May 31

Births

1935: Herb Alpert (Trumpet Player)

1938: Peter Yarrow (Guitar & Vocals for Peter, Paul and Mary)

1938: Johnny Paycheck (Donald Eugene Lytle ) (Country Singer & Guitarist)

1944: Mick Ralphs (Guitarist for Mott The Hoople & Bad Company)

1948: John Bonham (Drummer for Led Zeppelin)

1952: Karl Bartos (Percussion & Keyboards for Kraftwerk)

1954: Vicki Sue Robinson (Disco Singer)

1962: Corey Hart (Singer)

1963: Wesley Willis (Singer?)

1964: MC Darryl 'D' McDaniels (Rapper in Run-DMC)

1964: Scotti Hill (Guitarist for Skid Row)

1980: Andrey Hurley (Drummer for Fall Out Boy)

1986: Waka Flocka Flame (Juaquin Malphurs) (Rapper)

Events

1917: The first jazz record, "Dark Town Strutters' Ball," was released.

1956: Elvis Presley is the featured guest on Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings' weekly KOSA-TV show in Odessa, TX.

1956: A still-struggling Buddy Holly catches a showing of John Wayne's new movie, The Searchers, at the State Theatre in Lubbock, TX. At two points, the star sarcastically replies "that'll be the day" to another character, giving Buddy the impetus to write his first hit song.

1958: Guitarist Dick Dale performs his new song, "Let's Go Trippin'," at Balboa, California's Rendezvous Ballroom, a moment generally considered the birth of the surf music genre.

1961: Chuck Berry opens Berry Park in Wentzville, Missouri, with a public area featuring a petting zoo, picnic area, miniature golf, Ferris wheel, and swimming pool.

1964: The Dave Clark Five make their first appearance on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show, performing "Glad All Over." Ed likes the clean-cut boys so much he has them on 18 more times over the course of the show's life, more than any other rock band.

1966: Lulu's first movie, To Sir With Love, begins filming in London.

1966: Filming begins on "The Monkees (Here Come The Monkees)," the first filmed episode of the television series The Monkees (though not the first shown).

1968: During his vocal overdub on the Beatles song "Revolution 1," John Lennon begins to shout and scream "all right" and other wordless nonsense vocalizations over the long six-minute jam of the original recording, joined by Yoko Ono (attending her first Beatles session). The screaming and conversation between he and Yoko would become an integral part of the eventual track "Revolution 9."

1969: The Supremes host tonight's episode of ABC-TV's Hollywood Palace, also featuring The Jackson 5 and Sammy Davis Jr.

1969: The Rolling Stones recorded "Honky Tonk Women."

1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono record "Give Peace a Chance".

1973: Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham celebrates his 25th birthday with a Robert Plant-led audience sing-a-long of "Happy Birthday" at the band's show in Los Angeles, then by carousing with friend George Harrison afterward. Harrison playfully throws the birthday cake at Bonham, who tosses George into the hotel pool.

1975: Freddy Fender went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Before The Next Teardrop Falls', his only US No.1.

1976: The Who secures its place as the World's Loudest Rock Band with a 120-decibel, 76,000-watt blast of a performance at Charlton Athletic Grounds in London. The record would stand for nearly a decade.

1977: The as-yet-unpublished tell-all book from Elvis Presley's bodyguards Sonny and Red West, entitled Elvis: What Happened? begins to leak out a chapter at a time to newspapers in England and Australia.

1982: R.E.M. signed a five-album deal with I.R.S. Records, an independent label based in California.

1991: Country singer Randy Travis marries manager Lib Hatcher in Hawaii during a vacation.

1991: Tracy Lawrence is shot in Shoney's parking lot on Music Row just after completing vocals for his debut album. Lawrence and a female friend were robbed by three gunmen prior to the shooting.

1998: Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) announced she had quit The Spice Girls saying "This is because of differences between us. I am sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best.

2000: After a heart attack following a show in Puerto Rico, Salsa artist Tito Puente had open heart surgery in New York City from which he never recovered.

2000: Janet Jackson announced that she was getting a divorce from dancer Rene Elizondo. The marriage had been kept secret for nine years.

2000: R&B Singer Johnnie Taylor died of a heart attack at Charlton Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas at the age of 66.

2004: Guitarist Robert Quine was found dead of a heroin overdose in his New York City home. He worked with Richard Hell And The Voidoids, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Lloyd Cole, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits and They Might Be Giants.

2005: Strawberry Field (no s), the Liverpool orphanage which inspired the Beatles' famous song, is closed by the Salvation Army after almost seventy years.

2007: Rob Grill, lead singer of the Grass Roots, is arrested for illegal possession of prescription painkillers at his home in Mount Dora, FL.