Births
1928: Tony
Williams (Singer for The Platters)
1932: Billy
Bland (R&B Singer)
1934: Stanley
Turrentine (Jazz Tenor Saxophonist)
1941: Dave
Swarbrick (Vocals & Violin for Fairport Convention)
1944:
Nicholas Caldwell (Singer in The Whispers)
1948: Dave Holland (Drummer for Judas Priest)
1950: Agnetha
Faltskog (Blonde singer in ABBA)
1951: Everton Morton (Drummer for The English Beat)
1954: Stan Ridgeway (Singer for Wall Of Voodoo
& Solo)
1961: Jacob Slichter (Drummer for Semisonic)
1964: Kid (Christopher Reid) (Rapper in Kid ‘N’
Play)
1966: Mike McCready (Guitar for Pearl Jam)
1968: Paula Cole (Singer / Songwriter)
1970: Miho Hatori (Vocals for Cibo Matto &
Golillaz)
1972: Pat Green (Country Artist)
1973: Pharrell Williams (Rapper in Neptunes &
Producer)
Events
1936: The
fourth deadliest tornado in US history rips through Tupelo, MS, killing 235 but
sparing Elvis Presley, still an infant, who is held in his Great Uncle Noah's
house by his mother Gladys until the storm passes.
1955: Ray
Charles marries his second wife, Della Beatrice Howard, in Houston, TX.
1958: Johnny
Mathis' compilation album Johnny's Greatest Hits, the first
"greatest hits" LP, enters the Billboard charts, where it will
stay for almost nine and a half years. It's a record that would only be broken
in 1982 by Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.
1964: The
Beatles film the famous opening scene from their first movie, A Hard Day's
Night, running away from several rabid female fans at London's Marylebone
train station.
1964: The
Searchers make their US television debut, singing "Needles and Pins"
and "Ain't That Just Like Me" on CBS' Ed Sullivan Show. They were the 1st British band to
play on the show after The Beatles. It
was The Searchers US debut.
1967: Monkees
fans march in London in protest of band member Davy Jones' announced induction
into the Army. The teen heartthrob is eventually exempted from duty for being
his family's main provider.
1975: Minnie Riperton went to No.1 on the US
singles chart with the Stevie Wonder produced song 'Loving You'. It was the singers only US chart hit.
Riperton died of cancer on 12th July 1979.
1977: David Bowie appeared on Dinah Shore's TV
special.
1978: Duran Duran made their live debut at The
Lecture Theatre, Birmingham Polytechnic.
1980: R.E.M. played their first ever gig when
they appeared at St Mary's Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia.
1981: Bob
"The Bear" Hite (Singer for Canned Heat) was found dead in his van of
a heart attack in 1981, at the age of 38.
1983: The Beach Boys were banned from the Fourth
of July concert at the White House. U.S. President Ronald Reagan overturned the
ban two days later.
1984: Marvin
Gaye's funeral takes place at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, drawing some
very notable mourners, including Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones,
and Berry Gordy.
1987: Buddy
Rich's funeral in Los Angeles draws some very notable mourners, including Frank
Sinatra, Artie Shaw, and Johnny Carson.
1990: After
serving months of his sentence for drug possession, resisting arrest, and other
charges, James Brown is put on a work-release program, moving from his jail to
South Carolina's Lower Savannah Work Center, where he provides counseling for
drug addicts. He is paid four dollars an hour.
1993: Construction began on the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in Cleveland.
1993: In Beverly Hills, CA, Marky Mark Wahlberg had
assault charges against him dropped. He had reached an out-of-court settlement
with the man he allegedly beat in 1992.
1994: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) committed suicide by
shooting himself in the head at his home in Seattle. Cobain’s body wasn’t
discovered until April 8, by an electrician who had arrived to install a
security system, who initially believed that Cobain was asleep, until he saw
the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, "I
haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along
with really writing . . . for too many years now". A high concentration of
heroin and traces of Valium were found in Cobain’s body. His death was
officially ruled as suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
1995: Jimi Hendrix's one-time girlfriend Monika
Dannerman committed suicide, two days after losing a court battle with another
of the guitarist's ex-lovers.
1998: Cozy
Powell (Drummer for ELP, Black Sabbath & Rainbow) died following a car
crash while driving his Saab 9000 at 104 mph in bad weather on the M4 motorway
near Bristol, England. According to the BBC report, at the time of the crash,
Powell's blood-alcohol reading was over the legal limit, he was not wearing a
seatbelt, and he was talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone. The
official investigation also found evidence of a slow puncture in a rear tire.
It was suggested that this could well have caused a sudden collapse of the tire
with a consequent loss of control of the car.
1998: The Spice Girls performed their first
ever-live UK concert when they appeared in front of a 9,000 strong audience in
Glasgow, Scotland.
1999: Three
of Tammy Wynette's daughters filed a $50 million lawsuit that blamed Wynette's
death on negligence by her husband and her doctor.
2000: Ziggy Marley became the official spokesman
for the Hemp Bar.
2002: Stone Tempe Pilots singer Layne Staley died
after injecting a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a "speedball” at
age 34.
2006: Gene
Pitney died at the age of 66. His tour manager found him dead in the Hilton
Hotel, in Cardiff, Wales, in the middle of a UK tour. His final show at
Cardiff's St. David's Hall earned him a standing ovation; he ended with
"Town Without Pity". An autopsy confirmed heart disease, caused by
atherosclerosis.
2006: Marion "Suge" Knight staved off
receivership by seeking bankruptcy protection for himself and his music label,
Death Row Records. The record producer had been ordered to pay more than $100m
to a former associate who said she had helped start the record label in 1989.
Lawyers for Mr. Knight said he did not have the money to pay the judgement, and
was forced to seek federal protection. The label helped launch the careers of
rappers such as Snoop Doggy Dogg.
2007: Former Kiss guitarist Mark St. John died
from an apparent brain hemorrhage at the age of 51. St. John was Kiss' third
official guitarist, having replaced Vinnie Vincent in 1984 and appeared on the
album ‘Animalize’.
2008: Toto
breaks up after performing its final concert in Seoul.
2011: Less than six weeks after being released
from jail on a drunken driving charge, Motley Crue singer Vince Neil faced two
new misdemeanor charges in a Las Vegas casino showroom confrontation with an
ex-girlfriend. He was accused of poking
his finger into the chest of Alicia Jacobs in a casino comedy club late March
24, and of cursing and pointing or poking at Jacobs and her friends, John
Katsilometes and Patricia McCrone.
2011: A statue in tribute to Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain was
unveiled in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington.
