January 20

Births

1888: Leadbelly (Blues Musician)

1922: Ray Anthony (Big Band Leader)

1924: Slim Whitman (Country Singer)

1951: Ian Hill (Bass for Judas Priest)

1952: Paul Stanley (Vocals & Guitar for KISS)

1955: Michael Anthony (Bass for Van Halen)

1965: John Michael Montgomery (Country Artist)

1965: Greg Kriesel (Bass for The Offspring)

1966: Tracii Guns (Guitar for L.A. Guns & Guns N’ Roses first Guitarist)

1971: ?uestlove (Ahmir Khalib Thompson) (Drummer for The Roots)

1971: Gary Barlow (Singer for Take That and Solo)

1979: Rob Bourdon (Drummer for Linkin Park)

1980: Matthew Tuck (Lead Vocals & Rhythm Guitar for Bullet For My Valentine)

1981: Nathan Connolly (Lead Guitar for Snow Patrol)

1985: Brantley Gilbert (Country Artist)

Events

1958: Elvis Presley receives his draft notice in Memphis, TN. It allows a sixty-day deferment for the King to finish his film King Creole.

1964: The Beatles album “Meet The Beatles” is released in the US.  The whole album was 27:00 minutes long.

1965: The Rolling Stones and the Kinks both make their debut on ABC's Shindig! along with guests Dave Clark Five, Petula Clark, Bobby Vee, Bobby Sherman and Gerry and the Pacemakers.

1968: In his first public appearance since his motorcycle accident two years earlier, Bob Dylan joins Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Odetta, Richie Havens, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and the Band at a Carnegie Hall tribute concert for Woody Guthrie.

1969: Elvis Presley recorded "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds." It was the first time he had recorded in Memphis since 1956.

1971: Diana Ross marries Bob Silberstein.

1973: Following his newfound success as a country and western artist, Jerry Lee Lewis finally takes the stage at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. Although officials instruct him to play only country and to keep his comments clean, Lewis eventually breaks both rules, playing his classic rock and roll hits and declaring himself "the rock & rollin', country and western, rhythm and blues singin' motherf-----."

1974: After only five months of recovery from a near-fatal car crash, Stevie Wonder returns to performance with a show at London's Rainbow Theatre.

1982: During an Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the audience threw a bat onto the stage. Stunned by the light, the bat lay motionless, and thinking it was a rubber fake, the singer picked it up and attempted to bite its head off. As he did this, the bat started to flap its wings and Ozzy soon realized it wasn't fake but in fact a living thing. After the show Ozzy was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital for rabies shots.

1988: The Third Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are held in New York City. Inductees include The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Drifters, Bob Dylan, and The Supremes. Beach Boy Mike Love raises eyebrows with his acceptance speech, which methodically insults most of the honorees (among others).

1999: Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots), while on probation for a 1997 heroin case, was arrested for failing to provide a urine sample to his live-in drug treatment center.