August 4

Births

1901: Louis Armstrong (Trumpet Player & Singer)

1955: Billy Bob Thornton (Actor & Singer / Songwriter)

1959: Robbin Crosby (Guitar for RATT)

1960: Graham Massey (Keyboards for 808 State)

1961: Barack Obama (President)

1962: Paul Reynolds (Lead Guitar for A Flock Of Seagulls)

1969: Max Cavalera (Guitar & Vocals for Sepultura & Soulfly)

Events

1956: Elvis Presley released the single "Hound Dog" b/w "Don't Be Cruel"

1957: The Everly Brothers cause a sensation by performing their upcoming single, "Wake Up Little Susie," on CBS' Ed Sullivan Show. The song, a lighthearted tale of two chaste lovers who accidentally fall asleep on a date and are then assumed to have "spent the night together," will be banned in some markets.

1958: Billboard combines its system of five separate sales, jukebox, and DJ charts to make one master chart, the "Billboard Hot 100" we know today. The first #1 listed on it is Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool."

1966: South Africa bans all Beatles music as a result of John Lennon's recent "bigger than Jesus" comments.

1967: While on tour in Minneapolis, MN, a sixteen-year-old female fan stows away on the Monkees' plane en route to St. Louis, MO, opening the band up to charges from the girl's Father of transporting a minor across state lines.

1967: Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper At the Gates of Dawn on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett. In subsequent years, the record has been recognised as one of the seminal psychedelic rock albums of the 1960s.

1970: Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson marries his second wife, Barbara Charren, in Los Angeles. The couple would divorce just four years later.

1970: The Doors' Jim Morrison is arrested in Los Angeles for public drunkenness after being found lying unconscious on a resident's doorstep.

1972: The "blaxploitation" movie Superfly, featuring an acclaimed (and ironic) score from the Impressions' Curtis Mayfield, opens in the US.

1975: While vacationing on the isle of Rhodes in Greece, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant and his family are badly injured in a car accident, forcing the cancellation of an upcoming US tour. Doctors tell Plant he may never walk again.

1984: Prince started a 24 week run at the top of the US album charts with 'Purple Rain', it went on to sell over 10 million copies.

1984: Phil Collins and Jill Tavelman were married.

1990: During a New Kids On The Block concert in Montreal. Canada, three armed robbers stole souvenir sales proceeds valued at $260,000.

1990: During a US tour Janet Jackson collapsed on stage at a show in St Louis, suffering from an inner ear infection.

1990: Mariah Carey's started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Vision Of Love', her debut release. 

1996: Oasis played two sold out nights at Balloch Castle Country Park, Loch Lomand, Scotland to over 80,000 fans. Oasis roadie James Hunter was crushed to death between a forklift truck and a lorry during the bands two days shows.

2005: American blues singer and guitarist Little Milton died. Milton had suffered a brain aneurysm on 25th July 2005 and had lapsed into a coma.  He was 70 years old.

2007: Singer / songwriter Lee Hazlewood died of cancer, in his home near Las Vegas aged 78. Hazlewood wrote and produced many of Nancy Sinatra's most famous hits, including “These Boots Were Made For Walkin'”, “Jackson” and “Did You Ever?” He also produced Duane Eddy and Gram Parsons and Something Stupid, the duet Nancy recorded with her Father Frank in 1967.

2011: Marcus Mumford, lead singer of Mumford and Sons, is engaged to actress to Carey Mulligan after dating for five months. The pair were childhood pen pals who lost touch and reconnected after the Mumfords' debut disc, "Sigh No More," had gained international acclaim. 

August 3

Births

1926: Tony Bennett (Singing Legend)

1946: John York (Bass for The Byrds)

1949: B.B. Dickerson (Bass for War)

1961: Lee Rocker (Leon Drucker) (Bassist for The Stray Cats)

1964: Lucky Dube (Reggae Singer)

1963: James Hetfield (Guitar & Vocals for Metallica)

1963: Ed Roland (Vocals & Guitar for Collective Soul)

1970: Stephen Carpenter (Lead Guitar for The Deftones)

1971: Spinderella (Deirdre Roper) (DJ for Salt-n-Pepa)

Events

1963: After nearly 300 shows over two years, the Beatles play their last headlining gig at Liverpool's Cavern Club.

