March 20

Births

1928: Fred “Mr.” Rogers

1936: Lee "Scratch" Perry (Reggae Artist)

1937: Jerry Reed (Country Singer)

1949: Marcia Ball (Blues Singer & Pianist)

1950: Carl Palmer (Drummer for Emerson, Lake and Palmer & Asia)

1951: Jimmie Vaughan (Guitar & Vocals for Fabulous Thunderbirds)

1953: Poison Ivy (Kristy Wallace) (guitar for The Cramps)

1956: Fonso Martin (Percussion for Steel Pulse)

1957: Spike Lee

1972: Alex Kapranos (Vocals & Guitar for Franz Ferdinand)

1976: Chester Bennington (Vocals for Linkin Park)

1982: Nick Wheeler (Guitarist for All-American Rejects)

Events

1959: Dick Clark protege and teen idol Bobby Rydell makes his first television appearance, naturally enough, on ABC-TV's American Bandstand.

1960: Elvis Presley started his first recordings since being discharged from the US Army. A 12 hour session in a Nashville recording studio produced his next No.1 single, ‘Stuck On You’. Scotty Moore and Bill Black, who had quit Presley's touring band in 1957, were in the studio with him for the last time.

1964: The Beatles make their first appearance on the British television show Ready Steady Go!, miming along, as was the custom, to "Can't Buy Me Love," "It Won't Be Long," and "You Can't Do That." They were also presented with a special award from US magazine Billboard, in recognition of The Beatles having the top three singles on the chart simultaneously.

1965: After a celebratory formal street parade, Motown's first UK package tour begins at Finsbury Park Astoria, in London, featuring The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Martha & the Vandellas.

1968: In Los Angeles, Eric Clapton and three members of Buffalo Springfield -- Neil Young, Jim Messina, and Richie Furay -- are arrested for suspicion of marijuana use. The band members are eventually found guilty and fined, while Clapton beats the charges.

1969: After days of looking for a suitable and legal place, John Lennon finally gets to marry Yoko Ono at the Rock of Gibraltar in Spain, a piece of land still owned by the English and described by Lennon as being necessarily "quiet, friendly, and British." Later, in the Beatles song "The Ballad Of John And Yoko," he describes the site as "Gibraltar, near Spain," unintentionally setting off an international furor, as England and Spain were currently at odds over ownership of the area.

1971: Janis Joplin started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with the Kris Kristofferson's 'Me And Bobby McGee'. Joplin died the year before on 4th October aged 27.

1971:  At their own expense, The Rolling Stones placed full page advertisements in all the UK's music papers disclaiming any connection with the release of the Decca album 'Stone Age' saying 'in our opinion the content is below the standard we try to keep.'

1976: Alice Cooper marries his first and only wife, Sheryl Goddard, a 19-year-old dancer on his Welcome To My Nightmare tour.

1977: T. Rex plays what is to be their last concert before the untimely death of leader Marc Bolan in a car accident, a gig at Portsmouth, England club The Locarno.

1980: Joseph Riviera, 28, a truck driver from New York, breaks into the offices of record label Asylum, takes the office manager hostage, and demands to see label artists Jackson Browne and/or The Eagles so that they can help finance his trucking business. After he realizes the artists in question aren't actually in the building, he surrenders to police.

1982: Joan Jett And The Blackhearts started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll'.

1984: Slim Jim Phantom (Drummer for The Stray Cats) married actress Britt Ekland.

1989: After 37 years on the air, Dick Clark announces he will discontinue hosting his creation, ABC-TV's highly influential American Bandstand. The show continues with another host, but folds for good soon after.

1990: Gloria Estefan’s tour bus was rammed by a tractor-trailer on the way to a concert.  Emilio Estefan and their son Nayib were injured; Gloria suffered a serious back injury, which required an operation two days later.

1991: Eric Clapton's son Conor, all of four years old, dies after falling from the 53rd story window of his mother's apartment in New York. (The guitarist was staying at a hotel not far away, having taken Conor to the circus the night before.) A shaken Clapton later writes the hit song "Tears In Heaven" as a way to help him through the grief.

2004: The University of Washington presents Quincy Jones with an honorary doctorate in Music.