July 28

Births

1901: Rudy Vallee (Singer & Band Leader)

1915: Frankie Yankovic (Polka Artist)

1943: Mike Bloomfield (Guitar for Paul Butterfield Blues Band)

1943: Rick Wright (Keyboards & Piano for Pink Floyd)

1946: Jonathan Edwards (Folk Singer)

1948: Gerald Casale (Bass & keyboards for Devo)

1954: Steve Morse (Guitar for Dixie Dregs & Deep Purple)

1965: Nick Banks (Drums for Pulp)

1976: Jacoby Dakota Shaddix (Lead Singer for Papa Roach)

1980: Stephen Christian (Lead vocals for Anberlin)

1990: Soulja Boy (DeAndre Cortez Way) (Rapper)

Events

1750: Johann Sebastian Bach died after an unsuccessful eye operation. He was 65 years old.

1933: The first singing telegram is sent -- to a popular singer, crooner Rudy Vallee, on the occasion of his 32nd birthday.

1939: Judy Garland recorded "Over The Rainbow".

1956: Gene Vincent made his first appearance on national TV in the US on The Perry Como Show. Vincent had released ‘Woman Love’ the previous month, but it was the B-side, ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula,’ that eventually made the top 10. The song had been purchased from a fellow hospital patient when Vincent was recovering from leg injuries. A demo of the song made its way to Capitol Records as part of an Elvis sound-alike contest and a re-recorded version gave Vincent a hit.

1957: Jerry Lee Lewis makes his first national TV appearance, singing "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" on NBC's The Steve Allen Show.

1969: After a Moscow magazine explains how to turn an acoustic guitar into an electric one using only parts from a telephone, police report that thousands of the city's phone booths have been stripped.

1970: The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger makes his acting debut in Ned Kelly, a film about the legendary Australian outlaw, which makes his debut in Kelly's own hometown of Glenrowan.

1973: One of the last of the great outdoor rock festivals was held at Watkins Glen racetrack in New York, with over 600,000 attending a "Summer Jam" featuring the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, and The Band. This was the largest human gathering ever assembled at the time.

1973: Grand Funk Railroad released the single "We're An American Band".

1979: 'I Don't Like Mondays' gave The Boomtown Rats their second UK No.1 single. Bob Geldof wrote the song after reading a report on the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who fired at children playing in a school playground across the street from her home in San Diego, California. She killed two adults and injured eight children and one police officer. Spencer showed no remorse for her crime, and her full explanation for her actions was "I don't like Mondays, this livens up the day."

1985: Portland, OR, declares today "Kingsmen Day" in honor of their garage-rock native sons, who scored a legendary hit with their version of "Louie Louie."

1987: The Beatles' company, Apple, sues shoemaker Nike, Capitol Records, EMI, and Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency for $15 million for unauthorized use of the Beatles' song "Revolution" in one of their "Nike Air" TV ads. Nike claimed it had paid their US label, Capitol, $250,000 for the rights, and also that Yoko Ono had given her blessing. The suit was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

1991: Almost 100 arrests were made after an estimated 2,000 Youths rioted after a MC Hammer concert in Penticon, Canada.

1992: Patti Labelle walks offstage during her concert in Warwick, RI, having complained to the audience about the catering backstage.

1992: Mary J. Blige's first album "What's the 411?" was released.

1992: Rapper Ice T announced that Warner Brothers Records would pull the controversial song 'Cop Killer' from all future copies of his "Body Count" album. The song had been the target of protests by law enforcement groups who said it encouraged the killing of police. Ice T said he would give away recordings of 'Cop Killer' at his concerts. In an ironic twist, he would later join the cast of the NBC police drama, Law and Order.

1993: The 10,000 Maniacs played their last show with lead singer Natalie Merchant. Merchant left the group to pursue a solo career.

1995: After decades of legal wrangling, James Al Hendrix, surviving father of Jimi, is once again granted legal use of his son's name and likeness for merchandising.

1998: It was announced that Toad The Wet Sprocket was disbanding.

2004: American soul singer George Williams from The Tymes died of cancer. Had the 1963 US million seller ‘So Much in Love’ and the 1975 UK No.1 single 'Ms Grace'.

2004: Justin Timberlake obtained a restraining order against a photographer who allegedly stalked him. A judge in Santa Monica, California, granted the order against photographer Artemus Earl Lister.

2006: Prince's second wife Manuela Testolini Nelson filed for divorce. His first marriage, to dancer Mayte Garcia, took place in 1996 but only lasted two years.