1963: The Beach Boys released ‘Surfer Girl’, the first song Brian Wilson ever wrote and the first one he produced.

1971: Paul McCartney announces the formation of Wings, his first band since the breakup of the Beatles. It features ex-Moody Blues singer Denny Laine and Paul's wife Linda.

1974: Guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter leaves Steely Dan to join the Doobie Brothers.

1974: Bad Company went to No.1 on the US album chart with their self-titled debut album.

1985: Madonna scored her first UK No.1 single with 'Into The Groove'. The track was taken from the movie 'Desperately Seeking Susan' which featured Madonna and Rosanna Arquette, but there was never a soundtrack to the movie.  The song was only available as a single until it was included on compilation albums.

1986: The News Of The World in the UK printed an exclusive interview with 16 year old model Mandy Smith, who revealed she has been having an affair with Rolling Stone Bill Wyman for the past 2 and a half years.

1993: Boston Ventures, the group to whom Berry Gordy had sold Motown in 1988 for $61 million, sells the label and its holdings to Dutch conglomerate Polygram for $325 million.

1999: Country legend Patsy Cline is awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2006: Arthur Lee, singer and guitarist of the influential 1960s band Love died in Memphis at the age of 61 following a battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He called himself the "first black hippie" and formed Love in Los Angeles in 1965. Best known for the critically revered 1967 album, 'Forever Changes.'

2007: Usher married Tameka Foster, six days after calling off their first ceremony. Their original ceremony was cancelled hours before it was due to take place amid reports pregnant Foster was taken to hospital for stress.

2011: Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" becomes the first album in the almost 19-year history of Billboard's Pop Songs chart to generate five No. 1’s, as "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" ascends 2-1.

August 2

Births

1951: Joe Lynn Turner (Singer for Rainbow & Deep Purple)

1955: Butch Vig (Record Producer & Drummer for Garbage)

1957: Mojo Nixon (Singer & Guitarist)

1961: Pete De Freitas (Drums for Echo And The Bunnymen)

1962: Lee Mavers (Guitar & Vocals for The La's)

Events

1956: This month's issue of Look magazine reports that Elvis Presley is now receiving 3,000 fan letters a week.

1961: The Beatles begin what would be a two-year stint as headliners at Liverpool's Cavern Club.

1962: Aretha Franklin makes her television debut, singing "Don't Cry Baby" and "Try a Little Tenderness" on ABC's American Bandstand.

1963: Still rebuilding his career after the scandal of his marriage to 13-year-old second cousin Myra Gale Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis accepts $9,500 to open Las Vegas' new Thunderbird Hotel.

1962: Folk singer Robert Zimmerman has his name legally changed to Bob Dylan.

1969: Bob Dylan leaves his 10-year reunion at Hibbing High School in Hibbing, MN when a drunken former classmate picks a fight with him.

1969: Badfinger record the single "Come And Get It".

1971: Now down to a trio, Creedence Clearwater Revival embark on their last US tour with a gig at Tulsa, Oklahoma's Assembly Center.

1972: Brian Cole (Bass player for The Association) died in Los Angeles, California of a heroin overdose at the age of 29.

1973: "Papa" John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas files suit against his former label, Dunhill, alleging $60 million in unpaid royalties.

1976: Peter "Puddy" Watts, road manager with Pink Floyd died of a heroin overdose. Watts supplied the crazed laughter on the groups ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ album.

1977: Sex Pistol, Sid Vicious was fined $250 by a London court after he had been found carrying a knife at the 100 Club Punk Festival last September.

1983: James Jamerson died of complications stemming from cirrhosis of the liver, heart failure and pneumonia in Los Angeles, he was 47 years old. As one of The Funk Brothers he was the uncredited bassist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s including songs by Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops and The Supremes. He eventually performed on nearly 30 No.1 pop hits.

