July 8

Births

1908: Louis Jordan (Jazz Bandleader & Singer)

1914: Billy Eckstine (Jazz Bandleader & Singer)

1932: Jerry Vale (Pop Singer)

1935: Steve Lawrence (Singer)

1942: Chuck Negron (Vocals for 3 Dog Night)

1944: Jai Johanny Johanson (Drummer for The Allman Brothers)

1951: Greg T Walker (Bassist for Blackfoot & Lynyrd Skynyrd)

1958: Kevin Bacon (Guitar & Vocals for The Bacon Brothers, also an actor)

1958: Carlos Cavazo (Guitar for Quiet Riot)

1961: Andy Fletcher (Bass & Synth for Depeche Mode)

1961: Toby Keith (Country Singer)

1962: Joan Osborne (Singer / Songwriter)

1970: Beck David Campbell (Beck) (Guitar & Singer/Songwriter)

1985: Jamie Cook (Guitarist for Arctic Monkeys)

Events

1946: After just one year of marriage, actress Ava Gardner divorces bandleader Artie Shaw.

1958: The RIAA awards its first ever gold record for an LP -- for the soundtrack to the film Oklahoma!. ("Gold" albums at that time represented one million dollars in sales.)

1965: The Dave Clark Five's first movie, Having A Wild Weekend, opens in London. (For American audiences, it's entitled Catch Us If You Can, after their hit of the same name.)

1967: In Jacksonville, FL, Jimi Hendrix is invited to open for the Monkees on their latest tour. The band loves him, but the audience , oblivious, keeps screaming for Davy Jones. A frustrated Hendrix leaves the tour a week or so later.

1969: Singer/actress Marianne Faithfull, girlfriend of Mick Jagger, attempts suicide with barbiturates while on the set of the film Ned Kelly (also starring Mick). She eventually recovers, and when awaking from her coma, tells friends that "wild horses couldn't drag me away." The Rolling Stones song "Wild Horses" is built around that phrase.

1970: The Everly Brothers debut their ill-fated summer variety series, The Everly Brothers Show, on ABC-TV.

1971: A minor riot occurred during a Mott The Hoople gig at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England. Some fans were injured and two boxes were damaged causing a temporary ban on rock gigs at the venue. The group paid $2,800 for damages to property.

1972: Bill Withers started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Lean On Me', his only No.1 hit, it made No.18 in the UK.

1978: After a staggering six months at #1, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack is finally bumped off the top spot by Gerry Rafferty's City To City.

1978: Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon from The Clash were arrested for being drunk and disorderly after a gig at the Apollo in Glasgow, both were fined.

1979: The B-52's made their UK live debut at London's Lyceum Ballroom, supported by The Tourists.

1985: Three Dog Night's Chuck Negron is hospitalized in Los Angeles for drug addiction.

1985: "Playboy" and "Penthouse" magazines went on sale with nude pictures of Madonna.

1988: Stevie Wonder announces he will run for mayor of Detroit in 1992, but eventually thinks better of it.

1997: Country Artist Marty Stuart and Connie Smith were married.

1998: Roy Orbison's estate files a suit seeking $12 million in unpaid royalties from Sony, owners of the star's famous Monument label recordings.

1998: The Smithsonian and Library of Congress agree to house the music and film archives of Frank Sinatra.

1998: Two armed men broke into the home of Foxy Brown. Brown and her mother were both in the apartment but suffered no injuries.

2002: Michael Jackson unleashes a sudden tirade on the music industry, accusing several music execs of racism and calling Sony head Tommy Mottola in particular "very, very, very devilish."

2003: A tooth from the mouth of Elvis Presley, once the property of former girlfriend Linda Thompson, goes up for auction on eBay. Along with a lock of his hair and a gold record, it fetches over $100,000.

2004: Mark Purseglove known as the world’s ‘biggest bootlegger’ was sentenced to 3 years 6 months jail by Blackfriars Crown Court. Purseglove had built up a $30 million pirate CD empire by bootlegging live concerts of some of the world's biggest stars including The Beatles, David Bowie and Pink Floyd.

2007: Prince was forced off stage by police halfway through his set at the First Avenue nightclub during a late-night gig in his home town of Minneapolis. The club was only allowed to stay open until 3.am but Prince took to the stage at 2.45am. Prince had already played two concerts in Minneapolis before his late-night club appearance; His first performance was at a department store, where he promoted his new cologne with a nine-song, 45-minute set.