Births
1934 blues guitarist Freddie King. Eric Clapton covered his 'Have You Ever Loved A Woman' on the 'Layla' album. Died on 27th December 1976 of heart trouble and Ulcers aged 42.
1942 Al Jardine, The Beach Boys, (1966 UK & US No.1 single 'Good Vibrations', plus over 25 other UK Top 40 singles).
1944 Gary Leeds, The Walker Brothers, (1966 UK No.1 & US No.13 single 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore').
1945 George Biondo, Steppenwolf, (1969 UK No.30 single 'Born To Be Wild').
1947 Eric Bell, Thin Lizzy, (1973 UK No.6 single 'Whisky In The Jar').
1948 Donald Brewer, Grand Funk Railroad, (1974 US No.1 single 'The Locomotion'). Most successful US Heavy Metal band of the 70's selling over 20m albums.
1952 Leroy Smith, Sweet Sensation, (1974 UK No.1 single with 'Sad Sweet Dreamer').
1957 Suzanne Freitag, Propaganda, (1985 UK No.21 single 'Duel').
1962 Lester Noel, Beats International, (1990 UK No.1 single 'Dub Be Good To Me' featuring vocalist former actress in TV's 'Grange Hill', Lindy Layton, produced by Norman Cook).
1973 Jennifer Paige, US singer, (1998 UK No.4 single, 'Crush'.
1973 David Mead, US singer, songwriter. (2001 UK airplay hit 'Girl On The Roof').
1979 Tomislav 'Tomo' Milichevich Sarajevo, lead guitarist, 30 Seconds to Mars.
1980 Jay 'Cone' McCaslin, Sum 41, (2001 UK No 13 single 'In Too Deep').
1984 Robert Curry, US singer with Day26, also known as a contestant on the TV show Making the Band 4.
Deaths
1970 Guitar player with Canned Heat was found dead at fellow band-members Bob Hite's garden in Topanga Canyon Los Angeles aged 27. (1970 UK No.2 & US No.26 single 'Let's Work Together').
2004 Songwriter and producer Billy Davis died in New York after a long illness. Co-wrote Jackie Wilson's, 'Reet Petite' and the jingle 'I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke.' Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and Gladys Knight all recorded his songs.
Events
1940 Artie Shaw and the Gramercy Five recorded "Summit Ridge Drive."
1942 Frank Sinatra started his solo singing career.
1955 Bill Haley & the Comets refused their first offer to tour outside the U.S. because of a fear of flying.
1962 After playing a lunchtime show at The Cavern in Liverpool, The Beatles played the first of three Monday night gigs at The Queen's Hall, Widnes, Cheshire. Also on the bill, Billy Kramer and the Coasters, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and Sonny Kaye and the Reds. Tickets cost 3/6.
1963 Reprise Records, owned by Frank Sinatra, became part of Warner Brothers Records.
1964 During a US tour The Beatles played two shows at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. They were paid $85,000 for the shows, tickets cost $4.00.
1965 A Rolling Stones gig in Dublin, Ireland ended in a riot after 30 fans jumped onto the stage. Jagger was knocked to the floor as the rest of the band fled the stage.
1966 Donovan went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Sunshine Superman', a No.2 hit in the UK.
1967 During a 10-date tour of Sweden, The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared at the Liseburg in Gothenburg.
1967, Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones announced he was applying for a pilot's licence.
1969 The Four Seasons' "I've Got You Under My Skin" was released.
1970 Rolling Stone reported that the Dave Clark Five had broken up.
1970 It was reported that the Bob Dylan bootleg album 'Great White Wonder' had sold over 350000 copies.
1973 "Angie" was released by The Rolling Stones.
1977 Elvis Presley had his 17th UK No.1 single with 'Way Down.'
1982 The three day US Festival in San Bernardino, California took place featuring, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, The Police, The Cars, Talking Heads, Ramones, B52's, The English Beat, Gang Of Four, The Grateful Dead, Pat Benatar, Jackson Browne. Apple Computers founder Steven Wozniak bankrolled the festival.
1983 Metallica ended their first tour entitled "Kill 'em all for one." The tour began on July 27, 1983.
1983 The Eurythmics went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)'.
1983 UB40 had their first UK No.1 single with a cover of the Neil Diamond song 'Red Red Wine'.
1988 Rick Astley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Never Gonna Give You Up.'
1991 Ike Turner was released from prison having served 18 months of a four-year prison term, (Ike had been arrested ten other times). In an interview with 'Variety' he claimed to have spent over $11 million on cocaine.
1991 During a European tour, Nirvana recorded 'Dumb', 'Drain You' and 'Endless Nameless' at Maida Vale studios in London for the BBC Radio 1 John Peel show.
1992 David Bowie appeared on the cover of "Architectural Digest." He was the first human on the cover in 4 years.
1994 Brian Setzer (formerly of the Stray Cats) married Christine Schmidt.
1994 Prince/The Artist appeared on "Soul Train" as the bass player for Nona Gaye on the song "Love Sign."
1994 "After the Storm" was released by Crosby, Stills and Nash.
2000 British Boy band A1 went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the A-Ha hit 'Take On Me'.
2000 Madonna started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Music.'
2000 Robbie Williams started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Sing When You're Winning'.
2002 The Rolling Stones 40th anniversary Licks tour kicked off at the Fleet Centre Boston. Tickets for the best seats cost $224. The world tour would see the band playing to over 2.5m fans over 100 shows.
2003 Libertines singer Pete Doherty was sentenced to six months in jail after being found guilty to burglary and drug possession charges. His sentence was reduced to two months on appeal.
2004 Sir Cliff Richard stunned the music industry by ending his contract with EMI records and signing with Eminem's label Universal Music. Cliff had sold over 250 million records with EMI during his 46 year career.
2005 Blues musician Fats Domino was rescued from New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the city. The 77-year-old singer had been reported missing since the storm in New Orleans which had flooding the city leaving thousands feared dead.
2006 Kasabian went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Empire' the UK bands second album.
2006 Hundreds of Paris Hilton albums were tampered with in record stores in Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and London in the latest stunt by "guerrilla artist" Banksy. Banksy had replaced Hilton's CD with his own remixes and gave them titles such as 'Why am I Famous?', 'What Have I Done?' and 'What Am I For?'. He had also changed pictures of her on the CD sleeve to show the US socialite topless and with a dog's head.
2007 During a US tour with Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way married Mindless Self Indulgence bassist Lyn Z after a gig in Colorado.
