April 20

Births

1908: Lionel Hampton (Jazz Vibraphonist)

1923: Tito Puente (Salsa Artist)

1945: Jimmy Winston (Keyboards for The Small Faces)

1948: Craig Frost (Keyboards for Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band & Grand Funk Railroad)

1951: Luther Vandross (R&B Singer)

1967: Mike Portnoy (Drummer for Dream Theater)

1971: Mikey Welsh (Bass for Weezer)

1972: Stephen Marley (Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers)

1972: Carmen Electra (Singer)

Events

1949: Phil Spector's father, Benjamin, commits suicide over mounting debt, prompting Phil Spector to write "To Know Him Is To Love Him" a decade later for the Teddy Bears (the title being inspired by the legend on Benjamin's headstone).

1957: Elvis Presley started an eight week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'All Shook Up.' It went on to be the biggest single of 1957 selling over 2 million copies.

1959: Dolly Parton's first single, "Puppy Love," was released. She was 13 at the time.

1963: Ricky Nelson marries his first wife, Kris Harmon, daughter of college football legend Tom Harmon and brother of actor Mark Harmon, in Los Angeles. A pregnant Kris gives birth to daughter Tracy only six months later. The couple divorce in 1982.

1968: Deep Purple make their stage debut at the Vestpoppen, in Kastrup, Denmark.

1968: Apple Music, the Beatles' new label, runs their famous "This Man Has Talent" ads in Britain's New Musical Express, seeking demo tapes from unknown artists. Most are never heard but pile up in Apple's offices, and the majority of the label's signings are acquired through more conventional means.

1969: Papa Zita (The Funk Brothers) died of a stroke at the age of 43.

1970: The New York Times reports that Catholic and Protestant youth groups are adopting the Beatles' "yellow submarine" image, from the song and movie of the same name, as a symbol of their faith.

1976: At tonight's Monty Python concert, held in New York, George Harrison joins the lads onstage, replete with mountie outfit, for a rousing rendition of their "Lumberjack Song."

1979: Lighting director Billy Duffy was killed in an accident during a Kate Bush concert in Southampton, England. 21-year old Duffy fell twenty feet through an open trap door on the stage. Kate Bush held a benefit concert on 12th May with Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley at London's Hammersmith Odeon for his family.

1981: John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas is sentenced to five years for helping a Los Angeles-area pharmacist sell fake prescriptions, as well as drug possession. His sentence will be reduced to one month, however, after he agrees to perform 250 hours of community service in the form of anti-drug lectures.

1987: Ozzy Osbourne released the album "Tribute." It was a live album recorded with Randy Rhoads. Rhoads had died in 1982.

1987: Rhode Island police arrest a teen accused of biting the head off a gerbil in tribute to his hero, Ozzy Osbourne.

1987: A record store in Callaway, Florida was forced to closed down and a part-time clerk was arrested after selling a copy of '2 Live Is What We Are' by 2 Live Crew to a 14 year old boy. Officials had deemed the recording "obscene" because of its pornographic lyrics.

1990: Janet Jackson was bestowed with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at the start of 'Janet Jackson week' in Los Angeles.

1991: Steve Marriott (Guitarist for The Small Faces & Humble Pie) died in a fire supposedly lit by his cigarette after he fell in a deep drunken sleep at age 44.

1991: John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival marries his second wife, Julie Lebiedzinksi, in Bristol, IN. The two are still married.

1992: 'A Concert For Life' took place at Wembley Stadium as a tribute to Queen singer Freddie Mercury and for aids awareness. Acts appearing included; Elton John, Roger Daltrey, Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), David Bowie, Mick Ronson, James Hetfield, George Michael, Seal, Paul Young, Annie Lennox, Lisa Stansfield, Robert Plant, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen, Axl Rose and Slash.

1992: Madonna signed a deal with Time Warner to set up a multimedia company (Maverick Records). The deal reportedly made Madonna the highest paid woman in pop music.

1993: Aerosmith released the album ‘Get a Grip’, which became their first album to debut at No.1. It went on to sell 7 million copies in a 2-year timespan in the United States alone and sold 20 million copies worldwide as well as winning the band two Grammy awards.

1993: Shania Twain released her self-titled debut album.

1994: Barbra Streisand begins her first tour since 1966, performing in London.

1997: Michael Jackson attended an unveiling of a wax statue of himself at the Grevin Museum of Wax in Paris, France. Jackson provided one of his own outfits to dress the figure.

