March 24

Births

1937: Billy Stewart (R&B Singer)

1949: Nick Lowe (Singer / Songwriter)

1960: Nena (German Singer)

1970: Sharon Corr (Vocals & Violin for The Corrs)

1974: Chad Butler (Drummer for Switchfoot)

Events

1935: The godfather of all broadcast talent shows, Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour, moves from a New York show to national prominence with a new slot on the NBC radio network. In 1952, the show, now hosted by Ted Mack, made it to NBC-TV. It would run on various networks until 1970.

1941: Glenn Miller begins filming his first motion picture, Sun Valley Serenade.

1945: Billboard begins publishing its first album chart. The first Number One: A Collection Of Favorites by Nat King Cole.

1956: Elvis Presley visits friend and fellow Sun labelmate Carl Perkins in a Dover, DE hospital, where he is recovering from his near-fatal car crash.

1958: At 6:35 in the morning, Elvis Presley reports to the offices of Memphis' Local Draft Board 86, accompanied by his parents and longtime friend Lamar Fike, then is bused with twelve other new recruits to Kennedy Veterans Memorial Hospital. There, he is inducted into the US Army, a Private with serial number 53 310 761. Dozens of photographers and reporters attend. He will serve two years, and get paid $78 a month.

1962: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards take the stage for the first time in Ealing, England with their first band, unfortunately named Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys.

1965: While playing in Odense, Denmark, Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman is shocked by a poorly grounded mic stand, and is instantly knocked unconscious.

1966: The first major US bootleg law is passed in New York State, a bill that makes the processing of unlicensed recordings a misdemeanor. A dozen years later to the day, England grants their record companies the right to seize bootleg recordings.

1973: An overzealous male fan climbs onstage during Lou Reed's show in Buffalo, NY, and bites him on the butt. The audience member is, not surprisingly, thrown out.

1991: The Black Crowes were dropped as the support act on ZZ Top's tour after repeatedly criticising the tour sponsor Miller Beer.

1992: A Chicago court settled the Milli Vanilli class action suit by approving cash rebates of up to $3 to anyone proving they bought the group’s music before November 27, 1990, the date the lip synching scandal broke.

1992: Arrested Development release their classic debut album “3 Years, 5 Months, 2 Days In The Life Of…

1997: Harold Melvin (Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes) dies of a stroke ate age of 57.

1998: R&B singer Mark Morrison was jailed for a year after trying to con his way out of doing community service in the UK.

2001: The segment of Hwy 19 that runs through Macon, GA, is renamed Duane Allman Boulevard, in remembrance of the famed Allman Brothers guitarist who died in a motorcycle crash near there three decades earlier.

2002: After a record fifteen nominations, Randy Newman wins his first Oscar award for Best Song: the Monsters Inc. composition "If I Didn't Have You.”

2006: After a chicken-fried steak dinner, Buck Owens performs for the last time at his Crystal Palace theater in Bakersfield. He dies in his sleep the following morning. His last song: "Big In Vegas".

2009: Motown drummer Uriel Jones of The Funk Brothers, died at age 74 after suffering complications from a heart attack.

March 23

Births

1949: Ric Ocasek (Lead Vocals & Guitar for The Cars)

1953: Chaka Khan (R&B Singer)

1967: John Stohm (Guitar for The Lemonheads & Blake Babies)

1968: Damon Albarn (Vocals for Blur)

Events

1743:  Handel's Messiah was performed for the first time in London.

1891:  1st jazz concert was held at Carnegie Hall.

1955: Elvis Presley, along with bandmates Scotty Moore and Bill Black, audition for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show in New York with a surprisingly tepid version of "Milkcow Blues Boogie." They are subsequently rejected.

1956: At a Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers concert in Hartford, CT, eleven audience members are arrested for allegedly inciting a riot.

1960: Songwriter and future superstar Carole King gives birth to her first child, a daughter named Louise, with husband and writing partner Gerry Goffin.

1961: Elvis Presley recorded "Can't Help Falling In Love".

1964: John Lennon's first book, "In His Own Write" was published.

1969: In response to the Doors' infamous recent concert there (at which lead singer Jim Morrison allegedly exposed himself), a "Rally For Decency" is held in Miami featuring Jackie Gleason, The Lettermen, Kate Smith, and Anita Bryant and promising that the crowd of 30,000 will contain no "longhairs and weird dressers."

1970: Phil Spector takes the tapes for the aborted Beatles project "Get Back" into Abbey Road Studios to begin reshaping them into the album that would eventually be called Let It Be. Meanwhile, in the next room over, Paul McCartney works on his first solo album.

1973: John Lennon was ordered to leave the US within 60 days by the immigration authorities; he began a long fight to win his 'Green Card' which he was given on 27th July 1976.

