March 27

Birthdays

1914: Snooky Lanson (Singer)

1924: Sarah Vaughan (Jazz Singer)

1950: Tony Banks (Keyboard & Guitar for Genesis)

1953: Wally Stocker (Lead Guitar for The Babys)

1953: Walter Stocker (Air Supply)

1959: Andrew Farriss (Keyboards for INXS)

1962: Derrick McKenzie (Drums for Jamiroquai)

1964: Clark Datchler (Johnny Hates Jazz)

1965: Johnny April (Bass for Staind)

1970: Mariah Carey

1975: Fergie (Stacy Ferguson)

Events

1955: Frustrated over Ike Turner's inability to find a label to record the follow up to his hit, Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88," Sam Phillips decides to form his own independent label in Memphis, known as Sun Records. Within a matter of days, Sun will release its first single, Johnny London's "Drivin' Slow" b/w "Flat Tire".

1958: CBS Records announces its sound lab's latest invention, stereophonic sound, which when played on a compatible phonograph will send sound through two channels instead of one.

1960: Representative Emanuel Celler (D-NY) introduces two bills designed to halt the practice of "payola" -- that is, DJs receiving cash or gifts to promote certain records. Celler, echoing the sentiments of his era, declares that "the cacophonous music called Rock and Roll" could not possibly have risen up the charts without the practice of payola.

1966: Roy Orbison takes a curve too tightly while out motorcycling in Hawkstone Park in Birmingham, England, fracturing his foot and resulting in him playing his next few English dates in crutches on a stool.

1967: Fats Domino plays his first UK gig at London's Saville Theatre, on a ticket that includes the Bee Gees and Gerry & the Pacemakers.

1967: The Young Rascals recorded "Groovin'."

1972: Elvis Presley recorded what would be his last major hit, 'Burning Love,' a No.2 hit on the US chart.

1973: Rolling Stone reports that Carlos Santana has become a devotee of Sri Chimnoy, and has therefore changed his name to "Devadip," which means "the lamp of the light of the Supreme."

1973: A routine speeding ticket in New Jersey becomes a headache for Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia when police search his car and find a significant quantity of LSD. He is released on two thousand dollars bail.

1976: Paul McCartney and Wings were forced to postpone forthcoming US tour for three weeks after guitarist Jimmy McCulloch fell in his hotel bathroom and broke a finger.

1978: All You Need Is Cash, a Beatles parody film developed from a skit by Eric Idle on BBC2's Rutland Weekend Television, introduces The Rutles to the world when it is shown for the first time on the BBC.

1979: Eric Clapton finally gets his "Layla" when he marries Pattie Boyd, ex-wife of best friend George Harrison. Harrison attends the wedding in Tucson, AZ, as do fellow Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. Eric and Pattie would divorce in 1988.

1982: Ronnie Lane, former bassist for the (Small) Faces, is taken to the hospital for treatment of his multiple sclerosis. Lane would succumb to the wasting muscle disorder in 1997.

1986: Van Halen kicked off their 1986, 112 date North American tour at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport, Los Angeles. This was the band's first tour with Sammy Hagar on lead vocals.

1987: U2 performed from the roof of a store in downtown LA to make the video for 'Where The Streets Have No Name', attracting thousands of spectators and bringing traffic to a standstill. The police eventually stop the shoot.

1991: New Kids On The Block's Donnie Wahlberg was arrested after setting fire to carpets (using a bottle of vodka) at The Seelbach Hotel, Louisville. Wahlberg plea bargains the charge down to criminal mischief and was ordered to perform fire safety and anti-drug abuse promos.

1995: Tupac Shakur's "Me Against the World" made him the first rap artist to debut at No. 1 on the charts while in jail for sexual assault.

2000: Singer, songwriter, poet and actor, Ian Dury died after a long battle with cancer aged 57.

2001: Christina Aguilera signed an U.S. sponsorship deal with Cola-Cola, only a month after Britney Spears signed a deal to promote Pespi.

2002: Lyle Lovett was trampled by a bull while trying to help his uncle who had just been thrown by the animal. Lovett's lower right leg was broken in several places.

2003: The Rolling Stones postpone a planned series of concerts in Hong Kong after the deadly SARS flu epidemic breaks out there; ironically, the Stones would later perform a benefit there to show the city was safe to visit.

2006: Victor Willis, the "policeman" in the Village People, is arrested in San Francisco for failing to appear at his trial for cocaine and gun possession. After agreeing to enter rehab, his sentence is reduced to three years probation.

