April 1

Births

1945: John Barbata (Drums for The Turtles & Jefferson Starship)

1946: Ronnie Lane (Bass for The Small Faces)

1947: M (Robin Scott) (Singer)

1948: Jimmy Cliff (Reggae Artist)

1949: Gil Scott-Heron (Poet & Musician)

1950: Billy Currie (Keyboards & Violin for Ultravox)

1951: Henry Gross (Vocals for Sha Na Na)

1954: Jeff Porcaro (Drums for Toto)

1961: Mark White (Guitar & Keyboards for ABC)

1961: Susan Boyle (Singer)

1964: Leslie Langston (Bass for Throwing Muses)

1965: Peter O'Toole (Bass & Guitar for Hothouse Flowers)

1971: Method Man (Clifford Smith) (Rapper in Wu-Tang Clan)

1972: Jesse Tobias (Session Guitarist)

1974: Richard Christy (Howard Stern Show)

1975: John Butler (Singer / Songwriter)

1986: Hillary Scott (Singer for Lady Antebellum)

Events

1877: Thomas Edison designs plans for a telephone with a "carbon transmitter," a device that would later be altered to create the microphone.

1917: Pianist Scott Joplin was suffering from tertiary syphilis and a resulting descent into madness.  In January 1917, he was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital, a mental institution. He died there on April 1, 1917 of dementia.

1928: The first gramophone with record-changing ability, Victor's "Automatic Orthophonic," goes on sale.

1956: Elvis Presley arrives at Paramount Studios for a screen test, lip-synching "Blue Suede Shoes" and performing a scene as Bill Starbuck in The Rainmaker, still in production. Presley will eventually be passed over for this film, and his role taken over by Burt Lancaster. Still impressed, however, Paramount and director Hal Wallis sign Elvis to a seven-year contract five days later.

1957: Elvis Presley performs the first two of only four concerts he will ever stage outside the US when he headlines at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.

1960: In Miami, Elvis Presley tapes his post-Army comeback special, Frank Sinatra's Welcome Home, Elvis, also starring Sammy Davis Jr., Nancy Sinatra, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. Elvis sings "Fame And Fortune" and "Stuck On You," as well as Sinatra's own "Witchcraft." Frank responds by singing "Love Me Tender."

1964: John Lennon is reunited with his father Freddie after 17 years.

1966: The Troggs recorded "Wild Thing" at Regent Sound Studio in London. The song went on to be a No.1 US hit in June the following year.

1966: Pye Records released David Bowie's first solo single, 'Do Anything You Say'. Bowie had previously recorded as David Jones and The Lower Third.

1969: The Beach Boys leave the Capitol label, suing them for over $2 million in back royalties and announcing their intention to start their own label, Brother.

1970: Ringo Starr enters Abbey Road alone for what would be the very last Beatles session, overdubbing percussion on "The Long and Winding Road," "Across The Universe," and "I Me Mine." Producer Phil Spector wraps things up by applying strings to all three.

1970: John Lennon and Yoko Ono play an April Fool's joke on an already confused press by announcing that they would undergo mutual sex-change operations.

1976: The Buzzcocks played their debut live gig when the appeared at Bolton Institute Of Technology. The power was turned off after three numbers.

1976: Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's house was broken into with thieves taking guitars valued at over $11,000.

1978: Paul Simon, Peter Frampton, and James Taylor's jointly-owned soccer team, the Philadelphia Fury, plays its first match.

1983: Kirk Hammett joined Metallica.

1984: Marvin Gaye’s father fatally shot him after an argument that started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents. Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun that Marvin Jr. had given him four months before. Marvin Gaye would have turned 45 the next day. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to six years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after doctors discovered Marvin Sr. had a brain tumor.

1985: Tom Bailey, singer with The Thompson Twins, collapsed from exhaustion while staying at The Holiday Inn, Chelsea. He was flown to Paris to see his private doctor.

1985: David Lee Roth quit Van Halen shortly after releasing his version of The Beach Boys', ‘California Girls’, (which featured Carl Wilson on background vocals).

1990: Willie Nelson's tour bus crashed into a car in Riverdale, Canada, killing the car driver.

1990:  Guns and Roses' Duff McKagan divorces Mandy Brix, lead singer for Lame Flames.

1992: Billy Idol is fined $2000 and told to make public service announcements against alcohol and drug use for hitting a woman.

1992: Jimmy Buffett is the proud father of his second daughter, Sarah Delaney, with wife Jane Slagsvol.

1997: April Fools! Planning to sing at his own wedding, Trace Adkins' management company sends a contract and a bill for $7,500 to the family of his bride-to-be, Rhonda Forlaw.

1998: Rozz Williams of Christian Death hanged himself.  He was 34 years old.

2003: R&B singer Edwin Starr at the age of 61 suffered a heart attack and died whilst taking a bath at his home in Bramcote near Nottingham, England.

2004: Paul Atkinson (The Zombies) died at the age of 58 in a Santa Monica hospital due to liver and kidney disease.

2007: Indie rock band Modest Mouse were at No.1 on the album chart with ‘We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.' The album featured former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who joined the band in May 2006.

2008: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich declares today "Cheap Trick Day" in honor of its native sons.