March 13

Births

1939: Neil Sedaka (Pop Singer)

1949: Donny York (Singer in Sha Na Na)

1959: Greg Norton (Bass for Husker Du)

1960: Adam Clayton (Bass for U2)

1972: Common (Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.) (Rapper)

1973: David Draiman (Lead Singer for Disturbed)

1977: Ed Sloan (Lead Guitar & Vocals for Crossfade)

Events

1958: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) launches its Gold Award Program to honor artists with outstanding sales. One million units sold of a single 45 rpm record earned Gold status; in 1976: the Platinum Award was introduced for singles which moved two million units. Today, the single awards are given at the half-million (gold) and million (platinum) level of sales or downloads, with the same award qualifications for album-length releases. The Diamond Award (album sales of over 10 million) was introduced in 1999.

1959: On Friday the 13th, the Kingston Trio are nearly killed when their plane makes an emergency landing on a turkey farm in South Bend, IN.

1965: Disgusted with the pop direction taken with their latest single, the Graham Gouldman-penned "For Your Love," Eric Clapton quits the Yardbirds, eventually forming Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker of the Graham Bond Organization.

1966: Pink Floyd appeared for the first time at The Marquee in Wardour Street, London, England. The Marquee became the most important venue for the emerging British scene and witnessed the rise of some of the most important artists in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Manfred Mann, The Who, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, King Crimson and Genesis.

1975: George Jones and Tammy Wynette divorce after six years.

1976:  The Jackson 5 moved from Motown to Epic Records. They also changed their name to the Jackson's.

1984:  MTV premiered its weekly "Top 20 Video Countdown" show.

1987:  Bryan Adams’ "Heat of the Night" became the first commercially released cassette single.

1987:  Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 Vine Street.

1993:  Canadian white rapper Snow, (Darrin O'Brien), started a 7-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Informer'.

1999:  Cher started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Believe', making Cher the oldest woman to top the Hot 100 at the age of 53.

2002:  Wall Of Voodoo guitarist Marc Moreland died in Paris, France of Kidney failure aged 44. Had the 1983 hit ‘Mexican Radio.’

2002 - In Middletown NJ, Sebastian Bach (Skid Row Singer) was arrested for threatening the life of a bartender and the patrons of Lincroft Inn. He was charged with disorderly conduct, possession of under 20 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released the next day after posting bail.

2003: The state of Texas observes Lee Ann Womack Day.

2004:  Luciano Pavarotti gave his final opera performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He still had concerts planned up until October 12, 2005.

2006:  The Sex Pistols refused to attend their own induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York City. Blondie, Herb Alpert and Black Sabbath were all inducted but the Pistols posted a handwritten note on their website, calling the institution "urine in wine", adding "We're not your monkeys, we're not coming. You're not paying attention".

2008, Michael Jackson refinanced his Neverland ranch to save it from being auctioned off, after being told that if he failed to pay $25m he owed on the California property, it would be auctioned within a week. Jackson bought Neverland in 1987 intending to create a fantasy land for children naming it after an island in the story Peter Pan, where children never grow up.

March 12

Births

1917: Leonard Chess (Founder of Chess records)

1922: Jack Kerouac (Writer)

1940: Al Jarreau (Jazz Singer)

1946: Liza Minnelli (Singer)

1948: James Taylor (Singer / Songwriter)

1949: Mike Gibbins (Drums for Badfinger)

1949: Bill Payne (Vocals & Keyborads for Little Feat)

1956: Steve Harris (Bass for Iron Maiden)

1957: Marlon Jackson (The Jackson 5)

1977: Ben Kenny (Bass for Incubus)

1978 - Claudio Sanchez (Singer for Coheed and Cambria)

1979: Pete Doherty (Singer for The Libertines)

Events

1955:  American jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker died of a heart attack in New York City while watching Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra on television. He was 34. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age after years of drug and alcohol abuse.

1958:  A Philadelphia court sentences Billie Holiday to one year probation for pleading guilty to heroin possession two years earlier.

1963:  Beatles perform as a trio, John Lennon is ill with a cold.

1966:  Love's 1st album is released "Love".

1968:  The Rolling Stones started recording their single ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ with new producer Jimmy Miller at Olympic studios in London.

1969:  Infamous London police officer Det. Sgt. Norman Pilcher, well-known for singling out and busting rock stars, enters George Harrison's house in Esher, Surrey, England and arrests the Beatle and his wife Pattie for possession of marijuana (specifically, cannabis resin). That same morning, Paul McCartney marries girlfriend Linda Eastman at the register office in Marylebone, London and again at the Anglican church in St. John's Wood. No other Beatles attend.

1971:  Rolling Stone Mick Jagger marries Bianca P’rez Morena de Macias.

1971: The Allman Brothers Band played the first of two nights at the Fillmore East, New York. Both show's were recorded and released as The Allman Brothers live double album, which became the groups breakthrough album.

1974:  During his infamous "Lost Weekend," John Lennon attends the Smothers Brothers comedy show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles with singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson. A drunk Nilsson begins to heckle the brothers, thinking he's helping the show, and a drunken John helps him do it. Both are thrown out.

1975: The divorce of George Jones and Tammy Wynette is finalized. Wynette takes custody of their only child, Tamala, and keeps their home on Franklin Road in Nashville.

1981:  Bow Wow Wow were forced to cancel the first dates of a UK tour after Greater London Council stated that singer Annabella Lwin aged 15 would be guilty of truancy.

