Births
1921 Hal David, US songwriter, pianist and arranger, with Burt Bacharach. Wrote many classic songs including, 'Close To You', '24 Hours From Tulsa', 'Make It Easy On Yourself', 'Magic Moments', 'I Say A Little Prayer'. Won two Oscars for film score 'Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid', for 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head'.
1926 Jazz trumpet legend Miles Davis born in Alton, IL.
1936 Country singer Tom T. Hall born in Olive Hill, KY.
1936 Donnie Elbert, US soul singer who had a 1972 US No.22 & UK No.11 single with ‘I Can’t Help Myself, Sugar Pie Huney Bunch’. He died on January 26th 1989.
1942 Brian Davison, The Nice, (1968 UK No.21 single 'America').
1943 John Palmer, Family, (1971 UK No.4 single 'In My Own Time').
1945 Dave Lee Travis, BBC Radio 1 and TV presenter. (1976 UK No.4 single ‘Convoy GB’ as Laurie Lingo and the Dipsticks).
1947 Mitchel Margo, The Tokens, (1961 US No.1 & UK No.11 single 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight').
1948 Klaus Meine, The Scorpions, (1991 UK No.2 single 'Wind Of Change').
1950 Jean Millington, all Girl group Fanny, (1975 US No. 29 single 'Butter Boy'.).
1950 Robert Steinhardt, Kansas, (1978 US No.3 single 'Dust In The Wind', UK No.59 single 'Carry On Wayward Son').
1955 John Grimaldi, Argent, (1972 UK No.5 single 'Hold Your Head Up').
1958 Singer/Songwriter Paul Weller is born in Surrey.
1959 Rick Smith, keyboards, Underworld, (1996 UK No.2 single 'Born Slippy').
1975 Lauryn Hill, singer, The Fugees, (1996 UK No.1 single 'Killing Me Softly'), solo, (1998 UK No.3 single 'Doo Wop, That Thing', 1998 US No.1 & UK No.2 album 'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill').
Deaths
1965 Blues artist Sonny Boy Williamson dies at the age of 65. Van Morrison, The Who, The Animals, Yardbirds and Moody Blues all covered his songs.
1974 Pam Morrison, Jim Morrison's widow, died of a drug overdose.
1980 Joe King, guitarist, vocals, The Fray, (2005 US Top 3 single ‘How to Save a Life’).
1982 Billy Powell of The O'Jays died from cancer.
1992 Khalil Rountree, tour manager for Boyz II Men was killed by gunfire after a scuffle In an elevator on the 26th floor of a hotel in Chicago.
1996 Bradley Nowell (Sublime) was found dead in his San Francisco motel room of a drug overdose at the age of 26.
Events
1956 Elvis Presley played at the Fox Theatre, Detroit.
1961 The Temperance Seven were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'You're Driving Me Crazy', their only UK No.1 single.
1962 The Isley Brothers released "Twist and Shout."
1965 Dave Davies (Kinks) was knocked unconscious when he careened into drummer Mick Avory's cymbal during a London concert.
1967 Procol Harum's 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale', entered the UK chart for the first time.
1968 The Rolling Stones released "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
1968 The 1968 Monterey Pop Festival was canceled.
1968 Simon and Garfunkel scored their second US No.1 album with 'Bookends'.
1969 The Hollies recorded "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" with Elton John on piano.
1969 Led Zeppelin and the Who appeared together in concert at the Merriweather Post Pavilion.
1969 A benefit concert was held for Fairport Convention at The Roundhouse, London to raise money for the families of the bands drummer Martin Lamble, Richard Thompson's girlfriend and clothes designer Jeannie Franklyn who were all killed in a accident driving back from a gig. Also on the bill, Family, Pretty Things, Soft Machine and John Peel.
1969 "Midnight Cowboy" opened in New York.