1987: David Martin, bass player with Sam The Sham & the Pharaohs died of a heart attack aged 50. Martin co-wrote the group’s 1965 US No.2 & UK No.11 single 'Wooly Bully'.

1991: Rick James and his girlfriend Tanya Hijazi were arrested in Hollywood charged with assault with a deadly weapon aggravated mayhem torture, false imprisonment and forcible oral copulation. James was released on $1 million bail.

1999: After a concert in San Diego, CA, Barry White is hospitalized for exhaustion.

2004: Eric Clapton bails out Cordings clothing store in London, a favorite of his since the age of sixteen, by purchasing a fifty percent share in the retailer.

2005: Singer Brandon Flowers from The Killers married Tana Munblowsky in a private ceremony held in Hawaii.

2007: Elvis Presley Enterprises announces plans to revamp Graceland, the singer's home, with a visitor's center, convention hotel, and high-tech multimedia displays.

2007: Keith Richards signs a seven-million-dollar deal for the rights to his upcoming autobiography.

2011: Kings of Leon announced the cancellation of their U.S. tour following an onstage meltdown at a performance in Dallas on July 29th. Frontman Caleb Followill walked offstage after claiming he was too hot to perform, and the band subsequently postponed its show in Houston scheduled for the following night.

August 1

Births

1779: Francis Scott Key (Composed The Star Spangled Banner)

1942: Jerry Garcia (Lead Guitar & Vocals for The Grateful Dead)

1946: Boz Burrell (Bass for King Crimson & Bad Company)

1951: Tommy Bolin (Guitar with Zephyr, The James Gang & Deep Purple)

1951: Tim Bachman (Guitar & Vocals for Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

1953: Robert Cray (Singer & Blues Guitarist)

1958: Rob Buck (Guitar for 10,000 Maniacs)

1958: Michael Penn (Singer / Songwriter)

1959: Joe Elliott (Singer for Def Leppard)

1960: Chuck D (Carlton Ridenhour) (Rapper for Public Enemy)

1960: Suzi Gardner (Guitar & Vocals for L7)

1963: Coolio (Artis Ivey Jr) (Rapper)

1964: Adam Duritz (Vocals for The Counting Crows)

1968: Dan Donegan (Guitar for Disturbed)

Events

1927: The Carter Family records for the first time in Bristol, Tennessee, with producer Ralph Peer. Among the trio's four songs are "Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow" and "The Storms Are On The Ocean".

1942: In response to what it sees as a threat from the new fad, phonograph records, the American Federation of Musicians goes on strike (but only for recording, not live gigs).

1954: Alan Freed presents his first Moondog Jubilee Of Stars Under The Stars revue at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, featuring Fats Domino, The Clovers, The Orioles, Muddy Waters, and Little Walter. It is the first large racially mixed crowd at a concert of this size.

1958: Feeling that label head Sam Phillips is spending too much time promoting Jerry Lee Lewis and not enough promoting him, Johnny Cash leaves Sun Records and signs with Columbia.

1960: For his embodiment of decadent American culture, Elvis Presley is named "Public Enemy Number One" by the East Berlin newspaper Young World.

1960: Chubby Checker's "The Twist" was released.

1960: Aretha Franklin begins her first non-gospel recording session, an attempt at jazz-pop with the Columbia label.

1963: The first 'Beatles Monthly' was published. A magazine devoted to the group, it continued until 1969 and at its peak was selling over 350,000 copies a month.

1964: A report in Billboard claims that the harmonica is hip again thanks to the Beatles, Dylan, the Stones and Stevie Wonder.

1964: A brand new group called "The Steampacket," featuring lead vocals by one Rod Stewart, opens for the Rolling Stones at the London Palladium.

1965: Marianne Faithfull collapses during a performance in Lancashire, England, and is taken to a hospital, canceling the remainder of her tour.

1966: Birmingham radio station WACI calls for the first "Beatles Burn-In," a bonfire of Beatles records to protest John Lennon's recent published comments that his group was "bigger than Jesus."

