April 5

Birthdays

1925: Stan Levey (Jazz Drummer)

1928: Tony Williams (The Platters)

1932: Billy Bland (R&B Singer)

1934: Stanley Turrentine (Jazz Saxophonist)

1935: Peter Grant (manager of Led Zeppelin)

1939: Ronnie White (The Miracles)

1941: Dave Swarbick (Fairport Convention)

1942: Alan Clarke (Singer for The Hollies)

1944: Nicholas Caldwell (The Whispers)

1948: Dave Holland (Drummer for Judas Priest)

1950: Agnetha Faltskog (ABBA)

1951: Everton Morton (The Beat)

1954: Stan Ridgeway (Singer for Wall Of Voodoo)

1961: Jacob Slichter (Drummer for Semisonic)

1965: Mike McCready (Guitar for Pearl Jam)

1968: Paula Cole (Singer)

1973: Pharrell Williams (Neptunes)

Events

1936: The fourth deadliest tornado in US history rips through Tupelo, MS, killing 235 but sparing Elvis Presley, still an infant, who is held in his Great Uncle Noah's house by his mother Gladys until the storm passes.

1955: Ray Charles marries his second wife, Della Beatrice Howard, in Houston, TX.

1958: Johnny Mathis' compilation album Johnny's Greatest Hits, the first "greatest hits" LP, enters the Billboard charts, where it will stay for almost nine and a half years. It's a record that would only be broken in 1982 by Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.

1964: The Beatles film the famous opening scene from their first movie, A Hard Day's Night, running away from several rabid female fans at London's Marylebone train station.

1964: The Searchers make their US television debut, singing "Needles and Pins" and "Ain't That Just Like Me" on CBS' Ed Sullivan Show.  They were the 1^st British band to play on the show after The Beatles.  It was The Searchers US debut.

1967: Monkees fans march in London in protest of band member Davy Jones' announced induction into the Army. The teen heartthrob is eventually exempted from duty for being his family's main provider.

1967: Elvis Presley's 24th movie, Double Trouble, premieres in Hollywood.

1975: Minnie Riperton went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the Stevie Wonder produced song 'Loving You'.  It was the singers only US chart hit. Riperton died of cancer on 12th July 1979.

1977: David Bowie appeared on Dinah Shore's TV special.

1978: Duran Duran made their live debut at The Lecture Theatre, Birmingham Polytechnic.

1980: R.E.M. played their first ever gig when they appeared at St Mary's Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia.

1981: Bob "The Bear" Hite (Canned Heat) was found dead in his van of a heart attack in 1981, at the age of 38.

1982: The record industry trade magazine Record World folds after 36 years.

1983: The Beach Boys were banned from the Fourth of July concert at the White House. U.S. President Ronald Reagan overturned the ban two days later.

1984: Marvin Gaye's funeral takes place at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, drawing some very notable mourners, including Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, and Berry Gordy.

1987: Buddy Rich's funeral in Los Angeles draws some very notable mourners, including Frank Sinatra, Artie Shaw, and Johnny Carson.

1990: After serving months of his sentence for drug possession, resisting arrest, and other charges, James Brown is put on a work-release program, moving from his jail to South Carolina's Lower Savannah Work Center, where he provides counseling for drug addicts. He is paid four dollars an hour.

1993: Construction began on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

1993: In Beverly Hills, CA, Marky Mark Wahlberg had assault charges against him dropped. He had reached an out-of-court settlement with the man he allegedly beat in 1992.

1994: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Seattle. Cobain’s body wasn’t discovered until April 8, by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system, who initially believed that Cobain was asleep, until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, "I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now". A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were found in Cobain’s body. His death was officially ruled as suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

1995: Jimi Hendrix's one-time girlfriend Monika Dannerman committed suicide, two days after losing a court battle with another of the guitarist's ex-lovers.

1998: Cozy Powell (ELP, Black Sabbath, Rainbow) died following a car crash while driving his Saab 9000 at 104 mph in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England. According to the BBC report, at the time of the crash, Powell's blood-alcohol reading was over the legal limit, he was not wearing a seatbelt, and he was talking to his girlfriend on his mobile phone. The official investigation also found evidence of a slow puncture in a rear tire. It was suggested that this could well have caused a sudden collapse of the tire with a consequent loss of control of the car.

