December 1

Births

1934: Billy Paul (R&B Singer)

1933: Lou Rawls (R&B Singer)

1944: Eric Bloom (Vocals for Blue Oyster Cult)

1944: John Densmore (Drums for The Doors)

1945: Bette Midler (Singer)

1946: Gilbert O'Sullivan (Pop Singer)

1951: Jaco Pastorius (Jazz bassist)

1971: Greg Upchurch (Drummer for 3 Doors Down)

1977: Brad Delson (Lead Guitar for Linkin Park)

Events

1957: Three acts make their national TV debut on one episode of CBS' Ed Sullivan Show: Buddy Holly and the Crickets (performing "That'll Be The Day"), Sam Cooke (performing "You Send Me"), and the Rays (performing "Silhouettes").

1960: Bobby Darin marries Sandra Dee at Don Kirshner's apartment in New Jersey.

1968: Janis Joplin makes her final appearance with her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company.

1972: Martha and the Vandellas give their farewell performance in Detroit, MI.

1975: On her thirtieth birthday, Bette Midler undergoes emergency surgery to remove her appendix.

1982: Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' album was released. It spent 190 weeks on the album chart became the biggest selling pop album of all time, with sales over 50 million copies.

1983: Neil Young was sued by Geffen Records because his new music for the label was “not commercial in nature and musically uncharacteristic of his previous albums.”

1989: Sly Stone is sentenced to 55 days in jail for driving while under the influence of cocaine.

1990: C.C. Deville guitar player with Poison spent six hours in jail in Louisville, after being arrested for public drunkenness and criminal mischief after a concert in the town that night.

1994: Tupac Shakur was convicted on charges of sexually abusing a woman in a hotel room. He was recovering from gunshot wounds he had suffered the day before.

1995: An auction of Frank Sinatra memorabilia nets the singer over two million dollars.

1997: Kenny G set a new world record when he held a note on his saxophone for 45 minutes and 47 seconds. (The record has since been broken by Geovanny Escalante, who held a note for 1 hour, 30 minutes and 45 seconds, using a technique that allows him to blow and breathe at the same time).

1999: Jay-Z stabbed Lance Rivera at a party at Manhattan's Kit Kat Klub. Jay-Z pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to three years probation on September 17, 2001.