2007: Jefferson Airplane/Starship vocalist Grace Slick sues former bandmate Paul Kantner for touring with different musicians under the name "Paul Kantner's Starship."

2007:  The wife of Velvet Revolver singer Scott Weiland was arrested on suspicion of burning over $10,000 of his belongings outside their home after police in southern California found a bin of smouldering clothes. Earlier that day, the couple left two rooms vandalised after an argument at a luxury hotel.

2007: Eminem and his ex-wife Kim reached a court agreement to stop insulting each other in public. The pair, who divorced for the second time last year, pledged to stop trading insults for the sake of their 11-year-old daughter Hailie. The deal came after the rap star took legal action to stop Kim Mathers making "derogatory, disparaging, inflammatory and otherwise negative comments".

2008, Grammy-nominated rapper Remy Ma was convicted of assault after a woman was shot in New York. The jury heard how Ms Smith had shot her friend outside a nightclub in July 2007 because she thought the woman had stolen $3,000 from her. The rapper was to remain in jail without bail until she was sentenced.

2008: an inquest in Leeds, England heard the husband of UK singer Corinne Bailey Rae died from a suspected overdose. The body of saxophonist Jason Rae, 31, was found in a flat in the Hyde Park area of Leeds. A 32-year-old man arrested on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs was bailed pending further inquiries.

March 26

Birthdays

1917: Rufus Thomas (R&B Singer)

1936: Freddie Parris (The Five Satins)

1944: Diana Ross (Singer)

1948: Richard Tandy (Keyboards for Electric Light Orchestra)

1948: Steven Tyler (Singer for Aerosmith)

1949: Vicki Lawrence (Singer)

1949: Fran Sheehan (Bass for Boston)

1950: Teddy Pendergrass (R&B Singer)

1950: Ronnie McDowell (Singer)

1955: Martin Price (808 State)

1956:  Stephanie Mills (Singer)

1957: Paul Morley (Art Of Noise)

1968: James Jonas Iha (Guitar for Smashing Pumpkins)

1968: Kenny Chesney (Country Singer)

1981: Jay Sean (R&B Singer)

Events

1827: Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died.

1958: Eddie Cochran recorded "Summertime Blues".

1962: Elvis Presley begins filming his 11th motion picture, titled Girls! Girls! Girls!

1963: Funny Girl, a musical about Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice, opens on Broadway, starring Barbra Streisand. It features the hits "Don't Rain On My Parade" and the song that would become her trademark, "People."

1964: Tonight's guest on CBS-TV's "panel show" I've Got A Secret is former Beatles drummer Pete Best, whose "secret" occupation is guessed almost immediately. When host Gary Moore asks Best why he "left" the group (Best was fired), he replied: "I thought I'd like to start a group of my own."

1965: Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman all received electric shocks from a faulty microphone on stage during a Rolling Stones show in Denmark. Bill Wyman was knocked unconscious for several minutes.

1968: Little Willie John Dies. The official cause of death was listed in his death certificate as a heart attack.

1969: Pat Boone guest-stars as himself on tonight's "Collard Greens An' Fatback" episode of CBS-TV's Beverly Hillbillies.

1970: Mere days after winning a Grammy for Best Recording for Children with their album Peter, Paul and Mommy, Peter Paul and Mary are scandalized when group leader Peter Yarrow is arrested in Washington, DC for "taking immoral liberties" with a 14-year-old girl. He would spend three months in prison and would later be given clemency by President Jimmy Carter.

1972: Mott The Hoople are about to call it quits when friend of the band David Bowie offers to produce their next album, even offering them two new songs he's written: "Suffragette City," which the band turns down, and "All The Young Dudes."

1975: The movie musical Tommy, directed by Ken Russell and based on the Who album of the same name, premieres in London, starring Who lead singer Roger Daltrey in the title role, as well as Ann-Margret and Jack Nicholson. Guest stars include Elton John and Tina Turner.

1976: Keith Richards and model girlfriend Anita Pallenberg become the proud parents of a son, Tara. Sadly, he would die ten weeks later from pneumonia.

1976: One-man blues band Duster Bennett was killed in a car accident.

1976: Riding near the scene of a multi-car pileup in Memphis, Elvis Presley jumps out of his limo, displays his honorary police captain's badge from the city, and attempts to help the victims before police and rescue teams arrive.

