February 15

Births

1944: Mick Avory (Drummer for The Kinks)

1945: John Helliwell (Sax for Supertramp)

1950: David Brown (Bass for Santana)

1951: Melissa Manchester (Singer)

1957: Jake E. Lee (Jakey Lou Williams) (Guitar for Ozzy Osbourne & Badlands)

1959: Ali Campbell (Singer in UB40)

1964: Chris Farley (Comedian)

1967: Jane Child (Pop Singer / Songwriter)

1969: Birdman (Bryan Williams) (Rapper)

1976: Brandon Boyd (Singer in Incubus)

1976: Ronnie Vannucci Jr (Drummer in The Killers)

1977: Brooks Wackerman (Drummer for Bad Religion)

1980: Conor Oberst (Singer / Songwriter for Bright Eyes, Monsters Of Folk & The Faint)

Events

1941: Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded "Take the "A" Train" for the first time.

1954: Big Joe Turner recorded the original "Shake, Rattle & Roll".

1958: Due to the amazing daytime success of Dick Clark's American Bandstand, ABC debuts a new prime-time variety show called The Dick Clark Show. Guests on the first episode include Connie Francis, Pat Boone, Chuck Willis, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Royal Teens, and Johnnie Ray.

1961: Singer Jackie Wilson was left with a stomach wound after Juanita Jones, a female fan, went to his New York apartment demanding to see him. Jones' gun went off as he tried to disarm her.

1964: The Beatles scored their first US No.1 album with 'Meet The Beatles!' The album stayed at No.1 for eleven weeks.

1965: Nat "King" Cole died of lung cancer at age 45. In 1956 he became the first black American to host a television variety show.

1967: Music students at Chicago's DePaul University form a seven-piece rock ensemble called The Big Thing. Later, they would change their name to Chicago Transit Authority, and then, simply, Chicago.

1968: Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, along with their wives, travel to Rishikesh, India to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The other two band members would soon follow.

1968: US blues harmonica player Little Walter died from injuries incurred in a fight while taking a break from a performance at a nightclub in Chicago.

1969: Florida hairstylist Vickie Jones is arrested for impersonating Aretha Franklin at a club in Fort Myers, FL. Incredibly, her performance is so believable that no patrons demand a refund.

1970: After a Sly and the Family Stone concert runs hours late and causes over a thousand dollars in damages, the Daughters of the American Revolution impose a ban against any further rock concerts at the venue, Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall.

1975: Capitol Records rushes to release John Lennon's Rock and Roll album after a much shabbier version, called Roots, had begun to be marketed on late-night television. Roots was music exec Morris Levy's version of the "oldies" sessions, which Lennon was court-ordered to undertake as payment for a Chuck Berry line John used in the Beatles' "Come Together." (Levy's copyright was judged to have been infringed by the line "Here come old flat-top, he come groovin' up slowly.")

1976: Bette Midler bails out no less than seven members of her entourage from jail after their arrest on drug possession charges.

1977: Sid Vicious joined the Sex Pistols replacing bassist Glen Matlock.

1981: American guitarist Mike Bloomfield was found dead in his car in San Francisco from an accidental heroin overdose. He was a member of the Paul Butterfield band and Electric Flag and had played on Bob Dylan's album 'Highway 61 Revisited'.

1991: Rod Stewart's ex-girlfriend, supermodel Kelly Emberg, files a $25 million palimony suit against the singer in Los Angeles Superior Court.

1999: Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura -- a former Rolling Stones concert bodyguard & professional wrestler -- declares today "Rolling Stones Day."

1999: Rapper Big L (Lamont Coleman) was killed after being shot nine times in the face and chest by a childhood friend.

February 14

Births

1943: Maceo Parker (Sax Player)

1945: Vic Briggs (Lead Guitar for The Animals)

1947: Tim Buckley (Singer / Songwriter)

1950: Roger Fisher (Guitar for Heart)

1963: D'Wayne Wiggins (R&B Singer in Tony, Toni, Tone)

1972: Rob Thomas (Singer for Matchbox Twenty & Solo)

1978: Dwele (Andwele Gardner) (R&B Singer)

1985: Havana Brown (Angelique Meunier) (DJ & Singer)

Events

1958: CBS' Walter Cronkite reports that the government of Iran has banned rock and roll for being unhealthy and anti-Islamic. The "unhealthy" claim is backed by Iranian doctors who warn of hip damage due to "extreme gyrations."

1964: Chad and Jeremy guest star on ABC's The Patty Duke Show.

1967: Aretha Franklin recorded her song "Respect" in New York.  Her Sisters sang back up on the song.

1970: The Who play a legendary concert at Leeds University in England which will become the Live at Leeds LP.

