July 19

Births

1944: Commander Cody (George Frayne) (Piano & Singer for Commander Cody)

1946: Alan Gorrie (Bass & Singer for The Average White Band)

1947: Bernie Leadon (Guitar & Vocals for The Eagles & Flying Burrito Brothers)

1947: Brian May (Guitar for Queen)

1948: Keith Godchaux (Keyboards for The Grateful Dead)

1952: Allen Collins (Guitar for Lynyrd Skynyrd)

1960: Kevin Haskins (Drummer for Bauhaus, Tones On Tail & Love & Rockets)

1968: Robert Flynn (Lead Vocals & Guitar for Machine Head)

1976: Eric Prydz (DJ)

Events

1954: Sun Records released the first Elvis Presley single 'That's All Right / Blue Moon Of Kentucky' which made the local Memphis chart.

1958: After a series of disputes over money (and a fistfight with the manager of Harlem's famous Apollo Theater), Drifters manager George Treadwell fires the entire group and installs the existing group the Five Crowns in their place, renaming them the Drifters. This lineup, featuring a lead tenor named Ben E. King, would prove to be the most popular critically and commercially, releasing hits like "There Goes My Baby," "This Magic Moment," and "Save the Last Dance for Me."

1966: 50-year-old Frank Sinatra marries 20-year-old actress Mia Farrow in New York amid a sea of fourteen movie cameras and 37 regular cameras. The marriage, one of Hollywood's rockiest, will last only two years, with Sinatra issuing an ultimatum to Farrow as she is filming Roman Polanski's movie Rosemary's Baby -- one she will ignore, leading Sinatra to serve divorce papers to her on the set.

1969: The Spencer Davis Group calls it quits two years after the departure of the Winwood brothers, as well as a failed single and canceled album. (Nigel Olsson, the drummer in the final lineup, would go on to become Elton John's drummer.)

1972: Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were arrested in Warwick, Rhode Island on charges of assault after a fight broke out with a newspaper photographer.

1976: Deep Purple split up at the end of a UK tour. David Coverdale went on to form Whitesnake, Jon Lord and Ian Paice formed a band with Tony Ashton. The classic line up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord & Paice reformed in 1984. Glenn Hughes returned to Trapeze and Tommy Bolin put together his own band (but would die before the end of the year).

1980: Laguna Beach, CA's Vorpal Gallery opens a new exhibit featuring paintings by Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, Klaus Voorman, and Ron Wood.

1980: David Bowie made his theatrical debut as the title role in "The Elephant Man."

1981: The mayor of Odessa, TX, declares today Roy Orbison Day in honor of the singer. (Orbison was actually from Wink, a microscopic town about 35 miles west.)

1987: Bruce Springsteen plays his first concert behind the "Iron Curtain" of Soviet-dominated countries, appearing in East Berlin in front of 100,000 fans (and simulcast on local TV).

1989: After finding over $40,000 in cash and checks in his cell at the Stevenson Correctional Institute in South Carolina, James Brown is moved to a cell with tighter security.

1990: Singer Vicki Carr helps dedicate the Nixon Presidential Library, singing in front of all four living presidents (Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush), all of which she had performed for at the White House during their terms.

1991: Steven Adler ex drummer with Guns N' Roses, filed a suit in Los Angeles county court alleging that he was fraudulently removed from the group and that the band introduced him to hard drugs.

1995: The (in?)famous "Dr. Nick," Elvis Presley's personal physician Dr. George Nichopoulous, is barred from practicing medicine by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners due to alleged "overprescription" to his patients. Nichopoulous claims the move is revenge for what many see as his culpability in the accidental death of Elvis in 1977.

2001: Wu Tang Clan rapper ODB, (Russell Jones), was sentenced to spend between two and four years behind bars after being found guilty of drug possession. He was arrested in July 1999 when police found cocaine and marijuana in his car after he was pulled over for driving through a red light. The rapper was later sent to a Los Angeles rehabilitation centre, but went on the run from authorities in October.

2002: Philadelphia declares today Solomon Burke Day in honor of the native singer.

2004: James Lowe and Mark Tulin of the Electric Prunes, famous for their 1967 garage-psych hit "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night," sue their former label and publishing company for over one million dollars in unpaid royalties.

