July 30

Births

1936: Buddy Guy (Blues Guitarist & Singer)

1941: Paul Anka (Pop Singer)

1945: David Sanborn (Jazz Sax Player)

1946: Jeffrey Hammond (Bass for Jethro Tull)

1957: Rat Scabies (Chris Miller) (Drums for The Damned)

1958: Kate Bush (Singer / Songwriter)

1958: Neal McCoy (Country Artist)

1971:Brad Hargraves (Drums for Third Eye Blind)

1977: Ian Watkins (Singer for Lostprophets)

Events

1942: Frank Sinatra ends his association with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra, recording the last two of over 90 songs before moving on to great acclaim as a solo star at Columbia.

1954: Elvis Presley makes his first official concert appearance as a solo act, opening for Slim Whitman at Memphis' Overton Park Shell outdoor auditorium, billed third as "Ellis Presley" and performing "That's All Right, Mama," "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," and "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')." In the middle of the first song, a badly stage-frightened Elvis unconsciously begins to duplicate a move he usually made in the studio, shaking his leg in time with the music. The crowd of (mostly) girls goes absolutely wild, confusing Elvis and his band.

1968: The Beatles' Apple Boutique, a psychedelic clothing store located at 94 Baker Street in London, closes for business after seven months of bad business practices and rampant theft. With the group and its intimates having had the pick of the remaining inventory the night before, Apple Boutique employees are instructed to simply let people in off the street to take whatever merchandise they like. The store was closed that evening for good.

1978: Glen Goine, singer and guitarist with Parliament / Funkadelic died from Hodgkin's Lymphoma aged 24. Had the 1978 US No.16 album 'One Nation Under A Groove'.

1986: Boy George was fined $500 by a London court for possession of heroin.

1986: Variety reports that RCA has fired John Denver after learning of his new single, entitled "What Are We Making Weapons For?" General Electric, which had just bought out RCA, was one of the country's largest defense contractors.

1991: A police officer was forced to tear up a traffic ticket given to the limousine that Axl Rose was travelling in after it made an illegal turn. Rose threatened to pull that nights Guns N' Roses gig if the ticket was issued.

1993: Founder member and original bassist for The Wonder Stuff, Rob Jones died in New York aged 29.

2003: In order to prove that the city is still safe to visit after a recent SARS outbreak, Toronto, Canada puts on the largest concert in the country's history, a massive open-air extravagaza featuring The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, Rush, The Isley Brothers, The Flaming Lips and Justin Timberlake, among others. Total attendance is somewhere around 450,000.

2003: Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records and studio, died of respiratory failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a DJ for Muscle Shoals, Alabama radio station WLAY. Phillips recorded what some consider to be the first rock and roll record, ‘Rocket 88’ by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats in 1951. He discovered Elvis Presley, worked with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Ike Turner, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis.

2004: While walking around London, the Isley Brothers' Ronald Isley suffers a minor stroke and is admitted to a local hospital. He recovers in a matter of just a few weeks.

2006: Shakira feat Wyclef Jean started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hips Don't Lie.’ A remake of Wyclef Jean's 2004 song 'Dance Like This', the song went on to top the charts in over 50 countries. The song is the biggest selling single of the 21st century by a female artist worldwide.