1998: The Spice Girls performed their first ever-live UK concert when they appeared in front of a 9,000 strong audience in Glasgow, Scotland.

1999:  Three of Tammy Wynette's daughters filed a $50 million lawsuit that blamed Wynette's death on negligence by her husband and her doctor.

2000: Ziggy Marley became the official spokesman for the Hemp Bar.

2003: On stage in Melbourne, Australia on the eve of the Iraq War, Carlos Santana declares, "We are the architects of the world and our agenda is different to Saddam Hussein and George Bush. Dignity and grace are our weapons - unity, salvation and elegance."

2006: Gene Pitney died at the age of 66. His tour manager found him dead in the Hilton Hotel, in Cardiff, Wales, in the middle of a UK tour. His final show at Cardiff's St. David's Hall earned him a standing ovation; he ended with "Town Without Pity". An autopsy confirmed heart disease, caused by atherosclerosis.

2006: Marion "Suge" Knight staved off receivership by seeking bankruptcy protection for himself and his music label, Death Row Records. The record producer had been ordered to pay more than $100m to a former associate who said she had helped start the record label in 1989. Lawyers for Mr. Knight said he did not have the money to pay the judgement, and was forced to seek federal protection. The label helped launch the careers of rappers such as Snoop Doggy Dogg.

2007: Former Kiss guitarist Mark St. John died from an apparent brain hemorrhage at the age of 51. St. John was Kiss' third official guitarist, having replaced Vinnie Vincent in 1984 and appeared on the album ‘Animalize’.

2008: Toto breaks up after performing its final concert in Seoul.

2008: Lady GaGa started a four week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Fame’ the American singers debut album.

April 4

Birthdays

1915: Muddy Waters (Blues Artist)

1934: Clive Davis (Music Producer)

1938: Norro Wilson (Country Artist)

1939: Hugh Masekela (Jazz Trumpeter)

1941: Major Lance (R&B Singer)

1948: Carol Douglas (Disco Singer)

1948: Berry Oakley (Bassist for The Allman Brothers)

1948: Pick Withers (Drummer for Dire Straits)

1951: Steve Gatlin (The Gatlin Brothers)

1952: Dave Hill (Lead Guitar for Slade)

1952: Gary Moore (Guitarist for Thin Lizzy)

1952: Pete Haycock (Guitar & Vocals for Climax Blues Band)

1963: David Gavurin (Guitarist for The Sundays)

1972: Magnus Sveningsson (Bass for The Cardigans)

Events

1939: Glenn Miller recorded "Moonlight Serenade".

1956: Elvis Presley played the first of two nights in San Diego Arena in San Diego, California. The local Police chief issued a statement saying if Elvis ever returned to the city and performed like he did, he would be arrested for disorderly conduct.

1960: RCA Victor decides to release all future singles -- starting with its next, Elvis Presley's "Stuck On You" -- in both mono and stereo versions.

1960: Elvis Presley recorded "Are You Lonesome Tonight."

1960: At tonight's Academy Awards, Frank Sinatra's "High Hopes" (from the comedy A Hole In The Head wins the Oscar for Best Original Song.

1964: The Beatles break all American chart records when the latest Billboard chart shows them with the Top Five records in the country simultaneously (#5: "Please Please Me," #4: "I Want To Hold Your Hand," #3: "She Loves You," #2: "Twist And Shout," #1: "Can't Buy Me Love"). Even more incredibly, nine other singles are scattered in various other positions around the "Hot 100." The Beatles had similarly dominated Canada and Australia's Top Ten earlier in the month.

1964: A court orders the Trashmen of "Surfin' Bird" fame to pay royalties to Beechwood Music, holder of the copyright for the Rivington's 1962 hit "Papa Oom Mow Mow," which the Trashmen hit borrows heavily from.

1967: Paul McCartney advises Beatles PR man Derek Taylor, currently producer of the upcoming Monterey Pop Festival, to consider this new guitar phenomenon he's seen named Jimi Hendrix.

1968: After hearing about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, riots break out in several black communities across the nation. In Boston, where James Brown is scheduled to perform, mayor Kevin White asks the singer to call for calm on stage and urge Bostonians not to riot. Meanwhile, at New York City's New Generation club, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Al Kooper, Buddy Guy, Ted Nugent, and Joni Mitchell respond by gathering for an all-night jam in tribute.

