April 4

Birthdays

1915: Muddy Waters (Blues Artist)

1934: Clive Davis (Music Producer)

1938: Norro Wilson (Country Artist)

1939: Hugh Masekela (Jazz Trumpeter)

1941: Major Lance (R&B Singer)

1948: Carol Douglas (Disco Singer)

1948: Berry Oakley (Bassist for The Allman Brothers)

1948: Pick Withers (Drummer for Dire Straits)

1951: Steve Gatlin (The Gatlin Brothers)

1952: Dave Hill (Lead Guitar for Slade)

1952: Gary Moore (Guitarist for Thin Lizzy)

1952: Pete Haycock (Guitar & Vocals for Climax Blues Band)

1963: David Gavurin (Guitarist for The Sundays)

1972: Magnus Sveningsson (Bass for The Cardigans)

Events

1939: Glenn Miller recorded "Moonlight Serenade".

1956: Elvis Presley played the first of two nights in San Diego Arena in San Diego, California. The local Police chief issued a statement saying if Elvis ever returned to the city and performed like he did, he would be arrested for disorderly conduct.

1960: RCA Victor decides to release all future singles -- starting with its next, Elvis Presley's "Stuck On You" -- in both mono and stereo versions.

1960: Elvis Presley recorded "Are You Lonesome Tonight."

1960: At tonight's Academy Awards, Frank Sinatra's "High Hopes" (from the comedy A Hole In The Head wins the Oscar for Best Original Song.

1964: The Beatles break all American chart records when the latest Billboard chart shows them with the Top Five records in the country simultaneously (#5: "Please Please Me," #4: "I Want To Hold Your Hand," #3: "She Loves You," #2: "Twist And Shout," #1: "Can't Buy Me Love"). Even more incredibly, nine other singles are scattered in various other positions around the "Hot 100." The Beatles had similarly dominated Canada and Australia's Top Ten earlier in the month.

1964: A court orders the Trashmen of "Surfin' Bird" fame to pay royalties to Beechwood Music, holder of the copyright for the Rivington's 1962 hit "Papa Oom Mow Mow," which the Trashmen hit borrows heavily from.

1967: Paul McCartney advises Beatles PR man Derek Taylor, currently producer of the upcoming Monterey Pop Festival, to consider this new guitar phenomenon he's seen named Jimi Hendrix.

1968: After hearing about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, riots break out in several black communities across the nation. In Boston, where James Brown is scheduled to perform, mayor Kevin White asks the singer to call for calm on stage and urge Bostonians not to riot. Meanwhile, at New York City's New Generation club, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Al Kooper, Buddy Guy, Ted Nugent, and Joni Mitchell respond by gathering for an all-night jam in tribute.

1970: Janis Joplin reunites with Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco for a one-off reunion concert.

1970: Crosby Stills Nash & Young went to No.1 on the US album chart with Deja Vu. The first album which saw Neil Young joining Crosby, Stills and Nash featured three US Top 40 singles: 'Teach Your Children', 'Our House' and 'Woodstock.'

1973: A taped Elvis Presley concert entitled Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii is telecast on NBC and proves to be a huge success. The total worldwide audience for the show, the first commercial worldwide satellite broadcast, amounts to over a billion people.

1977: British CBS released the Clash's self-titled fist album.

1983: Danny Rapp (Danny and the Juniors) died in 1983 of an apparent suicide by gunshot in a hotel in Arizona.

1996: Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia's ashes are scattered in the Ganges River in India by Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and Garcia's widow, Deborah.

1996: While on parole, Wilson Pickett is arrested for possession of two grams of cocaine at his home in Englewood, NJ.

2000: Diana Ross announced that she would reunite with the Supremes. The two members of the Supremes at the time had joined after Ross had left the trio.

2002: It was announced that the 19-year-old band Megadeth had broken up. The break up was due to an injury to Dave Mustaine's left arm and hand that had left him unable to play guitar.