1977: Hall and Oates started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Rich Girl', the duo's first US No.1

1980: Pink Floyd's landmark 1973 LP Dark Side Of The Moon surpasses Carole King's Tapestry as the album with the longest consecutive stay on the Billboard 200 album chart. It would remain on the chart until 1988.

1980: Jon Paulus (Buckinghams) died of a drug overdose at the age of 32.

1983: Duran Duran went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Is There Something I Should Know'. Their first No.1 and there eighth single release. The group were on a US promotional trip on this day, where they were greeted by 5,000 screaming fans at an in-store appearance in New York City.

1985: After Stevie Wonder's Oscar speech the previous night, at which he dedicated his Best Song Award to Nelson Mandela, South Africa bans all Wonder records from its nation's radio stations.

1988: Morrissey went to No.1 on the UK album chart with his debut solo LP 'Viva Hate.'

1994: Soundgarden entered the US album chart at No.1 with 'Superunknown'.

1995: Rapper producer, and record executive Eazy-E (Eric Lynn Wright) died of AIDS in Los Angeles aged 31.

2001: the toy figure of Eminem was facing a ban from UK shops. Woolworth's and Hamleys were refusing to stock the dolls. Psychologists warned parents who buy the dolls for children will be inadvertently giving their approval to bad language.

2002: Randy Castillo drummer with the Ozzy Osbourne band died of cancer aged 51.

2004: Jan Berry of Jan and Dean, died at the age of 62 after being in poor health sustained in a 1966 car crash.

2005: Australian drummer Paul Hester died aged 46, after he "attempted suicide" and died from strangulation after being found hanged in a park in Melbourne. He had been a member of Crowded House, Split Enz and Largest Living Things.

2008: The Los Angeles Times apologised for claiming rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was involved in a 1994 shooting of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur. The LA Times, which published the original story on its website, initially said its claims were based on FBI records, witness accounts and other unnamed sources. The apology followed a claim that the newspaper was conned by a prisoner .

March 25

Birthdays

1934: Johnny Burnette (Rockabilly Artist)

1938: Hoyt Axton (Singer)

1940: Anita Bryant (Singer)

1942: Aretha Franklin (Singer)

1947: Elton John (Singer)

1947: Jack Hall (The Charlie Daniels Band)

1951: Maisie Williams (Singer in Boney M)

1952: Paul Miles (Blues Guitarist)

1960: Steve Norman (Guitar & Sax for Spandau Ballet)

1966: Jeff Healey (Singer & Guitarist)

1969: Cathy Dennis (Singer)

1971: Michael McKeegan (Bass for Therapy?)

1975: Juvenile (Terry Gray)

Events

1958: Reporting to Ft. Chaffee, AK by bus for his induction into the service, Elvis Presley has his famous hair shorn off by an Army barber. The media follows close behind. The pop icon is assigned to Second Medium Tank Battalion, Second Armored Division, the "Hell On Wheels" division once led by General George S. Patton. Elvis, however, receives an assignment as a jeep driver. Within days, manager "Colonel" Tom Parker receives 5,000 pieces of mail addressed to the singer at Fort Chaffee.

1960: Ray Charles recorded "Georgia On My Mind".

1960: Roy Orbison recorded "Only The Lonely".

1961: Elvis Presley holds an afternoon press conference and, in the evening, performs the USS Arizona concert at Pearl Harbor's Bloch Arena, raising $62,000 for the memorial dedicated to the 1,177 US servicemen killed when the ship went down on December 7, 1941. This would be Presley's last live performance for seven years.

1964: The Beatles made their debut on UK TV show 'Top Of The Pops' singing 'Can't Buy Me Love' and ‘You Can’t Do That.’ The show had been recorded on March 19th.

1965: London session guitarist Jeff Beck joins the Yardbirds after being recommended by the group's first choice, another session man named Jimmy Page (Led Zepplin).

1966: At a photo session with Bob Whitaker’s studio in London, The Beatles posed in white coats using sides of meat with mutilated and butchered dolls for the cover of their next American album, ‘Yesterday and Today’. After a public outcry, the L.P. was pulled from stores and re-issued with a new cover.

1967: The Who and Cream made their U.S. concert debut at RKO 58th Street Theatre, New York City as part of a rock & roll extravaganza promoted by DJ Murray the K.

1968: Roy Orbison marries his second wife, Barbara Wellhonen, in Nashville. They would remain married until Orbison's death twenty years later.

