Births
1908: Percy
Faith (Conductor)
1915: Billie
Holiday (Jazz Singer)
1920: Ravi Shankar (Indian Sitar Player)
1937: Charlie
Thomas (The Drifters)
1938: Spencer
Dryden (Drummer for Jefferson Airplane)
1943: Mick
Abrahams (Guitarist for Jethro Tull)
1947: Florian
Schneider-Esleben (Kraftwerk)
1949: John
Oates (Guitar & Vocals in Hall and Oates)
1951: Janis
Ian (Folk Singer / Songwriter)
Events
1956: The
first national rock and roll radio series, Alan Freed's Rock 'N' Roll Dance
Party, debuts on the CBS Radio Network.
1956: The
Platters make their television debut on the Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show,
broadcast on CBS.
1958: The
Capitol label officially abandons issuing 78 rpm records.
1958: The
Platters released the single "Twilight Time".
1962: Elvis
Presley arrives in Hawaii to begin shooting the ocean shots for his latest
film, Blue Hawaii. At his hotel, the Kaiser Hawaiian Village, he is
mobbed by over a thousand fans and sprints away from them, losing several
pieces of jewelry in the process. (His ring was returned the next day.)
1962: Unknown
London musicians Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, attending a performance of
Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated at the Ealing Jazz Club, meet a young
guitarist named Brian Jones.
1967: San
Francisco's KMPX becomes the first FM station to play "deep cuts"
from albums, rather than merely singles, a "free-form" non-format
that will soon transform rock radio.
1970: B.J.
Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," featured in the Robert
Redford / Paul Newman film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, wins Best
Original Song at this year's Academy Awards.
1975: Deep
Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore leaves the group to form Rainbow. He will be
replaced by Tommy Bolin.
1979: Siouxsie And The Banshees played a charity
gig for MENCAP, but after crowd trouble were latter faced with a $4000 bill for
seat damage.
1979: The Doobie Brothers went to No.1 on the US
album chart with 'Minute By Minute', the group's only US chart topper.
1981: Bruce
Springsteen and the E Street Band play their first concert outside North
America, opening their new tour at the Congress Centre in Hamburg, Germany.
1981: Kit
Lambert (Producer & Manager of The Who) died of a cerebral hemorrhage after
falling down the stairs of his mother's house.
1985: Wham! became the first western pop group to
perform live in China, when they played at the workers gymnasium in Beijing.
1985: Prince ended his 32-city tour in Miami, FL,
and said that he was withdrawing from live performances for "an
indeterminate number of years.
1988: While
rehearsing a morbid "hanging" stunt for his upcoming tour, Alice
Cooper is nearly killed when the safety rope breaks, leaving him swinging in
the air for a few moments. Fortunately, a roadie quickly steps in and gets him
down.
1994: Percy
Sledge pleads guilty to evading taxes on $260,000 of his income and is
sentenced to six months in prison (which he is allowed to serve in a
"halfway house").
1994: Courtney Love was arrested on drugs and
theft charges after a reported overdose. At this time, Love was unaware that
her husband Kurt Cobain was dead at their home.
1995: Airport police seized a loaded pistol from
Eddie Van Halen's carry-on luggage. No charges were filed.
1997: Oasis singer Liam Gallagher married actress
Patsy Kensit at Marylebone Registry office, London. They divorced three years
later.
1997: An Amsterdam university began offering a
course entitled "Madonna 101."
1998: George Michael was arrested at The Will
Rogers Memorial Park for committing a sex act in a public toilet. He was
arrested by undercover Beverly Hills police officer Marcelo Rodriguez. Michael
later said; "I was followed into the restroom and this cop - well, I
didn't know he was a cop at the time obviously – started playing this game. I
think it's called ‘I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you
show me yours, I'm gonna nick you!" The singer was later fined $810 after
being convicted of a "lewd act."
2001: Paul McCartney bought the four-bedroom
Beverly Hills home of Courtney Love for $3.995m. The gated 1930's house had
it's own swimming pool and 1.5 acres of land.
2006: A fan
site for the legendary psych-pop band Love reports (correctly) that leader
Arthur Lee is dying from leukemia.
2008: Bob
Dylan is awarded an honorary Pulitzer for "profound impact on popular
music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary
poetic power."
2008: Olivia
Newton-John begins a walk across the entire length of China's Great Wall in
order to raise funds for and awareness of the battle to cure breast cancer. The
walk will take three weeks and cover 141 miles.
2011: Tennessee Highway Patrol officers arrested
rapper Webbie on drug possession and tampering with evidence charges after he
was pulled over following a performance in Kentucky. Webbie, whose real name is Webster Gradney
Jr., was riding in a rental car that was stopped south of Nashville.
Authorities say the 25-year-old rapper from Baton Rouge, La., was found with
$13,000 and 2 ounces of marijuana. Troopers also say he threw marijuana out the
car window.
