements)

1960: Sarah Brightman (Singer / Actress)

1965: Mark Collins (Guitar for The Charlatans)

1970: Kevin Cadogan (Lead Guitar for Third Eye Blind)

Events

1956: Washington DC disc jockey Bob Rickman forms the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elvis Presley after reading too many news articles that make him out to be a hick and/or a threat to society.

1958: At approximately 3:00 am, Gladys Presley, mother of Elvis, dies at age 46 from a heart attack brought on by hepatitis. His father, Vernon, calls Elvis immediately and he rushes to her bedside, wailing loudly and praying over her lifeless body. Elvis refuses an autopsy. Gladys' body is transported to Graceland and will lie in state there for two days, with her son simply staring at her, until Vernon insists she be buried.

1964: Rockabilly artist Johnny Burnette’s unlit fishing boat was struck by an unaware cabin cruiser on Clear Lake, California. The impact threw him off the boat and he drowned.

1966: The Catholic Herald of London runs an editorial describing John Lennon's recent "bigger than Jesus" remark as "arrogant," while admitting it was a generally accurate remark. However, the Vatican paper of record, L'Osservatore Romano, accepts Lennon's public apology of a few days earlier.

1967: Britain's new Marine Broadcasting Offences Act goes into effect, forcing all but one of the country's famous "pirate" (i.e., unlicensed) radio stations off the air. Radio Caroline remains on the air for another six months or so.

1970: After being found crawling along a motel hallway in La Jolla, CA, incoherent and "combative," Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash is arrested for possession of cocaine and barbiturates.

1971: Diana Ross becomes the proud mother of her first child, Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein; Ross soon marries her manager, Robert Ellis Silberstein, a few days later to mask the fact that the baby is actually the child of Motown's currently married founder, Berry Gordy.

1981: Four years after his untimely death, a Memphis judge rules that Elvis Presley's estate is no longer financially beholden to his manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker.

1988: Blues guitarist Roy Buchanan died after hanging himself by his own shirt in Fairfax County Jail, Virginia after being arrested for drunkenness.

1992: Wayne Newton files for bankruptcy.

1992: Tony Williams lead singer with The Platters died in his sleep of emphysema aged 64. He sang most of the group’s hits up until 1961 when he was replaced by Sonny Turner.

1995: Foo Fighters made their network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman when they performed their new single 'This Is A Call'.

1995: The Grateful Dead meet and decide to break up after the recent tragedy of founder/leader Jerry Garcia's death.

1999: Former teen idol Leif Garrett pleads guilty to drug possession in Los Angeles and is ordered into rehab.

2001: A pizza-stained piece of paper signed by three of the four Beatles sold for $48,000 to an anonymous collector at an auction in Melbourne. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison all signed the paper during their 1964 tour of Australia. Drummer Ringo Starr had laryngitis and was not on the tour. A fan managed to get the autographs while the band was staying in a hotel in Adelaide.

2002: Dave Williams, lead singer of US heavy rock band Drowning Pool, was found dead on the band’s tour bus during Ozzy Osbournes Ozzfest tour in Manassas, Virginia. The autopsy concluded that he suffered from a form of heart disease.

2003: When a power outage zaps the electricity for 50 million residents in the Northeast, Jo Dee Messina improvises, doing a 30-minute acoustic set at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York, including "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia".

2005: Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty was forced to endure an all-body strip search at Gardermoen Airport in Norway after being held by customs officers for three hours while they ensured he was carrying no drugs.

2006: Boy George was seen sweeping streets in New York as part of a five-day community service sentence. The former Culture Club frontman was moved into a fenced-off area after only 30 minutes after he was mobbed by the media. The 45-year-old singer was found guilty of wasting police time earlier this year and was threatened with jail if he failed to complete the court-imposed sentence.

2009: George Michael was arrested and held on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink or drugs after his Land Rover was in collision with a lorry on the A34 in Berkshire. The singer was later released without charge.

August 13

Births

1899: Alfred Hitchcock (Author)

1921: Jimmy McCracklin (Blues Pianist & Singer)

1930: Don Ho (Hawaiian Singer)

1951: Dan Fogelberg (Singer / Songwriter)

1959: Danny Bonaduce (The Partridge Family)

1973: Andy Griggs (Country Artist)

1984: James Morrison (Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1924: Vernon Dalhart's "The Prisoner's Song" becomes the first country record to sell a million copies -- a milestone for public acceptance of the genre.

1938: Blues legend Robert Johnson, who was reported to have "made a deal with the Devil" in order to execute his amazing guitar technique, plays his last gig at a dance approximately 15 miles from Greenwood, MS, and is supposedly poisoned by either the club's owner or a jealous girlfriend, who places strychnine in an open bottle of whiskey. When offered the bottle, fellow bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson knocks it out of his hand, admonishing him against ever drinking from an open container at a public event, but Johnson drinks from the next open bottle anyway. He would die three days later.

