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.