Births
1942 Joe McDonald, vocals, Country Joe and the Fish, 1968 US hit 'I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die.'
1950 Morgan Fisher, keyboards, Mott The Hopple, 1972 UK No.3 & US No.37 single 'All The Young Dudes', a song David Bowie offered the band on hearing they were about to split up.
1956 Diane Warren, US songwriter. Warren has written over 80 US Top 20 hits including; Aerosmith, 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing', LeAnn Rimes, 'How Do I Live', Toni Braxton, 'Un- Break My Heart', plus hits for Cher, Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart and Ace Of Base.
1958 Joseph Saddler, (Grandmaster Flash), 1982 UK No.8 single 'The Message.' Major force in early Rap music, was given his nickname after his rapid hand movements on the record decks.
1968 Rick J. Jordan (born Hendrik Stedler), German techno group Scooter who have sold over 14 million records and are considered the most successful single-record German act with 20 top ten hits. 2008 UK No.1 album 'Jumping All Over The World.'
1972 Tom Barman, guitar, vocals, dEUS, (Belgium band, 1996 UK Top 50 album 'Little Arithmetics').
1975 Thomas Bangaltier, Daft Punk, 1997 UK No.5 single 'Around The World', remixed Gabrielle, Chemical Brothers.
Deaths
1953 Hank Williams died of drug and alcohol overdose at the age of 29.
1984 Alexis Korner died. He was a major force behind the UK early 60's R&B scene, formed Blues Incorporated with Charlie Watts. Hits with CCS, (1971 UK No.5 single 'Tap Turns On The Water'). Writer and radio presenter.
1991 Buck Ram, The Platters manager and songwriter died aged 83.
Events
1955 RCA Victor announced that they were dropping the prices of their records in an attempt to spur record sales.
1955 Dickie Valentine was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Finger Of Suspicion'.
1956 Bill Haley's 'Rock Around The Clock' went to No.1 on the UK singles chart for the second time.
1957 BBC Television aired its new rock & roll show 'Cool For Cats' for the first time. With a miniscule budget, the program was forced to rely on artists miming and the talents of a resident dance group (led by Douglas Squires). Ker Robertson, the first host, was succeeded after a few weeks by Kent Walton, later better known for his ITV wrestling commentaries
1959 Elvis Presley destroyed his BMW on Germany's Autobahn.
1960 Johnny Cash played a free concert for the inmates of San Quentin Prison, California.
1962 The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records in London. The company opted for Brian Polle & the Tremeloes because the group was based in the south of England.
1964 The Beach Boys recorded "Fun Fun Fun."
1964 The first edition of the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops was transmitted from an old church hall in Manchester, England. Introduced by DJ Jimmy Saville, acts miming to their latest releases included The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies and The Swinging Blue Jeans. The first song played was Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You'. Also featured on disc and film, The Beatles, Freddie & the Dreamers, Cliff Richard and the Shadows and Gene Pitney.
1965 The Yardbirds (with Eric Clapton), played two shows at The Odeon Cinema, Hammersmith in London. One at 6.15 and 8.45pm.
1966 The final episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" (with Rick Nelson) was filmed.
1966 Simon and Garfunkel started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Sounds Of Silence', a No.13 hit in the UK.
1967 Gary Lewis (Playboys) was drafted into the U.S. Army.
1967 Sonny and Cher were barred from the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, CA, for their support of the Sunset Strip rioters.
1968 The Blue Velvets changed the name of their band to Creedence Clearwater Revival.
1968 Billboard magazine reported that for the first time albums had outsold singles in the US with album sales reaching over 192 million units.
1969 Marmalade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of The Beatles song 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da'.
1970 Rolf Harris was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Two Little Boys'.
1971 Radio Luxembourg aired over seven hours of continuous Beatles music to celebrate the group's tenth year in the music business. Every track played was a single or LP track by The Beatles plus tracks from solo albums.
1972 Carole King started a three week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Music', her second US chart topper.
1972 Marc Bolan signed a deal with EMI to release records in the UK on his own T Rex Wax co. label.
1976 Appearing at the Great British Music Festival, London, Procol Harum, John Miles, Barclay James Harvest, Baker Gurvitz Army and Snafu, tickets L3.30.
