January 10

Births

1925: Max Roach (Jazz Drummer)

1943: Jim Croce (Singer / Songwriter)

1944: Frank Sinatra Jr. (Son of The Man)

1945: Rod Stewart (Singer / Songwriter)

1946: Aynsley Dunbar (Drummer for John Mayall & Jefferson Starship)

1948: Donald Fagen (Vocals & Keyboards for Steely Dan & Solo)

1953: Pat Benatar (Singer)

1955: Michael Schenker (Guitar for UFO, SCorpions & Solo)

1956: Shawn Colvin (Singer / Songwriter)

1956: Don Letts (DJ for Big Audio Dynamite)

1959: Curt Kirkwood (Singer & Guitarist for The Meat Puppets)

1964: Brad Roberts (Lead Singer & Guitar for Crash Test Dummies)

1978: Matt Roberts (Guitarist for 3 Doors Down)

1978: Brent Smith (Singer for Shinedown)

1979: Chris Smith (Rapper in Kris Kross)

Events

1949: RCA announces its newest creation, the seven-inch vinyl record to be played at 45 rpm. The "45," as it would soon be known, would become the driving force of the record business in the early days of rock and roll.

1956: Elvis Presley made his first recordings for RCA Records at The Methodist television, radio & TV Studios in Nashville. 'Heartbreak Hotel' was one of the songs recorded during this session.

1965: American promoter Sid Bernstein, having already presented the Beatles at Carnegie Hall, calls group manager Brian Epstein about a possible Shea Stadium concert. It would be the first stadium concert by a rock group.

1969: George Harrison quits the Beatles for a short while, making him the second Beatle to do so (Ringo had left the group for a brief period a year earlier).

1971: The suit to officially dissolve the Beatles as a group gets underway in court.

1971: Bob Dylan appears on an NBC documentary accompanying bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs on Dylan's "East Virginia Blues" and "Nashville Skyline Rag."

1976: Howlin' Wolf died from complications of kidney disease.

1978: The Sex Pistols make their US TV debut on the show 'Variety'.

1979: Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters duo enters into rehab in a Topeka, KS facility.

1979: The trial of ex-Sex Pistol, Sid Vicious for the October 1978 murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, opened in New York City. Vicious died of a heroin overdose, thereby not living to hear the verdict.

1984: Cyndi Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry in 1967 to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

1997: James Brown receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2000: Singer Melissa Etheridge announced that David Crosby was the sperm donor of her two children with girlfriend Julie Cypher.

2001: American guitarist and songwriter and founder member of The Cramps Bryan Gregory died after suffering a heart attack aged 46 at Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, Anaheim, California.

2003: British and Dutch police recover 500 Beatles master tapes missing since a theft some thirty or so years earlier.

2005: A woman was suing Gene Simmons from Kiss for slander, alleging a documentary made her out to be a "sex-addicted nymphomaniac". Georgeann Walsh Ward, 53, of New York, said during a VH1 documentary her photo was flashed up as Simmons talked about his past sexual encounters. Ms Walsh Ward had dated Simmons for three years when he was a student. In the documentary, Simmons boasted of having sex with over 4,600 women.

2009: Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie married actor Josh Duhamel at the Church Estates Vineyards in Malibu. Guests included her bandmate Will.i.am and actress Kate Hudson.

December 26

Births

1935: Abdul "Duke" Fakir (Tenor singer in The Four Tops)

1939: Phil Spector (Producer & Songwriter)

1953: Henning Schmitz (Member of Kraftwerk)

1961: James Kottak (Drummer for Kingdom Come & The Scorpions)

1963: Lars Ulrich (Drummer for Metallica)

1971: Jared Leto (Vocals for 30 Seconds To Mars)

1979: Chris Daughtry (Singer for Daughtry)

Events

1964: The Rolling Stones, whose long hair has solidified the new standard for teenagers set by the Beatles, take out an ad in New Musical Express wishing starving hairdressers of the UK a "Happy Christmas."

1966: Backstage before a show at London's Uppercut Club, Jimi Hendrix scribbles out the lyrics to a new song called "Purple Haze."

