March 3

Births

1947: Jennifer Warnes (Singer / Songwriter)

1953: Robyn Hitchcock (Singer / Songwriter)

1963: Jason Curtis Newsted (Bass for Metallica)

1966: Tone-Loc (Anthony Terrell Smith) (Rapper)

Events

1931 - The "Star Spangled Banner" was adopted as the American national anthem. The song was originally known as "Defense of Fort McHenry."

1931: The first jazz album to sell a million copies was recorded. It was "Minnie The Moocher" by Cab Calloway.

1957: Chicago's Cardinal Stritch bans rock and roll from all area Catholic schools.

1963: Patsy Cline gives her final show, along with Dottie West & George Jones. Tickets are $1.50, and the money benefits the widow of late Kansas City deejay "Cactus Jack" Call.

1964: The Beatles begin shooting the train scenes for A Hard Day's Night.

1966: The band The Herd is formed in Los Angeles, featuring unknowns Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay (later of Poco), Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin. It would later be renamed Buffalo Springfield and play a huge role in birthing the folk-rock movement.

1967: The Jeff Beck Group makes its debut on a London stage, featuring unknowns Ron Wood, Aynsley Dunbar, and singer Rod Stewart.

1980: Sotheby's holds its first auction of rock and roll memorabilia.

1983: A Hell's Angels biker identified only as "Butch" confirms, in front of a US Senate hearing, that the motorcycle gang had indeed taken out a contract to kill Mick Jagger. The Rolling Stones leader was seen as having blamed the gang for the death of concertgoer Meredith Hunter at Altamont. "There’s always been a contract on the band," he stated, noting "two attempts to kill them that I know about. They will some day. They swear they will do it."

1986: Metallica released their third album, the highly influential album, Master of Puppets, considered by many in the metal community to be the best metal album of all time. This was the last Metallica album with bassist Cliff Burton who was killed when the group's tour bus over-turned in southern Sweden while touring to promote the album.

1994: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana lapsed into a coma in Italy after taking a combination of Valium and champagne.

1995: Foo Fighters made their live debut during a benefit show at The Satyricon in Portland, Oregon.

2006: Gary Glitter is sentenced to three years in a Vietnamese prison after local officials find him guilty of sexual abuse in the case of two underage girls found at his home.

March 2

Births

1904: Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)

1917: Desi Arnaz (Ricky Ricardo)

1923: Doc Watson (Bluegrass Artist)

1938: Lawrence Payton (Singer in The Four Tops)

1942: Lou Reed (Guitar & Vocals for Velvet Underground & Solo)

1948: Rory Gallagher (Blues Guitarist)

1950: Karen Carpenter (Singer for The Carpenters)

1955: Dale Bozzio (Lead Singer for Missing Persons & Solo)

1962: Jon Bon Jovi (Singer)

1968: Daniel Craig (Bond, James Bond)

1977: Chris Martin (Singer, guitar & Piano for Coldplay)

Events

1960: Elvis Presley, having completed his stint with the US Army's 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32nd Armor, leaves Germany and a tearful, teenage Priscilla Beaulieu behind to return to American civilian life. On the way, his plane refuels in Scotland's Prestwick Airport, marking the first and only time The King will set foot in the UK.

1963: A "Limbo Party" at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, hosted by dance craze maven Chubby Checker, also features Marvin Gaye, The Four Seasons, The Crystals, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Lou Christie, Paul and Paula and Dick and Dee Dee. That same day, the Four Seasons become the first group to have its first three singles reach #1 in the US ("Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," and the latest, "Walk Like A Man").

1964: The Beatles begin filming their first movie, A Hard Day's Night, at London's Paddington railway station. During filming, George Harrison meets teenage actress Pattie Boyd and is instantly smitten. They would marry two years later.

1975: Paul and Linda McCartney's car runs a red light in Los Angeles, and police discover eight ounces of marijuana in her purse. She is arrested, but Paul, who is driving, is not.

1983: Sony, Polygram and Philips, working together, introduce a new music format to the US. Called a "compact disc," it's a five-inch wonder which runs one hour of playing time.

1984: Model Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger are the proud parents of their first child, Elizabeth Scarlett Jagger.

1999: Singer Dusty Springfield died of breast cancer at age 59.

2000: DMX was arrested for driving without a license and marijuana possession in Cheektowaga, NY.

2006: Glam rock legend Gary Glitter goes to trial for the alleged molestation of two girls, ages 11 and 12, in his Vietnamese home. Glitter claims he was merely teaching the duo to speak English.

2007: American R&B singer Kelis was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, after the singer started screaming racial obscenities at two female police officers who were working on an undercover operation on South Beach as prostitutes. Kelis was detained and charged with two misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and for resisting arrest.

2008: Canadian guitarist & singer / songwriter, Jeff Healey, died of cancer. He lost his sight to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes when he was eight months old, resulting in his eyes being surgically removed. After living cancer-free for 38 years, he developed sarcoma in his legs. Despite surgery for this, the sarcoma spread to his lungs and ultimately was the cause of his death.

2009: DJ Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) checked himself into rehab to battle an alcohol addiction. His manager Garry Blackburn said. "Norman is voluntarily seeking help for his alcohol problem but he's in good shape."

