April 1

Births

1945: John Barbata (Drums for The Turtles & Jefferson Starship)

1946: Ronnie Lane (Bass for The Small Faces)

1947: M (Robin Scott) (Singer)

1948: Jimmy Cliff (Reggae Artist)

1949: Gil Scott-Heron (Poet & Musician)

1950: Billy Currie (Keyboards & Violin for Ultravox)

1951: Henry Gross (Vocals for Sha Na Na)

1954: Jeff Porcaro (Drums for Toto)

1961: Mark White (Guitar & Keyboards for ABC)

1961: Susan Boyle (Singer)

1964: Leslie Langston (Bass for Throwing Muses)

1965: Peter O'Toole (Bass & Guitar for Hothouse Flowers)

1971: Method Man (Clifford Smith) (Rapper in Wu-Tang Clan)

1972: Jesse Tobias (Session Guitarist)

1974: Richard Christy (Howard Stern Show)

1975: John Butler (Singer / Songwriter)

1986: Hillary Scott (Singer for Lady Antebellum)

Events

1877: Thomas Edison designs plans for a telephone with a "carbon transmitter," a device that would later be altered to create the microphone.

1917: Pianist Scott Joplin was suffering from tertiary syphilis and a resulting descent into madness.  In January 1917, he was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital, a mental institution. He died there on April 1, 1917 of dementia.

1928: The first gramophone with record-changing ability, Victor's "Automatic Orthophonic," goes on sale.

1956: Elvis Presley arrives at Paramount Studios for a screen test, lip-synching "Blue Suede Shoes" and performing a scene as Bill Starbuck in The Rainmaker, still in production. Presley will eventually be passed over for this film, and his role taken over by Burt Lancaster. Still impressed, however, Paramount and director Hal Wallis sign Elvis to a seven-year contract five days later.

1957: Elvis Presley performs the first two of only four concerts he will ever stage outside the US when he headlines at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.

1960: In Miami, Elvis Presley tapes his post-Army comeback special, Frank Sinatra's Welcome Home, Elvis, also starring Sammy Davis Jr., Nancy Sinatra, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. Elvis sings "Fame And Fortune" and "Stuck On You," as well as Sinatra's own "Witchcraft." Frank responds by singing "Love Me Tender."

1964: John Lennon is reunited with his father Freddie after 17 years.

1966: The Troggs recorded "Wild Thing" at Regent Sound Studio in London. The song went on to be a No.1 US hit in June the following year.

1966: Pye Records released David Bowie's first solo single, 'Do Anything You Say'. Bowie had previously recorded as David Jones and The Lower Third.

1969: The Beach Boys leave the Capitol label, suing them for over $2 million in back royalties and announcing their intention to start their own label, Brother.

1970: Ringo Starr enters Abbey Road alone for what would be the very last Beatles session, overdubbing percussion on "The Long and Winding Road," "Across The Universe," and "I Me Mine." Producer Phil Spector wraps things up by applying strings to all three.

1970: John Lennon and Yoko Ono play an April Fool's joke on an already confused press by announcing that they would undergo mutual sex-change operations.

1976: The Buzzcocks played their debut live gig when the appeared at Bolton Institute Of Technology. The power was turned off after three numbers.

1976: Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's house was broken into with thieves taking guitars valued at over $11,000.

1978: Paul Simon, Peter Frampton, and James Taylor's jointly-owned soccer team, the Philadelphia Fury, plays its first match.

1983: Kirk Hammett joined Metallica.

1984: Marvin Gaye’s father fatally shot him after an argument that started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents. Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun that Marvin Jr. had given him four months before. Marvin Gaye would have turned 45 the next day. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to six years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after doctors discovered Marvin Sr. had a brain tumor.

1985: Tom Bailey, singer with The Thompson Twins, collapsed from exhaustion while staying at The Holiday Inn, Chelsea. He was flown to Paris to see his private doctor.

1985: David Lee Roth quit Van Halen shortly after releasing his version of The Beach Boys', ‘California Girls’, (which featured Carl Wilson on background vocals).

1990: Willie Nelson's tour bus crashed into a car in Riverdale, Canada, killing the car driver.

1990:  Guns and Roses' Duff McKagan divorces Mandy Brix, lead singer for Lame Flames.

1992: Billy Idol is fined $2000 and told to make public service announcements against alcohol and drug use for hitting a woman.

1992: Jimmy Buffett is the proud father of his second daughter, Sarah Delaney, with wife Jane Slagsvol.

1997: April Fools! Planning to sing at his own wedding, Trace Adkins' management company sends a contract and a bill for $7,500 to the family of his bride-to-be, Rhonda Forlaw.

