Births
1917 Jerry Wexler, producer and record company executive. Co-owner of Atlantic records, vice president at Warner Brothers, worked with Ray Charles, Phil Spector, Dr John, Dusty Springfield, Dire Straits, Bob Dylan.
1927 US teen idol singer Johnnie Ray, (1956 UK No.1 & US No.2 single, 'Just Walking In The Rain', plus over 20 Top 40 singles between 1952 & 60). Died of liver failure on 21st February 1990.
1935 Ronnie Hawkins, singer, (1959 US No.26 single 'Mary Lou', formed The Band, (then known as The Hawks).
1939 Scott McKenzie, (1967 UK No.1 & US No.4 single 'San Francisco, Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair'. McKenzie also auditioned for The Monkees).
1943 Jim Croce, US singer/songwriter who had a 1973 US No.1 single with 'Time In A Bottle'. He was killed in a plane crash on the way to a concert on September 20th 1973.
1945 Martin Turner, guitar, Wishbone Ash, (1972 UK No.3 album 'Argus' and 8 other Top 40 albums).
1945 Rod Stewart, singer, songwriter, The Hoochie Coochie Men, Steampacket, Shotgun Express, Jeff Beck Group, The Faces, (UK No.6 & US No.17 single 'Stay With Me'). Solo, (1971 UK & US No.1 single 'Maggie May', plus five other UK No.1's & over 35 Top 40 hits). His 1971 debut album 'Every Picture Tell's A Story' was the first album ever to simultaneously be No.1 in the UK & US.
1946 Aynsley Dunbar, drums, Journey, (1982 US No.2 single 'Open Arms'), Whitesnake, (1987 US No.1 & UK No.9 single 'Here I Go Again').
1946 Bob Lang, Mindbenders, (1965 US No.1 single 'Game Of Love', 1966 UK No.2 single 'Groovy Kind Of Love').
1946 Neal Smith, drums, Alice Cooper Band, (1972 UK No.1 & US No.7 single 'School's Out').
1948 Cyril Neville, vocals, percussion, The Neville Brothers, (1989 UK No.47 single 'With God On Our Side').
1948 Donald Fagen, vocals, keyboards, Steely Dan, (1973 US No.11 single 'Reeling In The Years' and nine other US Top 30 hits). Steely Dan's 'Two Against Nature' won a Grammy in 2001 for Album of the year. Also a solo artist.
1953 Pat Benatar, singer, and four-time Grammy winner, (1985 US No.5 and UK No.17 single 'Love Is A Battlefield' plus 10 other US Top 40 singles).
1955 Luci Martin, vocals, Chic, (1978 US No.1 & UK No.7 single 'Le Freak').
1955 Michael Schenker, German guitarist, formed The Scorpions, member of UFO. (1982 UK No.5 album with the Michael Schenker group 'One Night At Budokan').
1958 Shawn Colvin, Singer songwriter, (1995 UK No.40 single with Mary Chapin Carpenter, 'One Cool Remove').
1964 Brad Roberts, vocals, guitar, Crash Test Dummies, (1994 UK No.2 & US No.4 single 'MMM MMM MMM MMM').
1965 Joey Santiago, guitar, The Pixies, (1990 UK No.28 single 'Velouria').
1965 Nathan Moore, vocals, Brother Beyond, (1988 UK No.2 single 'The Harder I Try').
1973 Aerlee Taree, vocals, Arrested Development, (1992 UK No.2 single 'People Everyday').
1978 Matt Roberts, guitarist, 3 Doors Down, (2003 US No.4 single 'When I'm Gone', 2005 US No.1 album 'Seventeen Days').
1979 Chris Smith, Kris Kross, (1992 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Jump'). The duo of Chris Smith and Chris Kelly were 12 and 13 when they recorded the song.
1986 Alex Turner, guitar, vocals, Arctic Monkeys, (2005, UK No.1 single 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor', 2006 UK No.1 album 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not').
Deaths
1976 Blues artist Howlin Wolf, (Chester Burnett), died in hospital of cancer aged 66. Guitarist, singer, harmonica player, 1951 'Smoke Stack Lightning'.
1997 Kenneth Georges Pickett, vocalist with the 60's band Creation died aged 54 of a heart attack.
2001 Bryan Gregory founder member of The Cramps died after suffering a heart attack.
2005 Spencer Dryden, drummer with Jefferson Airplane died of cancer at his home in California aged 66. Dryden was the Nephew of Charlie Chaplin.
Events
1945 Erskine Hawkins recorded "Tippin' In" for Victor Records with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra.