1970: Janis Joplin reunites with Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco for a one-off reunion concert.

1970: Crosby Stills Nash & Young went to No.1 on the US album chart with Deja Vu. The first album which saw Neil Young joining Crosby, Stills and Nash featured three US Top 40 singles: 'Teach Your Children', 'Our House' and 'Woodstock.'

1973: A taped Elvis Presley concert entitled Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii is telecast on NBC and proves to be a huge success. The total worldwide audience for the show, the first commercial worldwide satellite broadcast, amounts to over a billion people.

1977: British CBS released the Clash's self-titled fist album.

1983: Danny Rapp (Danny and the Juniors) died in 1983 of an apparent suicide by gunshot in a hotel in Arizona.

1996: Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia's ashes are scattered in the Ganges River in India by Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and Garcia's widow, Deborah.

1996: While on parole, Wilson Pickett is arrested for possession of two grams of cocaine at his home in Englewood, NJ.

2000: Diana Ross announced that she would reunite with the Supremes. The two members of the Supremes at the time had joined after Ross had left the trio.

2002: It was announced that the 19-year-old band Megadeth had broken up. The break up was due to an injury to Dave Mustaine's left arm and hand that had left him unable to play guitar.

2003: The Rolling Stones make their stage debut in India, performing at Bangalore Palace in the middle of a monsoon!

2005: A man who won an out-of-court settlement in 1994 against the singer for a similar charge testifies in Michael Jackson's current molestation trial.

2007: A Swedish couple ran into trouble with authorities after trying to name their baby Metallica. Michael and Karolina Tomaro went to court with the country's National Tax Authority about naming their daughter after the rock band. The six-month-old has been baptised Metallica, but tax officials said the name was "inappropriate". Under Swedish law, both first names and surnames need to win the approval of authorities before they can be used.

2008: Procol Harum's Gary Brooker wins an appeal in London to an earlier ruling, which stated that Harum organist Matthew Fisher was entitled to 40 percent of the royalties from the band's 1967 smash "A White Shade Of Pale." Though the new ruling notes that Fisher wrote the organ line and should be co-credited, it also overturns the royalty award by noting that Fisher waited 38 years to sue.

2008: Beyonce Knowles married Jay-Z at his New York apartment. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and wife Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyonces former bandmates in Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams all attended the private ceremony.

April 3

Birthdays

1924: Doris Day (Singer)

1928: Don Gibson (Country Artist)

1938: Jeff Barry (Singer)

1941: Jan Berry (Jan and Dean)

1941: Phillippe Wynne (The Spinners)

1942: Wayne Newton (Singer)

1943: Richard Manuel (The Band)

1944: Tony Orlando (Singer)

1945: Billy Joe Royal (Singer)

1949: Richard Thompson (Songwriter & Guitarist solo and for Fairport Convention)

1951: Mel Schacher (Bass for Grand Funk Railroad)

1961: Eddie Murphy

1962: Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins)

1968: Sebastian Bach (Singer for Skid Row)

1985: Leona Lewis (Singer)

Events

1955: Fred Astaire appeared on television for the first time on "The Toast of the Town," with host, Ed Sullivan.

1956: Elvis Presley makes the first of what would be two appearances on NBC-TV's Milton Berle Show, performing "Heartbreak Hotel," "Money Honey" and "Blue Suede Shoes" via live remote on the flight deck of the USS Hancock docked in San Diego. The show is seen by 40 million people around the US, approximately one-fourth of all TV sets. (Later in the show, Elvis plays "Blue Suede Shoes" again, this time with "Uncle Miltie" joining in as the King's "brother Melvin."

1959: The BBC, objecting to the concept of "spitballs," bans the Coasters' hit "Charlie Brown." They will reconsider two weeks later.

1960: During recording sessions at RCA studios in Nashville, Tennessee, Elvis Presley recorded ‘It's Now Or Never’, ‘Fever’ and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?

1961: Paul Anka guest stars as himself on tonight's "" episode of CBS-TV's Make Room For Daddy.