1973 Carole King played a concert in New York's Central Park which attracted an audience of 100,000.
1973 Wings played the first of two sold out nights at London's Hammersmith Odeon.
1974 Cockney Rebel and Be Bop Deluxe appearing at Friars, Aylesbury.
1974 Rick Wakeman became the first member of the group Yes to have a No.1 UK album when 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth' went to the top.
1978 The Who play the second and final secret concert in the UK for their "The Kids Are All Right" documentary. It is drummer Keith Moon's final performance with the band.
1978 After seeing The Hype (U2) playing at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin Paul McGuinness became their manager
1981 Slade appearing at The Oxford New Theatre, England.
1983 Dio released the album "Holy Diver."
1985 Dire Straits had their 2nd UK No.1 album with 'Brothers In Arms', also No.1 in the US and 24 other countries. It went on to sell over 20 million copies world-wide.
1985 Wham! started a 2 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Everything She Wants', the duo's third US No.1. It was a double A side with 'Last Christmas' in the UK.
1986 An estimated 7 million Americans took part in "Hands Across America" to raise money for the hungry and homeless.
1988 Debbie Gibson's "Foolish Beat" hit #1, making her the youngest artist to write, sing and produce a #1 hit. She was 17 years old at the time.
1990 Lou Gramm left Foreigner, to start a solo career
1991 Mariah Carey notched up her 4th US No.1 single with 'I Don't Wanna Cry', not a hit in the UK.
1991 Michael Bolton went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Time, Love and Tenderness.'
1991 Randy Travis and Lib Hatcher were married.
1994 Barbra Streisand postponed the first night of a six-night stand in Anaheim, CA. She had come down with viral laryngitis.
1995 The earliest know recording of Mick Jagger and Keith Richard's from 1961, were sold at Christies in London for 50,250 Pounds.
1996 Gina G had her first UK No.1 hit single when 'Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit' went to the top of the charts for 1 week. Australian Gina was representing the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest.
1997 A report showed that Elvis Presley was now the world's best selling posthumous entertainer with world-wide sales over 1 billion. Over 480 active fanclubs and an estimated 250,000 UK fans still buy his records. He died owing $3 million.
1997 Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Blood On The Dance Floor'.
1997 Bob Dylan was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital with chest pains. As a result, his European tour was canceled.
2000 UK Supermarket chain ASDA decided to cancel a signing tour planned to promote Boyzone's Mikey Graham's debut solo single 'Like An Angel' after he admitted that he had used cannabis and gone on alcohol benders with his fellow Boyz.
2001 Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher won a damages settlement from The Daily Mirror after they claimed he lied in court during divorce proceedings with Meg Matthews.
2002 30 Eminem fans were hurt after a crowd surge at a gig in Washington DC. Five people were taken to hospital, one man suffered a heart attack.
2003 50 Cent started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with '21 Questions', the rapper's second US No.1.
2003 Jemini, the UK entry for this year's Eurovision Song Contest, failed to get a single point, the first time a UK entry had ended up with nul points. The first nul pointers came in 1962, six years after the contest started, when four countries Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain all failed to register.
2003 Marilyn Manson were at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Golden Age of Grotesque’, a No. 4 hit in the UK and the bands second US No.1.
2007 Sixties pop star Wayne Fontana was remanded in custody after admitting pouring petrol over a bailiff's car and setting fire to it. The judge criticised the former lead singer of the Mindbenders, for arriving at Derby Crown court dressed as the Lady of Justice. He had to hand a sword and scales to guards but still wore a crown, cape and dark glasses, claiming "justice is blind".
2007 Saatchi & Saatchi were fired by Dr Martens for running an advertising campaign featuring dead rock stars such as Kurt Cobain and Sid Vicious wearing the brand's boots in heaven. David Suddens, the chief executive of Dr Martens parent company Airwear, said the brand had not commissioned the series of four print ads. "Dr Martens are very sorry for any offence that has been caused by the publication of images showing dead rock icons wearing Dr Martens boots."