1973: Yoko Ono was granted permission to live in the U.S. permanently.

1977: Elvis Presley begins what will be his last tour with a concert at Arizona State University.  This was the first date of 49 date US tour over three months and Presley’s last ever tour. (His last ever show was on 26th June 1977 at the Indianapolis Indiana Market Square Arena).

1983: The Smiths played at The Rock Garden, London, England, the group's first ever London show.

1985: John Fogerty engineers an amazing comeback when his LP Centerfield becomes a Number 1 hit 15 years after the breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

1985: Billy Joel marries supermodel Christie Brinkley on a boat in New York Harbor, near the Statue of Liberty. They divorced in 1993.

1987:  The Soul Train Music Awards debuted. It was the first televised awards ceremony to pay exclusive homage to black producers, songwriters and recording artists in the music industry.

1988:  Mick Jagger made his first solo appearance on stage in Japan.

1992: Janet Jackson signed with Virgin Records for $16,000,000.

1999:  In Gibraltar, a set of postage stamps was released commemorating what would have been the 30th wedding anniversary of Yoko Ono and John Lennon. 

March 22

Births

1936: Roger Whittaker (Singer / Songwriter)

1943: Keith Relf (Lead Singer & Harmonica for Yardbirds)

1943: George Benson (Jazz Singer & Guitarist)

1944: Jeremy Clyde (Chad and Jeremy)

1948: Andrew Lloyd Webber (Composer)

1952: Jay Dee Daugherty (Drummer for Patti Smith Group & The Church)

1957: Stephanie Mills (R&B Singer)

1963: Susanne Sulley (Singer The Human League)

1968: Mickey Dale (Keyboards for Embrace)

1968: Euronymous (Guitarist for Mayhem)

1977: John Otto (Drummer in Limp Bizkit)

1979: Aaron Wright North (Guitarist for Nine Inch Nails)

1980: Shannon Bex (Singer in Danity Kane)

1981: Mims (Shawn Mims) (Rapper)

Events

1958: Hank Williams Jr. makes his stage debut, at the age of eight, singing on stage in Swainsboro, GA.

1962: 19-year-old Barbra Streisand becomes an instant celebrity when she stars in the Broadway play I Can Get It For You Wholesale.

1963:  Beatles release 1st album, "Please Please Me" in the U.K.

1965:  Bob Dylan's first electric album "Bring it All Back Home" was released.

1967: The Who make their US stage debut, performing at the Paramount Theater in New York City.

1971: The Allman Brothers are arrested at a truck stop in Jackson, AL, and charged with possession of marijuana and heroin.

1975: Barry Manilow makes his first US television appearance, performing "Mandy" and "It's A Miracle" on ABC-TV's American Bandstand.

1975: Frankie Valli went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'My Eyes Adored You', his first solo No.1.

1976: While campaigning for US President, Jimmy Carter tells NARM (The National Association of Record Merchandisers) that he listened to Dylan, the Grateful Dead, and Led Zeppelin while Governor of Georgia.

1977: ABC-TV airs the John Denver special Thank God I'm A Country Boy.

1978: The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, a Beatles parody special that grew out of sketches on ex-Monty Python member Eric Idle's show Rutland Weekend Television, gets its first US airing on ABC-TV.

1978: The Police signed to A&M Records.

1979: Chaka Khan gives birth to her second child, Damien Milton Patrick Holland.

1980: Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall', started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart. The track, which was the group’s only US chart topper, was also a No.1 in the UK, Germany, Australia, Italy and in many other countries around the world. Pink Floyd received a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group for the song, but lost to Bob Seger's Against The Wind.

1991: Dave Guard (The Kingston Trio) dies of cancer at the age of 56.

1992: Polygram Records officially announced that Tears For Fears had split up, Roland Orzabal continued using the name Tears For Fears.

1994: Dan Hartman, singer of the 80’s hit “I Can Dream About You” and member of The Edgar Winter Group and wrote their hit “Free Ride”, dies of a brain tumor resulting from AIDS at the age of 43.

1994: Ted Nugent, always a straight arrow, makes a PSA warning kids of the dangers of abusing inhalants.

1996: Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles, dies after an ulcer surgery.

1997: Paul McCartney's original birth certificate is sold to a private Beatles collector for $84,146.

1997: Marilyn Manson stopped a show in Honolulu, Hawaii, short after falling onstage and severing an artery in his hand.

1997: Puff Daddy featuring Mase started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Can't Nobody Hold Me Down', his first US No.1.

2000: An audience member falls 90 feet off of an electrical tower at a KISS concert in at California's Oakland Arena.

2005: Rod Price of Foghat died after falling down a stairway at his home after suffering a heart attack.

2006: Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler's upcoming throat surgery forces the band to cancel their latest tour.