1977 Genesis played the first of three nights at the new-look Rainbow Theatre, London, and tickets cost L2.50 ($4.25). The theatre had been completely renovated at a cost of L80,000 ($136,000).
1977 The Clash played the opening night at punk's first real venue, The Roxy Club in London.
1977 Wings were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Mull Of Kintyre.' It became the first single to sell over 2 million copies in the UK.
1979 The Invaders played their last gig at the Filmmakers Co-Op in London and then went on to form Madness.
1979 Bruce Springsteen's cheek was ripped open by a fire-cracker that was thrown onstage from the audience.
1980 Cliff Richard was included in the Queen's New Year list, being awarded an OBE.
1981 Prince and the Revolution released their first home video "Live." The recording is from the "Purple Rain" tour.
1982 The last ABBA concert was held in Stockholm.
1985 VH-1 premiered as an adult contemporary music video channel with Marvin Gaye's "Star Spangled Banner" video.
1988 Breakdancers Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan signed a contract with Boney M producer Frank Farian. Milli Vanilli were born.
1988 Prince played an after midnight New Years Eve charity gig in aid of the homeless in Minnesota. Miles Davis joined him on stage.
1989 Nirvana signed a one-year recording contract with Sub Pop records.
1989 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) changed the requirements for a musical work to achieve gold and platinum status.
1990 New American radio station WKRL in Florida played the Led Zeppelin track 'Stairway To Heaven' for 24 hours, as a prelude to an all Zeppelin format.
1992 Diana Ross opened the annual Harrods January sale in London.
1994 Appearing at The Brixton Academy, London, Underworld, Orbital, System 7, The Drum Club and Eat Static.
1994 Music weekly Melody Makers Top singles of 1993; No.3 Pulp, 'Razzamtazz', No.2, Radiohead 'Creep' and No.1 The Breeders, 'Cannonball'. Top 3 albums, 'Star' by Belly No.3, Afghan Whigs 'Gentleman' No.2 and No.1 Tindersticks self-titled debut album.
1995 Garth Brooks started a six week run at No.1 on the US album charts with 'The Hits.'
1998 A mystery buyer paid Ł31,000 ($52,700) for the car number plate 'OAS 15' at auction in Cheltenham. It was rumoured that a member from Oasis had bought the plate.
1999 Cinjun August Tate and Alyssa Milano were married.
2002 Eric Clapton and Melia McEnery were married.
2002 In Tampa, FL, Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys) was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest/opposing a law enforcement officer without violence.
2002 Eric Clapton married 25-year old Melia McEnery the mother of his baby daughter at a secret ceremony at the 15th Century St Mary Magdalen Church in Riplley, Surrey, England.
2002 Welsh singer Shakin' Stevens spent several hours in police custody after being arrested for drink driving. The 80's singer was charged and released to appear before magistrates on January 16th.
2002 The Top five selling UK albums of 2001, No. 5, Shaggy, 'Hot Shot', No.4, Travis, 'The Invisible Band', No.3 Eva Cassidy, 'Songbird', No.2, David Gray, 'White Ladder' and No.1, Dido, 'No Angel'.
2005 In most of Europe, copyright expired on a number of classic pop and rock-and-roll songs recorded in 1954 and earlier, including Bill Haley's 'Rock Around the Clock' and 'Only You' by The Platters.
2006 The John Lennon song Imagine was voted the nations favourite song a quarter of a century after his death. A UK radio station conducted the poll of 7,000 listeners. The Beatles were voted into second and third place with 'Hey Jude' and 'Let It Be.'
2007 Queen beat The Beatles to be crowned greatest British band of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners in the UK. They pipped the Fab Four in a live contest, trouncing other finalists The Rolling Stones, Oasis and Take That. The bands were judged on song-writing, lyrics, live performances, originality and showmanship. More than 20,000 listeners voted by email, text and phone.
2008 The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) reported that the number of music downloads sold in the UK in the final week of 2007 was double the total of 12 months earlier. In total there were 2.95 million downloads in seven days, the highest ever recorded for any weekly period. And when the whole of the year was taken into account, 77.5 million downloads were sold in the UK in 2007.
