July 23

Births

1947: David Essex (Singer)

1950: Blair Thornton (Guitar for Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

1961: Martin Gore (Vocals, Guitar & Keyboards for Depeche Mode)

1964: Nick Menza (Drums for Megadeth)

1965: Rob Dickinson (Guitar & Vocals for Catherine Wheel)

1965: Slash (Saul Hudson) (Guitar for Guns N' Roses & Velvet Revolver)

1971: Alison Krauss (Bluegrass Singer / Songwriter)

1971: Dalvin DeGrate (Mr Dalvin) (Vocals for Jodeci)

1971: Chad Gracey (Drummer for Live)

1973: Fran Healy (Vocals & Guitar for Travis)

1980: Michelle Williams (Vocals for Destiny's Child & Solo)

1980: Steve 'Stevo 32' Jocz (Drummer for Sum 41)

Events

1963: High school student Neil Young and his band, the Squires, enter a Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada studio to record their first single, a surf instrumental called "The Sultan."

1966: Frank Sinatra went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Strangers In The Night'. The LP would be the most successful of his career, being certified Platinum for 1 million copies sold in the US. The title track would earn him two Grammy awards for Record Of The Year and Best Male Vocal Performance.

1968: The Iveys, later known as Badfinger, sign with Apple Records after a persistent campaign by longtime Beatles associate Mal Evans, who will produce their first sessions.

1969: Los Angeles declares "James Brown Day" in honor of the singer, but when Mayor Sam Yorty is slightly late for the ceremonies, Brown leaves in a huff.

1977: Backstage at the "Days On The Green" festival in Oakland, CA, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham allegedly sees a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff slap his son for taking down a dressing room sign. Bonham kicks the employee, and band manager Peter Grant later breaks into the staff member's trailer and beats him savagely. Bonham and Grant, among others, are arrested for assault. Both would bargain down to misdemeanors, plead guilty, and eventually pay a combined $2 million fine.

1979: Iran's new leader, the Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, bans rock and roll as a corruptive influence on the people, a decision that eventually inspires both the graphic novel Perseopolis and the Clash song "Rock the Casbah."

1979: Keyboard player with The Grateful Dead Keith Godchaux died after being involved in a car accident aged 32. He co-wrote songs with Lowell George (of Little Feat) and was a member of The New Riders of the Purple Sage.

1988: After forty-nine weeks on the US album chart, 'Hysteria' by Def Leppard went to the No.1 position.

1989: Ringo Starr begins his first tour since the Beatles stopped touring in 1966, introducing his "All-Starr Band" of Seventies icons in Dallas, TX.

1994: The International Astronomical Union names an asteroid in Mars' orbit ZappaFrank, after the musician Frank Zappa, who'd passed away from cancer the year before.

1995: Two R.E.M. fans died at Dublin's Slane Castle gig, one drowned in the River Boyne and the other was allegedly pushed from a bridge.

1996: Rob Collins, keyboard player with The Charlatans died in a car crash, aged 29. Collins had been recording keyboard parts for the Charlatans 5th album ‘Tellin' Stories’ at a studio in Wales. An investigation into the accident showed that Collins had consumed a sizable amount of alcohol and was not wearing a seatbelt. He died from head injuries on the roadside shortly after the accident having been thrown through the windshield.

1998: It was announced that Iron Maiden would have to cancel the remainder of its U.S. tour. The doctor of Blaze Bailey advised him to not sing for one month.

2000: Farrah Franklin left Destiny's Child after only five months with the group, the remaining trio of Beyonce, Kelly, and Michelle said that Farrah was not kicked out, but had all agreed that Farrah and Destiny's Child should part ways.

2001: Just three years after the death of first wife Linda from cancer, Paul McCartney gets engaged to former model and activist Heather Mills, who he first met at a charity event in 1999. This news does not sit well with fans, especially when the marriage lasts just four years. The couple produce one daughter, Beatrice Milly McCartney.

2003: The US National Registry of Historic Places declares Memphis, Tennessee's Sun Studios, at 706 Union Avenue, a historic landmark.

2003: In a bizarre ad placed in Variety, James Brown announces his separation from his fourth wife, Tomi Rae, by featuring a picture of the couple and their two-year-old, James Brown II, posing with Goofy at Disney World.

2004: A 21 year-old man was arrested after being involved in a fight with Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty in Kentish Town, London. Doherty ran off before police arrived after being beaten up by three men.

2006: George Michael was accused of engaging in anonymous public sex, after being photographed in London's Hampstead Heath with a 58-year-old unemployed van driver. Despite stating that he intended to sue both the News of the World tabloid who photographed the incident and van driver Norman Kirtland for slander, Michael stated that he openly cruised for anonymous sex and that this was not an issue in his relationship with partner Kenny Goss.

2008: Kid Rock was sentenced to a year on probation and fined $1,000 for his part in a fight in an Atlanta waffle restaurant in 2007. The 37-year-old, also received 80 hours community service and six hours of anger management counseling. He pleaded no contest and charges were dropped. Kid Rock had been performing at a gig in Atlanta before stopping off in his tour bus in the early hours of the morning. The fight took place when an argument broke out with another customer at the restaurant.

2010: Surgical instruments allegedly used to conduct Elvis Presley's autopsy were removed from an upcoming auction amid doubts about their authenticity. Forceps, needle injectors, rubber gloves and a toe tag were among the items that were expected to fetch about $14,000 at Chicago, Illinois' Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. The so-called "memorabilia" was supposedly kept by a senior embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home where the singer's body was stored prior to his funeral, but the claims were questioned after another employee revealed that the equipment was sterilized and used again in other autopsies.

2011:  Singer Amy Winehouse is found dead in her London home at age 27.

2011: After performing at Reggae Sumfest 2011 in Montego Bay, rapper Nicki Minaj was given a summons for explicit lyrics and "sexually suggestive dance moves" and was fined $1,000 after she pleaded guilty.