July 18

Births

1929: Screamin' Jay Hawkins (Jalacy Hawkins) (R&B Singer)

1931: "Papa" Dee Allen (Thomas Sylvester) (Percussion & Vocals for War)

1937: Hunter S. Thompson (Writer)

1938: Ian Stewart (Keyboards for Rolling Stones)

1939: Dion DiMucci (Dion) (Singer)

1941: Martha Reeves (R&B Singer)

1941: Lonnie Mack (Blues & Rock Singer & Guitarist)

1950: Glenn Hughes (Biker in The Village People)

1950: Richard Branson (Founder of Virgin Records)

1954: Ricky Skaggs (Country Singer)

1955: Terry Chambers (Drums for XTC)

1957: Keith Levene (Guitar for Public Image Ltd & The Clash)

1975: Daron Malakian (Guitar for System of a Down)

1982: Ryan Cabrera (Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1953: An eighteen-year-old truck driver from Memphis, Elvis Presley, visits the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue, later to be known as Sun Studios, in order to record a novelty 45 for his mother's birthday. The two recordings, "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," were thought to be lost for decades; Elvis later admits that he made the records to see "what I sounded like," since his mother's birthday was actually in April. Presley pays $3.98 for the privilege. Marion Keisker, assistant to label head Sam Phillips, likes what she hears; she takes down Presley's information and notes that he is a "good ballad singer." As she recalled years later: "I said, 'What kind of singer are you?' He said, 'I sing all kinds.' I said, 'Who do you sound like?' He said, 'I don't sound like nobody.'"

1960: Hank Ballard and the Midnighters released "The Twist." The song didn't become a hit until later in the year when Chubby Checker covered it.

1964: The Rolling Stones make their first hit on the American charts with their cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away."

1966: Bobby Fuller, leader of The Bobby Fuller Four, was found dead in his car in Los Angeles aged 22. Fuller died mysteriously from gasoline asphyxiation, while parked outside his apartment. Police labeled it a suicide, but the possibility of foul play has always been mentioned. They had the 1966 US No.9 single 'I Fought The Law' written by Sonny Curtis of Buddy Holly's Crickets and covered by The Clash.

1972: Thanks to the efforts of Kevin White, then-mayor of Boston, the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are freed from their Warwick, RI jail cell in time for their Boston show. (The pair had been held for assault on a photographer from Providence.)

1972: All six members of Sly and the Family Stone are arrested in Hollywood after police search their tour bus and find two pounds of marijuana and two vials of cocaine.

1978: Def Leppard made their live debut at Westfield School, Sheffield, England in front of 150 students.

1983: Still flush with the success of their free Central Park reunion concert (and hit souvenir album of the event), Simon and Garfunkel embark on a full scale, 19-city US tour, beginning in Akron, OH.

1988: Ike Turner is sentenced to one year in a Santa Monica, CA jail for six grams of crack found in his car during a traffic stop in August 1987.

1988: Nico (Christa Päffgen) died after suffering a minor heart attack while riding a bicycle on vacation with her son in Ibiza, Spain. The German born singer-songwriter and keyboard player with Velvet Underground and had also worked as a fashion model and actress.

1992: Bobby Brown married Whitney Houston at her New Jersey estate who was dressed in a $40,000 Marc Bouwer wedding gown. Those in attendance included Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, Natalie Cole, Patti LaBelle and Freddie Jackson. After years of making tabloid headlines, she would file for divorce in September 2006.

1994: Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan married ex Duran Duran manager Don Burton.

2001: Kiss, added another product to their ever-growing merchandising universe: the "Kiss Kasket." The coffin featured the faces of the four founding members of the band, the Kiss logo and the words "Kiss Forever." Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was buried in one after he was shot and killed on-stage in Dec 2004.

2002: Rapper Mystikal and two other men were arrested on suspicion of raping a 40-year-old woman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Mystikal, (real name Michael Tyler), was charged with the offence as well as one of extortion after giving himself up to police, he was subsequently released on $250,000 bail.

2006: Carmen Electra filed for a divorce from Dave Navarro (Guitar for Red Hot Chili Peppers)

2007: Paul Simon filed a lawsuit against Rhythm USA Inc. a Georgia-based subsidiary of a Japanese firm, claiming the company never had his permission to sell wall clocks that played ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. The suit claimed that as one of the best known songs throughout the world, a proper licensing agreement would earn at least a $1 million licensing fee.

2008: Rolling Stone guitarist Ronnie Wood was ‘seeking help’ with his battle with alcohol in a rehabilitation centre. The move followed tabloid speculation over the state of his 23-year marriage to former model Jo Wood. ‘Following Ronnie's continued battle with alcohol he has entered a period of rehab,’ his spokeswoman said.