1969: Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys is indicted in Los Angeles for failing to perform his required community service hours, which were imposed upon him after he refused to be drafted as a conscientious objector; rather than the janitorial duty he was sentenced to at LA County Hospital, Wilson taught music classes there instead.

1970: After two years of sitting on the shelf (namely due to shocking sex and violence scenes), the gangster movie Performance, featuring the acting debut of the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, premieres in London.

1971: The first big all-star rock benefit concert, The Concert For Bangla Desh, was held in New York's Madison Square Garden, helmed by George Harrison and featuring Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, and Ringo Starr. The show raised $11 million for starving people in Bangladesh, a recently-liberated area of Pakistan.

1971: The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour premieres on CBS television.

1971: Keyboardist Tony Kaye quit Yes to form Badger. He was replaced by Rick Wakeman.

1973: The first big oldies revival kicks off in earnest as George Lucas' new film, American Graffiti, premieres in Los Angeles. Portraying a night in the life of several California teenagers in 1961, it made stars out of Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips and more, and also inspired the ABC-TV smash Happy Days.

1976: Gladys Knight gives birth to her third child, Shanga-Ali.

1977: Elvis: What Happened? a tell-all book written by his closest confidantes Red West and Sonny West, hit the bookshelves and made no impact until Presley's death two weeks later, when it confirmed what many had suspected: that Elvis had been abusing prescription drugs. Some say the revelatory book hurt Elvis and indirectly hastened his demise.

1978: George Harrison and his bride-to-be Olivia Trinidad Arias announce the birth of their first child, Dhani.

1980: George Harrison forms a movie production company called Handmade Films, which would go on to produce films like Monty Python's Life of Brian, The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, and Shanghai Surprise.

1980: Def Leppard made their US live debut when they appeared at the New York City concert opening for AC/DC.

1981: Australian singer Rick Springfield started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Jessie's Girl'. Rick had played Noah Drake in the TV show 'General Hospital'.

1981: MTV made its debut at 12:01am. The first video to be shown was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles.

1981: Kix and Barbara Brooks marry in Nashville. He oversleeps and barely makes it on time.

1984: Jermaine Jackson appears on an episode of CBS' long-running soap opera, As The World Turns.

1987: Eurythmics Dave Stewart married ex Bananarama member Siobham Fahey.

1987: Bob Seger scored his first US No.1 single with the Harold Faltermeyer penned 'Shakedown', which was taken from the film 'Beverly Hills Cop II'. The song was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, but it lost both awards to Dirty Dancing's '(I've Had) The Time of My Life'.

1988: Cincinnati AM radio station WCVG changes its format, becoming the first US all-Elvis radio station. The concept died out within the year.

1990: UB40 were deported from the Seychelles after police discovered marijuana in their hotel rooms.

1994: The Rolling Stones politely refuse an invitation to play at the Clinton White House, though they would go on to play his 60th birthday party in 2006.

1994: Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley announce their marriage in the Dominican Republic 11 weeks earlier.

1996: MTV launched another channel known as M2.

1998: Gospel Singer Sandra Crouch was ordained as pastor of her church. This was in spite of the ban on woman ministers by the Church of God in Christ.

2009: Billy Currington is hospitalized with a concussion after a concert stage collapses in a thunderstorm at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta. Bass player Alex Stevens is pinned for a half-hour and requires surgery for a severed artery.

July 31

Births

1918: Hank Jones (Jazz Painist)

1946: Gary Lewis (Vocals & Drums for Gary Lewis and the Playboys)

1957: Daniel Ash (Guitar for Bauhaus, Tones On Tail & Love & Rockets)

1958: Bill Berry (Drums for R.E.M)

1971: John 5 (John Lowery) (Guitar for Marilyn Manson)

1978: Will Champion (Drums for Coldplay)

1978: Zac Brown (Country Singer / Songwriter)

1981: Matthew Sanders (Singer for Avenged Sevenfold)

Events

1845: France's army gives legitimacy to Belgian Adolphe Sax's latest invention, the saxophone, by including it in their marching band.