1999: At tonight's concert at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, Billy Joel announces his retirement from touring and recording pop music. (He eventually returns to the stage.)

1999: Rapper Ma$e announces his retirement from the music industry in an interview with Funkmaster Flex on New York’s Hot 97FM, citing religious reasons.

2002: In the dispute over who owned the rights to Nirvana's recordings former members Dave Grohl and Kirst Novoselic asked a Seattle Court to prove that Courtney Love was mentally stable. They told the court that Love was 'irrational, mercurial, self-centered, unmanageable, inconsistent and unpredictable.' They also claimed a contract was invalid because Love was 'stoned' at the time.

2006: Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty was arrested in east London on suspicion of drugs possession only hours after a court appearance. Doherty had earlier admitted to seven charges of possessing drugs when he appeared before magistrates in east London. He was given a community order with two years supervision and 18 months drug rehabilitation and was also banned from driving for six months.

2011: K.K. Downing, a founding member and principal guitarist of the legendary Metal band Judas Priest, confirmed that he was quitting after 42 years of metal mayhem.

April 19

Births

1942: Alan Price (Keyboards in The Animals)

1944: Bernie Worrell (Keyboards for Parliament & Funkadelic)

1946: Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show)

1947: Mark Volman (Vocals for The Turtles)

1966: Suge Knight (C.E.O. for Death Row Records)

Events

1924: The first national country radio show in the US, The Chicago Barn Dance, debuts on WLS radio. (Nashville's famed Grand Ole Opry wouldn't hit the airwaves for another year.)

1956: Drifters singer Clyde McPhatter receives his discharge from the US Army, leading him to immediately leave the group for a solo career.

1962: In another big step forward for soul, Jackie Wilson begins a headlining stint at New York's famous Copacabana Club.

1967: The Beatles sign a contract to stay together for 10 years.

1968: With Ringo having left much earlier due to the vegetarian diet, and Paul having left to supervise the launch of Apple, John and George are the last two Beatles to leave the Maharishi Maheshi Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India, where they had been studying his practices of meditation and yoga. Lennon in particular believes the stories of band associate Alex Mardas, who claims the Maharishi is only interested in the Beatles' money and, although claiming to be celibate, has been making sexual advances at the group's traveling companion, actress Mia Farrow. When the guru asks why everyone is leaving, John shoots back "You're the cosmic one, you should know." When back in London, he writes a song about the incident, entitled "Maharishi" but later changed to "Sexy Sadie."

1979 : David Lee Roth collapsed from exhaustion during a Van Halen show in Spokane, WA.

1980: 32 year old English singer Brian Johnson joined Australian group AC/DC, replacing Bon Scott who died after a drinking binge.

1980: R.E.M. played their first gig as R.E.M. at the 11:11 Koffee Club, Athens, Georgia to 150 people. The show ended at 2am when police closed it down due to the venue being unlicensed.

1982: Flush from the success of their recent Central Park concert, Simon and Garfunkel mount their first tour since their breakup, a swing through Europe that sadly falls apart before it can get to the US. The split is so dramatic this time around that Simon wipes all of Garfunkel's contributions to the pair's latest album, Hearts And Bones, and releases it as a solo album instead.

1986: Prince started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Kiss.' Prince also had the No.2 song 'Manic Monday', by The Bangles, which he wrote under the pseudonym 'Christopher.'

1988: Sonny Bono is inaugurated as mayor of Palm Springs, CA.

1995: The Stone Roses played their first gig in five years when the appeared at The Rockerfella Club, Oslo, Norway.

1998: Andrea Bocelli performed for Bill and Hillary Clinton with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

2002: Police were investigating how tracks from the forthcoming Oasis album 'Heathen Chemistry' had been illegally circulated on the Internet. They thought the person responsible had access to their private recording sessions.

2002: Layne Staley's accountants contacted Staley's mother Nancy McCallum and informed her that no money had been withdrawn from the singer's bank account in two weeks. McCallum then placed a call with 911 to say "she hadn't heard from Layne in about two weeks."  The police went with McCallum and her husband to Staley's home, where Staley was found dead.   As reported by Rick Anderson of the Seattle Weekly, his body was surrounded, needle in arm, by various drug possessions and paraphernalia:

2003: Alt-rock heroes The White Stripes join Loretta Lynn during a concert in New York to join her on her hits "Fist City," ""Rated X," and "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man."