July 17

Births

1928: Vince Guaraldi (Jazz Pianist)

1939: Spencer Davis (Multi-Instrumentalist for Spencer Davis Group)

1947: Wolfgang Flur (Percussion & Keyboards for Kraftwerk)

1947: Mick Tucker (Drums for Sweet)

1948: Ron Asheton (Guitar for The Stooges)

1949: Terence "Geezer" Butler (Bass for Black Sabbath)

1949: Mike Vale (Bass for Tommy James and the Shondells)

1950: Phoebe Snow (Singer / Songwriter & Guitarist)

1952: Nicolette Larson (Singer)

1952: David Hasselhoff (Singer ?)

1957: Bruce Crump (Drummer for Molly Hatchet)

1963: Regina Belle (R&B Singer)

1964: Craig Morgan (Country Artist)

1966: Lou Barlow (Bass for Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh & Folk Implosion)

1975: Paul Hinojos (Bass for At The Drive-In & Mars Volta)

1976: Luke Bryan (Country Artist)

Events

1954: The Newport Jazz Festival, the world's first such event, debuts on the tennis courts of the Newport Casino in Rhode Island.

1955: Walt Disney opens his amusement park, Disneyland, in Anaheim, CA, and on the live ABC television special he introduces his new teen and pre-teen sensations, the Mousketeers, including future star Annette Funicello.

1959: Billie Holiday died in a New York City hospital from cirrhosis of the liver after years of alcohol abuse, aged 43. (While under arrest for heroin possession, with Police officers stationed at the door to her room.) In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank.

1967: After only seven dates as opening act for the Monkees, Jimi Hendrix flips off the audience at New York's Forest Hills Stadium, which won't stop screaming for Davy Jones, and leaves the tour. Australian journalist Lillian Roxon, on tour in an official capacity, invents a fictional story claiming that the Daughters of the American Revolution had Hendrix kicked off the tour for "corrupting the morals of America's youth." Jimi is replaced on the tour by the equally unlikely band Vanilla Fudge.

1967: Jazz Saxophone legend John Coltrane died of liver cancer at age 40.

1968: The Beatles' fourth film, the animated fantasy Yellow Submarine, premiers in London. Although the four "Beatles" in the picture are voiced by professional actors, the band itself makes a cameo in the finale, leading movie audiences through the song "All Together Now."

1972: On tour in Montreal, a bomb explodes under one of the Rolling Stones' trucks, blowing out 30 speakers but fortunately causing no injuries. Although the guilty party is never found (French separatists are suspected), the show goes on anyway. However, a small riot breaks out when three thousand of the fans discover the "tickets" they are holding are phonies.

1974: The Moody Blues open their own 32-track, state-of-the-art recording studio in London, the first in the whole country that can record in the new "Quadrophonic" process.

1974: John Lennon's appeal for US citizenship is denied by the government and he is given sixty days to leave the country.

1975: The divorce between Ringo Starr and Maureen Cox is finalized in London. Starr would marry current wife Barbara Bach in 1981.

1975: Bob Marley and the Wailers play a historic concert at London's Lyceum Theater which would feature the acclaimed Legend version of "No Woman, No Cry."

1979: Gary Moore left Thin Lizzy during a US tour and was replaced by ex Slick & Rich Kids guitarist Midge Ure.

1987: With the fate of his band up in the air, Virgin Records signs the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards to a three-album solo deal.

1987: The Ozzy Osbourne Band started a 16-week tour of US prisons.

1991: Picking up at the exact same spot in the tour where they left off, Lynyrd Skynyrd reunite after the horrible plane crash in 1974 that took the lives of three members. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, killed in the crash, is now replaced by his brother Johnny.

1995: Robbie Williams left Take That. The group had scored six UK No.1 singles and two No.1 albums with Robbie in the group.

1996: Bassist Chas Chandler (The Animals) died of heart failure at age 58.

1996: The Smashing Pumpkins fired Jimmy Chamberlin less than a week after Chambelin was arrested on a drug charge and Jonathan Melvoin died of a heroin overdose.

1999: Kevin Wilkinson, drummer with Howard Jones hung himself at home aged 41. Also worked with China Crisis, Holly and the Italians, Squeeze and The Waterboys.

2004: At the end of her show at the Aladdin Hotel in Vegas, Linda Ronstadt dedicates her encore, a cover of the Eagles' "Desperado," to filmmaker Michael Moore, urging fans to go see his current movie, Fahrenheit 9/11. A shocked audience reacts mostly with boos; approximately half walk out on the spot.

2005: Jamaican musician & Singer Laurel Aitken died from a heart attack. Dubbed as 'the Godfather of Ska', his 1958 'Boogie In My Bones' became the first release on the Island Record label and was No.1 on the Jamaican charts for 11 weeks.