March 21

Births

1685: Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer)

1902: Son House (Blues Singer & Guitarist)

1940: Solomon Burke (R&B Singer)

1945: Rosemary Stone (Singer & Keyboards for Sly and the Family Stone)

1949: Eddie Money (Singer)

1950: Roger Hodgson (Singer for Supertramp)

1961: Slim Jim Phantom (Drums for The Stray Cats)

1966: DJ Preimer (Christopher Edward Martin) (DJ for Gang Starr)

1967: Maxim (Keith Palmer) (MC for The Prodigy)

1968: Andrew Copeland (Singer & Guitarist for Sister Hazel)

1980: Deryck 'Bizzy D' Whibley (Guitar & vocals for Sum 41)

Events

1939: "God Bless America" was recorded by Kate Smith.

1952: At the Cleveland Arena, influential DJ Alan Freed holds what is today considered the first true "rock and roll concert," as his Moondog Coronation Ball features Billy Ward and the Dominoes, Tiny Grimes, and Paul Williams and the Hucklebuckers. With ten thousand attendees (and twice that many outside, waiting to get in), the local police shut the concert down prematurely for fire code violations, causing a near-riot.

1956: After performing in Norfolk, VA (with Gene Vincent opening), and en route to New York to appear on The Perry Como Show, Carl Perkins is badly injured in a Dover, DE car crash that also kills his manager and his brother Jay. The crash derails Perkins career, almost for good, as he is forced to spend months in the hospital nursing a fractured neck, broken collarbone, and a severe concussion, while Elvis Presley has an ever bigger hit with Carl's hit "Blue Suede Shoes."

1961: The Beatles, still featuring Pete Best on drums, play their first evening gig at Liverpool's Cavern Club, opening for an act called The Bluegenes (later the Swinging Blue Jeans of "Hippy Hippy Shake" fame).

1963: Barbra Streisand marries her first husband, actor Elliott Gould, whom she'd met while both were performing in the Broadway hit ‘I Can Get It for You Wholesale’.

1964: Dean Martin immortalizes his handprints in the cement of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

1967: John Lennon takes his first major LSD trip and freaks out while recording backing vocals on the track "Getting Better." Producer George Martin, not realizing the effects of the drug, takes Lennon to the roof of Abbey Road Studios to get some fresh air. Paul and George, upon learning where John was, rush up to get him down. The group works on a piano track for "Lovely Rita" instead.

1970:  Faces, with new lead singer Rod Stewart, released their first LP, "First Step."

1973: After screaming teenage David Cassidy fangirls cause a riot on the set of the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops, the program bans all future teen idols from performing.

1976: David Bowie and Iggy Pop are arrested in New York and charged with marijuana possession, charges which are later dropped.

1976: Singer Claudine Longet, formerly the wife of Andy Williams, shot her boyfriend, world skiing champion Spider Sabich Sabich had tried to throw her and her three children out of his house. Longet was arrested for manslaughter.

1984: John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, dedicates a section of New York City's Central Park as a place of meditation called Strawberry Fields. Every December 9, thousands of fans converge on the spot to remember her last husband, who was murdered by a deranged fan on that day in 1980.

1991: Leo Fender, the inventor of The Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars died from Parkinson's disease. He started mass producing solid body electric guitars in the late 40s and when he sold his guitar company in 1965, sales were in excess of $40 million a year.

1994: Bruce Springsteen wins an Oscar for penning the song "Streets Of Philadelphia" for the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia.

1996: Guitarist for The Stone Roses John Squire quit the band. He broke the news to the other three members over the phone.

1997: Snoop Doggy Dog was sentenced to three years probation and fined $1,000 for a firearms violation after a handgun was found in his car when he was stopped for a traffic violation.

2001: Eminem was ordered to pay $476,000 as part of his divorce agreement with his ex-wife Kim. Also, as part of the agreement, Eminem would keep the “US mansion” and they would share custody of their five-year-old daughter, Hailie Jade.

2001, Michael Jackson's interior decorator told The Times newspaper that the singer kept 17 life size dolls, adult and child sizes, all fully dressed in his bedroom for 'company.'

2003: Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry divorces his first wife, model Lucy Helmore, after 21 years, on grounds of adultery.

