December 15

Births

1911: Stan Kenton (Pianist & Composer)

1939: Cindy Birdsong (Singer for Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles & The Supremes)

1942: Dave Clark (Drummer for The Dave Clark Five)

1946: Carmine Appice (Drummer for Vanilla Fudge)

1949: Don Johnson (Actor and yes, Singer)

1955: Paul Simonon (Bass for The Clash)

1957: Tim Reynolds (Lead Guitar for Dave Matthews Band)

Events

1944: US Army Major and bandleader Glenn Miller's plane disappears in thick fog somewhere over the English Channel. The fate of Miller and his passengers, en route to play a Christmas concert in Paris with his Air Force band, has never been determined.  Glenn Miller was 40 years old.

1944: Hank Williams married Audrey Guy. The ceremony took place at a filling station.

1957: Mitch Miller and Sammy Davis Jr. blast rock and roll in a syndicated radio talk show hosted by Davis. However, MGM label president Arnold Maxim disagrees, stating he sees no end to the fad in the near future.

1968: The Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick appears on CBS' Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in blackface, mimicking the recent Olympic scandal by holding up a "black power" salute at the end of the band's song "Crown of Creation." The network is not amused.

1969: UNICEF holds a "Peace For Christmas" charity concert in London which features the debut of the Plastic Ono Band (featuring George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Keith Moon, and others). It was to be Lennon's last stage appearance in Britain. That same day, John and wife Yoko Ono debut their "War Is Over" billboard campaign.

1973: Jermaine Jackson marries Hazel Gordy, daughter of Motown founder and head Berry Gordy, Jr.

1977: The Who perform a secret concert for fan club members at London's Shepperton Studios. The show is filmed for Jeff Stein's upcoming Who documentary The Kids Are Alright.

1977: The Sex Pistols were refused entry into the USA two days before a scheduled NBC TV appearance. Johnny Rotten because of a drugs conviction, Paul Cook & Sid Vicious because of 'moral turpitude' and Steve Jones because of his criminal record.

1979: Country artist Alan Jackson marries Denise Jackson (she already has the same last name) at the First Baptist Church, in Newnan, Georgia. He sings "The Wedding Song".

1988: For his interstate car chase and numerous drug, firearms, and assault offenses, James Brown is sentenced to six and one-half years in a South Carolina prison. He would serve a little more than two.

1990: Rod Stewart married New Zealand model Rachel Hunter in Beverly Hills. Stewart was quoted as saying 'I Found the Girl that I Want, I won't be putting my banana in anybody's fruit bowl from now on'. They split in 1999.

1992: Dr. Dre's debut album "The Chronic" was released.

1994: Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora married actress Heather Locklear. The couple divorced in 2006.

1999: Boy George was knocked unconscious when a mirror ball fell on his head during a show in Dorset, England.

2001: An intruder who broke into George Harrison's home and stabbed him earlier in the year is found not guilty by reason of insanity.

2001: Joe Walsh receives an honorary doctorate of music from Kent State University.

2003: Courtney Love was sentenced to 18 months in drug rehabilitation after she admitted being under the influence of cocaine and opiates. She was banned from taking non-prescription drugs, drinking alcohol or being in places that serve alcohol.

2008: Taylor Swift has surgery to remove her wisdom teeth.

December 13

Births

1948: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (Guitar for Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers)

1948: Ted Nugent (Guitar & Vocals)

1949: Tom Verlaine (Guitar & Vocals for Television)

1954: Steve Forbert (Singer / Songwriter)

1958: Dana Strum (Bass for Slaughter & Vinnie Vincent’s Invasion)

1967: Jamie Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop) (R&B singer and pianist)

1974: Nick McCarthy (Guitar for Franz Ferdinand)

1975: Tom Delonge (Guitar & Lead Vocals for Blink 182 & Angels & Airwaves)

1981: Amy Lynn Lee (Vocals for Evanescence)

1989: Taylor Swift (Country Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1966: Jimi Hendrix makes his TV debut, performing "Hey Joe" on the UK variety show Ready Steady Go! The Jimi Hendrix Experience also recorded 'Foxy Lady' on this day.

1969: Diana Ross took the Latino Casino in Philadelphia to court for $27,500 after her two pet dogs died after eating cyanide tablets left by an exterminator in her dressing room.

