Births
1928: Andy Warhol (Artist)
1942: Isaac Hayes (R&B Singer)
1946: Allan
Holdsworth (Guitar for Soft Machine)
1952: Vinnie
Vincent (Guitar for Kiss & Vinnie Vincent’s Invation)
1969: Elliot Smith (Singer / Songwriter)
1972: Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) (Vocals for
The Spice Girls)
1978: Freeway (Leslie Edward Pridgen) (Rapper)
1981: Travis
McCoy (Singer & Rapper in Gym Class Heroes)
1984: Eric
Roberts (Bass for Gym Class Heroes)
Events
1956: The
Alan Freed movie Rock! Rock! Rock! goes into production, featuring
Tuesday Weld (her singing vocals dubbed by Connie Francis), Chuck Berry,
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, The Moonglows, The Flamingos, and LaVern
Baker.
1960: On
ABC-TV's American Bandstand, Chubby Checker demonstrates The Twist for
the first time, kicking off a dance craze that would last the better part of
two years.
1964: Rod
Stewart makes his TV debut on BBC-TV's The Beat Room, singing as a
member of his group, The Hoochie Coochie Men.
1966: As the
Fleet Street press in London reports on the "bigger than Jesus"
controversy in America, Beatles manager Brian Epstein cuts his vacation short
and flies to New York City for a televised press conference where he defends
John Lennon's remarks, stating "The quote which John Lennon made to a
London columnist has been quoted and misrepresented entirely out of context of
the article, which was in fact highly complimentary to Lennon as a person...
Lennon didn't mean to boast about the Beatles' fame. He meant to point out that
the Beatles' effect appeared to be a more immediate one upon, certainly, the
younger generation. John is deeply concerned and regrets that people with
certain religious beliefs should have been offended."
1973: A log
from a passing lumber truck crushes Stevie Wonder's car as it speeds near
Winston-Salem NC, leaving him in a coma for four days and causing him to
permanently lose his sense of smell. Miraculously, he fully recovers and is
back in the studio within weeks.
1974: Abba scored their first US
top 10 hit when ‘Waterloo’ went to No.6. The Swedish group were also on their
first American tour.
1982: Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’
starring Bob Geldof opened in movie theatres in New York. The film was
conceived alongside the double album by Pink Floyd’s, Roger Waters.
1987: The Beastie Boys sued the
city of Jacksonville, FL for including the phrase "mature audience"
on their concert tickets and ads.
1988: 'Appetite For Destruction'
Guns N' Roses debut album went to No.1 in the US, after spending 57 weeks on
the chart and selling over 5 million copies. Singles from the album, ‘Sweet
Child O’ Mine,’ ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Paradise City’ were all US top 10
hits. Worldwide sales now stand in excess of 28 million and the album is the
best-selling debut album of all-time in the US, beating Boston's debut album
Boston, which has gone 17x platinum.
1989: Adam Clayton of U2 was
arrested in The Blue Light Inn car park in Dublin for marijuana possession and
intent to supply the drug to another person. His conviction was waived in
exchange for paying $50,000 to the Dublin Woman's Aid Centre.
1994: Lisa Loeb started a three
week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Stay (I Missed You). Actor and friend Ethan Hawke had asked her to
provide a song for the upcoming movie Reality Bites and 'Stay' was featured in
the film. She did not have a record
label distributor at the time.
1996: Vince Neil attempted to play
a show at an Indiana club. The show, starting more than four hours late, ended
after only three songs. Neil claimed that he wasn't feeling well, and that the
audience of "rednecks" didn't appreciate his talent.
1996: Eddie Vedder videotaped the
Ramones placing their hands in cement on the Hollywood Rock Walk prior to a
Ramones show at The Palace. The Ramones claimed that it was their last show
ever.
1999: Dick Latvala died aged 56
after being in a coma caused by a heart attack. Latvala worked with The
Grateful Dead since the early 80’s looking after their archives of live
performances which became a series of 'Dick’s Picks' albums.
2001: Whitney Houston became one
of the highest-paid musicians in the world after signing a new deal with Arista
records, said to be worth more than $100m.
2004: R&B
singer Rick James died from pulmonary failure and cardiac failure with his
various health conditions of diabetes, stroke, a pacemaker, and a heart attack
at age 56.
2007: Marilyn Manson was being sued by a former
band member who said he was owed $20m in shared profits. Stephen Bier, who
played keyboards under the stage name Madonna Wayne Gacy, claimed he was not
paid properly over a period of almost two decades. In legal papers filed in Los
Angeles, Bier claimed Manson falsely told him the band was not making much
money and used band money to buy a $2m home and collect Nazi memorabilia,
including coat hangers used by Adolf Hitler.
2009: Steven Tyler was airlifted to a hospital
after falling off the stage during a gig at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in
South Dakota. The 61-year-old Aerosmith singer fell from a catwalk onto a
couple of fans, he suffered neck and shoulder injuries. About 30 minutes after
the accident, guitarist Joe Perry came out to tell the crowd that the remainder
of the show had been cancelled.
