May 19

Births

1925: Malcolm X (Malcolm Little)

1945: Pete Townshend (Guitar for The Who)

1947: Steve Currie (Bass for T. Rex)

1948: Tom Scott (Jazz Saxophonist)

1948: Grace Jones (Singer)

1949: Dusty Hill (Bass & Vocals for ZZ Top)

1951: Jeffrey Hyman (Joey Ramone) (Vocals for The Ramones)

1954: Phil Rudd (Drummer for AC/DC)

1956: Martyn Ware (Keyboard & Vocals for The Human League & Heaven 17)

1962: Iain Harvie (Guitarist for Del Amitri)

1970: Stuart Cable (Drums for Stereophonics)

1972: Jenny Berggren (Singer & Songwriter for Ace Of Base)

Events

1958: The first single to be recorded on an 8-track console, Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash," is released.

1958: Peggy Lee recorded "Fever".

1960: Massively influential DJ Alan Freed is officially indicted, along with seven others, in the "payola" scandal, charged with accepting over thirty thousand dollars from six different labels in order to play their songs.

1960: A 17-year-old Annette Funicello blows off her high school graduation ceremony in order to perform at Radio City Music Hall.

1960: The Drifters recorded the song "Save The Last Dance For Me".

1961: The Everly Brothers form the Calliope label, the first artist-owned label to be formed by a rock group.

1963: For the first time, female Beatles fans attempt to sneak into the group's dressing room while they're supporting Roy Orbison at a gig in Hanley, England. The three girls, who used a ladder to get through the window, are caught but released without charges after the group signs a few autographs for them.

1965: Convinced that the lyrics to the Kingsmen's hit "Louie Louie" are as filthy as urban legends claim, the FBI visits Wand Records to ask a few questions. Eventually, they decide the group's version of the Richard Berry R&B classic is too garbled to make out, anyway.

1967: The Beatles held a press party at manager's Brian Epstein's house in London for the launch of the 'Sgt Pepper's' album. Linda Eastman was hired as the press photographer.

1969: Coleman Hawkins (Jazz legend) died of pneumonia.

1973: After Elvis Presley's critically-savaged debut at the Sahara resort on Lake Tahoe, and several more cancellations due to "illness," manager Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis' father Vernon plead with Los Angeles lawyer Ed Hookstratten to look into Elvis' prescription drug use and identify his main suppliers. With Elvis unwilling to cooperate, however, the investigation dies a slow death.

1973: Paul Simon released the single ‘Kodachrome’ which became a hit in the US, but was banned from airplay in the UK because it contained a brand name.

1976: Keith Richards nods off while driving and crashes his Bentley into a highway divider just north of London. Unfortunately, police who come to his rescue also find marijuana and cocaine in the car.

1978: Dire Straits release their first single "Sultans Of Swing".

1979: Eric Clapton held a party at his Surrey house celebrating his recent marriage to Patti Boyd. Clapton had set-up a small stage in the garden and as the evening progressed Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr ended up jamming together along with Clapton, Ginger Baker and Mick Jagger. The all-star band ran through old Little Richard and Eddie Cochran songs.

1979: Jessi Colter and husband Waylon Jennings, outlaw country's first duo, become the proud parents of their only child together, son Wayne Albright Jennings.

1980: Ringo Starr and his fiance, actress Barbra Bach, crash their car very near the spot where T. Rex's Marc Bolan lost his life in a similar crash, but despite totaling the car, both are uninjured.

1984: Pink Floyd's epochal Dark Side Of The Moon LP marks its tenth anniversary, having never left the Billboard album charts.

1988: James Brown was arrested for the fifth time in 12 months, following a car chase near his home. He was charged with assault, resisting arrest and being in charge of illegal weapons, he was given a 6 year jail sentence.

1998: Sonny and Cher are awarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7020 Hollywood Blvd.

2000: Guitarist and founder Dickey Betts leaves the Allman Brothers Band over "creative differences."

2011: Diddy, whose Twitter handle used to read @iamdiddy, has changed his name to @iamswag. "Allow me to reintroduce myself- I AM SWAG," the rapper formerly known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy posted on Twitter.