1974: George Harrison is invited to the White House to have lunch with President Gerald Ford. He brings along Billy Preston and Ravi Shankar, and gives the President a button with the word "OM" on it, to aid in meditation; Ford responds by gifting George with a "WIN" (Whip Inflation Now) button.

1974: George Jones leaves Tammy Wynette permanently.

1983: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant reunite for the first time since the band's tragic breakup two years earlier, with Page stepping onstage at Plant's Hammersmith Odeon concert for a rendition of Roy Head's "Treat Her Right."

1985: Phil Collins made his U.S. TV acting debut on "Miami Vice" playing a drug dealer.

1991: What would be the last of John Denver's many successful holiday specials, Montana Christmas Skies, airs on CBS, featuring country music guests Clint Black, Patty Loveless, and Kathy Mattea.

1996: The Eagles' Glenn Frey makes his first and last major film appearance when the romantic comedy Jerry Maguire opens in US theatres.

1999: BMI declares the Righteous Brothers' 1965 smash "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" as the most-performed song of the century.

2000: The respected UK rock magazine Melody Maker announces its imminent demise after 74 years of publication.

2001: The two surviving members of Nirvana, Krist Novoselic and David Grohl, filed a countersuit against Courtney Love. The charge was that she has manipulated the memory and work of her dead husband, Kirk Cobain, for the benefit of her own career.

2004: For the first time, Dick Clark is forced to bow out from hosting his annual ABC event Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve due to complications from a recent stroke.

2008: UK Rapper Dizzee Rascal was arrested in south-east London following an incident involving a baseball bat. The rapper allegedly approached another motorist with a baseball bat after a road rage incident. Rascal whose real name is Dylan Mills, was held on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon in Sevenoaks Way, Orpington.

December 12

Births

1915: Frank Sinatra (The Man !)

1918: Joe Williams (Jazz Singer)

1923: Bob Dorough (Singer & Composer for Schoolhouse Rock)

1938: Connie Francis (Pop Singer)

1940: Dionne Warwick (Singer)

1943: Dickey Betts (Guitarist & Singer / Songwriter for The Allman Brothers)

1943: Grover Washington, Jr. (Jazz & R&B Singer)

1944: Rob Tyner (Singer for MC5)

1953: Bruce Kulick (Guitar for Grand Funk Railroad & Kiss)

1957: Sheila E. (Sheila Escovedo) (Drummer)

1957: Cy Curnin (Singer for The Fixx)

1968: Danny Boy (Rapper in House Of Pain)

1976: Dan Hawkins (Guitar for The Darkness)

Events

1957: Al Priddy a DJ on US radio station KEX in Portland was fired after playing Elvis Presley's version of 'White Christmas' The station management said, 'it's not in the spirit we associate with Christmas'.

1961: Mike Douglas begins his TV variety/talk show in Cleveland, OH.

1963: The LP John Fitzgerald Kennedy - A Memorial Album becomes the fastest-selling album in history, selling four million copies in six days. The tribute was recorded the day of Kennedy's assassination.

1967: A London Appeals Court reduces the nine-month prison sentence of the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones, citing psychiatric testimony that he could not handle prison. Jones had been busted for marijuana possession.

1970: The Doors played what would be their last ever live show with Jim Morrison when they played at the Warehouse in New Orleans.

1974: The Rolling Stones begin recording their Black and Blue album in Munich, Germany, with an array of second guitarists, cementing Mick Taylor's departure from the group. One of the session guitarists, the Faces' Ron Wood, would become Taylor's permanent replacement.

1980: Thousands march peacefully in memory of John Lennon in New York, walking down Fifth Avenue and ending at the Dakota Building, site of his murder.

1985: On her 45th birthday, Dionne Warwick is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2001: The state of Nevada declares today Frank Sinatra Day.

2001: Arthur Lee guitarist and singer from Love, was released from prison after serving almost six years of an eleven-year sentence. Lee had been convicted of possession of a firearm and for allegedly shooting a gun in the air during a dispute with a neighbour.

2002: After three months, Gordon Lightfoot leaves a Hamilton, Ontario hospital, where he'd been sent for emergency surgery on his abdomen.

2005: Dierks Bentley proposes to Cassidy Black in Las Vegas. Two days later, the couple marries in Mexico.

2007: Ike Turner, the former husband of Tina Turner died at the age of 76 at his home near San Diego, California. Turner who was a prolific session guitarist and piano player is credited by many music historians with making the first rock 'n' roll record in 1951.