1947 The musical "Finian's Rainbow" opened in New York City and ran for 725 performances. The music was written by Burton Lane and the lyrics were written by E.Y. Harburg.
1949 Vinyl records were introduced by RCA (45 rpm) and Columbia (33.3 rpm).
1953, Jo Stafford was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'You Belong To Me'.
1956 Elvis Presley made his first recordings for RCA Records at The Methodist television, radio & TV Studios in Nashville. 'Heartbreak Hotel' was one of the songs recorded during this session.
1956 Elvis Presley recorded his first songs as an RCA Victor artist in Nashville. Elvis recorded "Heartbreak Hotel," "I Was the One," "I'm Counting On You," "I Got a Woman" and "Money Honey."
1957 Tommy Steele and the Steelmen were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Singing The Blues'. Guy Mitchell had been at No.1 the previous week with his version and then returned to No.1 the following week.
1958 Jerry Lee Lewis was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Great Balls Of Fire'.
1958 The Quarry Men (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Eric Griffiths, Colin Hanton, and Len Garry) played at the New Clubmoor Hall, Norris Green, Liverpool.
1963 On his second visit to the UK in less than a month Bob Dylan played at the Troubadour Club in London.
1965 John Lennon appeared on the UK TV Peter Cook and Dudley Moore show, 'Not Only But Also.'
1973 Cliff Richard appeared on the Cilla Black Show, singing the six entries chosen to represent Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest. TV viewers picked 'Power To All Our Friends'.
1976 CW McCall went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Convoy', it made No.2 in the UK. CW McCall was in fact an advertising agent whose real name was Bill Fries.
1978 The *** Pistols make their US TV debut on the show 'Variety'.
1979 Richard Carpenter entered a chemical dependency treatment center in Topeka, KS.
1981 John Lennon's 'Imagine' started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart, 10 years after it was recorded. Lennon had two other songs in the Top 5 this week, 'Happy Christmas, (War Is Over') and '(Just Like) Starting Over.' 'Imagine' was voted by the viewers of BBC TV as the best lyrics of all time in a poll broadcast in Oct 1999.
1981 John and Yoko's 'Double Fantasy' album started an eight-week run at No.1 on the US chart. 'Just Like Starting Over' was at No.1 on the US singles chart.
1981 The Gilbert and Sullivan musical "The Pirates of Penzance" opened at Broadway's Uris Theatre, starring Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith.
1985 Ted Nugent appeared on TV's "Miami Vice."
1987 Madhouse's first album entitled "8" was released.
1997 James Brown got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1999 Norman Cook scored his third UK No.1 single under the name of Fatboy Slim with 'Praise You'. Cook's other No.1's had been with The Housemartins and Beats International.
1999 DMX were at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood.'
2000 Sean Conlon from boy band Five was offered a place with Rugby team Hunslet Hawks after training with the team over Christmas. Sean was offered the place of reserve half-back.
2000 Singer Melissa Etheridge announced that David Crosby was the sperm donor of her two children with girlfriend Julie Cypher.
2003 A haul of 500 Beatles tapes known as the 'Get Back sessions' stolen in the 1970's were found after UK police cracked a major bootleg operation in London and Amsterdam. Five men were arrested.
2003 Bee Gee Maurice Gibb was fighting for his life after a heart attack following major stomach surgery. The 53 year-old singer had been rushed to hospital after collapsing at his Florida home.
2003 George Strait was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, TX.
2005 A woman was suing Gene Simmons from Kiss for slander, alleging a documentary made her out to be a "sex-addicted nymphomaniac". Georgeann Walsh Ward, 53, of New York, said during a VH1 documentary her photo was flashed up as Simmons talked about his past sexual encounters. Ms Walsh Ward had dated Simmons for three years when he was a student. In the documentary, Simmons boasted of having *** with over 4,600 women.
2006 An Australian woman appeared in court charged with repeatedly stabbing her partner with a pair of scissors in the back, shoulder and thigh because he played Elvis Presley's song "Burning Love" over and over again.
2007 Madame Tussauds unveiled its fourth waxwork of Kylie Minogue, making the Australian pop star the most modelled celebrity after the Queen. The model became the first scented waxwork, wearing Minogue's Darling perfume.
2008 Radiohead topped the US album charts with the physical release of 'In Rainbows', originally sold via the internet for a price chosen by fans. The album sold 122,000 copies during its first week on release, giving the band a second US chart topper following 2000's 'Kid A', which sold an initial 207,000 copies.