1951: Ray Charles marries his first wife, Eileen Williams, a beautician from Chicago, in Fulton County, GA. The marriage lasts only one year.

1964: Country singer Jim Reeves was killed in a plane crash when the single engine aircraft flying from Arkansas to Nashville crashed in thick fog. 41 year- old Reeves was the first country singer to cross- over into the pop market.

1967: The drug conviction appeals of the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, stemming from an earlier marijuana bust in February, are heard in London, with Richards' conviction overturned and Jagger's sentence reduced to probation.

1969: After two hours of opening acts (during which time he grapples with a severe case of stage fright), Elvis Presley debuts his new Vegas show at the International Hotel, his first stage appearance anywhere since 1961. The show goes on at 10:15 pm with a fiery rendition of "Blue Suede Shoes" and is an instant sensation, with the audience, filled with members of the press corps, A-list celebrities, and former Presley associates like Sam Phillips, rapturous in its appraisal. Later that evening manager Colonel Tom Parker renegotiates Elvis' contract on a pink tablecloth in the hotel coffee shop, a contract which will guarantee the singer one million dollars per year through 1974 (minus expenses). Presley's contract holds him to only two months a year, which will allow him to get back out on the road, as well.

1971: After being denied entrance to a Who concert in New York City's Forest Hills Stadium, an ex-convict stabs and kills the security guard.

1976: Blue Oyster Cult release the single "Don't Fear The Reaper".

1980: Mamas and the Papas founder and vocalist "Papa" John Phillips is arrested for possession of cocaine and running a phony prescription scam with a local pharmacy and eventually sentenced to eight years in prison (though this sentence would later be reduced to 30 days in jail and community service).

1980: During An Eagles concert at Long Beach, California, tempers boiled over between Glen Frey and Don Henley, who spent the entire show describing to each other the beating each planned to administer backstage. "Only three more songs until I kick your ass, pal," Frey told Henley. The group’s next album was mixed by Frey and Henley on opposite coasts after the two decided they couldn't bear to be in the same state, let alone the same studio.

1992: Michael Jackson made an unscheduled appearance on his hotel balcony in London after a man had threatened to jump from an apartment building across the street. 28 year-old Eric Herminie told police he would leap to his death if he didn't see Jackson, who was in Britain for a series of concerts. Jackson spent a couple of minutes waving to Herminie, who then climbed back into the building.

1994: Aaliyah and R. Kelly secretly married at the Sheraton Gateway Suites, Rosemont, IL. Aaliyah never admitted being married, though Vibe published a copy of the marriage certificate. Unfortunately, she was only 15 at the time, so thus the marriage was later annulled.

1995: Selena's "Dreaming of You" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. It was her first English album. Selena became the first Latin artist to debut at No. 1.

1995: Jamaica issues a commemorative series of postage stamps honoring local native and reggae legend Bob Marley.

1999: Christina Aguilera scored her first US No.1 single with 'Genie In A Bottle', also No.1 in the UK. The song spent 5 weeks at No.1 on the US chart and won Aguilera the Best New Artist Grammy for the year.

1999: Wu-Tang Clan member Ol Dirty Bastard, (real name Russell Jones) was arrested for crack and marijuana possession in New York after being stopped by police during a routine traffic offence.

2004: The city of Lubbock, TX, declares today "Mac Davis Day" after its hometown singer-songwriter. Mayor Marc McDougal also dedicates a section of Avenue O as "Mac Davis Lane."

2004:  R&B Singer Mark Morrison was arrested after a fight at Leicester's After Dark night-club in which his platinum and diamond medallion was stolen. Morrison said he was the victim and complained of wrongful arrest, unlawful imprisonment and police assault. A $40,000 reward for the return of the pendant was offered by the singer's record label.

2006: Former Culture Club singer Boy George (O'Dowd) was ordered to do community service by picking up trash on New York City streets after pleading guilty last March to false reporting of an incident. He called police with a bogus report of a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment in October and the responding officers found cocaine inside.