May 8

Births

1911: Robert Johnson (Blues Guitarist)

1917: Papa John Creach (Violin for Jefferson Airplane)

1940: Toni Tennille (Singer in The Captain and Tennille)

1940: Ricky Nelson (Pop Singer)

1940: Gary Glitter (Paul Gadd) (Guitarist & Singer)

1943: Paul Samwell-Smith (Bass for The Yardbirds)

1943: Danny Whitten (Guitar for Crazy Horse)

1944: Bill Legend (Drums for T. Rex)

1947: Rick Derringer (Guitar for The McCoys, Edgar Winter Group & Solo)

1947: Billy Burnette (Guitar in Fleetwood Mac)

1951: Philip Bailey (Singer for Earth, Wind and Fire)

1951: Chris Frantz (Drummer for The Talking Heads)

1955: Alex Van Halen (Drummer for Van Halen)

1964: Dave Rowntree (Drummer for Blur)

1972: Darren Hayes (Singer for Savage Garden)

1975: Enrique Iglesias (Singer)

1976: Martha Wainwright (Singer-Songwriter)

Events

1954: The BBC bans Johnnie Ray's latest single, "Such A Night," from airplay due to its somewhat suggestive lyrics. It would later become a hit for Elvis Presley.

1961: Teen idol Ricky Nelson turns 21 and, eager to shed his teenybop image, changes his professional first name to "Rick," which he would insist upon being called for the rest of his career.

1962: Beatles manager Brian Epstein, already somewhat discouraged by the Decca label rejecting them, runs into engineer Ted Huntly while at HMV Record Store in London. Huntly suggests sending the band demo to a producer at EMI named George Martin.

1967: During filming of what would become the documentary Dont Look Back Bob Dylan gets the idea to make a short film of his single "Subterranean Homesick Blues," featuring him standing in an alley next to London's Savoy Hotel. Featuring nothing but Dylan surrounded by friends Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth, flipping giant cue cards with the lyrics of the song on them, the clip -- one of the first "music videos" -- becomes an iconic rock moment.

1967: Gerry and the Pacemakers, increasingly out of step with changing rock trends, announce their disbandment.

1969: The Beatles sign a contract making Allen Klein their manager (through his company ABKCO). Paul, pointedly, refuses to show up and sign the agreement, a decision that will lead to the group's eventual dissolution.

1970: The Beatles twelfth and final album, Let It Be was released, (it was recorded before ‘Abbey Road’ and originally to be called Get Back).

1972: Following promoter Sid Bernstein's decision to reinvent Radio City Music Hall in New York as a rock venue, Billy Preston becomes the first rock performer to headline at the famous landmark.

1974: UK keyboard player Graham Bond committed suicide after throwing himself under a London tube train at Finsbury Park station, aged 36. It took police two days to identify his body which was crushed beyond all recognition. Briefly a member of Blues Incorporated, a group led by Alexis Korner, before forming the Graham Bond Quartet, with a lineup of Bond on vocals and organ, Ginger Baker on drums and Jack Bruce on bass.

1976: On stage during Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in Houston, Willie Nelson joins Bob for a stirring rendition of the country standard "Will The Circle Be Unbroken," dedicated (as is the concert itself) to freeing wrongfully convicted ex-boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter from his murder sentence.

1976: Former lead singer of the Lovin Spoonful John Sebastian went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Welcome Back', taken from the US TV show 'Welcome Back Kotter'.

1976: BBC's Radio One fires DJ Johnny Walker after he refuses to promote teenybop phenoms The Bay City Rollers on the station.

1982: Neil Bogart died of cancer at the age of 39. Bogart was the founder of Casablanca Records, with Peter Guber, home of Donna Summer, The Village People, Kiss, T.Rex and Joan Jett.

1990: Tom Waits wins his $2.5 million suit against snack kings Frito-Lay for using a Waits "soundalike" in a commercial.

1991: 55-year-old Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman divorces his second wife, 21-year-old model Mandy Smith, after three years of marriage.

1992: Will Smith (the Fresh Prince) and songwriter Sheree Zampino were married.

1996: A Los Angeles judge ruled against Tommy Lee and wife Pamela Anderson in their bid to keep Penthouse magazine from publishing still photos from an X-rated home movie that was stolen from their home.

1998: The three former Beatles, along with Yoko Ono, win an injunction stopping the re-release of the band's live 1962 "Star Club" tapes, recorded in Hamburg at the famous venue.

1998: The Smashing Pumpkins filed a suit against Westwood One. The claim was that the radio syndicator had breached an oral and implied agreement when they licensed a 1991 interview with the band.

1999: Ricky Martin went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Livin' La Vida Loca'. The song spent 5 weeks at No.1.

2006: Former MC5 bassist Michael Davis is badly injured in a motorcycle accident while riding in his hometown of Detroit.

2006: The Rolling Stones called off their forthcoming European tour after guitarist Keith Richards underwent emergency brain surgery. The 62 year-old guitarist suffered "mild concussion" when he fell out of a coconut tree on holiday in Fiji.

2006: Apple Computers wins a long, long legal battle over rights to sell music over the internet without violating the trademark of the Beatles' Apple label.

2008: Earth Wind and Fire vocalists Maurice White and Philip Bailey, along with Steve Winwood, are all granted honorary doctorates in music from Boston's famous Berklee College of Music.

2008: American Country artist Eddy Arnold died of natural causes, one week before his 90th birthday. He sold more than 85 million records and had 147 songs on the US charts, including 28 number one hits on Billboard's Country Singles chart.