1968: "The Frodis Caper," the 58th and last episode of The Monkees, directed by Micky Dolenz and featuring the lone band song "Zor and Zam," airs on NBC-TV.

1969: A just-married John Lennon and Yoko Ono decide to use the press circus of their honeymoon to promote an end to the Vietnam war, and wars in general. The duo stay, fully clothed, in their bed at the Amsterdam Hilton for the next four days, talking about peace to a cadre of largely skeptical reporters from around the world.

1971: New York's flagship radio station WNBC becomes the first to ban Brewer and Shipley's hit "One Toke Over The Line" due to alleged marijuana references.

1972: America started a three week run at No.1 on the singles chart with their debut hit 'Horse With No Name'.

1976: Jackson Browne's wife, Phyllis Major, commits suicide with sleeping pills just months after their marriage, leading the singer-songwriter to spend much of his next record, The Pretender, dealing with the tragedy.

1977: Elvis Costello released his debut single 'Less Than Zero' it didn't make the Top 40.

1978: Bill Kenny (The Ink Spots) dies.

1979:  Van Halen released the album "Van Halen II."

1983: Motown tapes an all-star concert at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California in order to celebrate the label's anniversary. Performers include Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, The Commodores, Martha Reeves, and Jr. Walker. Also appearing, in what would be his last TV performance, is Marvin Gaye. A very brief Supremes reunion and a Jackson 5 performance top off the night, but when the show is broadcast on May 16, 1983, it is Michael Jackson's solo performance of his new single "Billie Jean" -- complete with moonwalk -- that would steal the show, kicking off the Thriller juggernaut and turning Michael from a superstar to a megastar overnight.

1985: Stevie Wonder wins his first Oscar for his theme to the film The Woman In Red, entitled "I Just Called To Say I Love You." Sixteen years later to the day, Bob Dylan will win his first Oscar for his Wonder Boys song "Things Have Changed."

1985:  Prince won an Oscar for Best Original Score for the soundtrack for the movie "Purple Rain."

1986: Guns N' Roses signed a world-wide deal with Geffen Records.

1989: The recording studio at Chuck Berry's ranch in Wentzville, MO is destroyed by a fire, taking with it 13 of Berry's unreleased songs.

1990: Motley Crue's Tommy Lee was arrested for mooning at the audience during a gig in Augusta. Lee was charged with indecent exposure.

1995: Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder was rescued after a riptide carried him 250 feet offshore in New Zealand.

2000: Former Bay City Rollers drummer Derek Longmuir was given 300 hours community service after being caught with a hoard of child pornography including 150 videos and 73 floppy disks.

2000: N’SYNC set a new world record after selling a million tickets in one day for the group’s forthcoming tour, netting them over 42.5 million.

2001: The first Britney Spears Pepsi TV commercial was aired on US television. Spears had signed a multi-million dollar deal with Pepsi for her forthcoming world tour.

2002: Joe Schermie (Three Dog Night) died of a heart attack at age 52.

2002: Bono from U2 made a appearance at the air rage trial of R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, telling the court 'I came to court because Peter is actually famously know for being a peaceable person. I once had to twist his arm to get him to a boxing match'. Buck was later cleared of all charges. He had been accused of attacking two cabin staff and covering them in yoghurt, knocking over a trolley and trying to steal a knife.

2002: The seven-year mystery of missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards took a grisly twist when human feet were found near where he vanished in 1995.

2003: Liv Tyler the daughter of Aerosmith singer Steven married Royston Langdon from Spacehog.

2004 - In Georgia, the House of Representatives voted 134-0 to name a stretch of Interstate 85 for country music star Alan Jackson. The honor had already passed the Senate.

2005: Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne were forced to flee their Buckinghamshire mansion after a blaze broke out as they slept. Ozzy and his wife were roused by a fire alarm and ran to safety in the garden, rescuing their pets as they escaped.

2006: Buck Owens  died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield.

2008: Richie Sambora was arrested in California on suspicion of drink driving. The 48 year-old Bon Jovi guitarist was arrested after a police officer noticed his black Hummer weaving in traffic lanes in Laguna Beach. He was ordered to appear in court on one count of driving under the influence.

2009: Dan Seals (England Dan and John Ford Coley) dies of complications from a stem cell transplant he had the previous December.

March 24

Birthdays

1937: Billy Stewart (R&B Singer)

1948: Lee Oskar (War)

1949: Nick Lowe (Singer)

1951: Dougie Thomson (Supertramp)

1960: Nena (Singer)

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

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.

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.”

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