1967: The Beatles' new television movie, a concept of Paul's entitled Magical Mystery Tour, has its first airing on the BBC. Shot in color but broadcast in black-and-white for some reason, the wandering psychedelic mess has critics and fans in the band's home country howling in disappointment and confusion. A planned later US airing is quickly cancelled.

1968: Led Zeppelin begin their first-ever US tour, opening for Spirit, the MC5, and Vanilla Fudge.

1970: George Harrison started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'My Sweet Lord', making him the first Beatle to score a No.1 US hit. The song was originally intended for Billy Preston.

1987: Run D.M.C.'s Jam Master Jay was hospitalized when his Jeep was hit head-on by a driver going the wrong-way.

1999: Curtis Mayfield died at the North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia his health having steadily declined following his paralysis.

December 23

Births

1929: Chet Baker (Jazz Singer & Trumpeter)

1940: Jorma Kaukonen (Guitar & Vocals for Jefferson Airplane)

1943: Derek Smalls (Bass for Spinal Tap)

1945: Ron Bushy (Drummer for Iron Butterfly)

1949: Ariel Bender (Guitar for Mott The Hoople)

1956: Dave Murray (Guitar for Iron Maiden)

1964: Eddie Vedder (Vocals for Pearl Jam)

Events

1959: Chuck Berry is arrested in St. Louis after Janice Norine, a 14-year old Apache girl he'd driven in from Mexico is revealed to be a prostitute. (Berry claims she was hired merely to be a hat check girl at his club.) Under the Mann Act, which makes it illegal to transport a minor across state line for immoral purposes, Berry is sentenced to five years in prison. He would serve less than four.

1964: After making their first appearance on ABC-TV's Shindig! (where they perform "Little Saint Nick," "Dance, Dance, Dance," "Papa Oom Mow Mow," and "Monster Mash"), and in flight from Los Angeles to a concert in Houston, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson suffers a nervous breakdown, leading to his immediate retirement from touring. Glen Campbell, still a studio musician, is hired to take his place on stage, and is eventually replaced by permanent member Bruce Johnston.

1967: John Lennon makes the first contact with his estranged father, Alf, in years: after hearing that he's taken ill, John sends him a get well note and a car so that he can visit his famous son.

1968: At Apple's Christmas party, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hand out presents to the children of the staff, dressed as Santa and Mrs Claus.

1969: Elton John meets for the first time with what would become his classic team -- songwriter Bernie Taupin, arranger Paul Buckmaster, and producer Gus Dudgeon -- to begin work on his first solo album.

1969: Willie Nelson's home in Ridgetop, Tennessee, burns while he's in Nashville at a Christmas party. When Nelson sees the house in flames, he runs in to rescue his guitar, Trigger, and a bag of marijuana stashed inside the case.

1977: Cat Stevens announces that he has changed his name to Yusuf Islam and converted to the Islamic religion.

1985: Judas Priest fans Raymond Belknap and James Vance shot themselves after listening to the Judas Priest album ‘Stained Class.’ The two had drunk beer, smoked marijuana and then listened to hours of the album. Afterwards they took a shotgun to a nearby school playground where Belknap shot and killed himself. Vance then blew away his jaw, mouth and nose but lived for more than three years before dying of effects of the shooting.

1992: Eddie Hazel (Guitar for Funkadelic) died from internal bleeding and liver failure. "Maggot Brain" was played at his funeral.

1996: Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx married TV's 'Baywatch' star Donna Deruico.

1999: Cristin Keleher, an unemployed musician in Hawaii, breaks into George Harrison's Maui home and makes herself at home, ordering pizza, drinking root beer, doing laundry, and calling her mother before authorities arrive to arrest her. She is eventually charged with breaking and entering and theft. She would serve four months.

2005: Geezer Butler, the bass player with Black Sabbath offered $9,000 for any information leading to the safe return of Toga, the three-month-old penguin that had been stolen from a zoo on the Isle of Wight a few days earlier.

December 22

Births

1946: Rick Nielsen (Guitar for Cheap Trick)

1949: Maurice & Robin Gibb (The Bee Gees)

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.