June 18

Births

1897: Kay Kyser (Bandleader)

1903: Jeanette MacDonald (Singer)

1913: Sammy Cahn (Songwriter)

1933: Tommy Hunt (Singer for The Flamingos)

1942: Paul McCartney (Singer & Bass for The Beatles & Wings)

1942: Carl Radle (Bass for Derek and the Dominoes)

1947: Sandy Posey (Pop Singer)

1952: Ricky Gazda (Trumpet for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes)

1953: Jerome Smith (Guitar for KC and the Sunshine Band)

1957: Tom Bailey (Vocals & Keyboards for The Thompson Twins)

1961: Alison Moyet (Singer for Yaz and Solo)

1963: Dizzy Reed (Keyboards for Guns N' Roses)

1969: Simon Rowbottom (Guitarist for The Boo Radleys)

1971: Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men)

1976: Blake Shelton (Country Singer)

Events

1915: A.P. Carter marries Sara Dougherty in Maces Spring, VA, forming two-thirds of what would eventually, with the addition of Sara's sister, Maybelle, become country music's legendary Carter Family.

1948: The Columbia label becomes the first to mass-manufacture the new "long-playing" or "LP" record format, to be played at 33 1/3 rpm rather than the standard 78. Unlike 78 rpm discs, which only held three minutes of music, the LP could hold a full 23 minutes per side.

1967: The Beatles Apple record label is formed.

1967: After wresting the coveted closing spot from the Who, Jimi Hendrix goes to wow concertgoers at the Monterey Pop music festival by setting his guitar on fire during his set.

1974: Rare Earth drummer Peter Hoorelbeke is arrested for throwing his drumsticks into the crowd at the end of the band's concert.

1975: Elvis Presley enters Memphis' Mid-South Hospital, ostensibly to have "an extensive eye examination"; reports persist, however, that the King is actually having his crows' feet removed from his aging face.

1976: After eleven years with the group, guitarist Phil May leaves the Pretty Things.

1977: The night before their royal wedding, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath are serenaded in a Stockholm performance by the nation's biggest export, ABBA.

1977: Fleetwood Mac went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Dreams', the group's first and only US No.1.

1977: Johnny Rotten and Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols were stabbed and beaten when they were attacked in a car park outside a London pub.

1984: Dolly Parton releases the unfortunate career misstep Rhinestone in US movie theaters, featuring Parton as a country crooner who teaches Sylvester Stallone how to sing in the style.

1993: Having sold their label to Polygram three years earlier for half a billion dollars, A&M label founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss announce their intention to leave the company entirely. Begun in 1962, A&M was one of the first artist-owned labels, and the first successful independent label.

1995: Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) was arrested in Camden, NJ, on robbery and aggravated assault charges.

1998: David Cassidy began selling a two-CD set exclusively on the cable TV shopping network QVC.

2000: It was reported that sales of pirate music CDs had now exceeded more than 500 million a year and accounted for one in every five sold. The Phonographic Industry estimated it was costing the music industry $5.1 billion in lost sales.

2000: Rapper Nate Dogg was arrested for allegedly kidnapping his girlfriend from her mother's house, holding her against her will, assaulting her and setting a car on fire. All charges were later dismissed.

2002: Billy Joel is admitted to Connecticut's Silver Hill Hospital for ten days in order to get his drinking under control.

2004: Ray Charles' funeral is held in Los Angeles at the First AME Church, featuring performances by Stevie Wonder, Glen Campbell, B.B. King, Wynton Marsalis, and Willie Nelson. Non-performing attendees include Little Richard, Clint Eastwood, and Berry Gordy, Jr.

2007: Singer Hank Medress (The Tokens) Died of lung cancer at age 68.

2008: A Lost Angeles hotel filed a lawsuit against Phil Spector for failing to pay more than $100,000 in outstanding bills for lawyers and expert witnesses in his murder trial. The Westin Bonaventure Hotel claimed that by the time Spector's trial ended with a hung jury, the defendants owed the hotel more than $104,000.