Births
1930 Johnny Preston, US singer, (1960 US & UK No.1 single 'Running Bear'.
1942 Sarah Dash, Labelle, (1975 US No.1 & UK No.17, single 'Lady Marmalade').
1944 Carl Wayne, singer, The Move, (1969 UK No.1 single 'Blackberry way'). Wayne died of cancer on 31st Aug 2004.
1945 Nona Hendryx, Labelle, (1975 US No.1 & UK No.17, single 'Lady Marmalade').
1945 Barbara Harris, singer, The Toys, 1965 US No. 2 & UK No.5 single 'A Lover's Concerto').
1949 Nigel Griggs bass, Split Enz, (1980 UK No.12 single 'I Got You').
1950 Dennis Elliott, drums, Foreigner, (1985 UK & US No.1 single 'I Want To Know What Love Is').
1951 John Rees, Men At Work, (1983 UK & US No.1 single 'Down Under').
1952 Patrick Swayze, actor, singer, (1988 US No.3 & UK No.17 single with Wendy Fraser, 'She's Like The Wind').
1957 Ron Strykert, Men At Work, (1983 UK and US No.1 single 'Down Under').
1967 Dan Peters, drums, Mudhoney, (1991 UK No.60 single 'Let It Slide').
1967 Tracy Tracy, The Primitives, (1988 UK No.5 single 'Crash').
1969 Erik Schrody, Irish-American rapper and singer-songwriter, House Of Pain, (1993 UK No.3 single 'Jump Around'). Member of Everlast, (1999 UK No. 34 single 'What It's Like').
1971 Richard James, Aphex Twin (1993 UK No.32 single 'On').
1983 Mika, (Mica Penniman), UK singer, (2007 UK No.1 single 'Grace Kelly' and 2007 UK No.1 album 'Life in Cartoon Motion').
Deaths
1999 Johnny Byrne guitarist with 60's Liverpool band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes died aged 60.
2003 Tony Jackson bass player with The Searchers died of cirrhosis of the liver. The Searchers had the 1964 UK No.1 & US No.13 single 'Needles And Pins'.
Events
1949 Ralph Flanagan and his orchestra recorded "You're Breaking My Heart."
1956 The original version of "Hound Dog," by Big Mama Thornton, was released.
1958 The Kalin Twins were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'When'. The brothers became the first twins to score a No.1 record.
1962 Ringo Starr made his first appearance as a Beatle at a Cavern Club show.
1962 Peter, Paul & Mary's "If I Had A Hammer" was released.
1964 Over 9,000 frenzied fans met The Beatles as they arrived in San Francisco, to begin an American tour. The Beatles were driven into a protective fence enclosure so that photographers could take pictures. As the 9,000 fans pressed against the fencing, it gave way, with The Beatles managing to get out split-seconds before it came crashing down.
1965 During a US tour The Beatles appeared at Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia to a sold out crowd of 35,000. Tickets cost $5.50
1966 Paul Jones left Manfred Mann just as 'Pretty Flamingo' was climbing the US charts. He was replaced by singer Mike D'Abo, who would take over lead vocals on the bands next hit, 'The Mighty Quinn,' a song written by Bob Dylan.
1969 Mick Jagger was accidentally shot in the hand during filming of 'Ned Kelly' in Australia.
1969 During a North American tour Led Zeppelin played two shows at the Rock Pile in Toronto supported by Edward Bear.
1973 Gene Krupa played for the final time with the original Benny Goodman Quartet.
1973 The Doobie Brothers' "China Grove" was released.
1973 Diana Ross scored her second US No.1 single with 'Touch Me In The Morning'.
1973 Jethro Tull scored their second US No.1 album with 'A Passion Play'.
1973 Peters and Lee were at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'We Can Make It'.
1976 'Variety' reported that Marvin Gaye faced two consecutive five day prison terms in Los Angeles county jail for contempt of court after failing to pay alimony and child support
1977 Funeral services for Elvis Presley were held at Graceland.
1977 The Police performed as a trio for the first time after guitarist Henri Padovani left the band.
1979 Nick Lowe and Carlene Carter were married in Los Angeles, CA.
1979 Appearing at Wembley Stadium, London, England, AC/DC, Nils Lofgren, The Stranglers and The Who.
1979 Chic went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Good Times', the groups second US No.1, a No.5 hit in the UK.
1982 The City of Liverpool named four Streets after the fab four: John Lennon Drive, Paul McCartney Way, George Harrison Close and Ringo Starr Drive.
1983 Appearing at New York's Shea Stadium, The Police plus Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and R.E.M. (their biggest gig to date).
1984 Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran married American model Julie Anne at Marylebone registry office London.
1984 George Michael was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his first solo single 'Careless Whisper.' It made George the first person to reach No.1 as a solo artist and a member of a band in the same year and gave Epic records UK their first UK million seller.
1986 Bon Jovi released their "Slippery When Wet" album.
1990 Jazzie B from Soul II Soul was injured when he was involved in a seven-car pile-up while travelling from Detroit to Chicago.
1991 Billy Preston was arrested in Los Angeles, CA after a 16 year old boy reported being sexually attacked.
1992 Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) and Courtney Love (Hole) became parents to daughter Frances Bean.
2001 Appearing at the V2001 festival Chelmsford, England, Texas, The Charlatans, Coldplay, Faithless, Nelly Furtado and Embrace.
2002 Sugababes scored their second UK No.1 single with 'Round Round'.
2005 Kanye West called for an end to homophobia in the hip-hop community during an MTV interview saying "hip-hop was always about speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people. Not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates, I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, 'Yo, stop it'."
2006 Justin Hawkins the lead singer of The Darkness checked himself into the Priory rehabilitation clinic suffering from exhaustion after three years of non-stop work.
2006 US film-maker Adam Muskiewicz set up elviswanted.com as part of a documentary exploring the myth that the singer was still alive and offered a $3m (Ł1.59m) reward for anybody who found Elvis Presley alive. The film was due for release in August 2007, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Presley's death.
2006 Babyshambles front man Pete Doherty appeared at Thames Magistrates court in London to face seven charges of drug possession.
