Births
1933 Mike Stoller of the Leiber & Stoller writing team is born today on Long Island, N.Y
1939 Neil Sedaka is born in Brooklyn, N.Y.
1940 Candi Staton, who sang "Young Hearts Run Free is born today in Hanceville, Ala.
1959 Ronnie Rogers, guitarist with T'Pau, is born.
1960 U2 bass player Adam Clayton is born in Chinnor, England.
Events
1926 The Savoy Ballroom opens in Harlem, New York.
1947 The musical "Brigadoon" opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City.
1949 In Los Angeles, CA, ew Chudd formed Imperial Records.
1956 The Elvis Presley album is released today.
1961 Rick Nelson recorded "Travelin' Man".
1964 The Beatles film the "Can't Buy Me Love" sequence and the final scenes for their first feature film, A Hard Day's Night.
1965 Eric Clapton leaves the Yardbirds to be replaced by Jeff beck.
1965 On this week's Cash Box chart, the Beatles hold down the top four positions, with "Eight Days a Week" at No. 1.
1965 Meet the Beatles has become the all-time best-selling album in the U.S., having sold 3.5 million copies already.
1965 The Kinks release "Tired of Waiting for You."
1966 Pink Floyd receive their first billing at London's Marquee Club.
1968 The Byrds received a gold record for their "Greatest Hits" album.
1971 The Allman Brothers record At Fillmore East.
1973 Pink Floyd released "Dark Side of the Moon".
1975 Tammy Wynette and George Jones got divorced.
1975 Rush released "Fly By Night".
1976 The Four Seasons score their fifth and final US #1 hit with "December 1963 (Oh What A Night"). It was also their only UK #1. Since 1962, the group had placed 31 songs in Billboard's Top 40.
1976 The Jackson 5 moved from Motown to Epic Records. They also changeed their name to the Jackson's.
1980 Pink Floyd's "The Wall" goes platinum a few weeks into its fifteen week stay at number one on the Billboard chart. The two-record set is mostly the brainchild of bassist Roger Waters, who emerges as the group's creative leader.
1984 MTV premired its weekly "Top 20 Video Countdown" show.
1987 The first cassette single is released by Bryan Adams with "Heat of the Night".
1987 Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band are awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1990 MTV became available in the Middle East with the launch of MTV Europe in Israel.
1993 Duran Duran's comeback self-titled album, featuring the hit "Ordinary World," hits the American chart at No. 7.
1998 The Smashing Pumpkins filed a suit against a U.K. based Sound And Media Ltd. for at least $1 million. The band alleged that the company released a "book-with-CD" without the proper clearances.
1999 It had been nearly fifteen years since Cher led the US hit parade with "Dark Lady", but she was back on top with her fourth and final number one, "Believe". It was also #1 in the UK.
2002 In Middletown, NJ, Sebastian Bach was arrested for threatening the life of a bartender and the patrons of Lincroft Inn. He was charged with disorderly conduct, possession of under 20 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released the next day after posting bail.
2003 A jury awarded concert promoter Marcel Avram $5.3 million in his suit against Michael Jackson over the cancellation of two planned 1999 concerts. Avram filed suit against Jackson in 2000 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, claiming the singer had pulled out of New Year's shows planned for Sydney and Honolulu. On the witness stand, Jackson insisted that Avram cancelled the shows over concerns they would not be profitable.
