July 23

Births

1947: David Essex (Singer)

1950: Blair Thornton (Guitar for Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

1961: Martin Gore (Vocals, Guitar & Keyboards for Depeche Mode)

1964: Nick Menza (Drums for Megadeth)

1965: Rob Dickinson (Guitar & Vocals for Catherine Wheel)

1965: Slash (Saul Hudson) (Guitar for Guns N' Roses & Velvet Revolver)

1971: Alison Krauss (Bluegrass Singer / Songwriter)

1971: Dalvin DeGrate (Mr Dalvin) (Vocals for Jodeci)

1971: Chad Gracey (Drummer for Live)

1973: Fran Healy (Vocals & Guitar for Travis)

1980: Michelle Williams (Vocals for Destiny's Child & Solo)

1980: Steve 'Stevo 32' Jocz (Drummer for Sum 41)

Events

1963: High school student Neil Young and his band, the Squires, enter a Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada studio to record their first single, a surf instrumental called "The Sultan."

1966: Frank Sinatra went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Strangers In The Night'. The LP would be the most successful of his career, being certified Platinum for 1 million copies sold in the US. The title track would earn him two Grammy awards for Record Of The Year and Best Male Vocal Performance.

1968: The Iveys, later known as Badfinger, sign with Apple Records after a persistent campaign by longtime Beatles associate Mal Evans, who will produce their first sessions.

1969: Los Angeles declares "James Brown Day" in honor of the singer, but when Mayor Sam Yorty is slightly late for the ceremonies, Brown leaves in a huff.

1977: Backstage at the "Days On The Green" festival in Oakland, CA, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham allegedly sees a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff slap his son for taking down a dressing room sign. Bonham kicks the employee, and band manager Peter Grant later breaks into the staff member's trailer and beats him savagely. Bonham and Grant, among others, are arrested for assault. Both would bargain down to misdemeanors, plead guilty, and eventually pay a combined $2 million fine.

1979: Iran's new leader, the Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, bans rock and roll as a corruptive influence on the people, a decision that eventually inspires both the graphic novel Perseopolis and the Clash song "Rock the Casbah."

1979: Keyboard player with The Grateful Dead Keith Godchaux died after being involved in a car accident aged 32. He co-wrote songs with Lowell George (of Little Feat) and was a member of The New Riders of the Purple Sage.

1988: After forty-nine weeks on the US album chart, 'Hysteria' by Def Leppard went to the No.1 position.

1989: Ringo Starr begins his first tour since the Beatles stopped touring in 1966, introducing his "All-Starr Band" of Seventies icons in Dallas, TX.

1994: The International Astronomical Union names an asteroid in Mars' orbit ZappaFrank, after the musician Frank Zappa, who'd passed away from cancer the year before.

1995: Two R.E.M. fans died at Dublin's Slane Castle gig, one drowned in the River Boyne and the other was allegedly pushed from a bridge.

1996: Rob Collins, keyboard player with The Charlatans died in a car crash, aged 29. Collins had been recording keyboard parts for the Charlatans 5th album ‘Tellin' Stories’ at a studio in Wales. An investigation into the accident showed that Collins had consumed a sizable amount of alcohol and was not wearing a seatbelt. He died from head injuries on the roadside shortly after the accident having been thrown through the windshield.

1998: It was announced that Iron Maiden would have to cancel the remainder of its U.S. tour. The doctor of Blaze Bailey advised him to not sing for one month.

2000: Farrah Franklin left Destiny's Child after only five months with the group, the remaining trio of Beyonce, Kelly, and Michelle said that Farrah was not kicked out, but had all agreed that Farrah and Destiny's Child should part ways.

2001: Just three years after the death of first wife Linda from cancer, Paul McCartney gets engaged to former model and activist Heather Mills, who he first met at a charity event in 1999. This news does not sit well with fans, especially when the marriage lasts just four years. The couple produce one daughter, Beatrice Milly McCartney.

2003: The US National Registry of Historic Places declares Memphis, Tennessee's Sun Studios, at 706 Union Avenue, a historic landmark.

2003: In a bizarre ad placed in Variety, James Brown announces his separation from his fourth wife, Tomi Rae, by featuring a picture of the couple and their two-year-old, James Brown II, posing with Goofy at Disney World.

2004: A 21 year-old man was arrested after being involved in a fight with Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty in Kentish Town, London. Doherty ran off before police arrived after being beaten up by three men.

2006: George Michael was accused of engaging in anonymous public sex, after being photographed in London's Hampstead Heath with a 58-year-old unemployed van driver. Despite stating that he intended to sue both the News of the World tabloid who photographed the incident and van driver Norman Kirtland for slander, Michael stated that he openly cruised for anonymous sex and that this was not an issue in his relationship with partner Kenny Goss.

2008: Kid Rock was sentenced to a year on probation and fined $1,000 for his part in a fight in an Atlanta waffle restaurant in 2007. The 37-year-old, also received 80 hours community service and six hours of anger management counseling. He pleaded no contest and charges were dropped. Kid Rock had been performing at a gig in Atlanta before stopping off in his tour bus in the early hours of the morning. The fight took place when an argument broke out with another customer at the restaurant.

