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.

July 25

Births

1925: William "Benny" Benjamin (Drummer for The Funk Brothers)

1934: Don Ellis (Jazz trumpeter)

1941: Manny Charlton (Lead Guitar for Nazareth)

1943: Jim McCarty (Drummer for The Yardbirds)

1946: Jose Chepito Areas (Percussion for Santana)

1951: Verdine White (Bass for Earth, Wind and Fire)

1958: Thurston Moore (Guitar & Vocals for Sonic Youth)

1969: Trevor Peres (Guitarist for Obituary)

1973: Dani Filth (Lead Vocals for Cradle Of Filth)

Events

1960: Roy Orbison reached No.2 on the US singles chart with ‘Only the Lonely,’ his first hit. The song was turned down by The Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley, so Orbison decided to record the song himself.

1964: A first in cross-marketing history: Billboard reports that the Beatles' new film, A Hard Day's Night, has already made its production costs back on the soundtrack album.  The album stayed at the top of the UK charts for 21 weeks.

1965: Backed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bob Dylan takes the stage at the Newport Folk Festival and plays his first-ever set of electric songs, horrifying many (but, contrary to legend, not all) in the crowd. After three songs, an upset Dylan says "Let's go, man, that's all," and the band leave the stage, only to be coaxed back out by Peter, Paul and Mary to play two more originals in the more "appropriate" acoustic manner. (Mainly because the band, a last-minute idea of Dylan's, only knew the three songs.)

1969: At the end of their gig at the Fillmore in San Francisco, Crosby, Stills and Nash invite Neil Young on stage to back them on a couple of songs, and they like the result so much he almost immediately becomes part of the band.

1975: A California federal judge rules that San Francisco had a right to arrest Miracles singer Smokey Robinson the previous year, even though his name only matched the alias of the criminal he was confused with.

1978: John Lydon (Lead singer of The Sex Pistols) forms rock group Public Ltd Image.

1980: KISS introduced their new drummer, Eric Carr, at a concert at the Paladium in New York City.

1980: AC/DC released their sixth internationally released studio album 'Back In Black', the first AC/DC album recorded without former lead singer Bon Scott, who died on 19 February 1980 at the age of 33. The album has sold an estimated 49 million copies worldwide to date, making it the second highest-selling album of all time, and the best-selling hard rock or heavy metal album.

1984: Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton died of a heart attack at 58 years old.

1990: Roseanne Barr sings (?) National Anthem at San Diego Padre game. She was booed for her performance.

1992: Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa become the proud parents of their first child, Evan James.

1995: Legendary Jazz singer Nina Simone is arrested for firing a pellet gun at noisy teenagers playing near her home in the south of France, for which she is placed on an 18-month probation and ordered to seek counseling.

1995: Country singer Charlie Rich died from a blood clot in his lung.

1997: Bassist Rick Danko (The Band) gets suspended sentence in Japan for drug smuggling.

1999: The 30th Anniversary of Woodstock ends, unlike the 25th Anniversary, with riots, fires, looting, three rapes, and other crimes, including three accidental deaths. In addition, several fans are hospitalized from drinking polluted water.

2001: The Doors' John Densmore, Bonnie Raitt, and others are arrested in Itasca, IL, for demonstrating against a company which they claim destroys the rainforest.

2002: Two former members of Destiny's Child settled out of court over the lyrics to 'Survivor', which they claimed were libellous. LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson, who left the group in 2000 said that the song broke an agreement, which stops both sides making 'any public comment of a disparaging nature concerning one another'. The line, which they were suing over, said 'You thought that I'd be stressed without you, but I'm chillin'. You thought I wouldn't sell without you, sold nine million'.

2003: Erik Braunn from American psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly, died of cardiac failure at the age of 52. Braunn was just 16 years old when he joined Iron Butterfly who had the 1968 US No.14 single 'In-A- Gadda-Da-Vida’.

2004: Jimmy Buffett went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘License To Chill’, the singer / songwriters first No.1 album.

July 24

Births

1957: Pam Tillis (Country Singer)

1957: Robbie Grey (Vocals for Modern English)

1957: Larry Gott (Guitar for James)

1958: Mick Karn (Bass for Japan)

1963: Paul Geary (Drummer for Extreme)

1969: Jennifer Lopez (Singer)

1973: Lady Mecca (Digable Planets)

Events

1956: Ten years to the day after their act began, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis break up their wildly popular musical and comedy act after a farewell show at New York's Copacabana nightclub.

1964: At the Rolling Stones' gig in Blackpool, England's Empress Ballroom, an angry audience member spits on guitarist Brian Jones, sparking a riot which injures two policemen and 30 fans, as well as destroying chandeliers, seats and a Steinway grand piano. Their remaining performances at the venue are cancelled and the group is banned from performing in the city, a ban which was not lifted until 2008.

1967: The Beatles and manager Brian Epstein, among other celebrities, take out a full-page ad in The Times newspaper in Britain calling for the legalization of marijuana. On the same day, Asia's edition of Life Magazine features the Beatles on the cover, sporting a new look featuring long hair and facial hair, a major stylistic statement at the time, and carrying the headline "The New, Far-Out Beatles."

1972: Bobby Ramirez, drummer with Edgar Winter's White Trash, is beaten to death in a Chicago barroom brawl after several patrons complain about the length of his hair.

1982: Survivor started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Eye Of The Tiger', taken from the film 'Rocky III'. Also No.1 in the UK. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for the song.

1984: Aretha Franklin's father, the well-known gospel singer The Reverend Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, dies after a five-year coma brought on by a burglar's bullet.

1985: A stretch of Detroit's Washington Boulevard is renamed "Aretha Franklin's Freeway Of Love," in honor of her recent comeback hit.

1987: The movie La Bamba, a somewhat fictionalized biography of Latin rock star Richie Valens, opens in the US. It's generally well-received, especially the soundtrack by Los Lobos. Lou Diamond Phillips stars as Valens, who died in the infamous plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper; Marshall Crenshaw appears as Buddy Holly and Brian Setzer as Eddie Cochran.

1990: Pantera released "Cowboys From Hell." It was their first major label release.

1990: A wrongful death trial involving Judas Priest opened in Reno, NV. Parents had charged in a lawsuit that the band's "Stained Class" album contained subliminal messages that drove two teen-agers to attempt suicide. The judge cleared the group.

1997: Police gave Oasis singer Liam Gallagher a formal caution after he admitted criminal damage following an incident with a cyclist in Camden, north London. Gallagher had grabbed the rider from the window of his chauffeur driven car and broken the man’s Ray-Bans sunglasses.

1998: Country legend Tanya Tucker files suit against her label, Capitol Nashville, for $300,000, claiming the label has not promoted her properly.

1999: Phil Collins married for the third time. The 48-year-old drummer wed marketing consultant Orianne Cevey in Lausanne, Switzerland. Guests at the wedding included Elton John, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler.

2003: Ozzy Osbournes long-standing tour manager, Bobby Thompson, was found dead in his Detroit hotel room. Thompson had been battling throat cancer.

2007: Blues legend Etta James enters Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for complications stemming from recent abdominal surgery.

2008: Rapper 50 Cent was suing Taco Bell claiming the US fast food chain used his name and image without permission in an advertising campaign. New York court papers say the advert features the star being encouraged to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent. The rapper is accusing the chain of ‘diluting the value of his good name’. The advertisement is part of Taco Bell's ‘Why Pay More?’ campaign, which promotes items for under a dollar.