December 29

Births

1942: Rick Danko (Bass & Vocals for The Band)

1946: Marianne Faithfull (Singer / Songwriter)

1947: Cozy Powell (Drums for Emerson Lake and Palmer & Whitesnake)

1950: Robert Parissi (Guitar & Vocals for Wild Cherry)

1955: Neil Giraldo (Guitar for & Married to Pat Benatar)

1961: Jim Reid (Lead Vocals for The Jesus & Mary Chain)

1965: Bryan Holland (Lead Vocals & Rhythm Guitar for The Offspring)

1970: Glen Phillips (Lead Singer for Toad The Wet Sprocket)

Events

1956: While driving North on Avenue K in Lubbock, TX, Buddy Holly notices a woman screaming "Stop that thief!" and chases down a fleeing shoplifter, making the local paper for his good deed.

1957: Steve Lawrence marries his first and only wife, fellow performer Eydie Gorme, at the El Rancho Hotel in Las Vegas.

1963: At 12:50 pm, New York's WMCA becomes the first radio station in the US to play the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand," officially kicking off the American Beatlemania craze. Across town, WABC plays the song an hour later.

1964: The Liverpool Youth Employment Service announced that some school leavers were finding it difficult to get jobs because their 'Beatle' style haircuts and clothing were unacceptable to employers.

1966: The Jimi Hendrix Experience make their television debut on BBC's Top Of The Pops, performing their first single, "Hey Joe."

1967: Dave Mason, singer and guitarist for Traffic, leaves the group for a solo career, though he'll return twice before finally quitting for good.

1969: A major milestone for Motown Records today as five of the Top 7 singles on Billboard's chart are products of the label and its affiliates.

1975: Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner and Grace Slick are divorced.

2006: The wife of rock singer Marilyn Manson, Burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese filed for divorce after just a year of marriage. The couple married in December 2005 in a ceremony held at a castle in Ireland.

December 28

Births

1903: Earl "Fatha" Hines (Jazz Pianist)

1915: Pops Staples (R&B Singer in The Staple Singers)

1921: Johnny Otis (Pop Singer)

1922: Stan Lee (Comic Writer)

1946: Edgar Winter (Keyboards & Vocals for Edgar Winter Group)

1948: Ziggy Modeliste (Drummer for The Meters)

1950: Alex Chilton (Guitar & Vocals for The Box Tops, Big Star & Solo)

1953: Richard Clayderman (Pianist)

1958: Joe Diffie (Country Artist)

1960: Marty Roe (Singer in Diamond Rio)

1971: Anita Dels (Singer for 2 Unlimited)

1978: John Legend (John Stephens) (R&B Singer / Songwriter & Pianist)

Events

1963: The magazine The New Yorker publishes an interview with Beatles manager Brian Epstein in their "Talk Of The Town" column about the band's upcoming Ed Sullivan gig -- the first major press the group has received in the US.

1964: African trumpeter Hugh Masekela is a featured guest on CBS-TV's game show To Tell The Truth.

1965: Elvis Presley, surrounded by friends including Larry Geller, "drops" LSD for the first time at Graceland, joined by girlfriend Priscilla Beaulieu. After staring at each others' distorted faces, the tropical fish in his aquarium, and, the next day, at dew drops on the breathing grass, both decide that they'd be risking their sanity to try the drug again.

1968: The first major rock concert on the East Coast, the Miami Pop Festival, takes place, a three-day affair featuring Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, The Turtles, Joni Mitchell, Procol Harum, Steppenwolf, Canned Heat, Iron Butterfly, The McCoys, Fleetwood Mac, The Box Tops, Three Dog Night, Pacific Gas and Electric, and The Grateful Dead.

1972: Mick Jagger visits Managua, Nicaragua with his wife Bianca, searching for her mother after a devastating recent earthquake that claimed thousands of lives. Fortunately, Bianca's mother is fine.

1975: Ted Nugent has a .44 Magnum gun pulled on him at a concert in Spokane, WA, until the man is wrestled to the ground by security.

1983: Dennis Wilson (Drummer for The Beach Boys) drowned at Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles, after drinking all day and diving in the afternoon to recover items he had thrown overboard at the marina from his yacht three years prior.

1992: Paul Simon is the proud parent of his second son, Adrian Edward, with mother (and singer) Edie Brickell.

1993: Canadian singer Shania Twain married record producer Mutt Lange. The couple had separated in 2008 after 14 years of marriage.

1993: Billy Ray Cyrus marries Leticia Finley at home in Williamson County, Tennessee. "One cannot stand at the crossroads forever," says Cyrus, who dresses for the ceremony in blue jeans and a cut-up sweatshirt.

1998: Atlanta Rhythm Section vocalist Ronnie Hammond is shot and slightly wounded in a scuffle with police in Macon, GA, after allegedly attempting to assault an officer with a hammer and, then, a broken guitar neck. officers had been responding to a suicide attempt call concerning the singer (the second in the same month).

2000: Waylon Jennings holds a three-day-long estate sale at his home in Dixon, IL, offering up, amongst other artifacts, a motorbike that once belonged to Buddy Holly.

2002: Cambodia deports Gary Glitter and extradites him back to the UK to face a conviction in London on child pornography charges.

2003: Pete Townshend of The Who reveals to a London newspaper that he seriously considered suicide after a 2002 arrest for child pornography charges. The guitarist had claimed he was visiting child porn websites as research for a book dealing with his own sexual abuse as a child.