2005: Elvis Presley Enterprises announces that for the first time it will air TV commercials to lure visitors to the refurbished Graceland mansion where he spent his days.

2010: Ringo Starr comments on the Vatican's recent "apology" for its part in the 1966 "Bigger Than Jesus" scandal, saying, "Didn't the Vatican say we were Satanic or possibly Satanic? And they've still forgiven us? I think the Vatican, they've got more to talk about than the Beatles."

2010:  Rapper Guru (Keith Elam) lost his battle with cancer at the age of 43. 

April 18

Births

1882: Leopold Stokowski (Conductor)

1924: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (Blues Guitarist)

1938: Hal Galper (Jazz Pianist)

1946: Skip Spence (Guitar for Moby Grape & Jefferson Airplane)

1958: Les Pattinson (Bass for Echo And The Bunnymen)

1960: Mick Sweda (Vocals & Guitar for The Bulletboys)

1961: Kelly Hansen (Vocals for Hurricane and currently for Foreigner)

1963: Conan O'Brien (Talk show host)

1964: Mark 'Bez' Berry (Dancer for Happy Mondays)

1970: Greg Eklund (Drums for Everclear)

1974: Mark Tremonti (Guitar for Creed & Alter Bridge)

Events

1957: Buddy Knox is inducted into the Army Reserve, leading his record label to rush him into the studio to record no less than twenty follow ups to his hit "Party Doll." None make the charts.

1969: Lulu marries Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees at St. James' Church, Buckinghamshire, England, a marriage that will last four years. 3,000 fans attend, as do John Lennon's wife, Cynthia, and producer Mickie Most.

1970: While on stage with Led Zeppelin in Phoenix, lead singer Robert Plant collapses from "exhaustion."

1970: Steel Mill (featuring Bruce Springsteen) played in the Main Gym at Ocean County College in New Jersey. Tickets cost $2.00.

1971: The Diana Ross television musical special Diana, featuring guest stars Jackson 5, Bill Cosby, and Danny Thomas, airs on ABC.

1975: The Alice Cooper television special ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ airs on ABC.

1975: An entire crowd of Bay City Rollers fans attempt to swim across a nearby lake to meet the band at a BBC Radio-sponsored event in Mallory Park racetrack, Leicestershire, England. 39 fans are brought to the hospital, four of whom are admitted.

1981: Yes bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White begin rehearsals with the remaining members of Led Zeppelin, leading to rumors of the death of Yes and the beginning of a new band dubbed XYZ (Ex-Yes and Zeppelin). The rumored band never materializes, and Yes reforms under their old name for the hit 1983 album 90125.

1984; Michael Jackson underwent surgery in a Los Angeles hospital to repair damage done after his hair caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial.

1985: Liberace breaks his own record at Radio City Music Hall, pulling in two million dollars for his latest engagement.

1985: Wham! Became the first-ever Western pop act to have an album released in China.

1987: Aretha Franklin scores a #1 US hit with "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me," a duet with George Michael of Wham! Her first Number One in 19 years and ten months, it breaks the record for the longest span between #1 hits.

1988: The accused murderer of reggae legend Peter Tosh, Dennis "Leppo" Lobban, goes on trial in Jamaica.

1995: Oasis drummer Tony McCarrol was told by phone that he was being fired from the group. McCarrol sued the Manchester group for millions in unpaid royalties and in 1996 Oasis agreed to pay him a one-off sum of $935,000.

1996:  Nile Rodgers was named JT Superproducer of the Year in Japan, and was invited to perform there with Chic in April of that year. Just before the concert at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Bernard Edwards fell ill, but despite Rodgers' insistence, he refused to cancel the gig. He managed to perform but had to be helped at times. After the concert he retired to his hotel room where he was later found dead by Rodgers. The cause of death was ruled to be pneumonia.

2003: Etta James received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2005: Reebok pulled a UK TV ad featuring 50 Cent after a mother whose son was shot dead complained it glamorized gun crime. Lucy Cope, from London went to the Advertising Standards Authority about the campaign featuring the US rapper. The ASA had been investigating 54 other complaints from viewers over a reference to the rapper having been shot nine times.

2009: The Black Eyes Peas started a 12 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Boom Boom Pow’. The single was knocked off the No.1 position by the bands next single ‘I Gotta Feeling’.