December 12

Births

1915: Frank Sinatra (The Man !)

1918: Joe Williams (Jazz Singer)

1923: Bob Dorough (Singer & Composer for Schoolhouse Rock)

1938: Connie Francis (Pop Singer)

1940: Dionne Warwick (Singer)

1943: Dickey Betts (Guitarist & Singer / Songwriter for The Allman Brothers)

1943: Grover Washington, Jr. (Jazz & R&B Singer)

1944: Rob Tyner (Singer for MC5)

1953: Bruce Kulick (Guitar for Grand Funk Railroad & Kiss)

1957: Sheila E. (Sheila Escovedo) (Drummer)

1957: Cy Curnin (Singer for The Fixx)

1968: Danny Boy (Rapper in House Of Pain)

1972: Hank Williams III (Country / Rock Artist)

1976: Dan Hawkins (Guitar for The Darkness)

1979: Sharin Foo (Bass & Vocals for The Raveonettes)

Events

1957: Al Priddy a DJ on US radio station KEX in Portland was fired after playing Elvis Presley's version of 'White Christmas' The station management said, 'it's not in the spirit we associate with Christmas'.

1961: Mike Douglas begins his TV variety/talk show in Cleveland, OH.

1963: The LP John Fitzgerald Kennedy - A Memorial Album becomes the fastest-selling album in history, selling four million copies in six days. The tribute was recorded the day of Kennedy's assassination.

1967: A London Appeals Court reduces the nine-month prison sentence of the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones, citing psychiatric testimony that he could not handle prison. Jones had been busted for marijuana possession.

1970: The Doors played what would be their last ever live show with Jim Morrison when they played at the Warehouse in New Orleans.

1974: The Rolling Stones begin recording their Black and Blue album in Munich, Germany, with an array of second guitarists, cementing Mick Taylor's departure from the group. One of the session guitarists, the Faces' Ron Wood, would become Taylor's permanent replacement.

1980: Thousands march peacefully in memory of John Lennon in New York, walking down Fifth Avenue and ending at the Dakota Building, site of his murder.

1985: On her 45th birthday, Dionne Warwick is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1992: Whitney Houston started a twenty-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'The Bodyguard'. It has sold over 44 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, as well as one of the best selling albums of all time.

2001: The state of Nevada declares today Frank Sinatra Day.

2001: Arthur Lee, guitarist and singer from Love, was released from prison after serving almost six years of an eleven-year sentence. Lee had been convicted of possession of a firearm and for allegedly shooting a gun in the air during a dispute with a neighbor.

2002: After three months, Gordon Lightfoot leaves a Hamilton, Ontario hospital, where he'd been sent for emergency surgery on his abdomen.

2005: Dierks Bentley proposes to Cassidy Black in Las Vegas. Two days later, the couple marries in Mexico.

2007: Ike Turner, the former husband of Tina Turner died at the age of 76 at his home near San Diego, California. Turner who was a prolific session guitarist and piano player is credited by many music historians with making the first rock 'n' roll record in 1951.

December 11

Births

1926: Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (Blues Singer)

1938: McCoy Tyner (Jazz Pianist)

1940: David Gates (Singer / Songwriter for Bread & Solo)

1944: Brenda Lee (Singer)

1954: Jermaine Jackson (Bass Guitar & Vocals for Jackson 5 & Solo)

1958: Nikki Sixx (Bass for Motley Crue)

1961: Dave King (Lead Vocals for Flogging Molly)

1964: David Schools (Bass for Widespread Panic)

1967: DJ Yella (DJ for NWA)

1973: Mos Def (Dante Terrell Smith) (Rapper)

1981: Zachary James Baker (Rhythm Guitar for Avenged Sevenfold)

Events

1946: Hank Williams has his first recording session, for Sterling Records, at the WSM Studios in Nashville, backed by The Willis Brothers and bass player Chuck Wright. Among the songs recorded is "Never Again (Will I Knock On Your Door)".

1957: In one of the biggest scandals to ever hit rock music, Jerry Lee Lewis marries his 14-year-old cousin Myra Gale Brown, daughter of his cousin Jim. Lewis' first marriage is still valid; the divorce wouldn't be finalized for six months. Reports are that Myra still believes in Santa Claus. When the story breaks in England a few weeks later, Lewis' career would be seriously damaged.

1960: Aretha Franklin makes her stage debut at New York's Village Vanguard.

1963: Hank Williams Jr. has his first recording session, at age 14, in Nashville. The session features some of his father's songs: "You Win Again," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Cold, Cold Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".

1964: Sam Cooke is shot and killed under mysterious circumstances at the Hacienda Hotel in Los Angeles, CA at age 33. The married singer picked up a young woman at a party, who claimed Cooke attempted to rape her. When she ran away, according to her testimony, Cooke followed and assaulted the hotel manager, demanding to know the girl's whereabouts. The manager shot Cooke three times.

