February 13

Births

1919: Tennessee Ernie Ford (Country Singer)

1942: Peter Tork (Keyboards & Bass for The Monkees)

1945: King Floyd (R&B Singer)

1950: Peter Gabriel (Lead Singer for Genesis & Solo)

1950: Bob Daisley (Bass for Ozzy Osbourne & Rainbow)

1951: David Naughton (Singer)

1952: Ed Gagliardi (Bass for Foreigner)

1956: Peter Hook (Bass for Joy Division & New Order)

1961: Henry Rollins (Singer for Black Flag & Rollins Band)

1961: Les Warner (Drummer for The Cult)

1966: Freedom Williams (Lead Vocals for C+C Music Factory)

1974: Robbie Williams (Singer in Take That & Solo)

1976: Feist (Leslie Feist ) (Singer / Songwriter)

1978: Hamish Glencross (Guitar for My Dying Bride)

Events

1961: Frank Sinatra launched his own record label, Reprise Records, in order to allow more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname “The Chairman of the Board.”

1970: On this day, Friday the 13th, Black Sabbath released their debut self-titled studio album on Vertigo records. Peaking at #8 on the charts, the album has been recognized as the first main album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre.

1972: Led Zeppelin is forced to cancel a gig in Singapore when local officials, seeing their long hair, refuse to let them off the plane.

1974, David Bowie turned down an offer from the Gay Liberation group to compose 'the world's first Gay National Anthem.'

1978: Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley officially declares today "Al Green Day."

1980: Police raided the home of former Sex Pistol John Lydon who greeted them waving a ceremonial sword, the only illegal item they found was a canister of tear gas, claimed to be for defense against intruders.

1981: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon becomes first the rock album to spend the most consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart -- 402 weeks from March 1973. It would eventually leave the charts April 23, 1988, after 724 weeks.

1982: The 300-pound gravestone of Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant is stolen from the cemetery in Orange Park, CA. Police find it two weeks later in a dry river bed.

1988: Michael Jackson purchases a ranch in Santa Ynez, CA, which he renames "Neverland."

1997: Michael Jackson and wife Debbie Rowe become the proud parents of their first child, Prince.

1998: Police at Manchester Airport arrested former Stone Roses singer, Ian Brown after an incident during a flight from Paris. Brown was found guilty in August the same year and jailed for four months; British Airways also banned him from flying with the airline.

2002: Country artist Waylon Jennings died in his sleep of diabetic complications.

2007: Robbie Williams checked into rehab on his birthday to deal with an addiction to prescription drugs.