2008: Amy Winehouse was rushed to hospital after she started to have fits at her home in Camden North London. A spokesman said it appeared the singer had suffered a reaction to medication she was taking to help her off hard drugs.

2011: Soulja Boy turned 21 on and the rapper bought himself a $55 million private jet for the occasion.

2011: At a concert in Los Angeles,  63 year old Singer Meatloaf (Marvin Lee Aday)  suffered an asthma attack and, after being assisted by medical personnel, managed to go on with the show 10 minutes later.

July 27

Births

1933: Nick Reynolds (Guitar & Vocals for The Kingston Trio)

1944: Bobby Gentry (Roberta Lee Streeter) (Singer / Songwriter)

1955: Bobby Rondinelli (Drummer for Rainbow, Quiet Riot, Black Sabbath & Blue Oyster Cult)

1962: Karl Mueller (Bass for Soul Asylum)

1964: Rex Brown (Bass for Pantera & Down)

1967: Juliana Hatfield (Singer / Songwriter)

1973: Abe Cunningham (Drummer for The Deftones)

1974: Pete Yorn (Singer / Songwriter)

1975: Fred Mascherino (Lead Vocals & Guitar for Taking Back Sunday)

1990: Cheyenne Kimball (Singer & Guitar for Gloriana)

Events

1958: A study by Esso oil (formerly Standard Oil, eventually Exxon) finds that drivers speed more and therefore waste more gas when listening to the new fad of rock and roll music.

1968: A riot erupts at Chicago's Grant Park after Sly and the Family Stone fail to appear for a free concert.

1968:  ‘Mama’ Cass Elliot released her first solo single following the break up of The Mamas and Papas. ’Dream a Little Dream of Me’ had been around since 1931 and had been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine and many others. Cass' version would be the most successful when it peaked at No. 12 on the US chart.

1969: Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees collapses from "nervous exhaustion" just as the group is about to embark on its first US tour, but it's actually a ruse designed to hasten his exit from the group.

1974: John Denver started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Annie's Song', the singers second US No.1. The song was a tribute to his wife and was written in 10 minutes while he was on a ski lift.

1974: Lynyrd Skynyrd released the single "Sweet Home Alabama".

1976: John Lennon ends his four-year fight to stay in the US as a special government hearing granted him a green card (Number A-17-597-321).

1976: Bruce Springsteen's meteoric career rise is stalled when he sues manager Mike Appel for fraud and breach of contract, keeping him from performing or recording for over a year.

1976: After years of alleged physical and verbal abuse, and having left over the Fourth of July with nothing but pocket change and a gas station credit card, Tina Turner files for divorce from her husband of sixteen years, Ike.

1979: A firebomb destroys Alice Cooper's Indian art store in Scottsdale, AZ, causing $200,000 in damage to, among other things, some of Cooper's gold records. The singer jokes that perhaps a "disco music freak" torched the place, as Alice had been quite vocal about not liking the new musical trend.

1981: Fleetwood Mac Singer Stevie Nicks’ first solo album, "Bella Donna," was released.

1983: Madonna's self-titled debut album was released.

1983: Metallica began their first tour entitled "Kill 'em all for one." The tour ended on September 3, 1983.

1985: The Eurythmics were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)', the duo's only UK No.1 single. The song featured a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder.

1991: Jani Lane (Singer for Warrant) marries model Bobbie Brown.

1992: Michael Jackson sues the London tabloid Daily Mirror over claims that too many plastic surgeries had left him permanently disfigured.

1994: Bob Seger serves jury duty in Michigan and, as the foreman in a criminal trial, finds the defendant guilty.

1996: The Spice Girls scored their first No.1 UK single with 'Wannabe'. Seven weeks at No.1 the song won Best British-Written Single at the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards and Best Single at the 1997 Brit Awards. The Girl Power song became the best-selling single by a female group selling over six million copies worldwide.

2001: Leon Wilkeson (Bass for Lynyrd Skynyrd) apparently had been suffering from chronic liver and lung disease and his cause of death on this day was deemed 'from natural causes.' He was 49 years old.

2002: Mariah Carey checked herself into an undisclosed hospital suffering from "extreme exhaustion." The singer cancelled all public appearances, including her headlining appearance at MTV's 20th birthday party. Her record company denied tabloid reports that Carey tried to commit suicide, saying she did have cuts on her body, but the injuries were unintentional after breaking some dishes and glasses.