1966: After presenting him at London's Saville Theatre, Beatles manager Brian Epstein offers to manage Little Richard -- an offer which is rejected.

1967: NBC airs the Nancy Sinatra television special Movin' With Nancy.

1968: The Rolling Stones film their legendary Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus television special at Wembley television studios in Middlesex, England, featuring performances by John Lennon, Eric Clapton, the Who, Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithful -- and yes, circus people, all filmed in a circus tent. The show is never aired and only sees the light of day in 1996, supposedly because the Stones thought the Who upstaged them with their performance.

1972: After a show in Knoxville, TN, James Brown is arrested and charged with "disorderly conduct" when a conversation Brown has with fans is somehow mistaken for an attempt to incite a riot. Charges are dropped after Brown threatens to sue the city for a million dollars due to police brutality.

1972: Genesis play their first-ever US show at Massachusetts' Brandeis University.

1976: KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is nearly electrocuted when he touches a short-circuited light during a concert in Florida. He is carried from the stage but returns to finish the show just ten minutes later.

1982: The Jam played their last ever gig as a band when they appeared in Brighton, England.

1998: Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) was injured after a performance in Austin, TX. He sustained a fracture to the base of his skull after an altercation with one of the club's security guards.

2000: Former Verve front man Richard Ashcroft was forced to cancel the remaining dates on his current UK tour after he fell on stage and broke two ribs. The accident happened during a show in Birmingham. 

December 10

Births

1941: Chad Stuart (Singer in Chad and Jeremy)

1946: Ace Kefford (Bass for The Move)

1952: Susan Dey (The Partridge Family)

1957: Paul Hardcastle (Producer & Keyboardist)

1965: J Mascis (Vocals & Guitar for Dinosaur Jr. & Solo)

1966: Timothy Christian Riley (Singer in Tony, Toni, Tone !)

1971: Scot Alexander (Bass for Dishwalla)

1972: Brian Molko (Guitar & Lead Vocal for Placebo)

1972: Donavon Frankenreiter (Singer / Songwriter)

1974: Meg White (Drums for The White Stripes)

Events

1927: Although the radio show known as the WSM Barn Dance had been broadcasting out of Nashville, TN, for some time, this is the first day on which the show is announced as "The Grand Ole Opry."

1949: Fats Domino cut eight tracks during his first recording session at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios in New Orleans.

1959: The Platters' four male members are acquitted of charges made on August 10th in Cincinnati, OH, of "aiding and abetting prostitution, lewdness and assignation."

1963: Donny Osmond makes his debut with the Osmonds on NBC's The Andy Williams Show.

1965: The Grateful Dead perform their first concert in San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium (and only their second overall).

1967: The previously unknown San Francisco group The Steve Miller Blues Band signs to Capitol for an unprecedented $750,000, dropping "Blues" from their name in the process.

1967: Otis Redding and four members of his band, the Bar-Kays, are killed when their tour plane crashes into a frozen near Madison, WI. Three days earlier, Redding had recorded what was to be his breakthough pop hit, "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay."  Otis was 26 years old.

1971: During a concert in London, Frank Zappa is thrown into the orchestra pit by a fan's jealous boyfriend, breaking his leg and ankle and fracturing his skull. Zappa takes months to recover.

1972: Roberta Flack and two members of her backup band are injured when her bass player totals her new Citroen near Manhattan.

1973: The CBGB (Country, BlueGrass, and Blues) Club opened in the lower eastside of New York City; it became the home of new bands such as Blondie, Television, Patti Smith and The Ramones.

1976: Billy Idol's new band Generation X made their live debut at The Central College Of Art, London.

1980: The body of John Lennon is cremated.

1995: Darren Robinson (The Human Beatbox) of The Fat Boys died of a heart attack, weighing 450 lb at the time.  He was 28 years old.

2003: Coldplay singer Chris Martin married actress Gwyneth Paltrow in Santa Barbara, California. The couple also announced that Paltrow was pregnant and the baby was due next summer.

2003: Bobby Brown was charged with battery three days after he allegedly hit his wife Whitney Houston.

2005: Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood marry at their home in Owasso, Oklahoma.

2007: Led Zeppelin played their first concert in 19 years, at London's 02 arena. Original band members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones were joined on stage by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham. More than one million people had taken part in a ballot for the 20,000 tickets available for the show.

2008: DMX was back behind bars in Miami after he was arrested for allegedly missing a court appearance in Phoenix, Arizona. The rapper was arrested on a warrant issued by a judge after he failed to show in where he faced charges of drug possession, identity theft and animal cruelty.