Births
1934: Don Kirshner
(Music Producer)
1943: Roy Estrada
(Bass for Frank Zappa band & Little Feat)
1948: Jan Hammer
(Keyboard for Mahavishnu Orchestra & Solo)
1954: Michael Sembello
(Guitarist & Singer)
1955: Pete Shelley
(Guitar & Vocals for The Buzzcocks & Solo)
1964: Maynard James
Keenan (Singer for Tool & A Perfect Circle)
1967: Liz Phair
(Singer & Guitarist)
1970: Redman (Reginald "Reggie" Noble) (Rapper)
1974: Victoria Adams
(Posh Spice in The Spice Girls)
1974: Mikael Åkerfeldt (Lead Singer & Guitarist for
Opeth)
Events
1960: Touring in the UK, 21-year-old US singer Eddie Cochran
was killed when the taxi he was traveling in crashed into a lamp post on Rowden
Hill, Chippenham, Wiltshire, (where a plaque now commemorates the event).
Songwriter Sharon Sheeley and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash. Cochran's
current hit at the time was 'Three Steps to Heaven'. The taxi driver, George
Martin, was convicted of dangerous driving, fined $100, disqualified from
driving for 15 years, and sent to prison for six months.
1964: After an extensive
investigation of the hit song "Louie Louie," and its supposedly
filthy lyrics, the FBI issues a report claiming the words of the Kingsmen's
famous version are incomprehensible.
1964: An 18-year-old Van Morrison
makes his first concert appearance with Them on the stage of the Maritime Hotel
in Belfast.
1969: Bob Dylan's former backing group, which has come to be
known simply as "The Band," plays its first show alone and under its
own name at the Winterland Auditorium in San Francisco.
1970: Johnny Cash played at the White House for President
Nixon, who requested that he played 'A Boy Named Sue.'
1970: Paul
McCartney's 1st solo album "McCartney" is released.
1972: Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones) Girlfriend Anita
Pallenberg gave birth to their second child, daughter Dandelion.
1973: Tito and John Jackson from The Jackson Five were
arrested for buying stolen TV and stereo equipment.
1974: Vinnie Taylor (guitarist with US rock 'n roll revival
band Sha Na Na) was found dead in a Holiday Inn hotel room in Charlottesville,
Virginia from a drug overdose.
1975: Elvis Presley bought a Convair 880 Jet formally owned
by Delta Airlines for $250,000, which he re-christened Lisa Marie. Presley
spent a further $600,000 refurbishing the Jet to include personal quarters, a
meeting area and a dance floor.
1982: Afrika Bambaataa And The Soul Sonic Force release the
groundbreaking break dance single “Planet Rock” on Tommy Boy Records. The song
sampled Kraftwerk’s song “trans Europa Express”.
1983: Felix Pappalardi, producer and bass player with
American rock band Mountain was shot dead by his wife Gail Collins during a
jealous rage. Collins was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and
sentenced to four years in prison.
1987: Reggae drummer and percussion player Carlton Barrett of
The Wailers was shot dead outside his house in Kingston, Jamaica. He Joined Bob
Marley and The Wailers in 1970, wrote the Marley song ‘War.’ Barrett was the
originator of the one-drop rhythm, a percussive drumming style.
1991: Nirvana appeared at the OK Hotel in Seattle,
Washington, where they played a new song, ‘Smell’s Like Teen Spirit’, live for
the first time.
1993: Former Bangles leader Susanna Hoffs married
screenwriter M. Jay Roach in Los Angeles.
1998: Linda McCartney died after a long battle against
cancer. She Married Paul McCartney in 1969 when she was working as a
photographer.
2003: Earl King the New Orleans Blues guitarist died aged 69.
2004: Kurt Cobain's Mark IV-style Mosrite Gospel guitar sold
for $100,000 at the Icons of 20th Century Music auction held in Dallas, Texas.
Other items sold included Elton John and Bernie Taupin's song writing piano
which sold for $140,000 and a 1966 Rickenbacker guitar owned by The Byrds Roger
McGuinn's sold for $99,000.
2007: Bryan Ferry was forced to make an apology after
praising Nazi iconography in a German magazine. Talking to Welt am Sonntag, he
said the Nazis "knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present
themselves...I'm talking about the films of Leni Riefenstahl and the buildings
of Albert Speer and the mass marches and the flags. Just amazing - really
beautiful." British MPs asked shoppers to think twice about shopping in
Marks and Spencer asking for Ferry to be dropped as the face of the M&S
Autograph menswear collection. Ferry said he was "deeply upset" by
the publicity surrounding the interview.
2008: Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce
Springsteen and a member of The E Street Band, died of cancer at the age of 58.
Federici had worked with Springsteen for over 40 years, starting with Steel
Mill and Child with Springsteen.
2009: Morrissey walked off stage during his set at the Coachella
festival in California after declaring he could "smell burning
flesh". The committed vegetarian took offence to the smell coming from
nearby barbecues. Sir Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure also appeared at
the event.
2009: Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley welcome
their second son, Jasper Warren Paisley, at a Nashville hospital.
