February 15

Births

1944: Mick Avory (Drummer for The Kinks)

1945: John Helliwell (Sax for Supertramp)

1950: David Brown (Bass for Santana)

1951: Melissa Manchester (Singer)

1957: Jake E. Lee (Jakey Lou Williams) (Guitar for Ozzy Osbourne & Badlands)

1959: Ali Campbell (Singer in UB40)

1964: Chris Farley (Comedian)

1967: Jane Child (Pop Singer / Songwriter)

1969: Birdman (Bryan Williams) (Rapper)

1976: Brandon Boyd (Singer in Incubus)

1976: Ronnie Vannucci Jr (Drummer in The Killers)

1977: Brooks Wackerman (Drummer for Bad Religion)

1980: Conor Oberst (Singer / Songwriter for Bright Eyes, Monsters Of Folk & The Faint)

Events

1941: Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded "Take the "A" Train" for the first time.

1954: Big Joe Turner recorded the original "Shake, Rattle & Roll".

1958: Due to the amazing daytime success of Dick Clark's American Bandstand, ABC debuts a new prime-time variety show called The Dick Clark Show. Guests on the first episode include Connie Francis, Pat Boone, Chuck Willis, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Royal Teens, and Johnnie Ray.

1961: Singer Jackie Wilson was left with a stomach wound after Juanita Jones, a female fan, went to his New York apartment demanding to see him. Jones' gun went off as he tried to disarm her.

1964: The Beatles scored their first US No.1 album with 'Meet The Beatles!' The album stayed at No.1 for eleven weeks.

1965: Nat "King" Cole died of lung cancer at age 45. In 1956 he became the first black American to host a television variety show.

1967: Music students at Chicago's DePaul University form a seven-piece rock ensemble called The Big Thing. Later, they would change their name to Chicago Transit Authority, and then, simply, Chicago.

1968: Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, along with their wives, travel to Rishikesh, India to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The other two band members would soon follow.

1968: US blues harmonica player Little Walter died from injuries incurred in a fight while taking a break from a performance at a nightclub in Chicago.

1969: Florida hairstylist Vickie Jones is arrested for impersonating Aretha Franklin at a club in Fort Myers, FL. Incredibly, her performance is so believable that no patrons demand a refund.

1970: After a Sly and the Family Stone concert runs hours late and causes over a thousand dollars in damages, the Daughters of the American Revolution impose a ban against any further rock concerts at the venue, Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall.

1975: Capitol Records rushes to release John Lennon's Rock and Roll album after a much shabbier version, called Roots, had begun to be marketed on late-night television. Roots was music exec Morris Levy's version of the "oldies" sessions, which Lennon was court-ordered to undertake as payment for a Chuck Berry line John used in the Beatles' "Come Together." (Levy's copyright was judged to have been infringed by the line "Here come old flat-top, he come groovin' up slowly.")

1976: Bette Midler bails out no less than seven members of her entourage from jail after their arrest on drug possession charges.

1977: Sid Vicious joined the Sex Pistols replacing bassist Glen Matlock.

1981: American guitarist Mike Bloomfield was found dead in his car in San Francisco from an accidental heroin overdose. He was a member of the Paul Butterfield band and Electric Flag and had played on Bob Dylan's album 'Highway 61 Revisited'.

1991: Rod Stewart's ex-girlfriend, supermodel Kelly Emberg, files a $25 million palimony suit against the singer in Los Angeles Superior Court.

1999: Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura -- a former Rolling Stones concert bodyguard & professional wrestler -- declares today "Rolling Stones Day."

1999: Rapper Big L (Lamont Coleman) was killed after being shot nine times in the face and chest by a childhood friend.