1964: Bob Dylan has his first chart hit as "The Times They Are A-Changin'" enters the UK charts. One year later to the day, the single "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is his first to dent the US Top 40.

1965: Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs released "Wooly Bully”.

1969: Having technically become a fugitive due to leaving Florida after his infamous stage antics in Miami, the Doors' Jim Morrison turns himself into the FBI in Los Angeles. He's released on $2000 bail, but not before being charged with six counts of lewd behavior and one of interstate flight. The case is eventually reduced to two misdemeanors and still pending appeal when Morrison dies in 1971 apparently by a hemorrhage after snorting heroin.

1971: The Temptations scored their second US No.1 with 'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)'.

1975: At his home, Steve Miller is arrested for an altercation with his party guest, Benita Diorio, when the veteran rocker sets fire to her clothes and personal effects. When the cops arrive Miller digs himself deeper by resisting arrest. Charges are dropped the next day.

1978: Cher's first solo TV special, appropriately titled Cher... Special, airs on CBS, featuring guest stars Dolly Parton, Rod Stewart, and The Tubes.

1979: Kate Bush kicked off the 28-date 'Tour Of Life' trek making her concert debut at Liverpool's Empire Theatre, England. Bush never set out on another tour again.

1984: Producer Jack Douglas is awarded $3 million in royalties owed him by the John Lennon estate for his work on the Lennon/Ono album Double Fantasy.

1987: While playing the opening night of their latest tour, onstage in Arizona, U2's "Bono introduces a version of "Helter Skelter" by announcing "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We're stealing it back."

1988: After working on each other's solo projects, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison gather in Malibu, FL, to record an all-star single called "Handle With Care." The session goes so well that the group, calling itself the Traveling Wilburys, goes on to record two whole albums together.

1989: 23 people were arrested after several thousand fans without tickets tried to gate-crash a Grateful Dead concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1989: Pepsi dismissed Madonna as a spokesperson after her "Like a Prayer" video was called "blasphemous" by the Vatican.

1990: Sarah Vaughan died of lung cancer at age 66.

1991: Paul McCartney tapes his episode of MTV's acoustic showcase Unplugged.

1993: When his version of Leon Russell's "A Song For You" enters the Billboard singles chart, Ray Charles becomes the first performer to chart in six decades. He'd first made the R&B charts in 1949 with the Maxin Trio's "Confession Blues."

1993: Depeche Mode went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Songs Of Faith And Devotion' their first UK No.1 and their 10th album release.

1994: A forthcoming tour by Nirvana and Hole was cancelled amid continuing speculation about Kurt Cobain's drug problems.

1996: MC Hammer filed for bankruptcy.

1998: Dave Navarro left the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

1998: Michael Jackson and someone are the proud parents of Jackson's second child, daughter Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson.

2000: Mariah Carey was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital suffering from dehydration and complications from food poisoning after eating raw oysters.

2003: Homer Banks (Songwriter for Stax Records) died in Memphis of cancer, aged 61.

2006: Founding member and original drummer for The Wonder Stuff, Martin Gilks died aged 41, after losing control of his motorbike in London. Gilks was voted the best drummer on the planet in an NME poll in 1989.

2007: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones denies to MTV his own earlier claim, made in an interview with the New Musical Express, that he once snorted the ashes of his late father.

2008: Mariah Carey's latest single, "Touch My Body," goes to #1, beating Elvis Presley's old record of 17 chart toppers. Only the Beatles have more with 20.

2008: Apple became the number one music seller in the United States.

April 2

Birthdays

1917: Lou Monte (Italian Singer)

1928: Serge Gainsbourg (Jazz Musician)

1938: Warner Mack (Country Singer)

1939: Marvin Gaye (Singer)

1942: Leon Russell (Singer & Piano Player)

1946: Kurt Winter (Guitarist for The Guess Who)

1946: Leon Wilkerson (Bass for Lynryd Skynyrd)

1947: Emmylou Harris (Country Singer)

1953: David Robinson (Drummer for The Cars)

1956: Gregory Abbott (R&B Singer)

1963: Keren Woodward (Bananarama)

1967: Greg Camp (Guitar for Smash Mouth)

1979: Jesse Carmichael (Keyboards for Maroon 5)

1983: Yung Joc (Jasiel A. Robinson) (Rapper)

Events

1942: Glenn Miller recorded "American Patrol".