2003: The Rolling Stones make their stage debut in India, performing at Bangalore Palace in the middle of a monsoon!

2005: A man who won an out-of-court settlement in 1994 against the singer for a similar charge testifies in Michael Jackson's current molestation trial.

2007: A Swedish couple ran into trouble with authorities after trying to name their baby Metallica. Michael and Karolina Tomaro went to court with the country's National Tax Authority about naming their daughter after the rock band. The six-month-old has been baptised Metallica, but tax officials said the name was "inappropriate". Under Swedish law, both first names and surnames need to win the approval of authorities before they can be used.

2008: Procol Harum's Gary Brooker wins an appeal in London to an earlier ruling, which stated that Harum organist Matthew Fisher was entitled to 40 percent of the royalties from the band's 1967 smash "A White Shade Of Pale." Though the new ruling notes that Fisher wrote the organ line and should be co-credited, it also overturns the royalty award by noting that Fisher waited 38 years to sue.

2008: Beyonce Knowles married Jay-Z at his New York apartment. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and wife Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyonces former bandmates in Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams all attended the private ceremony.

April 3

Birthdays

1924: Doris Day (Singer)

1928: Don Gibson (Country Artist)

1938: Jeff Barry (Singer)

1941: Jan Berry (Jan and Dean)

1941: Phillippe Wynne (The Spinners)

1942: Wayne Newton (Singer)

1943: Richard Manuel (The Band)

1944: Tony Orlando (Singer)

1945: Billy Joe Royal (Singer)

1949: Richard Thompson (Songwriter & Guitarist solo and for Fairport Convention)

1951: Mel Schacher (Bass for Grand Funk Railroad)

1961: Eddie Murphy

1962: Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins)

1968: Sebastian Bach (Singer for Skid Row)

1985: Leona Lewis (Singer)

Events

1955: Fred Astaire appeared on television for the first time on "The Toast of the Town," with host, Ed Sullivan.

1956: Elvis Presley makes the first of what would be two appearances on NBC-TV's Milton Berle Show, performing "Heartbreak Hotel," "Money Honey" and "Blue Suede Shoes" via live remote on the flight deck of the USS Hancock docked in San Diego. The show is seen by 40 million people around the US, approximately one-fourth of all TV sets. (Later in the show, Elvis plays "Blue Suede Shoes" again, this time with "Uncle Miltie" joining in as the King's "brother Melvin."

1959: The BBC, objecting to the concept of "spitballs," bans the Coasters' hit "Charlie Brown." They will reconsider two weeks later.

1960: During recording sessions at RCA studios in Nashville, Tennessee, Elvis Presley recorded ‘It's Now Or Never’, ‘Fever’ and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?

1961: Paul Anka guest stars as himself on tonight's "" episode of CBS-TV's Make Room For Daddy.

1964: Bob Dylan has his first chart hit as "The Times They Are A-Changin'" enters the UK charts. One year later to the day, the single "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is his first to dent the US Top 40.

1965: Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs released "Wooly Bully”.

1969: Having technically become a fugitive due to leaving Florida after his infamous stage antics in Miami, the Doors' Jim Morrison turns himself into the FBI in Los Angeles. He's released on $2000 bail, but not before being charged with six counts of lewd behavior and one of interstate flight. The case is eventually reduced to two misdemeanors and still pending appeal when Morrison dies in 1971 apparently by a hemorrhage after snorting heroin.

1971: The Temptations scored their second US No.1 with 'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)'.

1975: At his home, Steve Miller is arrested for an altercation with his party guest, Benita Diorio, when the veteran rocker sets fire to her clothes and personal effects. When the cops arrive Miller digs himself deeper by resisting arrest. Charges are dropped the next day.

1978: Cher's first solo TV special, appropriately titled Cher... Special, airs on CBS, featuring guest stars Dolly Parton, Rod Stewart, and The Tubes.