December 11

Births

1944: Brenda Lee (Singer)

1954: Jermaine Jackson (Bass Guitar & Vocals for Jackson 5 & Solo)

1958: Nikki Sixx (Bass for Motley Crue)

1967: DJ Yella (DJ for NWA)

1981: Zachary James Baker (Rhythm Guitar for Avenged Sevenfold)

Events

1946: Hank Williams has his first recording session, for Sterling Records, at the WSM Studios in Nashville, backed by The Willis Brothers and bass player Chuck Wright. Among the songs recorded is "Never Again (Will I Knock On Your Door)".

1957: In one of the biggest scandals to ever hit rock music, Jerry Lee Lewis marries his 14-year-old cousin Myra Gale Brown, daughter of his cousin Jim. Lewis' first marriage is still valid; the divorce wouldn't be finalized for six months. Reports are that Myra still believes in Santa Claus. When the story breaks in England a few weeks later, Lewis' career would be seriously damaged.

1960: Aretha Franklin makes her stage debut at New York's Village Vanguard.

1963: Hank Williams Jr. has his first recording session, at age 14, in Nashville. The session features some of his father's songs: "You Win Again," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Cold, Cold Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".

1964: Sam Cooke is shot and killed under mysterious circumstances at the Hacienda Hotel in Los Angeles, CA at age 33. The married singer picked up a young woman at a party, who claimed Cooke attempted to rape her. When she ran away, according to her testimony, Cooke followed and assaulted the hotel manager, demanding to know the girl's whereabouts. The manager shot Cooke three times.

1966: After presenting him at London's Saville Theatre, Beatles manager Brian Epstein offers to manage Little Richard -- an offer which is rejected.

1967: NBC airs the Nancy Sinatra television special Movin' With Nancy.

1968: The Rolling Stones film their legendary Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus television special at Wembley television studios in Middlesex, England, featuring performances by John Lennon, Eric Clapton, the Who, Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithful -- and yes, circus people, all filmed in a circus tent. The show is never aired and only sees the light of day in 1996, supposedly because the Stones thought the Who upstaged them with their performance.

1972: After a show in Knoxville, TN, James Brown is arrested and charged with "disorderly conduct" when a conversation Brown has with fans is somehow mistaken for an attempt to incite a riot. Charges are dropped after Brown threatens to sue the city for a million dollars due to police brutality.

1972: Genesis play their first-ever US show at Massachusetts' Brandeis University.

1976: KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is nearly electrocuted when he touches a short-circuited light during a concert in Florida. He is carried from the stage but returns to finish the show just ten minutes later.

1982: The Jam played their last ever gig as a band when they appeared in Brighton, England.

2000: Former Verve front man Richard Ashcroft was forced to cancel the remaining dates on his current UK tour after he fell on stage and broke two ribs. The accident happened during a show in Birmingham. 

December 10

Births

1943: Chad Stuart (Singer in Chad and Jeremy)

1946: Ace Kefford (Bass for The Move),

1952: Susan Dey (The Partridge Family)

1965: J Mascis (Vocals & Guitar for Dinosaur Jr.)

1974: Meg White (Drums for The White Stripes)

Events

1927: Although the radio show known as the WSM Barn Dance had been broadcasting out of Nashville, TN, for some time, this is the first day on which the show is announced as "The Grand Ole Opry."

1949: Fats Domino cut eight tracks during his first recording session at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios.

1959: The Platters' four male members are acquitted of charges made on August 10th in Cincinnati, OH, of "aiding and abetting prostitution, lewdness and assignation."

1963: Donny Osmond makes his debut with the Osmonds on NBC's The Andy Williams Show.

1965: The Grateful Dead perform their first concert in San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium (and only their second overall).

1967: The previously unknown San Francisco group The Steve Miller Blues Band signs to Capitol for an unprecedented $750,000, dropping "Blues" from their name in the process.

1967: Otis Redding and four members of his band, the Bar-Kays, are killed when their tour plane crashes into a frozen near Madison, WI. Three days earlier, Redding had recorded what was to be his breakthough pop hit, "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay."  Otis was 26 years old.

1971: During a concert in London, Frank Zappa is thrown into the orchestra pit by a fan's jealous boyfriend, breaking his leg and ankle and fracturing his skull. Zappa takes months to recover.

1972: Roberta Flack and two members of her backup band are injured when her bass player totals her new Citroen near Manhattan.

