May 15

Births

1918: Eddy Arnold (Country Artist)

1932: Baba Oje (Singer in Arrested Development)

1942: K.T. Oslin (Country Singer / Songwriter)

1947: Graham Goble (Guitar & Vocals for The Little River Band)

1948: Gary Thain (Bass for Uriah Heep)

1948: Brian Eno (Producer and Keyboardist for Roxy Music)

1951: Dennis Frederiksen (Vocals for Toto)

1953: Mike Oldfield (Keyboardist)

1959: Andrew Eldritch (Vocals for The Sisters Of Mercy)

1961: Melle Mel (Rapper in Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five)

1966: Pete Wiggs (DJ in Saint Etienne)

1970: Prince Be (Singer / Rapper in P.N. Dawn)

1981: Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Meadow Soprano)

1982: Jessica Sutta (Singer in Pussycat Dolls & Solo)

1983: Devin Bronson (Guitarist with Avril Lavigne)

Events

1954: A Memphis truck driver named Elvis Presley auditions with the house band at Memphis' Hi Hat Club and is told he'll never make it as a singer.

1961: Brenda Lee guest stars as struggling singer "Tina Davis" on tonight's "Teenage Thrush" episode of CBS-TV's Make Room For Daddy.

1963: The Rolling Stones sign to Decca Records.

1963: At the 5th Annual Grammy Awards, most of the big prizes go to Henry Mancini for his instrumental movie theme "The Days Of Wine And Roses." Best Album and Best Female Vocal go to The Barbra Streisand Album, while Nino Tempo and April Stevens inexplicably win Best Rock and Roll Recording for "Deep Purple." However, Ray Charles does win the top R&B award for "Busted."

1967: While attending a concert by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames at London's ultra-hip Bag O'Nails club, Paul McCartney meets a young photographer named Linda Eastman. They will meet again one year later to the day when Paul appears with John on NBC-TV's Tonight Show to talk about their upcoming venture, Apple Records.

1969: John Lennon’s 'Life With The Lions' was released on Apple’s avant-garde imprint Zapple. One side of the album was recorded on a cassette player at London’s Queen Charlotte Hospital during Yoko Ono’s pregnancy which ended in a miscarriage.

1970: The Beatles' last LP, "Let It Be," is released in US.

1971: Pink Floyd play London's Crystal Palace Bowl, situated in front of a large lake in which, thanks to the band's volume, most of the fish will die.

1972: The Temptations recorded the single "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone".

1973: Former Boz Scaggs and Elvin Bishop backup singers the Pointer Sisters make their stage debut as an act of their own, singing at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.

1974: Bill Wyman (Bass for Rolling Stones) released his first solo album, "Monkey Grip." It was the first solo effort by a member of the Rolling Stones.

1974: Frank Zappa and his wife announced the birth of their third child, a boy named Ahmet Rodan, after the Japanese movie monster that lived of a steady diet of 707 planes.

1975: The latest and ultimately most famous lineup of Fleetwood Mac -- Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, and Stevie Nicks -- play their first show together in El Paso.

1976: The Sylvers went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Boogie Fever'; the group were made up by nine family sisters and brothers.

1977: Procol Harum plays what will prove to be their last live show at the Academy of Music in New York.

1981: Former Sex Pistol John Lydon's band Public Image Ltd performed a show at New York's Ritz Club posing behind a video screen while the music was played from tapes. They were showered with missiles and eventually booed off stage.

1982: Rock Supergroup Asia (included former members of veteran progressive rock bands Yes, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Uriah Heep, U.K., Roxy Music, Wishbone Ash and The Buggles) went to No.1 on the US album chart with their self-titled album. It spent a total of nine weeks at No.1.

1984: Nils Lofgren replaced "Miami" Steve Van Zandt in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

1986: Bob Dylan signs for his first true acting gig, the disastrous love triangle Hearts Of Fire, also starring Rupert Everett and future pop-metal afterthought Fiona.

1991: Manic Street Preacher guitarist Richey Edwards carved '4 real' into his arm with a razor blade while being interviewed by music paper The NME.

1992: Barbara Lee of the Chiffons died from a heart attack the day before her 45th birthday. She had the 1963 US No.1 single 'He's So Fine.'

1994: Sting and Nancy Wilson received honorary doctorates from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

1995: Scott Weiland (Singer for Stone Temple Pilots) was arrested for trying to buy drugs in a motel parking lot in Pasadena, CA.

