Births
1929 Wilbert Harrison, singer, 1959 US No.1 single 'Kansas City.' Wrote 'Let's Work Together' a hit for Canned Heat & Bryan Ferry.
1944 Van McCoy, singer and producer, who had a 1975 US No.1 and UK No.3 single with 'The Hustle'. He also produced Gladys Knight and Aretha Franklin. McCoy died on July 6th 1979 aged 38.
1946 Syd Barrett, guitar, vocals, Pink Floyd original member, left in 1968, released one solo album, 'Barrett' in 1970. Barrett died from complications arising from diabetes aged 60 on 7th July 2006.
1947 Sandy Denny, UK folk singer and member of Fairport Convention. She died on April 21st 1978 after falling down the stairs at a friend's house. She sang on the Fairport Convention 1969 UK No.21 single 'Si Tu Dois Partir' and also worked as a solo artist. She is featured on the Led Zeppelin track 'Battle Of Evermore' on the bands fourth album.
1953 Malcolm Young, guitar, AC/DC, (1980 UK No.36 single 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. 1980 UKNo.1 & US No.14 album 'Back in Black' sold over 10 million copies).
1959 Kathy Sledge, singer, Sister Sledge, (1979 US No.2 single 'We Are Family', 1985 UK No.1 'Frankie').
1960 Muzz Skillings, bass, Living Colour, (1991 UK No.12 single 'Love Rears Its Ugly Head').
1964 Mark O'Toole, bass, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, (1984 UK No.1 & US No.10 single 'Relax' and six other UK Top 40 singles).
1969 Tim Garbutt, Utah Saints, (1992 UK No. 4 single 'Something Good').
Deaths
1996 James Brown's wife Adrienne died in a Los Angeles hospital aged 47 after suffering a heart attack during a major plastic surgery operation.
2006 US singer Lou Rawls died at a Los Angeles hospital. The 72-year-old, Grammy-winning artist had been battling lung cancer. Rawls had the 1976 US No.2 & UK No.10 single 'You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine'.
Events
1938 Trummy Young played trombone and sang with the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra in New York City while recording "Margie."
1956 Elvis Presley performed in the gym at Randolph High School, Mississippi; this was the last time he ever appeared in a small auditorium.
1957 Elvis Presley made his last appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show" in New York City.
1958 Gibson patented its Flying V electric guitar.
1958 Bobby Helms filmed a role in the movie "The Case Against Brooklyn".
1962 Elvis Presley had his third UK No.1 album with 'Blue Hawaii'; it spent a total of 18 weeks at the top of the charts.
1964 The first night of a 14 date UK tour 'Group Scene 1964', featuring The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes, Marty Wilde, The Swinging Blue Jeans and Dave Berry and The Cruisers, played at the Granada Theatre, Harrow on The Hill, Middlesex.
1966 Duke Ellington's concert recorded at 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, was broadcast on CBS-TV.
1967 The Who played their first gig of this year when they appeared at Morecambe, Central Pier in England.
1968 Irish singer Val Doonican was at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Val Doonican Rocks, But Gently'.
1968 The Beatles 'Magical Mystery Tour' started an eight week run at No.1 on the US album chart, the groups 11th US chart topper.
1968 Dick Clark premiered his TV series "Happening '68." The show ran through September of 1969.
1970 Crosby Stills Nash & Young made their UK live debut at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
1973 Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain', (with Mick Jagger on backing vocals), started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart.
1975 About a thousand Led Zeppelin fans riot while waiting for tickets to go on sale at Boston Garden. About $30,000 was done in damage and the show was cancelled by Boston Mayor Kevin White.
1977 EMI terminated its contract with the *** Pistols only 3 months after signing it. No reason was given.
1979 The Bee Gees started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Too Much Heaven' the groups 7th US No.1.
1979 Showaddywaddy went to No.1 on the UK chart with their 'Greatest Hits' compilation.
1979 The Village People scored their only UK No.1 single with 'Y.M.C.A.' At its peak the single was selling over 150,000 copies a day.
1980 Georgeanna Gordon singer with Motown girl group The Marvelettes died aged 46. (1961 US No.1 single 'Please Mr Postman').
1982 The Prince single "Let's Work" was released.
1987 Elton John cancelled all live performances for a year after having throat surgery.
1987 Eric Clapton started what became an annual event by playing six shows at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
1989 The biggest selling UK album artists of 1988 were, No.5, Dire Straits, No.4, U2, No.3, Michael Jackson, No.2, Kylie Minogue and No.1, Fleetwood Mac.
1990 Phil Collins started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with '...But Seriously'.
1993 It was reported that David Bowie had lost over Ł2.5 million ($4.25 million) in unpaid royalties to an Italian Mafia-linked bootleg fraud.
1993 Bill Wyman announced that he has officially left the Rolling Stones.
1997 Two bronze busts worth Ł50,000 were stolen from a garden at George Harrison's estate in Henley-on- Thames, Oxfordshire. Thieves had climbed a 10- foot-wall and cut the figures of two monks from their stone plinths.
2001 Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour won the right to his dot com name. Dave took legal action in his battle to reclaim davidgilmour.com from Andrew Herman who had registered the URL and was selling Pink Floyd merchandise through the site.
2002 Daniel Bedingfield went back to No.1 on the UK singles chart for the second time with 'Gotta Get Thru This'.
2004 Feargal Sharkey, the former lead singer with The Undertones was made Head of The Live Music Forum a body to promote music in the UK.
2005 US CD sales rose for the first time in four years. The CD format accounted for 98% of the 666 million albums sold, according to research company Nielsen Soundscan. A total of 140 million digital tracks were legally downloaded during 2004, equivalent to 14 million albums. R&B star Usher was the biggest-selling artist with his album 'Confessions' selling eight million copies. Other top sellers of the year were Norah Jones, Eminem and country stars Kenny Chesney and Gretchen Wilson. The UK recorded a record year for album sales in 2004, with 237 million sold The Scissor Sisters proved the most popular album of the year, followed by Keane and Maroon 5.
2005 Georgeann Walsh Ward filed a suit against Gene Simmons and Viacom for her portrayal as "wild" and "unchaste" in a VH-1 "Sex Talk" episode.
2006 Ms Dynamite was charged with assaulting a police officer and disorderly conduct. The singer allegedly punched a female officer in the face, bruising her nose, while in custody. She had been arrested after allegedly kicking the door to the Paragon Lounge night-club in London and was said to have been abusive towards officers who questioned her.
2006 A collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia bought by a council worker who embezzled nearly L600,000 was set to be sold to compensate the local authority. Julie Wall, 46, from Rippon Drive in Sleaford, was jailed for three years for the offence last October. The collection - which included rare recordings and foreign pressings of Elvis songs - was to be auctioned off by a High Court receiver to provide compensation.
2006 Guitarist, trumpeter and drummer Alex St. Claire died. Member of The Omens, The Solid Senders and an original member of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band and Frank Zappa.
2007 US country-rock steel guitar player 'Sneaky' Pete Kleinow, died aged 72. He was one of the original members of the Flying Burrito Brothers with the Byrds' Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons. Also worked with John Lennon and Joni Mitchell.