1998: Rozz Williams of Christian Death hanged himself.  He was 34 years old.

2003: R&B singer Edwin Starr at the age of 61 suffered a heart attack and died whilst taking a bath at his home in Bramcote near Nottingham, England.

2004: Paul Atkinson (The Zombies) died at the age of 58 in a Santa Monica hospital due to liver and kidney disease.

2007: Indie rock band Modest Mouse were at No.1 on the album chart with ‘We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.' The album featured former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who joined the band in May 2006.

2008: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich declares today "Cheap Trick Day" in honor of its native sons.

March 31

Births

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 (Guitar for Mott The Hoople & Bad Company)

1946: Allan Nichol (The Turtles)

1953: Sean Hooper (Keyboards for Huey Lewis and the News)

1954: Tony Brock (Drummer for The Babys)

1955: Angus Young (Guitarist for AC/DC)

1958: Paul Ferguson (Drummer for Killing Joke)

1964: Erik Turner (Guitar for Warrant)

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.

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.

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 $450. 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."

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.

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.

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.

March 30

Births

1914: Sonny Boy Williamson (Blues Harmonica Player & Singer)

1943: Ken Forssi (Bass for Love)

1945: Eric Clapton (Guitar Legend & Singer)

1948: Jim "Dandy" Mangrum (Singer for Black Oak Arkansas)

1950: Dave Ball (Guitar for Procol Harum)

1962: MC Hammer (Stanley Kirk Burrell) (Rapper)

1964: Tracy Chapman (Singer /Songwriter)

1966: Joey Castillo (Drummer for Queens Of The Stone Age & Eagles Of Death Metal)

1968: Celine Dion (Singer)

1973: Adam Goldstein (DJ AM)

1976:  Mark McClelland (Bass for Snow Patrol)

1979:  Norah Jones (Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1923: The world's first dance marathon, which would become quite the fad in the Roaring Twenties, was held in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.

1957: Buddy Knox became the first artist in the Rock 'n' Roll era to write his own number one hit when ‘Party Doll’ topped the US singles chart.

1962: Pravda, the official newspaper of the USSR, runs an article warning Russians against falling victim to the decadent new Western fad known as "The Twist."

1963: 16 year old Lesley Gore recorded "It's My Party".  She also appeared on “American Bandstand” on the same day.

1963: The Chiffons started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘He’s So Fine’. In 1971 George Harrison was taken to court accused of copying the song on his 1970 ‘My Sweet Lord’ and ordered to pay $587,000 to the writers.

1966: A famous riot occurs at a Rolling Stones show in Paris, one which leads to the arrest of no less than 85 concertgoers.

1967: The Beatles visit Chelsea Manor Studios in London to photograph the cover of their newest album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, wearing satin marching band outfits of various bright colors and posing amid cardboard cutouts of several dozen famous personages. Michael Cooper's series of photographs would become amongst the most famous in rock history.

1967: While set to perform "Purple Haze" on BBC-TV's Top Of The Pops, a technician instead mistakenly cues up Alan Price's version of Randy Newman's "Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear." Hendrix good-naturedly replies: "I don't know the words to this one, man."

1970: Miles Davis releases the Album Bitches Brew.

1974: John Denver went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Sunshine On My Shoulders', the singers first of four US No.1's. Denver was killed in a plane crash on 12th October 1997.

1975: Jeff Beck (Yardbirds Guitarist) released his first solo album, "Blow by Blow," in the U.S

1976: The Sex Pistols played their first show at The 100 club, London for 50 people. They begin a weekly residency at the club in June.

1978: Paul Simonon and Nicky Headon, from The Clash, were arrested in Camden Town, London after shooting down racing pigeons with air guns from the roof of Chalk Farm Studios. Four police cars and a helicopter were required to make the arrest. Their fines totalled $1,360.

1989: Gladys Knight performs her first solo show ever at Bally's in Las Vegas.

1999: Kiss cancelled three concert dates in Russia due to anti-American sentiment over the U.N. bombing of Yugoslavia.

2001: LeAnn Rimes reached an out of court settlement with her father and her former manager. The country star filed a lawsuit claiming the pair had stolen $12 million from her.

2004: At a restaurant near Lake Tahoe, the jazz trio house band are shocked when Paul McCartney steps onstage to join them for a rendition of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."

2005: Neil Young undergoes successful surgery to remove a brain aneurysm.

2007: A crazed stalker is arrested in Peasmarsh, Sussex, England, after driving at high speed through Paul McCartney's security checkpoint and up to just a few yards from his mansion. Led away after leading police on three-mile chase, the trespasser began screaming "I must get to him!" He was later judged mentally ill.