July 19

Births

1944: Commander Cody (George Frayne) (Piano & Singer for Commander Cody)

1946: Alan Gorrie (Bass & Singer for The Average White Band)

1947: Bernie Leadon (Guitar & Vocals for The Eagles & Flying Burrito Brothers)

1947: Brian May (Guitar for Queen)

1948: Keith Godchaux (Keyboards for The Grateful Dead)

1952: Allen Collins (Guitar for Lynyrd Skynyrd)

1960: Kevin Haskins (Drummer for Bauhaus, Tones On Tail & Love & Rockets)

1968: Robert Flynn (Lead Vocals & Guitar for Machine Head)

1976: Eric Prydz (DJ)

Events

1954: Sun Records released the first Elvis Presley single 'That's All Right / Blue Moon Of Kentucky' which made the local Memphis chart.

1958: After a series of disputes over money (and a fistfight with the manager of Harlem's famous Apollo Theater), Drifters manager George Treadwell fires the entire group and installs the existing group the Five Crowns in their place, renaming them the Drifters. This lineup, featuring a lead tenor named Ben E. King, would prove to be the most popular critically and commercially, releasing hits like "There Goes My Baby," "This Magic Moment," and "Save the Last Dance for Me."

1966: 50-year-old Frank Sinatra marries 20-year-old actress Mia Farrow in New York amid a sea of fourteen movie cameras and 37 regular cameras. The marriage, one of Hollywood's rockiest, will last only two years, with Sinatra issuing an ultimatum to Farrow as she is filming Roman Polanski's movie Rosemary's Baby -- one she will ignore, leading Sinatra to serve divorce papers to her on the set.

1969: The Spencer Davis Group calls it quits two years after the departure of the Winwood brothers, as well as a failed single and canceled album. (Nigel Olsson, the drummer in the final lineup, would go on to become Elton John's drummer.)

1972: Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were arrested in Warwick, Rhode Island on charges of assault after a fight broke out with a newspaper photographer.

1976: Deep Purple split up at the end of a UK tour. David Coverdale went on to form Whitesnake, Jon Lord and Ian Paice formed a band with Tony Ashton. The classic line up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord & Paice reformed in 1984. Glenn Hughes returned to Trapeze and Tommy Bolin put together his own band (but would die before the end of the year).

1980: Laguna Beach, CA's Vorpal Gallery opens a new exhibit featuring paintings by Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, Klaus Voorman, and Ron Wood.

1980: David Bowie made his theatrical debut as the title role in "The Elephant Man."

1981: The mayor of Odessa, TX, declares today Roy Orbison Day in honor of the singer. (Orbison was actually from Wink, a microscopic town about 35 miles west.)

1987: Bruce Springsteen plays his first concert behind the "Iron Curtain" of Soviet-dominated countries, appearing in East Berlin in front of 100,000 fans (and simulcast on local TV).

1989: After finding over $40,000 in cash and checks in his cell at the Stevenson Correctional Institute in South Carolina, James Brown is moved to a cell with tighter security.

1990: Singer Vicki Carr helps dedicate the Nixon Presidential Library, singing in front of all four living presidents (Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush), all of which she had performed for at the White House during their terms.

1991: Steven Adler ex drummer with Guns N' Roses, filed a suit in Los Angeles county court alleging that he was fraudulently removed from the group and that the band introduced him to hard drugs.

1995: The (in?)famous "Dr. Nick," Elvis Presley's personal physician Dr. George Nichopoulous, is barred from practicing medicine by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners due to alleged "overprescription" to his patients. Nichopoulous claims the move is revenge for what many see as his culpability in the accidental death of Elvis in 1977.

2001: Wu Tang Clan rapper ODB, (Russell Jones), was sentenced to spend between two and four years behind bars after being found guilty of drug possession. He was arrested in July 1999 when police found cocaine and marijuana in his car after he was pulled over for driving through a red light. The rapper was later sent to a Los Angeles rehabilitation centre, but went on the run from authorities in October.

2002: Philadelphia declares today Solomon Burke Day in honor of the native singer.

2004: James Lowe and Mark Tulin of the Electric Prunes, famous for their 1967 garage-psych hit "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night," sue their former label and publishing company for over one million dollars in unpaid royalties.