Births
1942 Curtis Mayfield, US singer, songwriter. Member of The Impressions, (1965 US No.7 single 'Lilies Of The Field'). Solo, (1971 UK No.12 single 'Move On Up', 1972 US No.4 single 'Freddie's Dead, Theme From Superfly'). He died on December 26th 1999.
1943 Michael Clarke, drummer, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, (1965 US & UK No.1 single 'Mr Tambourine Man'). Clarke died of liver failure on December 19th 1993.
1946 Ian Hunter, vocals, guitar, Mott The Hoople, (1972 UK No.3 single 'All The Young Dudes'), solo 1975 UK No.14 single 'Once Bitten twice Shy'. One half of Hunter Ronson with Mick Ronson. Wrote the book 'Diary Of A Rock 'n' Roll Star').
1946 John Paul Jones, bass, keyboards, producer, Led Zeppelin, (1969 US No.4 single 'Whole Lotta Love'. The bands fourth album released in 1971 featuring the rock classic 'Stairway To Heaven', has sold over 11 million copies). As a session player in the 1960's he worked with The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Donovan, Jeff Beck, Herman's Hermits, Lulu, Tom Jones. Worked with R.E.M. on 1992 'Automatic For The People' album.
1947 Dave Alexander, bass, Iggy Pop And The Stooges. Died 10th February 1975.
1947 Mickey Finn, T Rex, percussion, (1971 UK No.1 single 'Hot Love', plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles). Finn died on January 11th 2002.
1950 Florian Pilkington-Miksa, Curved Air, (1971 UK No.4 single 'Back Street Luv').
1950 Suzi Quatro, vocals, bass, (1973 UK No.1 single 'Can The Can', plus 10 other UK Top 40 singles, 1979 US No.4 single with Chris Norman, (Stumblin' In').
1951 Deniece Williams, US singer, (1978 US No.1 & UK No.3 single with Johnny Mathis 'Too Much Too Little Too Late', 1984 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Let's Hear It For The Boy'). Worked as a backing singer with Stevie Wonder's group Wonderlove.
1952 Billy Powell, keyboards, Lynyrd Skynyrd, (1974 US No. 8 single, 'Sweet Home Alabama', 1982 UK No.21 single 'Freebird').
1954 Dan Hill, singer, (1978 US No.3 & UK No. 13 single 'Sometimes When We Touch').
1956 Danny Wilde, singer, songwriter, Great Buildings, The Rembrandts, (1990 US Top 20 hit ‘Just the Way It Is, Baby’, 1995, UK No. 3 single ‘I’ll Be There For You’, Theme from Friends).
1961 El Debarge, Debarge, (1985 UK No.4 single 'Rhythm Of The Night).
1962 David Cole, C & C Music Factory, (1991 UK No.4 single 'Things That Make You Go Hmmm..., 1991 US No.1 single 'Gonna Make You Sweat'). Produced Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin. Cole died January 24th 1995.
1964 Kerry King, guitar, Slayer, (1995 UK No.50 single 'Serenity In Murder').
1965 Mike Gordon, bass, banjo, piano, harmonica and percussion, Phish. Also an award-winning filmmaker.
1968 Samantha Sprackling, vocals, Republica, (1997 UK No.7 single 'Drop Dead Gorgeous').
1974 Kelly Jones, vocals, guitar, Stereophonics, (1999 UK No.1 album, 'Performance and Cocktails' spent 97 weeks on the UK chart. 2001 UK No.4 single 'Handbags And Gladrags').
1985 Tavion La'Corey Mathis, singer, Pretty Ricky, (2007 US No.1 album ‘Late Night Special’).
Deaths
1975 Ozzie Nelson, father of US pop star Ricky Nelson died aged 68. Nelson had fronted his own radio and TV show in the 40's and 50's.