2002: John Entwistle (Bassist for The Who) died in hotel room 658 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on 27 June 2002 one day before the scheduled first show of The Who's 2002 US tour. He had gone to bed that night with a stripper/groupie, Alycen Rowse, who woke at 10 am to find Entwistle cold and unresponsive. The Clark County medical examiner determined that death was due to a heart attack induced by cocaine.

2006: The company behind file-sharing service Kazaa agrees to pay record labels over $115 million in damages for piracy.

2007: Paul Stanley (KISS) had to leave a concert due to his pulse being twice the normal level. The band performed as a trio with Gene Simmons singing all songs. 

July 26

Births

1940: Dobie Gray (Pop Singer)

1943: Mick Jagger (Singer for The Rolling Stones)

1949: Roger Taylor (Drummer for Queen)

1961: Gary Cherone (Vocalist for Extreme & Van Halen)

1965: Jim Lindberg (Singer for Pennywise)

1980: Dave 'Brown Sound' Baksh (Lead Guitar & Keyboards for Sum 41)

Events

1965: Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson marries Carol Freedman, the first of what would be four wives, in Los Angeles.

1968: Much to Mick Jagger's fury, the new Rolling Stones album Beggar's Banquet, scheduled to be released today in the US, is held back after Atlantic fears the cover, featuring a filthy men's room urinal with graffiti on the walls, will be found offensive. The album is eventually released with an all-white cover that looks like an invitation. (The original cover is now available on CD.)

1968: The Jackson 5, discovered by Motown mainstay Gladys Knight (not, as legend has it, Diana Ross), signs to the label today for a one-year contract.

1969: The Rolling Stones' founding member and guitarist Brian Jones, found dead in his swimming pool just weeks earlier, is memorialized on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine which was on sale for 35 cents.

1969: The 5th Dimension's two lead singers, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. are married. The duo will score their own hit in 1977 with "You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)."

1974: London graffiti artists hired by the Rolling Stones' management spray paint various local sites as promotion for the groups' latest single, "It's Only Rock And Roll."

1976: With endless touring and recording, as well as various addictions, tearing the band apart, Three Dog Night plays their last concert tonight in San Francisco, CA. (The group would reunite in 1981, but that reunion would prove short-lived.)

1977: While on tour in New Orleans, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant receives shocking news by phone: his eldest son Karac has died of a respiratory infection, causing the remainder of the group's tour dates to be canceled -- and rumors to begin swirling about guitarist Jimmy Page's interest in the occult and a "curse" it might have laid on the band.

1977: Elvis Costello was arrested as he performed outside a CBS Records sales conference at The London Hilton Hotel and was fined $10.

1984: Prince's movie "Purple Rain" premiered in Hollywood, CA.

1987: Billy Joel plays an historic concert in Leningrad, one of the first major filmed concerts behind the "Iron Curtain" of Soviet Russia and a huge hit with local fans, who carry Joel off the stage in triumph at the end of the set. The show will eventually be released as the album KOHUEPT (Concert).

1990: Brent Mydland (Keyboardist for The Grateful Dead) died from a drug overdose at age 38.

1992: KISS frontman Paul Stanley marries Pamela Bowen. They divorced in 2001.

1992: American singer and Motown artist, Mary Wells, referred to as The First Lady of Motown and who had a 1964 US No. 1 single ‘My Guy’, dies aged 49 of laryngeal cancer. Forced to give up her career and with no health insurance, forced to sell her home, Wells’ old Motown friends including Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, The Temptations and Martha Reeves, along with Dionne Warwick, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt, personally pledged donations in support.

2000: The file-sharing service Napster is ordered by a US federal judge to cease trading copyrighted music files in the next 48 hours.

2000: The Beastie Boys postponed their tour with Rage Against the Machine due to Mike D.'s shoulder injury incurred July 22 in a bicycle accident.

2000: Oasis were booed off stage during a show at the Paleo Festival in Switzerland after singer Liam Gallagher had insulted the 35,000 strong audience.  They were hit with bottles, cans and coins.

2001: Sir Paul McCartney announced his engagement to Heather Mills, the anti-landmine campaigner and former model. The couple split-up in 2006.

2003: Vegas mainstay Tom Jones in inducted into the Gaming Hall Of Fame, along with Harrah's exec Phil Satre.

2006: Arvel Jett Reeves is sentenced to eight months in jail for "bugging" Michael Jackson's Gulfstream jet with two digital video recorders in order to get some media-worthy private conversation.

2006: Paul McCartney's first guitar is sold at an Abbey Road Studios auction for about half a million dollars.