2010: Surgical instruments allegedly used to conduct Elvis Presley's autopsy were removed from an upcoming auction amid doubts about their authenticity. Forceps, needle injectors, rubber gloves and a toe tag were among the items that were expected to fetch about $14,000 at Chicago, Illinois' Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. The so-called "memorabilia" was supposedly kept by a senior embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home where the singer's body was stored prior to his funeral, but the claims were questioned after another employee revealed that the equipment was sterilized and used again in other autopsies.

2011:  Singer Amy Winehouse is found dead in her London home at age 27.

2011: After performing at Reggae Sumfest 2011 in Montego Bay, rapper Nicki Minaj was given a summons for explicit lyrics and "sexually suggestive dance moves" and was fined $1,000 after she pleaded guilty.

July 20

Births

1945: John Lodge (Bass for The Moody Blues)

1945: Kim Carnes (Singer / Songwriter)

1947: Carlos Santana (Guitarist)

1952: Jay Jay French (Guitar for Twisted Sister)

1956: Paul Cook (Drums for The Sex Pistols)

1958: Mick MacNeil (Keyboards for Simple Minds)

1964: Chris Cornell (Vocals & Guitar for Soundgarden & Audioslave)

1965: Stone Gossard (Rhythm & Lead Guitar for Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone & Temple Of The Dog)

1968: Kool G Rap (Nathaniel Thomas Wilson) (Rapper)

1969: Tobi Vail (Drums for Bikini Kill)

1976: Andrew Stockdale (Lead Vocals & Guitar for Wolfmother)

1980: Mike Kennerty (Guitar for All-American rejects)

1988: Julianne Hough (Country Singer)

Events

1940: Billboard magazine publishes their first combined record sales chart, ranking the hits of all major labels. Sitting atop the ten entries is Tommy Dorsey's "I'll Never Smile Again," lead vocals by Frank Sinatra.

1954: Taking their name from their local hit recording of "Blue Moon of Kentucky," Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore, and Bill Black perform a concert as The Blue Moon Boys on a flatbed truck outside the grand opening of a Memphis drugstore.

1963: Jan and Dean started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Surf City', written by Beach Boy Brian Wilson, with the Beach Boys on backing vocals. The single peaked at No.26 in the UK.

1965: Bob Dylan released the single “Like A Rolling Stone”.

1965: Frank Sinatra leaves his handprints in cement outside Hollywood landmark Grauman's Chinese Theatre at 6925 Hollywood Blvd.

1968: Aware of Paul McCartney's various affairs, his fiancee, Jane Asher, announces on the BBC TV program Dee Time that she has broken off her engagement with the Beatle: "I haven't broken it off, but it is broken off, finished... I know it sounds corny, but we still see each other, and love each other, but it hasn't worked out. Perhaps we'll be childhood sweethearts and meet again, and get married when we're about seventy." Paul, watching at home, is reportedly surprised, but rumors had been swirling for months, so perhaps not.

1968: Iron Butterfly’s second album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, entered the US album chart for the first time. The album contained the 17-minute title track that filled the second side of the LP, which went on sell over four million copies in the US alone.

1970: The Carpenters appear as guest bachelor and bachelorette on ABC's Dating Game TV show.

1974: Joey Ramone became the lead vocalist for the Ramones.

1975: Steven Van Zandt makes his first appearance in concert with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

1976: Buzzcocks made their live debut supporting The Sex Pistols and Slaughter & The Dogs at The Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester. In the audience was, Morrissey (The Smiths), Bernard Sumner & Peter Hook (soon to form Joy Division), Mark E Smith (The Fall) and Mick Hucknall.

1979: In trade ads announcing their newest single, "Don't Bring Me Down," the Electric Light Orchestra puckishly dedicate the song to Skylab, the first US space station, which was about to prematurely re-enter Earth's atmosphere in bits and pieces.

1986: Carlos Santana celebrates his 39th birthday, as well as the 20th anniversary of his band, by playing a concert in San Francisco featuring all living members of Santana -- 17, to be exact.

1991: EMF went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Unbelievable' it spent 14 weeks on the chart before reaching the top.

1995: Public Enemy member Flavor Flav broke both his arms when he was involved in a motorcycle accident in Milan.

1996: Kim Thayil (Guitar for Soundgarden) was arrested for assault and then later released after playing on the Lollapalooza '96 tour in North Carolina.

1999: Church group's in middle America claimed that pictures of Britney Spears printed in Rolling Stone magazine encouraged child pornography. The shots showed Britney with not many clothes on in her bedroom. She was 17 years old.

2008: Rapper DMX was arrested on suspicion he gave a false name to get out of paying for hospital medical expenses. County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the star told Mayo Clinic in Arizona that his name was Troy Jones and failed to pay a $7,500 bill in April. The rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was arrested at a shopping center in Phoenix.

2008: John Lydon denied claims by Kele Okereke from Bloc Party that he was racially abused and attacked by a member of the Sex Pistols' entourage at a music festival in Barcelona. Okereke claimed he had been attacked by several men after approaching Lydon backstage at the Summercase festival. He said the 'unprovoked' attack left him with a split lip and bruises. Lydon said: ‘I feel very sorry for a man that needs to lie about what was a perfect evening.’

2011: R&B star R. Kelly had been hospitalized after emergency throat surgery in Chicago, forcing him to give up performing for an unknown period while he recuperated.  He had complained of throat pain and was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where surgeons the same day drained an abscess on one of his tonsils.

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.