1997: Courtney Love sold the Seattle mansion she shared with Kurt Cobain. A local family purchased the house in the salubrious Denny Blaine area for $3m.

1998: Sony and Cher received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999: Rob Gretton, manager of The Joy Division and New Order, died from a heart attack at age 46. He was also a partner in Factory Records, proprietor of the Rob's Records label and a co-founder along with Tony Wilson of The Hacienda nightclub in Manchester, England.

2001: Brian Pendleton of The Pretty Things died of cancer aged 57, (1964 UK No.10 single 'Don't Bring Me Down'). The bands 1974 album Silk Torpedo was the first album release on Led Zeppelin's own label Swan Song.

2002: Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay claimed he was assaulted at the premiere of 'Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones' in London. The singer suffered facial injuries after an incident with a photographer after the star-studded event.

2003: June Carter Cash died in Nashville, Tennessee of complications following heart valve replacement.

2008: Neil Diamond reached the top of the US Billboard album chart for the first time in his career with ‘Home Before Dark’ the 67-year-old's 29th studio album. His previous highest chart position was in 1973 when the soundtrack to the film Jonathan Livingston Seagull peaked at No.2. At the age of 67, Diamond became the oldest artist to have a US number one, the record was previously held by Bob Dylan in 2006 with ‘Modern Times’ released when he was 65.

2009: Randy Bachman of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive is presented with Canada's highest civilian honor, an officer of the Order of Canada.

May 14

Births

1936: Bobby Darin (Singer)

1943: Jack Bruce (John Symon Asher) (Bass for Cream)

1943: Derek Leckenby (Lead Guitar in Herman's Hermits)

1945: Gene Cornish (Guitar in The Rascals)

1952: David Byrne (Guitar & Vocals for The Talking Heads)

1953: Tom Cochrane (Singer in Red Rider & Solo)

1956: Steve Hogarth (Lead Singer for Marillion)

1962: C.C. Deville (Bruce Anthony Johannesson) (Guitar for Poison)

1962: Ian Astbury (Singer & Guitarist for Southern Death Cult & The Cult)

1964: Eric Peterson (Guitar for Testament)

1966: Fabrice Morvan (Vocals for Milli Vanilli) .. or was he??

1966: Mike Inez (Bass for Alice In Chains)

1966: Raphael Saadiq (Raphael Wiggins) (Singer in Tony! Toni! Tone! & Solo)

1969: Danny Wood (New Kids On The Block)

1973: Shanice (R&B Singer)

1976: Hunter Burgan (Bass for AFI)

1979: Dan Auerbach (Vocals & Guitar for The Black Keys)

1993: Miranda Cosgrove (Pop Singer)

Events

1938: Duke Ellington recorded the song "Caravan".

1956: Buddy Holly visits his optometrist's office to correct his horrible 20/800 vision with primitive contact lenses, but Buddy hates them, and decides to keep his signature glasses.

1957: Elvis Presley was rushed to a Los Angles hospital after swallowing a porcelain cap from one of his front teeth, which then lodged its-self in one of his lungs.

1959: Jazz Saxophonist Sidney Bechet died from lung cancer on his sixty-second birthday.

1964: Jan and Dean began recording "Little Old Lady From Pasadena."

1966: For the record ninth time in three years, the Kingsmen's hit version of "Louie Louie" enters the Billboard singles charts.

1968: Elvis Presley meets with NBC-TV producer Bob Finkel, helming his upcoming Christmas special and tells him he wants to use this event to reintroduce and prove himself once again to the rock audience.

1968: On a publicity tour to promote their new venture, Apple, John Lennon and Paul McCartney agree to appear on NBC-TV's Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Unfortunately, Carson is on vacation that week, and his replacement, sportscaster Joe Garagiola, has almost no idea what to talk about with the pair (at one point, he actually asks which one of the two is Ringo). Guest Tallulah Bankhead, for her part, seems to look upon the duo's appearance as an affront to her Golden Age of Hollywood stardom. The interview is a disaster, cut short so as to give the appearance that the two lead Beatles have somewhere to go. The only existing video copy is a three-minute excerpt a fan films by pointing a video camera at his TV set; fan audio of the entire interview has been widely bootlegged.

1969: During a UK tour, Fairport Conventions van crashed on the M1 motorway on the way home from a gig in Birmingham killing the group's 19 year-old drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn.