1983:  U2 scored their first UK No.1 album with 'War', which went on to spend a total of 147 weeks on the chart. The album featured the singles 'New Years Day' and 'Two Hearts Beat As One'.

1996:  Nancy Sinatra gives her famous white go-go boots, the ones that were made for walkin', to the Beverly Hills Hard Rock Cafe.

1998:  Ska Artist Judge Dread died due to heart attack as he walked off stage.

1998:  Korn served a cease-and-desist demand to a Michigan assistant principal, the high school and the school district who suspended a student for wearing a T-shirt that had the band's name on it.

2001:  Judy Garland's 'Over The Rainbow' was voted the Song Of The Century in a poll published in America. Musicians, critics and fans compiled the list by the RIA.

2003:  On the eve of the Rolling Stones' first tour of China, the Chinese government provides the group with a list of provocative songs the group is prohibited from playing, including "Brown Sugar," “Beast Of Burden”, "Honky Tonk Women," and "Let's Spend The Night Together."

2007: Disappointed with his share of the profits from a cell phone commercial that was authorized to use the group's famous 1968 hit "The Weight," The Band's Levon Helm sues Cingular, the commercial's creator.

2008: An all-Beatles-song episode of FOX-TV's American Idol, seven years in the making, draws an estimated 31 million viewers.

2009: Hundreds of fans gathered at the O2 arena in London as Michael Jackson tickets went on sale to the public. The 50-year-old pop veteran had confirmed he would be playing a 50-date residency at the venue, beginning on 8 July 2009. Some 360,000 pre-sale tickets had already sold. Organisers said the This Is It tour had become the fastest-selling in history, with 33 seats sold each minute.

2010: Over 130 people were arrested and eight people were hospitalised as fans tried to gatecrash a Metallica show in Colombia. 1,500 police and four tanks were brought in to manage the crowds as property was vandalized and destroyed, as thousands of ticketless fans rioted during Metallica’s first Colombian concert in eleven years.

March 11

Births

1903: Lawrence Welk (Bandleader)

1947: Mark Stein (Lead Vocals & Keyboardist for Vanilla Fudge)

1948: George Kooymans (Guitar for Golden Earring)

1950: Bobby McFerrin (Jazz Vocalist)

1955: Nina Hagen (New Wave Singer)

1957: Cheryl Lynn (R&B Singer)

1961: Bruce Watson (Guitar for Big Country)

1964: Vinnie Paul (Drummer for Pantera)

1968: Lisa Loeb (Singer / Songwriter)

1969: Rami Jaffee (Keyboards for The Wallflowers)

1979: Joel & Benji Madden (Guitar & Vocals for Good Charlotte)

1981: LeToya Luckett (Singer in Destiny's Child)

1981: Paul Wall (Rapper)

Events

1958: In the wake of his marriage to 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, his second cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis is divorced by his present (second) wife, Jane Mitcham.

1967: Pink Floyd releases their 1st song (Arnold Layne)

1968:  The Otis Redding single 'Dock Of The Bay', went gold in the US three months after the singer was killed in a plane crash.

1969: The Jackson 5 sign with Motown.

1969: After 25 years as a successful bluegrass duo, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs split officially.

1970:  Winners at this years Grammy awards included Joe South for song of the year with 'Games People Play', Crosby Stills and Nash won best new artist, The Fifth Dimension won Record of the year with 'Aquarius / Let The Sun Shine In.'

1971: The Doors' Jim Morrison, fleeing numerous criminal charges in the US, arrives in Paris, where he will suffer a fatal overdose four months later in the bathtub of his apartment.

1991: Janet Jackson signs $40M 3-album deal with Virgin records.

1993: Oasis recorded their first demos at The Real People's studio in Liverpool. The set included 'Rock 'n' Roll Star', 'Columbia' and 'Fade Away.'

1995: Van Halen kicked off their 131-date ‘Balance World Tour’, at the Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola Civic Center, Florida. (Dubbed the "Ambulance" Tour by Eddie Van Halen due to his hip surgery, and his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen wearing a neck brace for most of the tour).

1996: Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker walked free from Kensington police station after police failed to charge him with any criminal offence following his 'stage invasion', during Michael Jackson's performance at the Brit Awards on 19th February 1996.

1997: Paul McCartney knighted Sir Paul by Queen.

1998: Trumpet player Stacey Guess of the Squirrel Nut Zippers dies of a drug overdose.

2000: KISS began their "Farewell Tour."

2002: Pat Green is hospitalized in Brownsville, Texas, with facial fractures after he's attacked on the beach in South Padre Island by two men.

2005: The front door of Ozzy Osbourne's childhood home in Birmingham went up for sale because the current owner was fed up with fans defacing it. Ali Mubarrat, who now owned the house in Lodge Road, Aston, said over the years it had become a pilgrimage destination. He was now auctioning the door on eBay and giving the money to charity.

2006: The Disney Channel Original Movie, ‘High School Musical’ was at No.1 on the US album chart. The album went on to break all records for a soundtrack selling over 7 million copies worldwide. A No.1 album In Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

2008: Madonna was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a star-studded ceremony in New York City. She received her honor at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel from singer Justin Timberlake. The 49-year-old thanked her detractors in an acceptance speech, including those who "said I couldn't sing, that I was a one hit wonder". Rock star John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, The Ventures and The Dave Clark Five were also among the inductees.