March 1

Births

1904: Glenn Miller (Trumpet Player & Band Leader)

1927: Harry Belafonte (Day-O)

1944: Roger Daltrey (Singer for The Who)

1944: Mike D'Abo (Singer for Manfred Mann)

1945: Burning Spear (Winston Rodney) (Reggae Singer)

1947: Norman Connors (R&B Singer)

1958: Nik Kershaw (Singer)

1962: Peter Stephenson (Keyboards for The Shamen)

1962: Bill Leen (Bass for Gin Blossoms)

1963: Rob Affuso (Drummer for Skid Row)

1973: Ryan Peake (Bass for Nickelback)

1987: Ke$ha (Kesha Rose Sebert) (Singer)

1994: Justin Bieber (Singer)

Events

1941: The world's first commercial FM radio station, Nashville's W47NV, begins broadcasting.

1958: In what would prove to be a major influence on the burgeoning British rock scene, Buddy Holly and the Crickets begin their first and only UK tour at London's Trocadero Club, playing 25 dates of two sets a night.

1958: New Orleans mayor DeLesseps "Chep" Morrison, noting Elvis Presley's arrival in town to begin filming his movie King Creole, officially declares today "Elvis Presley Day" in the city.

1966: Upset by the band deciding to use Roger McGuinn as lead vocal on all singles, and also suffering from a fear of flying that made touring difficult, guitarist and vocalist Gene Clark announces his departure from the Byrds.

1968: Johnny Cash marries June Carter of the gospel stars The Carter Family. Carlene Carter's $1-a-week allowance, earned by mowing the lawn, rises to $10-a-week.

1969: Jim Morrison of the Doors is arrested on stage during a gig in Miami, FL, for allegedly exposing himself to the crowd during the band's show at the Coconut Grove Auditorium. The singer is later tried and sentenced to eight months of hard labor, a sentence his lawyers were still appealing when Morrison died in 1971.

1973: Elvis Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, sells all of Elvis' back catalog recordings to RCA for a lump sum of $5.4 million, forgoing all future royalties, in an apparent attempt to garner the King some quick, much-needed cash. Parker also renegotiates Elvis into a 50-50 split on new royalties, and lands another seven-year, fourteen-album deal with RCA for $3.5 million.

1973: The Robert Joffrey Dance Company opened the presentation "Deuce Coupe Ballet". The show was based on the music of the Beach Boys.

1974: Chris Difford placed an ad in a shop window 'lyricist seeks musician for co-writing' Glen Tillbrook answered the ad. The pair went on to form Squeeze.

1974: Queen begin their first tour as headliners with a show at Blackpool's Winter Gardens.

1980: Patti Smith married MC5 guitarist Fred 'Sonic' Smith. Fred Smith died on November 4th 1994.

1982: Jimmy Page's first solo LP was released. It was the soundtrack to Death Wish II.

1986: Gary Glitter was admitted to hospital, suffering from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

1994: Aretha Franklin is honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Frank Sinatra is given the annual Living Legends Award at tonight's Grammys in New York.

1994: Tony Bennett's Unplugged wins Album of the Year at tonight's Grammy Awards.

1994: Nirvana played their final concert ever when they appeared at The Terminal Einz in Munich, Germany. The 3,000 capacity venue was a small Airport Hanger. The power went off during the show so they played an impromptu acoustic set including a version of The Cars 'My Best Friend's Girl.'

1995: In Switzerland, Bill Berry (Drummer for R.E.M) suffered a brain aneurysm while performing on stage.

1997: 'Bowie Bonds' were issued on the US Stock Exchange. Linked to David Bowie's back catalogue albums with money earned on the bonds via interest from royalties, investors could expect to make an 8% profit in about 10 years.

February 29

Births

1904: Jimmy Dorsey (Big Band Leader, Clarinet & Sax Player)

1952: Randy Jackson (Lead Vocals & Guitar for Zebra)

1972: Dave Williams (Singer for Drowning Pool)

1976: Ja Rule (Jeffrey Atkins) (Rapper)

Events

1960: Just four years into his career, Elvis Presley becomes the biggest-selling artist of all time, with 18 million records sold, according to an article published in today's edition of Billboard. "The King" would go on to sell one billion records around the world.

1968: Florence Ballard, having just legally settled during her breakup with The Supremes, marries her first husband, former Motown chauffeur Thomas Chapman, in Detroit.

1972: John Lennon's temporary visa expires, leading Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina to send a memo to the Nixon White House suggesting that deporting John Lennon might be "a strategic counter-measure” against his increasing political activism. Around the same time, CIA director Richard Helms sent a memo to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover about Lennon's upcoming "anti-war" tour, kicking off a three-year battle for Lennon to stay in the US.

1977: While staying at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, Lynyrd Skynyrd get in a heated argument with members of London's Metropolitan Police, whose boxing team is staying at the same hotel. A fistfight breaks out, in which two members of the group are knocked unconscious.

1980: Jerry Allen, Sheriff of Cerro Gordo County, IA, finds a manila envelope marked "rec'd April 7, 1959," opens it, and discovers the glasses Buddy Holly was wearing the night he was killed in an infamous plane crash in nearby Clear Lake. Thought lost for 21 years, the glasses had merely been covered in snow when police cleaned up the crash site, and since the plane had taken off from Mason City, the glasses were delivered there when revealed by the spring thaw. (The wristwatch belonging to Jay "The Big Bopper" Richardson was also present in the envelope.) After a lengthy court battle, the glasses were deemed the property of Buddy's widow, Maria Elena, and are on permanent display at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock.

2000: At the premiere of his new Broadway musical, an adaptation of the opera Aida done with lyricist Tim Rice, Elton John storms out of the theater after 15 minutes, fuming that his songs were "ruined."

2000: In Guilford, Surrey, Eric Clapton had his driving privileges suspended for six months and was fined about $570 dollars for speeding.