1970: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young release the single "Ohio"

1976: 33 year-old Keith Relf, former lead singer for The Yardbirds, was electrocuted while tuning a guitar which was not properly grounded. The accident happened in his West London home where he was found by his eight year old son, still holding the plugged-in electric guitar.

1985: Ronald Reagan presents Michael Jackson with a special Presidential Humanitarian Award at the White House for his work against drunk driving.

1987: Frank Sinatra, who had played South Africa in the past, suddenly condemns the apartheid regime publicly, referring to president P.W. Botha as "a bum."

1988: Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary celebration takes place at New York's Madison Square Garden, featuring appearances from many famous artists on the label's roster: The Bee Gees, Wilson Pickett, The Rascals, The Coasters, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Crosby Stills and Nash, Foreigner, Yes, Genesis, and the event's main attraction, a rare reunion of Led Zeppelin, featuring John Bonham's son Jason taking over drums for his late father.

1992: The album "Revenge" was released by KISS. The album featured a new drummer, Eric Singer.

1993: Christie's auction house in London sells the acoustic guitar on which Elvis Presley recorded his first Sun single, "That's All Right, Mama" b/w "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," to an unnamed bidder for $152,000. On the same day, the US tabloid Weekly World News claims that Elvis Presley has only recently died.

1997: Mark Morrison was jailed for three months after threatening a police officer with an electric stun gun, he was also ordered to pay $600 costs.

1998: Frank Sinatra died of a heart attack at age 82.

1998: George Michael pled no contest in the Beverly Hills Municipal Court to committing a lewd act in a park restroom. He was fined $810, given 80 hours of community service, and ordered to undergo counseling.

2003: Lawyers for Britney Spears and the Skechers footwear company settled a dispute over a deal for the pop star to market a line of roller skates and accessories. Spears had filed a $1.5 million breach of agreement lawsuit against Skechers in December, claiming the company failed to pay her adequately. Skechers had responded with a $10 million lawsuit, accusing Spears of fraud and breach of the three-year licensing agreement she signed in January 2002.

2004: Phil Spector was arrested after getting into a scuffle with his chauffeur at his California mansion. The 64 year old record producer was taken into custody and later released after a court date was set.

2005: A judge in Springfield, Massachusetts, ordered rapper 50 Cent to stay clean of drugs and take an anger management course to avoid spending time in jail. The rapper appeared in court charged with assaulting three women at a concert in 2004 after leaping into the crowd.

2005: Jimmy Martin (Bluegrass Musician) died of bladder cancer.

2006: Ashton "Family Man" Barrett, former bassist with Bob Marley's Wailers, loses a lawsuit alleging that Island Records and Marley's estate have failed to pay him millions in royalties.

2006: Six weeks after breaking his wrist in a cross-country motorbike race, country singer Craig Morgan breaks his right leg in another competition in Vanleer, Tennessee. He finishes the race, but will have to perform from a wheelchair or crutches for at least six weeks.

2011: Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton are married at the Don Strange Ranch near Boerne, Texas, in front of Reba McEntire, Dierks Bentley, Martina McBride and The Bellamy Brothers.

May 13

Births

1912: Gil Evans (Jazz Pianist)

1933: Mike Stoller (Composer)

1941: Ritchie Valens (Guitarist & Singer)

1943: Mary Wells (R&B Singer)

1945: Magic Dick (Harmonica for J. Geils Band)

1947: Overend Watts (Bass for Mott The Hoople)

1950: Danny Kirwan (Guitarist & Vocals for Fleetwood Mac)

1950: Stevie Wonder (R&B Singer & Piano Player)

1951: Paul Thompson (Drummer for Roxy Music)

1966: Darius Rucker (Singer & Guitar for Hootie & The Blowfish & Solo)

1966: Goldfrapp (Alison Goldfrapp) (Singer)

1969: Buckethead (Brian Carroll) (Guitarist)

1979: Michael Madden (Bass for Maroon 5)

Events

1938: Louis Armstrong recorded "When The Saints Go Marching In".

1955: At tonight's show in Jacksonville, FL, Elvis Presley tells the girls who make up the majority of the 14,000-plus crowd that he'll "see (them) backstage." The crowd proceeds to do just that, ripping the King's clothes, causing Elvis' first-ever riot and, reportedly, convincing Tom Parker about Elvis' popularity once and for all.

1957: Elvis begins filming his third movie, Jailhouse Rock, in Hollywood.

1966: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band gives its first performance at The Paradox in Orange, California.