1970: Billboard Magazine reports that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is "Mounting Total War Against Tape Pirating of Prerecorded Music."

1972: On the same day the band breaks up for the first time, Los Angeles mayor Sam Yorty declares today "Steppenwolf Day."

1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their week-long stint as guest hosts on the syndicated Mike Douglas Show.

1973: David Bowie collapses due to "total exhaustion" at the end of his Valentine's Day show at New York's Madison Square Garden.

1974: Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille (a/k/a The Captain and Tennille) are married in Virginia City, NV.

1980: Lou Reed marries Sylvia Morales in New York City's Greenwich Village.

1981: Billy Idol left Generation X for a solo career.

1977: Singer / songwriter Janis Ian received 461 Valentine's day cards after indicating in the lyrics of her song 'At Seventeen', she had never received any.

1977: The B-52's made their first live performance appearing in a Greenhouse at a Valentines day party in Athens, Ga.

1978, Dire Straits began recording their first album at Basing Street Studios, London. The whole project cost $21,250 to produce.

1984: Elton John marries sound engineer Renate Blauel in Sydney, Australia. Attendees include Olivia Newton-John and Rod Stewart. The couple divorced three years later.

1986: Frank Zappa guest stars on NBC's Miami Vice. Zappa portrayed a crime boss named 'Mr. Frankie.'

1993: Harry Nilsson suffers his first heart attack.

1994: The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia marries Deborah Koons.

1996: Prince married Mayte Garcia in a Minneapolis church. He also composed a special song for his wife, 'Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother, Wife', which she heard for the first time when they had their first wedding dance. The couple split in 1998.

1998: Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' set a new recorded for the most radio plays in the US with 116 million plays in one week.

1999: Elton John guest stars on Fox's The Simpsons.

2000: KISS announces their "farewell tour."

2004: Dave Holland, former drummer with Judas Priest was jailed for eight years for indecent assault and the attempted rape of a 17-year old boy. The youth, who had learning difficulties, had been taking drum lessons from Holland.

2008: Oasis singer Liam Gallagher married his long-term partner, the ex-All Saints singer Nicole Appleton at a civil ceremony in London.

February 13

Births

1919: Tennessee Ernie Ford (Country Singer)

1942: Peter Tork (Keyboards & Bass for The Monkees)

1945: King Floyd (R&B Singer)

1950: Peter Gabriel (Lead Singer for Genesis & Solo)

1950: Bob Daisley (Bass for Ozzy Osbourne & Rainbow)

1951: David Naughton (Singer)

1952: Ed Gagliardi (Bass for Foreigner)

1956: Peter Hook (Bass for Joy Division & New Order)

1961: Henry Rollins (Singer for Black Flag & Rollins Band)

1961: Les Warner (Drummer for The Cult)

1966: Freedom Williams (Lead Vocals for C+C Music Factory)

1974: Robbie Williams (Singer in Take That & Solo)

1976: Feist (Leslie Feist ) (Singer / Songwriter)

1978: Hamish Glencross (Guitar for My Dying Bride)

Events

1961: Frank Sinatra launched his own record label, Reprise Records, in order to allow more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname “The Chairman of the Board.”

1970: On this day, Friday the 13th, Black Sabbath released their debut self-titled studio album on Vertigo records. Peaking at #8 on the charts, the album has been recognized as the first main album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre.

1972: Led Zeppelin is forced to cancel a gig in Singapore when local officials, seeing their long hair, refuse to let them off the plane.

1974, David Bowie turned down an offer from the Gay Liberation group to compose 'the world's first Gay National Anthem.'

1978: Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley officially declares today "Al Green Day."

1980: Police raided the home of former Sex Pistol John Lydon who greeted them waving a ceremonial sword, the only illegal item they found was a canister of tear gas, claimed to be for defense against intruders.

1981: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon becomes first the rock album to spend the most consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart -- 402 weeks from March 1973. It would eventually leave the charts April 23, 1988, after 724 weeks.

1982: The 300-pound gravestone of Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant is stolen from the cemetery in Orange Park, CA. Police find it two weeks later in a dry river bed.

1988: Michael Jackson purchases a ranch in Santa Ynez, CA, which he renames "Neverland."

1997: Michael Jackson and wife Debbie Rowe become the proud parents of their first child, Prince.

1998: Police at Manchester Airport arrested former Stone Roses singer, Ian Brown after an incident during a flight from Paris. Brown was found guilty in August the same year and jailed for four months; British Airways also banned him from flying with the airline.

2002: Country artist Waylon Jennings died in his sleep of diabetic complications.

2007: Robbie Williams checked into rehab on his birthday to deal with an addiction to prescription drugs.