August 12

Births

1926: Joe Jones (R&B Singer)

1927: Porter Wagoner (Country Singer)

1929: Buck Owens (Alvis Edgar Owens) (Country Singer & Guitarist)

1949: Mark Knopfler (Guitar & Vocals for Dire Straits & Solo)

1954: Pat Metheny (Jazz / Rock Guitarist)

1960: Morty Black (Bass for TNT)

1961: Roy Hay (Guitar & Keyboards for The Culture Club)

1963: Sir Mix-A-Lot (Anthony Ray) (Rapper)

Events

1877: Thomas Edison finishes the prototype of his new invention, the phonograph, and hands it over to his master mechanic John Kreusi to build. Kreusi bets Edison two dollars that the contraption will never work.

1957: Encouraged by Roulette exec George Goldner and his recent success in England, Frankie Lymon officially leaves his group, the Teenagers, to pursue a solo career.

1958: On "compassionate leave" from the Army, Elvis Presley travels to Memphis' Baptist Memorial hospital to be by the side of his mother, Gladys, who is quickly deteriorating from acute hepatitis.

1960: After "auditioning" for the band at the Jacaranda club (the band actually had no other prospects), Pete Best is hired as the Silver Beatles' new drummer just as the band sets out for a series of dates in Hamburg, Germany.

1965: Jefferson Airplane make their stage debut, opening San Francisco's' new club The Matrix (3138 Fillmore).

1966: The Beatles begin the US leg of their last tour, playing a date at the International Amphitheater in Chicago, IL.

1967: Fleetwood Mac make their stage debut at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor, England, alongside such acts as Donovan, Cream, The Small Faces, and Chicken Shack, featuring a young Christine Perfect (later known as Christine McVie).

1968: The New Yardbirds, later to be known as Led Zeppelin, begin their first rehearsal beneath a record store at 22 Gerrard Street in Westminster, London, performing a cover of the old Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio number "Train Kept A Rollin'."

1970: At Harvard, Janis Joplin performs what would be her final concert, ending with a version of Gershwin's "Summertime."

1970: The Hollywood Bowl holds a memorial concert for recently deceased folk legend Woody Guthrie, featuring (among others) Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Pete Seeger, Odetta, and Tom Paxton.

1977: Henri Padovani, guitarist with The Police, quit the group after nine months leaving them a trio.

1978: The Commodores started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Three Times A Lady', also No.1 in the UK and becoming Motown's biggest British selling single. Lionel Richie wrote the song about his love for his wife, mother and grandmother hence 'Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady.'

1985: Kyu Sakamoto was killed in a plane crash when JAL Flight 123, a 747, crashed and burned on a thickly wooded mountain about 60 miles northwest of Tokyo. He was 43. He had the 1963 US No.1 & UK No.6 single 'Sukiyaki', the first Japanese artist to hit the top of the US singles chart.

1989: Patty Loveless notches her first #1 country single with "Timber, I'm Falling In Love".

1993: The Red Hot Chili Peppers replaced guitarist Arik Marshall with Jesse Tobias. Tobias was replaced by Dave Navarro three months later.

1994: Less than two months after All-4-One netted a gold single for a pop version of "I Swear," John Michael Montgomery's country rendition also goes gold.

1994: The 25th Anniversary Woodstock concert, entitled "Woodstock '94," is held in Saugerties, NY, with over 30 bands playing for a crowd of about 350,000. The multi-day show is a huge success, with little hint of the violence that would mar the 30th anniversary concert.

1997: MTV debuts the Fleetwood Mac reunion concert The Dance, marking the first time the five had been on stage together since 1982.

1997: In the middle of Blues Guitarist Luther Allison’s summer of 1997 tour, he checked into a hospital for dizziness and loss of coordination. It was discovered that he had a tumor on his lung that had metastasized to his brain. He died on this day in 1997.

1998: Scott Weiland (Singer for Stone Temple Pilots) pled guilty to felony heroin possession and was sentenced to three months in a drug treatment facility.

1999: Governor Mel Carnahan of Missouri declares today "Porter Wagoner Day" in honor of the country legend.

1999: The movie Detroit Rock City, produced by KISS and telling the story of KISS fans on their way to a KISS concert, opens nationwide.

2000: During an outdoor gig in Mancos, California as .38 Special were mid-set, the wind took hold of an overhead canopy and brought down ten tons of equipment onto the stage. The drum kit was completely crushed, but no one was seriously injured.

2001: Shania Twain and husband-producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange have a son, Eja (pronounced "Asia") in Switzerland.

2006: Rodney Atkins earns his first #1 single in Billboard: "If You're Going Through Hell (Before The Devil Even Knows)".

2011: Jani Lane, who fronted the glossy rock band Warrant during the days of hair metal, was found dead in a motel room in Woodland Hills, Calif. of undetermined causes. He was 47.