December 14

Births

1932: Charlie Rich (Country Singer)

1949: Cliff Williams (Bass player for AC/DC)

1964: C J Snare (Singer for Firehouse)

1966: Tim Skold (Bass for Marilyn Manson)

1970: Beth Orton (Singer / Songwriter)

1975: Brian Dalyrimple (Singer in Soul For Real)

1988: Vanessa Hudgens (Singer)

Events

1959: The Ohio State University Research Center issues a report showing that rock and roll is the overwhelming favorite music of people aged 14-18. However, most over the age of eighteen who were polled considered it their least favorite form of music.

1962: Bassist Bill Wyman made his live debut with The Rollin' Stones at the Ricky Tick Club, Star and Garter Hotel in Windsor, England. The group were know as The Rollin' Stones during this period.

1963: Early on the morning of December 14, 1963, Jazz singer Dinah Washington's eighth husband Lane went to sleep with his wife, and awoke later to find her slumped over and not responsive. Doctor B. C. Ross came to the scene to pronounce her dead. An autopsy later showed a lethal combination of secobarbital and amobarbital, which contributed to her death at the age of 39.

1966: Chad and Jeremy & Don Ho appear as special guest stars on today's episode of ABC's Batman show.

1967: Dick Clark announces that he's filming a movie about hippies, The Love Children, starring Jack Nicholson and Dean Stockwell and featuring the music of Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Seeds.

1967: Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones was rushed to St Georges hospital in London after collapsing. A doctor reported Jones was tired and suffering from over strain and was also recovering from having some teeth out.

1968: Marvin Gaye scored his first US No.1 single when 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' started a five-week run at the top.

1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their "Bagism" project, arriving at London's Hyde Park inside a white bag located in a white Rolls Royce, and then giving a protest speech -- from inside the bag -- on behalf of executed prisoner James Hanratty. (The idea was that the press and skeptics would have to listen to their words without being distracted by celebrity.)

1972: The film Born To Boogie, a biopic of T. Rex's Marc Bolan directed by Ringo Starr, premieres in London.

1972: Alexander's department store in New York City stays open late so that Alice Cooper, who is wearing silver pants and a "Paul Lives" button, can do his Christmas shopping.

1977: The film Saturday Night Fever opens in New York City, singlehandedly reviving the dead "disco" fad and turning it into a genuine national obsession.

1980: At widow Yoko Ono's request, a ten-minute worldwide silent vigil is held at 2:00 PM EST for John Lennon, who had been shot down just six days earlier. Over 100,000 observe the vigil in New York's Central Park alone, while 30,000 observe the vigil in Liverpool.

1985: James Taylor marries actress Kathryn Walker.

1992: On the same day he files for bankruptcy, Merle Haggard becomes the father of a son, Binion Louis Haggard.

1995: ABC airs the Frank Sinatra tribute special Sinatra: 80 Years My Way, featuring performances by Little Richard, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, among others.

1995: The FBI, acting on a judge's order, releases most (but not all) of its documents revealing the organization's attempts to deport John Lennon.

1999: In a much-publicized show, Paul McCartney returns to play the Cavern Club in Liverpool for the first time since 1963. Joining him are Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Deep Purple's Ian Paice.

2001: Billy Preston pleads guilty to insurance fraud in a Los Angeles court and agrees to testify against six other defendants in the same case.

2004: The funeral took place in Arlington, Texas for Damageplan and Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell. Eddie Van Halen placed Darrell’s original black and yellow stripes guitar into the Kiss Kasket he was buried in. Several thousand fans and friends gathered at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, to mourn the guitarist’s death. Darrell was shot five times in the back of the head during a gig at the Alrosa Villa Club in Columbus on  Dec 8th by a mentally ill former US Marine. Damageplan's drum technician, John Brooks, and tour manager, Chris Paluska, were both injured in the incident.

2005: Dierks Bentley marries his high school sweetheart, Cassidy Black, in Mexico.

December 13

Births

1948: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (Guitar for Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers)

1948: Ted Nugent (Guitar for Amboy Dukes, Damn Yankees & Solo)

1949: Tom Verlaine (Guitar & Vocals for Television & Solo)

1954: Steve Forbert (Singer / Songwriter)

1957: Morris Day (Singer for The Time & Solo)

1958: Dana Strum (Bass for Slaughter & Vinnie Vincent’s Invasion)

1967: Jamie Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop) (R&B singer,  Pianist & Actor)

1974: Nick McCarthy (Guitar for Franz Ferdinand)

1975: Tom Delonge (Guitar & Lead Vocals for Blink 182 & Angels & Airwaves)

1981: Amy Lee (Vocals for Evanescence)

1989: Taylor Swift (Country Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1966: Jimi Hendrix makes his TV debut, performing "Hey Joe" on the UK variety show Ready Steady Go! The Jimi Hendrix Experience also recorded 'Foxy Lady' on this day.

1969: Diana Ross took the Latino Casino in Philadelphia to court for $27,500 after her two pet dogs died after eating cyanide tablets left by an exterminator in her dressing room.

1974: George Harrison is invited to the White House to have lunch with President Gerald Ford. He brings along Billy Preston and Ravi Shankar, and gives the President a button with the word "OM" on it, to aid in meditation; Ford responds by gifting George with a "WIN" (Whip Inflation Now) button.

1974: George Jones leaves Tammy Wynette permanently.

1983: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant reunite for the first time since the band's tragic breakup two years earlier, with Page stepping onstage at Plant's Hammersmith Odeon concert for a rendition of Roy Head's "Treat Her Right."

1985: Phil Collins made his U.S. TV acting debut on "Miami Vice" playing a drug dealer.

1991: What would be the last of John Denver's many successful holiday specials, Montana Christmas Skies, airs on CBS, featuring country music guests Clint Black, Patty Loveless, and Kathy Mattea.

1996: The Eagles' Glenn Frey makes his first and last major film appearance when the romantic comedy Jerry Maguire opens in US theatres.

1999: BMI declares the Righteous Brothers' 1965 smash "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" as the most-performed song of the century.

2000: The respected UK rock magazine Melody Maker announces its imminent demise after 74 years of publication.

2001: The two surviving members of Nirvana, Krist Novoselic and David Grohl, filed a countersuit against Courtney Love. The charge was that she has manipulated the memory and work of her dead husband, Kirk Cobain, for the benefit of her own career.

2004: For the first time, Dick Clark is forced to bow out from hosting his annual ABC event Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve due to complications from a recent stroke.

2008: UK Rapper Dizzee Rascal was arrested in south-east London following an incident involving a baseball bat. The rapper allegedly approached another motorist with a baseball bat after a road rage incident. Rascal whose real name is Dylan Mills, was held on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon in Sevenoaks Way, Orpington.

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.