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.