1967: The Supremes scored their 10th US No.1 single with 'The Happening'.  It was the last single to be released as the Supremes, from now on they were known as Diana Ross and the Supremes.

1969: The Beatles meet at EMI House in London to replicate the cover of their first LP, Please Please Me, now with beards and long hair, for the cover of their next project, Get Back. When that project morphs into Let It Be, the photo is eventually used for the cover of their "blue album," The Beatles 1967-1970.

1970: The Beatles' last film, the misbegotten documentary Let It Be, premieres in New York.

1970: Black Sabbath release their debut Album Black Sabbath recognized by many as the first heavy metal album.

1970: Badfinger recorded "No Matter What".

1971: Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick accidentally wrecks her Mercedes on a wall near the Golden Gate Bridge, forcing the band to put off recording its new album until the singer recovers from her injuries.

1971: Motown child prodigy Stevie Wonder turns 21, and is by law released from his recording contract and given $1 million of the $30 million he has earned while at the label. Nevertheless, after gaining complete artistic control, Wonder resigns to Tamla.

1974: An unlikely riot occurs at tonight's Jackson 5 concert at RFK Stadium in Washington DC when impatient fans begin smashing bottles in the parking lot. Fifty fans are injured; forty-three are brought to jail.

1975: Bob Wills (Country Artist) died of pneumonia.

1977: Linda Ronstadt indirectly declines an offer placed in Hustler magazine, promising a million dollars to any of ten female celebrities (including Ronstadt) willing to pose for a nude photo shoot.

1978: With Yvonne Elliman's version of "If I Can't Have You" reaching the top of Billboard's pop chart, the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb becomes the first songwriter in history to have written four consecutive Number One US singles.

1985: Bruce Springsteen marries his first wife, model and actress Julianne Phillips, in Lake Oswego, OR, with Little Richard officiating and Percy Sledge singing "When A Man Loves A Woman." The couple would divorce in 1989.

1988: Chet Baker was found dead on Prins Hendrikkade, near Zeedijk, on the street below his second-story room (Room 210) of Hotel Prins Hendrik in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with serious wounds to his head. Heroin and cocaine were found in his hotel room, and an autopsy also found these drugs in his body. There was no evidence of a struggle, and the death was ruled an accident.

1993: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bette Midler and Barry White were guest voices on the season finale of the "The Simpsons." The episode was entitled "Krusty Gets Kancelled."

2000: Happy Monday’s singer Shaun Ryder's Volkswagen Corrado was found abandoned after being used as the getaway car. It was used in an armed robbery on Harry Ramsden's fish and chip restaurant in Manchester. $13,000 cash was taken in the robbery.

2003: Michael Jackson sues Motown records for alleged nonpayment of Jackson 5 royalties and unauthorized usage of the group's music in TV commercials.

2004: In an Australian radio interview, Gene Simmons of KISS states of Islam: "This is a vile culture, and if you think for a second that it's willing to just live in the sands of God's armpit you've got another thing coming... they want to come and live right where you live and they think that you're evil." After a flood of angry calls from Muslims, Simmons claims he was speaking only of extremists.

2007: Queen's Brian May is put on a round-the-clock watch after a schizophrenic leaves a letter at the guitarist's home blaming him for his mental illness, claiming himself as the real Brian May, and marking the guitarist for death.

2007: After complaining of not feeling well during a gig in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the day before, and after becoming notably disoriented at the airport the next day, Bo Diddley is found to have suffered a mild stroke and is hospitalized at Crieghton University Medical Center in nearby Omaha, NE.

2008: The Turtles' Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, better known as "Flo and Eddie," sue Capitol Records for allowing the Ice Cube to sample the group's 1972 song "Buzzsaw" for Cube's 1992 hit "Jackin' For Beats."

2008: The US Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Frank Sinatra. The design showed a 1950s-vintage image of Sinatra, wearing a hat.  It was also the first “Frank Sinatra Day” to celebrate the day before his death in 1998.

2011:  The surviving members of Pink Floyd reunited at London's O2 Arena for a rare collaboration, after swearing that they would never tour again upon breaking up in the mid-80s. David Gilmour joined Roger Waters and Nick Mason for renditions of "Comfortably Numb" and "Outside the Wall."

2011:  Lloyd Knibb, an influential Jamaican drummer who played with the Skatalites and helped develop the ska beat, died from liver cancer.

2012: Donald 'Duck' Dunn (Bassist for Booker T. & The MG’s) died in his sleep while on tour in Japan at the age of 70.