1979: Kate Bush kicked off the 28-date 'Tour Of Life' trek making her concert debut at Liverpool's Empire Theatre, England. Bush never set out on another tour again.

1984: Producer Jack Douglas is awarded $3 million in royalties owed him by the John Lennon estate for his work on the Lennon/Ono album Double Fantasy.

1987: While playing the opening night of their latest tour, onstage in Arizona, U2's "Bono introduces a version of "Helter Skelter" by announcing "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We're stealing it back."

1988: After working on each other's solo projects, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison gather in Malibu, FL, to record an all-star single called "Handle With Care." The session goes so well that the group, calling itself the Traveling Wilburys, goes on to record two whole albums together.

1989: 23 people were arrested after several thousand fans without tickets tried to gate-crash a Grateful Dead concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1989: Pepsi dismissed Madonna as a spokesperson after her "Like a Prayer" video was called "blasphemous" by the Vatican.

1990: Sarah Vaughan died of lung cancer at age 66.

1991: Paul McCartney tapes his episode of MTV's acoustic showcase Unplugged.

1993: When his version of Leon Russell's "A Song For You" enters the Billboard singles chart, Ray Charles becomes the first performer to chart in six decades. He'd first made the R&B charts in 1949 with the Maxin Trio's "Confession Blues."

1993: Depeche Mode went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Songs Of Faith And Devotion' their first UK No.1 and their 10th album release.

1994: A forthcoming tour by Nirvana and Hole was cancelled amid continuing speculation about Kurt Cobain's drug problems.

1996: MC Hammer filed for bankruptcy.

1998: Dave Navarro left the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

1998: Michael Jackson and someone are the proud parents of Jackson's second child, daughter Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson.

2000: Mariah Carey was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital suffering from dehydration and complications from food poisoning after eating raw oysters.

2003: Homer Banks (Songwriter for Stax Records) died in Memphis of cancer, aged 61.

2006: Founding member and original drummer for The Wonder Stuff, Martin Gilks died aged 41, after losing control of his motorbike in London. Gilks was voted the best drummer on the planet in an NME poll in 1989.

2007: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones denies to MTV his own earlier claim, made in an interview with the New Musical Express, that he once snorted the ashes of his late father.

2008: Mariah Carey's latest single, "Touch My Body," goes to #1, beating Elvis Presley's old record of 17 chart toppers. Only the Beatles have more with 20.

2008: Apple became the number one music seller in the United States.

April 2

Birthdays

1917: Lou Monte (Italian Singer)

1928: Serge Gainsbourg (Jazz Musician)

1938: Warner Mack (Country Singer)

1939: Marvin Gaye (Singer)

1942: Leon Russell (Singer & Piano Player)

1946: Kurt Winter (Guitarist for The Guess Who)

1946: Leon Wilkerson (Bass for Lynryd Skynyrd)

1947: Emmylou Harris (Country Singer)

1953: David Robinson (Drummer for The Cars)

1956: Gregory Abbott (R&B Singer)

1963: Keren Woodward (Bananarama)

1967: Greg Camp (Guitar for Smash Mouth)

1979: Jesse Carmichael (Keyboards for Maroon 5)

1983: Yung Joc (Jasiel A. Robinson) (Rapper)

Events

1942: Glenn Miller recorded "American Patrol".

1956: Johnny Cash recorded "I Walk The Line".

1964: The Beach Boys recorded "I Get Around" which became their first US No.1 in the summer of this year.

1965: The first edition of new music show 'Ready Steady Goes Live!' was shown on UK TV.

1966: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass set a chart record when four of their albums make the Top 10 of the Billboard album chart at the same time.

1967: An overzealous audience member throws a smoke bomb onto the stage at the Rolling Stones concert at the Town Hall in Vienna, Austria, leading to a riot and the arrest of 154 fans.

1967: Steve Winwood forms Traffic with Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason.

1969: Frank Sinatra's "My Way" enters the charts.

