February 8

Births

1931: James Dean (Actor)

1932: John Williams (Composer)

1941: Tom Rush (Folk Singer / Songwriter)

1943: Creed Bratton (William Charles Schneider) (Guitar for The Grass Roots & Creed on The Office)

1948: "England" Dan Seals (Singer / Songwriter)

1948: Ron Tyson (Singer in The Temptations)

1961: Vince Neil (Singer for Motley Crue)

1961: Sammy Llanas (Vocals & Acoustic Guitar for The BoDeans)

1968: Tjinder Singh (Singer & Guitar for Cornershop)

1971: Will Turpin (Bass for Collective Soul)

1977: Dave 'Phoenix' Ferrell (Bass for Linkin Park)

1985: Jeremy Davis (Bass for Paramore)

Events

1956: Buddy Holley signs a recording contract with Decca Records, one that mistakenly drops the "e" from his last name. Buddy, knowing a good thing when he sees it, drops the letter from his name as well.

1964: In response to the public uproar over the "pornographic" nature of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie," Max Firetag, the song's publisher, offers $1,000 to anyone who can find anything suggestive in the lyrics.

1967: The duo Peter and Gordon announce that the will split.

1969: After jamming together for some time, Cream's Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker announce the formation of Blind Faith along with Traffic's Steve Winwood and Rick Grech of Family. One of the first "supergroups," their alliance would result in one album and an ill-fated tour before collapsing, in only six months, under intense scrutiny from the media and the public.

1969: George Harrison's tonsils were removed at London's University College Hospital. The tonsils were destroyed so they could not be sold.

1972: The Beatles' official fan club disbands.

1980: David Bowie and wife Angela are divorced after nearly a decade of marriage, with custody of son Zowie (now known as Joe) going to David. Angela was the inspiration for the Rolling Stones' hit "Angie."

1981: R.E.M. made their first ever-recording sessions at Bombay Studios Smyrna, Georgia. Tracks included 'Gardening At Night', 'Radio Free Europe' and '(Don't Go Back To) Rockville.

1988: The three remaining members of the Who reunite at Royal Albert Hall for the British Phonographic Industry awards, leading to a full-fledged 25th anniversary tour the next year.

1990: Suffering from depression, American singer songwriter Del Shannon died of self inflicted gunshot wounds.

1993: Tom Jones guest stars on an episode of NBC's The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air.

1994: Oasis were forced to cancel their first foreign tour after they were deported from Holland. The band were involved in a drunken brawl on a cross-channel ferry resulting in members of the band being arrested and locked in the brig on the ferry.

1996: Travis Tritt proposes to Theresa Nelson at home near Marietta, Georgia, a year after they first met. He gets down on one knee and offers a six carat diamond.

2000: It was announced that Stan "the Man" Lee would create a comic book of the Backstreet Boys.

2006: Kelly Clarkson won two Grammys. The awards were for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Since U Been Gone" and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Breakaway". She was the first "American Idol" participant to win a Grammy. She also performed "Because of You" at the show.

February 2

Births

1927: Stan Getz (Jazz Sax Player)

1942: Graham Nash (Singer / Songwriter in The Hollies & Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)

1947: Farrah Fawcett (Just Because)

1949: Ross Valory (Bass for Journey & Steve Miller Band)

1963: Eva Cassidy (Singer)

1965: Steve Firth (Bass for Embrace)

1966: Robert Deleo (Bass for Stone Temple Pilots)

1977: Shakira (Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll) (Singer)

1980: Gucci Mane (Radric Davis) (Rapper)

Events

1957: Fats Domino makes an appearance on 's The Perry Como Show singing his hits "Blue Monday" and "Blueberry Hill."

1959: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper play their last show as part of the "Winter Dance Party" tour, stopping this night at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, IA. Admission: $1.25. The last song of the night: The Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace."

1969: "Carl Perkins Day" is declared in Jackson, TN, where the singer moved with his family at 18.

1969: Yoko Ono divorced her husband Tony Cox, Yoko was granted custody of their daughter Kyoko. John Lennon and married Yoko the following month on 30th March.

1973: Emerson, Lake, and Palmer keyboard player Keith Emerson injures his hands when a rigged piano explodes prematurely during a San Francisco gig, leaving him with minor cuts and a broken fingernail.

1973: Elvis Presley meets boxer Muhammed Ali in Las Vegas, presenting him with a robe emblazoned with the words "The People's Champion." Ali responds by giving Elvis boxing gloves inscribed "You're the greatest" (left) and "To Elvis, my main man, from Muhammad Ali" (right). Ali recollects later: "I felt sorry for him because he didn't enjoy life the way he should. He stayed indoors all the time. I told him he should go out and see people."

1973: NBC debuts The Midnight Special rock variety show, its response to ABC's popular In Concert series. The first host: Helen Reddy.

1976: Genesis released 'A Trick Of The Tail', their seventh studio album and the first to feature drummer Phil Collins as full-time lead vocalist following the departure of original vocalist Peter Gabriel. After auditioning over 400 vocalists, which saw Collins teaching the potential lead singers the songs, the band decided that Collins should be the new vocalist.