1952: The original version of 'Hound Dog' was recorded by Willie Mae (Big Mama) Thornton. It would become the first hit for the song-writing team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and went on to top the Billboard R&B chart for seven weeks, selling nearly two million copies.

1959: Bobby Darin signs his first movie contract, a million-dollar, six-year, six-picture deal with Paramount Studios. He would go on to secure a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1962.

1963: The Four Seasons sue their struggling first label, Vee Jay, for non payment of royalties and move to Mercury/Philips Records. This would be the first of a long line of incidents that would doom the label.

1964: The Kinks score their first hit as "You Really Got Me," written by Ray Davies on his mother's piano, enters the British charts.

1965: The Jefferson Airplane made its stage debut at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, CA.

1965: Mike Smith, lead singer of The Dave Clark Five, suffered two broken ribs when he was pulled off the stage by fans. The group were in Chicago at the beginning of a US tour.

1967: A planned Joan Baez concert at Washington DC's Constitution Hall is cancelled after the Daughters of the American Revolution protest her recent anti-war remarks concerning Vietnam.

1971: Around midnight on this day, Saxophonist King Curtis was lugging an air-conditioning unit towards his brownstone apartment on West 86th Street in New York City when he noticed two junkies were using drugs on the steps to his home. When he asked them to leave, an argument started. The argument quickly became heated and turned into a fist-fight with one of the men, 26-year old Juan Montañez. Suddenly, Montañez pulled out a knife and stabbed Curtis in the chest. Curtis managed to wrestle the knife away and stab his assailant four times before collapsing. Montañez staggered away from the scene and Curtis was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he died from his wounds less than an hour later.

1971: John Lennon leaves England via Heathrow Airport, headed for New York City to find Yoko Ono's estranged and possibly kidnapped daughter Kyoto. It would be the last time he would see England.

1977: Bachman-Turner Overdrive announced that the group is splitting up (though they would reunite within six years).

1980: Songwriter, producer, and artist Todd Rundgren, his female companion, and three others are victims of a home invasion at his house in Woodstock, NY, bound and gagged by four masked intruders who steal art, stereo equipment, and recording equipment. One of the criminals hums Todd's 1972 hit "I Saw The Light" to himself as the robbery takes place.

1982: In response to plummeting record sales (which the industry blames on the sale of blank cassette tapes), major labels CBS, Atlantic, and Warner Brothers announce a series of major staff cuts.

1982: American soul singer Joe Tex died at his home in Navasota, Texas, following a heart attack, just five days after his 49th birthday. Had nine US Top 40 hits including the 1972 US No.2 single 'I Gotcha'.

1988: Willie Nelson becomes the first artist ever to have an album spend 10 years on the Billboard country chart, as "Stardust" logs its 520th week.

1990: While warming up for an outdoor concert at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed by a lighting tower which falls from the stage and onto his back. He will remain a quadriplegic for the next nine years until his death in 1999.

1991: Arista releases Brooks & Dunn's debut album, "Brand New Man".

1992: Neil Diamond played the first of six sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in New York. Diamond would bring in over $40 million from touring this year, the second highest in the music industry.

1994: Members from Oasis and The Verve were arrested after smashing up a hotel bar and breaking into a church to steal communion wine. Both bands had been appearing at Hulsfred Festival in Sweden.

1995: Michael Stipe (Singer for R.E.M.) has surgery for a hernia.

1999: Ex Guns N' Roses member Slash was arrested and accused of assaulting his girlfriend at his Sunset Boulevard recording studio by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. He was released on bail.

1999: Mick Jagger's marriage to model Jerry Hall was been declared null and void at the High Court in London. Neither Jagger nor Hall were present for the 30-minute hearing before Mr Justice Connell. After hearing evidence on behalf of Hall the judge ruled their "marriage" in Bali in 1990 was not valid either in Indonesia or under English law, and a decree of nullity was granted to Hall. The annulment avoided what had been expected to be a long and costly court battle, in which Ms Hall, 43, was reportedly seeking a $55m share of Jagger's wealth.

2002: Adam Ant pleaded guilty to threatening drinkers at The Prince Of Wales Pub in London in January of this year. The former 1980's pop star had returned to the bar with a starting pistol after being refused entry. He had also thrown a car alternator through the window of the pub.

2007: Fats Domino is honored as an "American Music Legend" by the Recording Industry Association of America.

2007: Amy Winehouse pulled out of two Rolling Stones gigs in Hamburg Germany citing exhaustion, British group Starsailor replaced Winehouse for the shows.

2009: Guitarist Les Paul died in hospital in White Plains, New York at the age of 94 suffering from severe pneumonia. Paul is credited with developing one of the first solid-body electric guitars, which went on sale in 1952 and contributed to the birth of rock. He also developed other influential recording innovations such as multi-track recording and overdubbing.

2011: As Sugarland prepares to take the stage, a wind gust collapses the stage at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. Seven people eventually die and another 45 are treated for injuries.