1969: Bruce Springsteen’s new group Child made their live debut at the Pandemonium Club in Wanamassa, New Jersey.

1970: The Magistrate's Court in London convenes to decide the fate of John Lennon's recent "Bag One" drawings -- some of which feature genitalia, masturbation, and sex acts -- are, in fact, obscene.

1970: Janis Joplin get tattoos on her wrist and heart, the one on her chest reading "One For The Boys."

1971: Janis Joplin's LP Pearl hits #1.

1977: Stevie Wonder releases "Sir Duke".

1977: Fleetwood Mac's LP Rumours hits #1. As of 2011, it is the 10th best-selling album in US history selling over 40 Million copies.

1977: Frank Sinatra scored his first ever UK No.1 album with 'Portrait Of Sinatra', his 46th album release.

1987: Drummer Buddy Rich died of heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor at the age of 69.

1990: Eric Clapton was fined $500 with $15 costs by Walton-on- Thames Magistrates court, after being booked for speeding at 105mph; Clapton was also banned from driving for three months.

1990: Nirvana went into Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin and started work on demo versions of ‘In Bloom’, ‘Dive’, ‘Lithium’, ‘Pay To Play’, ‘Imodium’, ‘Sappy’ and ‘Polly’ with Butch Vig producing.

1991: LL Cool J gave a pair of sneakers to every student and teacher at The Thompson Middle School in Dorchester, England to celebrate them winning the 'foot locker cool school video' contest.

1993: Robert Flack guest stars as herself on today's episode of ABC-TV's Loving.

1993: The London tabloids break the news that Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman's son Stephen is engaged to 46-year-old Patsy Smith, mother of Wyman's ex-wife, 22-year-old Mandy Smith.

1997: After 32 years, Joni Mitchell is reunited with her first daughter, Kilauren Gibb. Joni gave the child up for adoption at the start of her career.

1998: Cor Van Beek (Shocking Blue) died at the age of 49.

1998: Rob Pilatus, one half of pop duo Milli Vanilli was found dead in a Frankfurt Hotel room after taking a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol. Milli Vanilli won the 1989 best new artist Grammy after hits like 'Blame it on the Rain' and 'Girl, You Know It's True,' selling 30 million singles and 14 million albums. But in late 1990, the performers were stripped of the award after it was revealed that neither actually sang on the Milli Vanilli album.

1999: The Black Crowes played a concert in Knoxville, Tennessee. Joshua Harmon, a teenager sitting in the second row sued the band, a year later for $5,000 claiming significant hearing loss.

2001: Mariah Carey signed the richest recording deal in history. The 31-year old singer signed a deal with Virgin for three albums worth $100. The singer had sold over 120 million records worldwide, scoring 14 US No.1 singles.

2004: Coldplay singer Chris Martin was accused of attacking a photographer after leaving a London restaurant with his wife Gwyneth Paltrow. A Coldplay spokesman said photographer Alessandro Copetti had been running after Paltrow's taxi and tripped. Mr Copetti said he had been taking pictures of the singer and his wife outside a restaurant when Martin kicked him from behind.

2005: Kanye West had to abandon a signing appearance in Fresno, California, after a fight broke out between a fan and a security guard. West was taken out of the back door of the new FTK urban boutique, while the owners locked all the doors and cleared around 1,000 fans from the store's parking area.

2006: Gnarls Barkley started an eight-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Crazy.' The American duo made chart history by becoming the first act ever to reach No.1 through computer downloads only. The single was not available to buy in shops until the following week.