Events
1932 The Broadway musical "The Band Wagon" opened in New York City.
1952 Frank Sinatra recorded "Birth of the Blues."
1957 The Isley Brothers released their first single 'The Anglels Cried'.
1964 "The Hollywood Palace" hosted the first appearance of the Rolling Stones.
1964 Ringo Starr was taken ill with pharyngitis, days before a world tour was about to start, session drummer Jimmy Nichol sits in and became a Beatle for 11 days.
1967 Aretha Franklin went to No.1 on the US singles chart with her version of the Otis Redding hit 'Respect'. It made No.10 on the UK chart. Aretha scored her first UK No.1 20 years later with 'I Knew You Were Waiting' with George Michael.
1967 The Doors "Light My Fire" was released.
1968 Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol and art critic and curator Mario Amaya at Warhol's studio in New York City. Solanas had been to see Warhol after asking for the return of a script which had apparently, been misplaced. Warhol was seriously wounded in the attack and barely survived.
1970 The Kinks Ray Davies was forced to make a 6,000 round trip from New York to London to record one word in a song. Davies had to change the word 'Coca- Cola' to 'Cherry Cola' on the bands forthcoming single 'Lola' due to an advertising ban.
1972 The Rolling Stones began their "Exile On Main Street" North American tour in Vancouver with Stevie Wonder as the opening act.
1972 The Eagles' "Take It Easy" was released.
1972 Appearing at the Crystal Palace Garden Party, Joe Cocker, The Beach Boys, Melanie, Richie havens and Sha Na Na.
1972 Family gospel group of father and 3 daughters The Staple Singers went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'I'll Take You There', it made No.30 in the UK.
1972 Joe Cocker, The Beach Boys, Melanie, Richie Havens and Sha Na Na appearing at the Crystal Palace Garden Party, England.
1972 Jethro Tull started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Thick As A Brick'.
1974 Boots record dept were advertising 69p off top selling albums, 'Quo' by Status Quo was ?2.75, offer price ?2.02, David Bowie's 'Diamond Dogs', was ?2.38, now ?1.69 and 'Sweet Fanny Adams' by Sweet was ?2.31 and now ?1.69. All Singles 40p.
1978 Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Too Much Too Little Too Late', it made No.3 in the UK.
1982 Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN, opened as a tourist attraction.
1987 George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" was banned by the BBC.
1987 Bryan Adams recorded a live version of the Christmas song "Run Rudolph Run."
1989 The Fine Young Cannibals started a seven-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'The Raw & The Cooked'.
1989 Michael Damian went to No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of the David Essex song 'Rock On', not a hit in the UK.
1989 Queen scored their 6th UK No.1 album with 'The Miracle'.
1990 'The Big Day', Free Festival took place in Glasgow with Wet Wet Wet, Deacon Blue, Hothouse Flowers, Sheena Easton, Texas, Hue and Cry, John Martyn, Eddi Reader, The Average White Band and others. Channel Four TV ran a 6 hour live broadcast.
1990 Michael Jackson was admitted to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica after complaining of chest pains. Test showed that he had bruised ribs from dance practice.
1991 Willie Nelson released his "Who'll Buy My Memories - The IRS Tapes" LP. The album was made up of songs that had been seized by the U.S. government and would go towards paying off his $16 million tax bill.
1995 Bryan Adams started a 5 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?'. Taken from the film 'Don Juan De Marco' it became Adams 3rd US solo No.1, A No.4 hit in the UK.
1998 Van Halen cancelled a show at the Docks club in Hamburg, Germany, after a piece of ceiling plaster fell and hit Alex Van Halen. He suffered a bruised arm.
2001 Shaggy started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Angel.' His album 'Hot Shot' also went to No.1 on the UK album chart on this day.
2001 Staind started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Break The Cycle'.
2002 Paul McCartney, Sting, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Cliff Richard, Ozzy Osbourne, The Corrs, Will Young, Atomic Kitten and S Club 7 appearing at The Queen's Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace.