2004, Ozzy Osbourne was named the nation's favorite ambassador to welcome aliens to planet earth by a Yahoo poll.

2008: Five years of legal wrangling comes to a close after the Beach Boys' Mike Love and Brian Wilson sued former member Al Jardine in an attempt to stop him from using the name while touring with his own band. Jardine's lawyer, while not disclosing the terms of the agreement, said his client "feels very happy and feels that this is a friendly settlement that allows them to focus on the talent and future of this American iconic band," words that have Beach Boys fans hopeful for the possibility of a full-scale group reunion.

2011: Blues legend Pinetop Perkins dies of cardiac arrest at 97 years old.

2011:  Disco singer Loleatta Holloway died at the age of 64.

March 20

Births

1928: Fred “Mr.” Rogers

1936: Lee "Scratch" Perry (Reggae Artist)

1937: Jerry Reed (Country Singer)

1949: Marcia Ball (Blues Singer & Pianist)

1950: Carl Palmer (Drummer for Emerson, Lake and Palmer & Asia)

1951: Jimmie Vaughan (Guitar & Vocals for Fabulous Thunderbirds)

1953: Poison Ivy (Kristy Wallace) (guitar for The Cramps)

1956: Fonso Martin (Percussion for Steel Pulse)

1957: Spike Lee

1972: Alex Kapranos (Vocals & Guitar for Franz Ferdinand)

1976: Chester Bennington (Vocals for Linkin Park)

1982: Nick Wheeler (Guitarist for All-American Rejects)

Events

1959: Dick Clark protege and teen idol Bobby Rydell makes his first television appearance, naturally enough, on ABC-TV's American Bandstand.

1960: Elvis Presley started his first recordings since being discharged from the US Army. A 12 hour session in a Nashville recording studio produced his next No.1 single, ‘Stuck On You’. Scotty Moore and Bill Black, who had quit Presley's touring band in 1957, were in the studio with him for the last time.

1964: The Beatles make their first appearance on the British television show Ready Steady Go!, miming along, as was the custom, to "Can't Buy Me Love," "It Won't Be Long," and "You Can't Do That." They were also presented with a special award from US magazine Billboard, in recognition of The Beatles having the top three singles on the chart simultaneously.

1965: After a celebratory formal street parade, Motown's first UK package tour begins at Finsbury Park Astoria, in London, featuring The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Martha & the Vandellas.

1968: In Los Angeles, Eric Clapton and three members of Buffalo Springfield -- Neil Young, Jim Messina, and Richie Furay -- are arrested for suspicion of marijuana use. The band members are eventually found guilty and fined, while Clapton beats the charges.

1969: After days of looking for a suitable and legal place, John Lennon finally gets to marry Yoko Ono at the Rock of Gibraltar in Spain, a piece of land still owned by the English and described by Lennon as being necessarily "quiet, friendly, and British." Later, in the Beatles song "The Ballad Of John And Yoko," he describes the site as "Gibraltar, near Spain," unintentionally setting off an international furor, as England and Spain were currently at odds over ownership of the area.

1971: Janis Joplin started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with the Kris Kristofferson's 'Me And Bobby McGee'. Joplin died the year before on 4th October aged 27.

1971:  At their own expense, The Rolling Stones placed full page advertisements in all the UK's music papers disclaiming any connection with the release of the Decca album 'Stone Age' saying 'in our opinion the content is below the standard we try to keep.'

1976: Alice Cooper marries his first and only wife, Sheryl Goddard, a 19-year-old dancer on his Welcome To My Nightmare tour.

1977: T. Rex plays what is to be their last concert before the untimely death of leader Marc Bolan in a car accident, a gig at Portsmouth, England club The Locarno.

1980: Joseph Riviera, 28, a truck driver from New York, breaks into the offices of record label Asylum, takes the office manager hostage, and demands to see label artists Jackson Browne and/or The Eagles so that they can help finance his trucking business. After he realizes the artists in question aren't actually in the building, he surrenders to police.

1982: Joan Jett And The Blackhearts started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll'.

1984: Slim Jim Phantom (Drummer for The Stray Cats) married actress Britt Ekland.

