July 1

Births

1915: Willie Dixon (Blues Musician)

1939: Delaney Bramlett (Delaney and Bonnie)

1945: Deborah Harry (Singer for Blondie & Solo)

1951: Fred Schneider (Vocals for The B-52’s & Solo)

1954: Keith Whitley (Country Singer / Songwriter)

1956: Phil Solem (Singer for The Rembrandts)

1960: Evelyn "Champagne" King (R&B Singer)

1963: Roddy Bottum (Keyboards for Faith No More)

1967: Pamela Anderson (…Just because)

1971: Missy Elliott (Rapper)

1975: Sufjan Stevens (Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1897: The trade paper Billboard Advertising renames itself The Billboard.

1956: NBC's Steve Allen Show capitalizes on the outrage engendered by Elvis Presley's recent version of "Hound Dog" on The Milton Berle Show by winkingly presenting a new, "clean" Elvis, dressed in a tuxedo and singing "Hound Dog" to an actual basset hound perched on a stool. Backstage, a humiliated Elvis explodes in fury at the Colonel for agreeing to the stunt. The next day, however, fans protest the show, demanding "The REAL Elvis."

1956: An 11-year-old Brenda Lee signs her first recording contract with Decca Records.

1959: Dave Brubeck recorded "Take Five".

1964: Married only four days before, Michael Nesmith of The Monkees leaves his San Antonio home to make a name for himself as a folk singer in Los Angeles.

1968: The Band released their debut album Music From Big Pink. The album, which features their first hit single The Weight, was recorded in studios in New York and Los Angeles in 1968, and followed the group's backing of Bob Dylan on his 1966 tour (as The Hawks).

1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono, along with his son Julian and her daughter Kyoko, are injured in a car crash near Golspie, Scotland. John gets 17 stitches in his face while Yoko has 14; soon, he will bring a cot into Abbey Road studios so she can rest comfortably while he records "Come Together."

1969: Legendary producer Sam Phillips sells his Sun Records Studio in Memphis.

1970: Casey Kasem begins his weekly Billboard countdown on the nationally syndicated radio show American Top 40.

1975: Ringo Starr divorces his first wife Maureen Cox after a decade of marriage.

1976: Connie Francis is awarded $2.5 million from the motel where she was sexually assaulted two years earlier.

1981: Rushton Moreve (Bass for Steppenwolf) died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Santa Barbara, California. He was 32.

1983: A New Jersey based quintet calling themselves Bon Jovi signed to Phonogram's Mercury records.

1989: Milli Vanilli scored their first US No.1 single with 'Baby Don't Forget My Number'.

1990: Hank Williams Jr. marries his fourth wife--Mary Jane Thomas, a former model for Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion--in Montana. They honeymoon in Tanzania, where they discover their camp is infested with cobras.

1995: Wolfman Jack died of a heart attack at 57 years old.

1998: In her Malibu home, Barbra Streisand marries her second husband, actor James Brolin.

1999: Reggae artist Dennis Brown was rushed to Kingston's University Hospital, suffering from cardiac arrest on June 30^th. Brown died on this day in 1999 and the official cause of his death was a collapsed lung, although his cocaine habit was considered a contributing factor. He was 42 years old.

2003: Jazz flutist Herbie Mann died after a long battle with prostate cancer at 73 years old.

2004: Glen Campbell began serving 10 nights in jail along with two years of probation for a November 2003 drink-driving, hit-and-run collision. The 68 year old entertainer was also sentenced to 75 hours of community service and fined $900.

2005: Four Tops singer Renaldo "Obie" Benson died aged 69 in a Detroit hospital from lung cancer. He was diagnosed after having a leg amputated due to circulation problems.

2005: American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer Luther Vandross died at the age of 54 at the JFK Medical Centre in New Jersey, two years after suffering a major stroke.

2008: Whitesnake guitarist Mel Galley, died at the age of 60 from cancer of the oesophagus. Galley also played with Trapeze, Glenn Hughes, Cozy Powell and the Blue Jays.

2011: Supermodel Kate Moss married Guitarist Jamie Hince of The Kills in England's Cotswolds region.