2003: Michael Jackson gives an emotional interview to CBS-TV's 60 Minutes, his first since being arrested on child molestation charges, claiming, "Before I would hurt a child, I would slit my wrists."

2010: Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have a daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, born through a surrogate mother at Nashville's Centennial Medical Center.

December 27

Births

1901: Marlene Dietrich (Singer)

1931: Scotty Moore (Guitar for Elvis)

1941: Mike Pinder (Keyboards for The Moody Blues)

1944: Mike Jones (Guitar for Foreigner)

1948: Larry Byrom (Guitar for Steppenwolf)

1950: Terry Bozzio (Drums for Missing Persons & Frank Zappa)

1952: David Knopfler (Rhythm Guitar & Piano for Dire Straits)

1960: Youth (Martin Glover) (Bass for Killing Joke)

1984: Pleasure P (Marcus Ramone Cooper) (R&B Singer in Pretty Ricky & Solo)

1988: Hayley Williams (Singer for Paramore)

Events

1932: With 6,200 seats and a stage spanning 10,000 square feet, the world's largest indoor theater of the time, Radio City Music Hall, opens in New York City with a massive six-hour show.

1939: CBS Radio presents the first episode of the bi-weekly musical variety program The Glenn Miller Show.

1958: While attending a class at the Liverpool College of Art, John Lennon meets student Cynthia Powell, later to become his first wife.

1964: The Supremes appear on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, singing "Come See About Me." They would go on to appear 14 more times on "Sullivan" with Diana Ross, more than any other rock act.

1971: CBS-TV debuts the first fall season of The Sonny and Cher Show.

1975: Queen started a two-week run at No.1 on the Album chart with 'A Night At The Opera' the group's first No.1 album.

1978: Chris Bell (Singer / Songwriter & Guitar for Big Star) died in a car accident at 27 years old.

1985: Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon married model Yasmin Parvanah.

1989: Chuck Berry is sued by the former cook of his restaurant, Southern Air of Wentzville, MO, alleging that the rocker installed hidden video cameras in the ladies restrooms. 200 female, all former patrons of the diner, will eventually sue Berry over the incident.

1992: Harry Connick Jr was arrested at Kennedy Airport, New York after police discovered a 9mm pistol in his hand luggage.

1998: Busta Rhymes (AKA Trevor Smith) was arrested and charged with criminal possession after police found a loaded, unregistered pistol in his car. The police originally pulled Rhymes over for changing lanes three times without signaling.

1999: Sean 'Puff Daddy' Combs and his girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were arrested after a gun was found in their car as they left a Manhattan nightclub. Police were investigating a shooting in the club.

December 22

Births

1944: Barry Jenkins (Drummer for The Animals)

1948: Rick Nielsen (Guitar for Cheap Trick)

1949: Maurice & Robin Gibb (Singers in The Bee Gees)

1960: Luke (Luther Campbell) (Rapper in 2 Live Crew)

1972: Vanessa Paradis (Singer)

1989: Jordin Sparks (Singer)

Events

1956: Billboard announces that Elvis Presley has notched seventeen chart hits this year alone. (Pat Boone only manages five.)

1963: The Dave Clark Five scored their only US No.1 single with 'Over And Over', a No.5 in the UK.

1966: Acting on an earlier order from John Lennon, producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick manage to adjust the tape speeds of two completely different versions of "Strawberry Fields Forever" in order to create the track we know today.

1968: Singer Eric Burdon leaves the Animals for a solo career.

1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono meet with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Minister of Health John Munro to discuss drug abuse.

1975: Ike and Tina Turner's suitcase, containing $86,000 in concert receipts, is stolen.

1976: Singer Isaac Hayes files for bankruptcy.

1978: Faces' drummer Kenney Jones joins the Who, replacing Keith Moon, who had died from an accidental overdose of anti-alcoholic medications two months earlier.

1979: The Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea benefit premieres at London's Hammersmith Odeon, featuring organizer Paul McCartney, the Who, Queen, and an all-star "Rockestra."

1981: A Sotheby's auction in London features an enameled Abbey Road street sign ($600), an autographed program from the Beatles' Royal Command Performance ($2,000), a letter of introduction from Buddy Holly to Decca Records (also $2,000), the marriage certificate of John Lennon and first wife Cynthia ($850), an autographed program from the world premiere of the Beatles' movie Help! ($2,100) and, a jacket once worn by Tom Jones ($12).

1987: Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue was pronounced 'dead on arrival' in an ambulance when his heart stopped beating for two minutes. Sixx was given two shots of adrenaline in his chest to revive him. Fellow band members were prematurely informed of his death.

1988: The Smiths played their farewell gig at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, (without guitarist Johnny Marr). To gain entrance to the gig fans had to wear a Smiths or Morrissey T- shirt.

1991: Gregg Allman makes his acting debut as a drug kingpin in the movie Rush.

1994: Martina McBride delivers her first baby, a 6-pound, 4-ounce girl, Delaney Katharine.

2000: Madonna married film director Guy Ritchie at Skibo Castle, Scotland. Celebrities attending the wedding included Jon Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Sting and fashion designers Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier and Stellla McCartney. The couple divorced in Nov 2008.

2002: Former Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer (John Graham Mellor) died of a suspected heart attack aged 50.