1979: Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York City at age 21. There had been a party to celebrate Vicious' release on $50,000 bail pending his trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, the previous October. Party guests, said that Vicious had taken heroin at midnight. An autopsy confirmed that Vicious died from an accumulation of fluid in the lungs that was consistent with heroin overdose. A syringe, spoon and heroin residue were discovered near the body.

1992: Todd Rundgren and wife Michele become the proud parents of a son they name "Rebop."

1993: Willie Nelson settles his $17 million tax debt with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service by paying them nine million dollars in cash and assets already seized.

1996: Gene Kelly died after a stroke he had a year earlier at age 83.

1999: Freddy Fender is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2007: US keyboardist Joe Hunter, a veteran session musician as one of the Funk Brothers who helped craft the distinctive Motown sound, died of natural causes in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 79.

2010: Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow shoot concert footage for the movie "Country Strong" at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium. The Lost Trailers entertain extras during the day.

2011: Zac and Shelly Brown have a daughter, Joni Mason Brown, at their home in the Atlanta area.

February 1

Births

1937: Don Everly (Singer in The Everly Brothers)

1939: Del McCoury (Bluegrass Musician)

1948: Rick James (R&B Singer / Songwriter)

1951: Sonny Landreth (Blues Guitarist)

1954: Mike Campbell (Guitar for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

1954: Chuck Dukowski (Bass for Black Flag)

1956: Exene Cervenka (Singer for X & Solo)

1957: Dennis Brown (Reggae Artist)

1964: Jani Lane (Singer for Warrant)

1968: Lisa Marie Presley (Singer)

1969: Patrick Wilson (Drummer for Weezer)

1971: Ron Welty (Drummer for The Offspring)

1971: Dexter (Michael C. Hall) (Actor)

1975: Big Boi (Antoine Patton) (Rapper in Outkast & Solo)

1994: Harry Styles (Singer in One Direction)

Events

1940: Frank Sinatra sang "Too Romantic" and "The Sky Fell Down" in his first recording session with the Tommy Dorsey Band. Frank replaced Jack Leonard as lead singer with the band.

1941: Downbeat magazine reports that Glenn Miller has signed a new three-year contract with RCA Victor... for the unprecedented sum of $750 per side.

1949: In response to Columbia's recent 33-1/3 "long play," or LP, vinyl record, RCA Victor unveils the first 45-rpm, 7-inch version, as well as a phonograph that plays the new invention. The vinyl "single" would eventually kill off the old 78-rpm record.

1962: Brian Epstein's managerial contract with the Beatles officially goes into effect.

1963: Paul Simon graduates from New York City's Queens College.

1964: Newsmen learn that Indiana Governor Matthew Walsh has banned the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie," then sitting at Number Six on Billboard's Hot 100, for allegedly containing obscene lyrics. Claiming it makes his "ears tingle" to listen to it, Walsh requests that the Indiana Broadcasters Association ban the record from airplay on all radio stations in the state. For his part, the song's publisher, Max Firetag, offers $1000 to anyone who can prove that the song contains obscene lyrics. The FBI eventually gets involved, and after extensive study reports that the lyrics of this version of the song, originally recorded by Richard Berry and the Pharoahs, are so garbled as to be unintelligible.

1968: Nine months after their marriage, Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu Presley become the proud parents of their only child, Lisa Marie, delivered at Memphis' Baptist Memorial Hospital. She remains Elvis' only offspring and sole heir.

1968: The Doors announce that Universal International film studios have offered the group an unprecedented half-million dollars to star in a feature film. An ABC television special, a group "humor book," and a book of poetry by leader Jim Morrison are also announced as in the planning stages. The poetry book alone will see the light of day.

1973: Gladys Knight and the Pips leave Motown's Soul label for a new career at Buddah.

1974: Guitarist Eric Bell leaves Thin Lizzy due to ill health brought on by alcohol abuse.

1975: On her seventh birthday, Lisa Marie Presley gets to meet her favorite singer, Elton John (a meeting arranged by her father).

1976: Despite the very public divorce of its two stars and two ill-fated solo variety shows in the interim, the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour reappears on CBS as The Sonny and Cher Show.

1977: Led Zeppelin's North American tour is postponed due to tonsillitis in lead singer Robert Plant.

1982: Memphis, TN mayor Wyeth Chandler declares today "Bar-Kays Day" in honor of Otis Redding's backup band, who went on to success in their own right with "Soul Finger."

1985: The Eagles' Glenn Frey makes his acting debut in an episode of NBC's Miami Vice.

1986: Diana Ross weds Norwegian businessman Arne Naess in Geneva, Switzerland.

2000: Guitarist C.C. DeVille announced that he was leaving Poison. The band later convinced him to come back.

2002: Winona Ryder was charged with four felony counts that stemmed from her shoplifting arrest on December 12, 2001. She was charged with theft, burglary, vandalism and possession of a controlled substance.

2012: Don Cornelius, the host of US TV's Soul Train, (from 1971 until 1993) died. Police officers responded to a report of a shooting at 12685 Mulholland Drive and found Cornelius with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 75.