1956: Johnny Cash recorded "I Walk The Line".

1964: The Beach Boys recorded "I Get Around" which became their first US No.1 in the summer of this year.

1965: The first edition of new music show 'Ready Steady Goes Live!' was shown on UK TV.

1966: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass set a chart record when four of their albums make the Top 10 of the Billboard album chart at the same time.

1967: An overzealous audience member throws a smoke bomb onto the stage at the Rolling Stones concert at the Town Hall in Vienna, Austria, leading to a riot and the arrest of 154 fans.

1967: Steve Winwood forms Traffic with Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason.

1969: Frank Sinatra's "My Way" enters the charts.

1969: Bruce Springsteen’s new group Child made their live debut at the Pandemonium Club in Wanamassa, New Jersey.

1970: The Magistrate's Court in London convenes to decide the fate of John Lennon's recent "Bag One" drawings -- some of which feature genitalia, masturbation, and sex acts -- are, in fact, obscene.

1970: Janis Joplin get tattoos on her wrist and heart, the one on her chest reading "One For The Boys."

1971: Janis Joplin's LP Pearl hits #1.

1977: Stevie Wonder releases "Sir Duke".

1977: Fleetwood Mac's LP Rumours hits #1. As of 2011, it is the 10th best-selling album in US history selling over 40 Million copies.

1977: Frank Sinatra scored his first ever UK No.1 album with 'Portrait Of Sinatra', his 46th album release.

1987: Drummer Buddy Rich died of heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor at the age of 69.

1990: Eric Clapton was fined $500 with $15 costs by Walton-on- Thames Magistrates court, after being booked for speeding at 105mph; Clapton was also banned from driving for three months.

1990: Nirvana went into Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin and started work on demo versions of ‘In Bloom’, ‘Dive’, ‘Lithium’, ‘Pay To Play’, ‘Imodium’, ‘Sappy’ and ‘Polly’ with Butch Vig producing.

1991: LL Cool J gave a pair of sneakers to every student and teacher at The Thompson Middle School in Dorchester, England to celebrate them winning the 'foot locker cool school video' contest.

1993: Robert Flack guest stars as herself on today's episode of ABC-TV's Loving.

1993: The London tabloids break the news that Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman's son Stephen is engaged to 46-year-old Patsy Smith, mother of Wyman's ex-wife, 22-year-old Mandy Smith.

1997: After 32 years, Joni Mitchell is reunited with her first daughter, Kilauren Gibb. Joni gave the child up for adoption at the start of her career.

1998: Cor Van Beek (Shocking Blue) died at the age of 49.

1998: Rob Pilatus, one half of pop duo Milli Vanilli was found dead in a Frankfurt Hotel room after taking a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol. Milli Vanilli won the 1989 best new artist Grammy after hits like 'Blame it on the Rain' and 'Girl, You Know It's True,' selling 30 million singles and 14 million albums. But in late 1990, the performers were stripped of the award after it was revealed that neither actually sang on the Milli Vanilli album.

1999: The Black Crowes played a concert in Knoxville, Tennessee. Joshua Harmon, a teenager sitting in the second row sued the band, a year later for $5,000 claiming significant hearing loss.

2001: Mariah Carey signed the richest recording deal in history. The 31-year old singer signed a deal with Virgin for three albums worth $100. The singer had sold over 120 million records worldwide, scoring 14 US No.1 singles.

2004: Coldplay singer Chris Martin was accused of attacking a photographer after leaving a London restaurant with his wife Gwyneth Paltrow. A Coldplay spokesman said photographer Alessandro Copetti had been running after Paltrow's taxi and tripped. Mr Copetti said he had been taking pictures of the singer and his wife outside a restaurant when Martin kicked him from behind.

2005: Kanye West had to abandon a signing appearance in Fresno, California, after a fight broke out between a fan and a security guard. West was taken out of the back door of the new FTK urban boutique, while the owners locked all the doors and cleared around 1,000 fans from the store's parking area.

2006: Gnarls Barkley started an eight-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Crazy.' The American duo made chart history by becoming the first act ever to reach No.1 through computer downloads only. The single was not available to buy in shops until the following week.