June 27

Births

1925: Doc Pomus (Songwriter)

1927: Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan)

1942: Frank Mills (Piano Player)

1942: Bruce Johnston (Guitar & Vocals for The Beach Boys)

1958: Lisa Germano (Singer/Songwriter)

1959: Lorrie Morgan (Country Singer)

1961: Margo Timmins (Vocals for The Cowboy Junkies)

1970: Laurence Colbert (Drums for Ride)

1976: Leigh Nash (Singer for Sixpence None The Richer)

Events

1949: Gene Autry recorded "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer".

1959: West Side Story closes on Broadway after a record 732 performances.

1959: Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon, and Edd "Kookie" Byrnes are the musical guests on ABC-TV's variety show Coke Time With Eddie Fisher.

1963: Brenda Lee signs a million-dollar contract with Decca Records.

1964: Jan and Dean released "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena".

1967: Mick Jagger was found guilty of illegal possession of two drugs found in his jacket at a party given by Keith Richards. He was remanded overnight at Lewes jail, England (prison number 7856). Jagger requested books on Tibet and modern art and two packs of Benson & Hedges cigarettes.

1968: As part of the filming of what would become known as his "'68 Comeback" TV special, Elvis Presley and his band tape an informal jam session on center stage at NBC's Studio 4, a performance many consider his best of all time. However, manager "Colonel" Tom Parker, unhappy with the direction of the show, withholds all tickets to the performance, forcing staffers to run into a nearby Bob's Big Boy restaurant (4211 W. Riverside Dr., Burbank) and plead with patrons to come see a real honest-to-goodness Elvis concert. (The King himself is extremely nervous at performing live for the first time in seven years, and is told by Binder that once he goes out there, he can just get up and leave if he can't take it. A close look at the performance shows that, once on stage, he pretends to do just that.) Two shows, an afternoon and an evening, are performed. This legendary performance would later serve as the inspiration for MTV's Unplugged series.

1969: The Denver Pop Festival opened at Mile High Stadium. Violence broke out in the 50,000+ crowd and police moved in with clubs and tear gas.

1970: The UK band Smile, having recently changed their name, performs for the first time as Queen, playing Truro City Hall in Cornwall, England.

1970: With their latest single, "The Love You Save," The Jackson 5 become the first rock-era group to score #1 hits with its first three songs. They'd soon make it four with "I'll Be There."

1971: Legendary rock promoter Bill Graham closes the Fillmore East, the New York version of his equally legendary San Francisco "rock ballroom." The Allman Brothers, The Beach Boys, Edgar Winter, and Country Joe McDonald are on the bill for the final show.

1976: After years of fighting deportation from a government that objected to his public radicalism, John Lennon finally gets his "green card" allowing him to stay in the United States.

1978: Kansas, the band, is named the first musical Ambassadors of Goodwill by UNICEF.

1980: John Bonham, drummer with Led Zeppelin collapsed on stage during a gig in Nuremberg, West Germany.

1987: Whitney Houston became the first women in US history to enter the album chart at No.1 with 'Whitney' she also became the first woman to top the singles chart with four consecutive releases when 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' hit No.1.

1988: Cyndi Lauper got her high school diploma from Richmond High in New York.

1988 - MCA Records bought Motown Records for $61 million.

1989: Tom Jones is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6608 Hollywood Blvd.

1989: The Who perform their rock opera Tommy in its entirety for the first time since 1972, performing it for charity at Radio City Music Hall.

1991: Carlos Santana is arrested in Houston after airport officials find marijuana in his luggage.

1992: Stefanie Ann Sargent (guitarist for 7 Year Bitch) dies of an overdose at 24.

1993: Don Henley was booed in Milwaukee when he dedicates the song "It's Not Easy Being Green" to President Clinton.

1993: Lyle Lovett and actress Julia Roberts were married. They were divorced in 1995.

1994: Aerosmith become first major band to let fans download a full new track free from the internet.

1996: During a free concert by The Fugees in Harlem a man started to fire shots from a gun injuring 22 people.

1998: Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, and Bryan Adams become the first three honorees to be awarded a star on Canada's new Walk of Fame on Toronto's King Street.

2000: The Rolling Stones are found in copyright violation of Robert Johnson's "Love In Vain" and "Stop Breaking Down," both of which the Stones had covered and incorrectly labeled as in the public domain.

2000: Nelly's debut album "Country Grammar" was released.

2002: One day before the scheduled first show of The Who's 2002 US tour, bass player John Entwistle died at age 57 in his hotel room at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Entwistle had gone to bed that night with a stripper who woke at 10am to find Entwistle cold and unresponsive. The Las Vegas medical examiner determined that death was due to a heart attack induced by an undetermined amount of cocaine.

2003: Cat Stevens is given a cash settlement by members of the Flaming Lips after they acknowledge their song "Flight Test" is similar to Stevens' 1970 song "Father And Son."

2003: Rapper Mystikal pleaded guilty to charges that he forced his hairstylist to perform sex acts on him and two bodyguards. Mystikal, (real name Michael Tyler), had been charged with aggravated rape. He agreed to plead guilty and was sentenced to five years' probation.

2009: Black Eyed Peas went to No.1 on the US album charts with ‘The E.N.D.’ the group’s fifth studio album. The album's lead single, 'Boom Boom Pow' topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 consecutive weeks, the second single, 'I Gotta Feeling' replaced 'Boom' and spent 14 weeks at No.1. Giving the group 26 consecutive weeks at the top of the charts.