August 6

Births

1928: Andy Warhol (Artist)

1942: Isaac Hayes (R&B Singer)

1946: Allan Holdsworth (Guitar for Soft Machine)

1952: Vinnie Vincent (Guitar for Kiss & Vinnie Vincent’s Invation)

1969: Elliot Smith (Singer / Songwriter)

1972: Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) (Vocals for The Spice Girls)

1978: Freeway (Leslie Edward Pridgen) (Rapper)

1981: Travis McCoy (Singer & Rapper in Gym Class Heroes)

1984: Eric Roberts (Bass for Gym Class Heroes)

Events

1956: The Alan Freed movie Rock! Rock! Rock! goes into production, featuring Tuesday Weld (her singing vocals dubbed by Connie Francis), Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, The Moonglows, The Flamingos, and LaVern Baker.

1960: On ABC-TV's American Bandstand, Chubby Checker demonstrates The Twist for the first time, kicking off a dance craze that would last the better part of two years.

1964: Rod Stewart makes his TV debut on BBC-TV's The Beat Room, singing as a member of his group, The Hoochie Coochie Men.

1966: As the Fleet Street press in London reports on the "bigger than Jesus" controversy in America, Beatles manager Brian Epstein cuts his vacation short and flies to New York City for a televised press conference where he defends John Lennon's remarks, stating "The quote which John Lennon made to a London columnist has been quoted and misrepresented entirely out of context of the article, which was in fact highly complimentary to Lennon as a person... Lennon didn't mean to boast about the Beatles' fame. He meant to point out that the Beatles' effect appeared to be a more immediate one upon, certainly, the younger generation. John is deeply concerned and regrets that people with certain religious beliefs should have been offended."

1973: A log from a passing lumber truck crushes Stevie Wonder's car as it speeds near Winston-Salem NC, leaving him in a coma for four days and causing him to permanently lose his sense of smell. Miraculously, he fully recovers and is back in the studio within weeks.

1974: Abba scored their first US top 10 hit when ‘Waterloo’ went to No.6. The Swedish group were also on their first American tour.

1982: Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ starring Bob Geldof opened in movie theatres in New York. The film was conceived alongside the double album by Pink Floyd’s, Roger Waters.

1987: The Beastie Boys sued the city of Jacksonville, FL for including the phrase "mature audience" on their concert tickets and ads.

1988: 'Appetite For Destruction' Guns N' Roses debut album went to No.1 in the US, after spending 57 weeks on the chart and selling over 5 million copies. Singles from the album, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine,’ ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Paradise City’ were all US top 10 hits. Worldwide sales now stand in excess of 28 million and the album is the best-selling debut album of all-time in the US, beating Boston's debut album Boston, which has gone 17x platinum.

1989: Adam Clayton of U2 was arrested in The Blue Light Inn car park in Dublin for marijuana possession and intent to supply the drug to another person. His conviction was waived in exchange for paying $50,000 to the Dublin Woman's Aid Centre.

1994: Lisa Loeb started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Stay (I Missed You).  Actor and friend Ethan Hawke had asked her to provide a song for the upcoming movie Reality Bites and 'Stay' was featured in the film.  She did not have a record label distributor at the time.

1996: Vince Neil attempted to play a show at an Indiana club. The show, starting more than four hours late, ended after only three songs. Neil claimed that he wasn't feeling well, and that the audience of "rednecks" didn't appreciate his talent.

1996: Eddie Vedder videotaped the Ramones placing their hands in cement on the Hollywood Rock Walk prior to a Ramones show at The Palace. The Ramones claimed that it was their last show ever.

1999: Dick Latvala died aged 56 after being in a coma caused by a heart attack. Latvala worked with The Grateful Dead since the early 80’s looking after their archives of live performances which became a series of 'Dick’s Picks' albums.

2001: Whitney Houston became one of the highest-paid musicians in the world after signing a new deal with Arista records, said to be worth more than $100m.

2004: R&B singer Rick James died from pulmonary failure and cardiac failure with his various health conditions of diabetes, stroke, a pacemaker, and a heart attack at age 56.

2007: Marilyn Manson was being sued by a former band member who said he was owed $20m in shared profits. Stephen Bier, who played keyboards under the stage name Madonna Wayne Gacy, claimed he was not paid properly over a period of almost two decades. In legal papers filed in Los Angeles, Bier claimed Manson falsely told him the band was not making much money and used band money to buy a $2m home and collect Nazi memorabilia, including coat hangers used by Adolf Hitler.

2009: Steven Tyler was airlifted to a hospital after falling off the stage during a gig at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The 61-year-old Aerosmith singer fell from a catwalk onto a couple of fans, he suffered neck and shoulder injuries. About 30 minutes after the accident, guitarist Joe Perry came out to tell the crowd that the remainder of the show had been cancelled.