March 31

Birthdays

1908: Red Norvo (Jazz Vibraphonist)

1921: Lowell Fulson (Blues Guitarist)

1928: Lefty Frizzell (Country Artist)

1933: Ina Anita Carter (The Carter Family)

1934: Shirley Jones (Singer & Mother on The Partridge Family)

1935: Herb Alpert (Jazz Musician)

1944: Mick Ralphs (Guitarist for Mott The Hoople)

1946: Allan Nichol (The Turtles)

1947: Jon Poulos (Drums for The Buckinghams)

1953: Sean Hooper (Huey Lewis and the News)

1954: Tony Brock (The Tubes, The Babys)

1955: Angus Young (Guitarist for AC/DC)

1958: Pat McGlynn (Bay City Rollers)

1958: Paul Ferguson (Killing Joke)

Events

1949: After nine years of development, the first 45 rpm record is introduced by the RCA Victor label, a 7-inch wonder promising better sound and easier playability than the current standard, the 12" 78 rpm record.

1956: Brenda Lee makes her US television debut, singing an unrehearsed version of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya" on ABC-TV's Ozark Jamboree.

1957: Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins begin their first and only tour together, a Southern swing that begins tonight in Little Rock, AK.

1958: Chuck Berry releases "Johnny B. Goode"

1959: NBC-TV's Jimmie Rodgers Show -- featuring a regular performer by the name of Connie Francis -- debuts.

1962: The Shirelles "Soldier Boy" is released.

1967: Jimi Hendrix plays his first British concert, on a bill with Cat Stevens, The Walker Brothers, and Englebert Humperdinck at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, England. (Seriously.) On a whim, Hendrix sets fire to his guitar with lighter fluid for the first time, but burns his hands so badly he is admitted to a nearby hospital.

1969: George Harrison and his wife, Pattie, appear in court in Surrey, England, to answer recent charges of marijuana resin possession. Both are fined 250 pounds. On the same day, John Lennon and new wife Yoko Ono leave their "bed-in" at the Amsterdam Hilton in order to "make a lightning trip" to Vienna and premiere Yoko's new film Rape. The Viennese trip is detailed in the next Beatles single, "The Ballad Of John And Yoko."

1972: The official Beatles Fan Club disbands.

1974: Television appeared at CBGB's in New York City.

1977: During intermission at Elvis Presley's latest show in Baton Rouge, LA, the King becomes too ill to return to the stage. The concert is canceled and Elvis is admitted to Baptist Hospital in Memphis the next day, suffering from "fatigue" and "intestinal flu."

1981: 1st Golden Raspberry Awards: The Village People movie “Can't Stop the Music” wins.

1982: After twelve years together, the Doobie Brothers announce their breakup.

1984: Kenny Loggins started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Footloose', the theme from the film with the same name.

1986: O’Kelly Isley (The Isley Brothers) suddenly died of a heart attack at the age of 48.

1992: White Zombie's "La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. One" was released. It was their major label debut album.

1992: “Human touch” and “Lucky Day”, both by Bruce Springsteen were released.

1994: Madonna appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman from New York City. The network had to delete 13 offending words from the interview before the show aired. Madonna also handed Letterman a pair of her panties and told him to sniff them. He declined and stuffed them into his desk drawer.

1995: An audience member rushes the stage at a Jimmy Page/Robert Plant concert at The Palace in Auburn Hills, MI, determined to stab the guitarist to end his "Satanic" music. Two security guards that apprehend him are stabbed instead, but recover.

1995: Mexican American singer Selena was murdered aged 23 by the president of her fan club Yolanda Saldívar. Warner Brothers made a film based on her life starring Jennifer Lopez in 1997.

2001: Whitney Houston and husband Bobby Brown were banned for life from Hollywood's Bel Air hotel after wrecking their room. Hotel workers said a TV was smashed, two doors were ripped of their hinges and the walls and carpets were stained by alcohol. It was reported that Whitney called in her lawyers to plead with the hotel management not to call the police. The suite was so badly damaged it had to be shut for five days for repairs.

2005: Rap record company boss Marion "Suge" Knight was ordered to pay $107m to a woman who claimed she helped found Death Row label in 1989, one of hip-hop's top labels with artists including Tupac Shakur, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. Lydia Harris said she invested in Death Row but was pushed out by Mr Knight.