February 13

Births

1919: Tennessee Ernie Ford (Country Singer)

1942: Peter Tork (Keyboards & Bass for The Monkees)

1945: King Floyd (R&B Singer)

1950: Peter Gabriel (Lead Singer for Genesis & Solo)

1950: Bob Daisley (Bass for Ozzy Osbourne & Rainbow)

1951: David Naughton (Singer)

1952: Ed Gagliardi (Bass for Foreigner)

1956: Peter Hook (Bass for New Order)

1961: Henry Rollins )Singer for Black Flag & Rollins Band)

1966: Freedom Williams (Lead Vocals for C+C Music Factory)

1974: Robbie Williams (Singer)

1976: Feist (Singer / Songwriter)

1978: Hamish Glencross (Guitar for My Dying Bride)

Events

1967: The Monkees announced that from now on they would be playing on their own recordings instead of session musicians.

1970: On this day, Friday the 13th, Black Sabbath released their debut self-titled studio album on Vertigo records. Peaking at #8 on the charts, the album has been recognized as the first main album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre.

1972: Led Zeppelin is forced to cancel a gig in Singapore when local officials, seeing their long hair, refuse to let them off the plane.

1978: Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley officially declares today "Al Green Day."

1980: Police raided the home of former Sex Pistol John Lydon who greeted them waving a ceremonial sword, the only illegal item they found was a canister of tear gas, claimed to be for defence against intruders.

1981: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon becomes the rock album to spend the most consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart -- 402 weeks from March 1973. It would eventually leave the charts April 23, 1988, after 724 weeks.

1982: The 300-pound gravestone of Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant is stolen from the cemetery in Orange Park, CA. Police find it two weeks later in a dry river bed.

1988: Michael Jackson purchases a ranch in Santa Ynez, CA, which he renames "Neverland."

1997: Michael Jackson and wife Debbie Rowe become the proud parents of their first child, Prince.

1998: Police at Manchester Airport arrested former Stone Roses singer, Ian Brown after an incident during a flight from Paris. Brown was found guilty in August the same year and jailed for four months; British Airways also banned him from flying with the airline.

2002: Country artist Waylon Jennings died in his sleep of diabetic complications.