1989: After 37 years on the air, Dick Clark announces he will discontinue hosting his creation, ABC-TV's highly influential American Bandstand. The show continues with another host, but folds for good soon after.

1990: Gloria Estefan’s tour bus was rammed by a tractor-trailer on the way to a concert.  Emilio Estefan and their son Nayib were injured; Gloria suffered a serious back injury, which required an operation two days later.

1991: Eric Clapton's son Conor, all of four years old, dies after falling from the 53rd story window of his mother's apartment in New York. (The guitarist was staying at a hotel not far away, having taken Conor to the circus the night before.) A shaken Clapton later writes the hit song "Tears In Heaven" as a way to help him through the grief.

2004: The University of Washington presents Quincy Jones with an honorary doctorate in Music.

March 19

Births

1946: Paul Atkinson (Guitar for The Zombies)

1953: Ricky Wilson (Guitarist for The B-52's)

1953: Billy Sheehan (Bass guitarist for Mr. Big)

1955: Bruce Willis (Singer, yes he had a hit album)

1959: Terry Hall (Vocals for The Specials & Fun Boy Three)

1976: Zach Lind (Drummer for Jimmy Eat World)

Events

1958: "Our Song" was released by Tom and Jerry. Later they used their real names, which were Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

1962:  Bob Dylan released his self-titled debut album.

1964: British PM Harold Wilson, who would later be satirized in the band's song "Taxman," presents the Beatles with the award for being "Show Business Personalities of 1963" at the Variety Club of Great Britain Annual Show Business Awards.

1965: Britain's Tailor and Cutter magazine runs an article by tie makers asking the Rolling Stones to start wearing ties with their suits, a fashion which had recently gone out of style among the youth. Mick Jagger responds, diplomatically, that ties would only give screaming female fans something else to grab onto in a crowd.

1966: Lesley Gore guest stars as herself on the final "By Line -- Jeffrey Stone" episode of ABC-TV's The Donna Reed Show.

1970: David Bowie marries model Mary Angela Barnett, his first wife and the eventual subject of the Rolling Stones' 1974 hit, "Angie," in Kent, England.

1974: Jefferson Airplane reform with the core of their original members, rechristening themselves Jefferson Starship. The new line-up included Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, drummer Johnny Barbata, David Freiberg, Peter Kaukonen, Cragi Chaquico and Papa John Creach.

1976: Guitarist Paul Kossoff of Free dies from drug-related heart problems on a flight from Los Angeles to New York.

1978: Billy Joel plays his first live gig in the UK, performing at London's Drury Lane Theatre.

1980: Elvis Presley's autopsy is entered into proceedings held by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners against Dr. George Nichopoulos, better known to his clients -- including Elvis -- as "Dr. Nick." The doctor will eventually be found guilty of overprescribing the drugs that led to The King's death and will have his license revoked, even though he repeatedly took measures to cure Presley of his addiction.

1982: Ozzy Osbourne's rhythm guitarist and former Quiet Riot member Randy Rhoads was killed when the plane he was riding in crashed.

1985:  "Spin Magazine" began publishing.

1988: Michael Jackson begins construction on his 2,800-acre ranch and private amusement park in Santa Barbara, CA, which he will name "Neverland" after a fantasy location in his favorite book, Peter Pan, a place where children never grow up.

1993 - Drummer Jeff Ward (Nine Inch Nails) was found dead in his home in Chicago. It was believed he had committed suicide.

1999:  George Jones left the hospital after being severely injured in a car accident on March 6, 1999.

2001: Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell's London home was broken into. The intruder left obscene notes on the walls, stole the singer's computer and stereo and had thrown milk and Ribena fruit drink on the walls. They also stole a necklace that used to belong to actress Liz Taylor.

2004: After she has an allergic reaction to antibiotics, Aretha Franklin is admitted to Detroit's Sinai-Grace Hospital.

2005: 50 Cent became the first solo artist to have three singles in the US Top 5. ‘Candy Shop’ was at No.1 with ‘How We Do’ by The Game, (a member of his G-Unit group) at No.4 and ‘Disco Inferno’ at No.5.

2007: R&B Singer Luther Ingram dies of heart failure.