1973: The CBGB Club opened in the lower eastside of New York City; it became the home of new bands such as Blondie, Television, Patti Smith and The Ramones.

1976: Billy Idol's new band Generation X made their live debut at The Central College Of Art, London.

1980: The body of John Lennon is cremated.

1995: Darren Robinson (The Human Beatbox) of The Fat Boys died of a heart attack, weighing 450 lb at the time.  He was 28 years old.

2003: Coldplay singer Chris Martin married actress Gwyneth Paltrow in Santa Barbara, California. The couple also announced that Paltrow was pregnant and the baby was due next summer.

2003: Bobby Brown was charged with battery three days after he allegedly hit his wife Whitney Houston.

2005: Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood marry at their home in Owasso, Oklahoma.

2007: Led Zeppelin played their first concert in 19 years, at London's 02 arena. Original band members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones were joined on stage by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham. More than one million people had taken part in a ballot for the 20,000 tickets available for the show.

2008: DMX was back behind bars in Miami after he was arrested for allegedly missing a court appearance in Phoenix, Arizona. The rapper was arrested on a warrant issued by a judge after he failed to show in where he faced charges of drug possession, identity theft and animal cruelty.

December 9

Births

1934: Junior Wells (Blues Musician)

1941: Dan Hicks (Singer / Songwriter)

1950: Joan Armatrading (Singer / Songwriter)

1954: Jack Sonni (Guitar for Dire Straits)

1957: Donny Osmond (Singer in The Osmonds)

1958: Nick Seymour (Bass for Crowded House)

1964: Paul H. Landers (Rhythm Guitar for Rammstein)

1966: Michael Foster (Drummer for Firehouse)

1968: Brian Bell (Rhythm Guitar for Weezer)

1969: Jakob Dylan (Singer / Songwriter & Guitar for The Wallflowers & Solo)

1971: Geoff Barrow (Producer & DJ for Portishead)

1972: Tre Cool (Frank Wright III) (Drummer for Green Day)

Events

1955: Elvis Presley performs at the B&I Club in Swifton, AK, and introduces his new song, "Heartbreak Hotel," by claiming "It's gonna be my first hit."

1962: Bobby Darin appears as the "mystery guest" on CBS' What's My Line show.

1962: The Supreme’s debut album “Meet the Supremes” was released.

1964: John Coltrane recorded the album “A Love Supreme” in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. It is generally considered to be among Coltrane's greatest works.

1967: The Doors appeared at the New Haven Arena, New Haven, Connecticut. Before the show a policeman found singer Jim Morrison making out with an 18 year-old girl in a backstage shower and after an argument the policeman sprays mace in Morrison’s face. Once on stage Morrison tells the story of the backstage episode and starts taunting the police who drag him off the stage and arrest him. The crowd riots leaving the venue in disarray and many are arrested. Later over 100 protestors gathered at the police station in demonstration and more arrests were made.

1968: NBC airs the joint Supremes and Temptations television TCB (Takin' Care Of Business).

1972: An all-star orchestral version of The Who's Tommy opened at London's Rainbow Theatre. Advance tickets went for the then-princely sum of $50, but the show itself was a major disappointment, with most of the "actors" floundering (except Who singer Roger Daltrey and Steve Winwood as Tommy's father). Narrator Pete Townshend, for his part, was observed to be drunk. None of this stopped the cast recording from being recorded and eventually becoming a hit in '73.

1984: The Jacksons' five-month Victory tour -- Michael Jackson's last group tour -- ends after 55 performances in 19 cities.

1989: Garth Brooks nabs his first #1 country single: "If Tomorrow Never Comes".

1990: Paula Abdul was taken to North Hollywood Medical Centre after being involved in a car crash in Los Angeles.

1991: A long legal battle over the Bob Marley estate ends when the nearly $12 million estate is awarded to his widow, Rita, and her children. In honor of the verdict, son Ziggy names his daughter, who was born that day, Justice Marley.

1992: After more than thirty years, Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman quits the group.

2000: U2 made their first-ever appearance on the long-running NBC program 'Saturday Night Live.' The band played ‘Beautiful Day’ and ‘Elevation.’

2002: Stereolab singer Mary Hanson was killed in a cycling accident after colliding with a tipper truck in East London at 36 years old.

2006: Mariah Carey threatened legal action against porn star Mary Carey in an attempt to stop her trademarking her similar-sounding stage name. The singer believed fans could get the two performers confused if the adult film actress Mary Carey's trademark application was successful.