Births
1924 Slim Whitman, American country singer, (1955 UK No.1 single 'Rose Marie', 1977 UK No.1 album 'Red River Valley').
1933 Ron Townson, The 5th Dimension, (1969 US No.1 & UK No.11 single 'Aquarius'). Died on 3rd August 2001.
1942 Billy Powell, vocals, The O'Jays, (1973 US No.1 & UK No.9 single 'Love Train'). Powell died on 26th May 1982.
1943 Rick Evans, singer, Zager and Evans, (1969 US & UK No.1 single 'In The Year 2525').
1945 Eric Stewart, guitar, keyboards, vocals, Mindenders, (1966 UK No.2 single Groovy Kind Of Love'), Hotlegs, (1970 UK No.2 single 'Neanderthal Man'), 10CC, (1975 UK No.1 & US No. 2 single 'I'm Not In Love' plus 10 other Top 30 hits).
1946 Jimmy Chambers, singer, Londonbeat, (1990 UK No.2 & 1991 US No.1 single 'I've Been Thinking About You').
1948 Mel Pritchard, Barclay James Harvest, 8 UK Top 40 albums from 1974-87.
1950 Paul Stanley, guitar, vocals, Kiss, (1974 US No.5 single 'On And On', 1976 US No 11 album 'Rock and Roll Over' spent 26 weeks on the chart. 1987 UK No.4 single 'Crazy Crazy Nights').
1952 Ian Hill, bass, Judas Priest, (1980 UK No.12 single 'Living After Midnight', 1980 UK No.4 album 'British Steel').
1965 Heather Small, singer, M People, (1993 UK No.2 single 'Moving On Up' plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles).
1969 Nicholas Allen Jones, Manic Street Preachers, (1996 UK No.2 single 'A Design For Life' 1998 UK No.1 album 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours').
1969 Tina O'Neill, drummer, We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It, (1989 UK No.11 single 'International Rescue').
1971 Gary Barlow, vocals, piano, songwriter, Take That, (1995 UK No.1 single 'Back For Good' plus eight other UK No.1 singles, 1993 UK No.1 album 'Everything Changes spent 78 weeks on the UK chart). Solo, (1996 UK No.1 single 'Forever Love'). Written songs for Donny Osmond, Charlotte Church, Bryan McFadden and Atomic Kitten. Re-formed Take That without Robbie Williams in 2006 for a sold-out European tour. Topped the UK singles and album charts simultaneously for the first time in their career when the single 'Patience' and album 'Beautiful World' both reached No.1 in Dec 2006.
1979 Rob Bourdon, drums, Linkin Park, (2002 US No.2 & UK No.4 single 'In The End', 2002 US No.2 & 2001 UK No.4 album 'Hybrid Theory').
1979 Will Young, singer, UK TV's Pop Idol winner, (2002 UK No.1 single 'Anything Is Possible / Evergreen').
1981 Nathan Connolly, Snow Patrol, (2006 UK No.1 album 'Eyes Open', 2006 UK No.6 single 'Chasing Cars').
Deaths
1965 Radio presenter Alan Freed the star of the 1950's film 'Rock Around The Clock' died from uraemia at the age of 42.
1999 Bill Albaugh of the Lemon Pipers died. Had the 1967 US No.1 single 'Green Tambourine'.
2006 Music executive Johnny Bienstock died of complications from heart disease. Owned Moss Rose Music, worked with Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Elvis Presley, The Bee Gees, Eric Clapton, Del Shannon and Meat Loaf.
Events
1942 Harry Babbitt sang as Kay Kyser and his Orchestra recorded, "Who Wouldn't Love You", on Columbia Records.
1958 "Get a Job" by the Silhouettes was released.
1958 Elvis Presley got his orders to report to duty from the U.S. Army. He was allowed a 60-day deferment so he could finish the film "King Creole".
1958 Rick Nelson started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Ricky'.
1964 The album "Meet the Beatles" was released in the U.S. on Capitol Records. It was their U.S. debut LP.
1965 The Rolling Stones and the Kinks made their first appearance on ABC-TV's "Shindig!"
1967 Arthur Conley recorded "Sweet Soul Music".
1966 The Spencer Davis Group were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Keep On Running'.
1967 The Monkees TV show was shown for the first time in the UK.
1968 One hit wonders John Fred and the Playboy Band started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Judy In Disguise, (With Glasses)', it made No.3 in the UK. The song was inspired by The Beatles 'Lucy In The Sky'.
1969 Elvis Presley recorded "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds." It was the first time he had recorded in Memphis since 1956.
1970 During a UK tour Led Zeppelin appeared at Leeds Town Hall, England.
1973 Jerry Lee Lewis mades his debut at the Grand Ole Opry.
1974 Stevie Wonder played his first show after an auto accident that almost took his life five months earlier.
1975 The US Top 5 singles: No.5, Stevie Wonder, 'Boogie On Reggae Woman', No.4, Ohio Players, 'Fire', No.3, Barry Manilow, 'Mandy', No.2, Neil Sedaka, 'Laughter In The Rain', No.1, The Carpenters, 'Please Mr Postman'.
1979 Appearing at London's Hammersmith Odeon, Chic. The group's latest single 'Le Freak' had reached No.7 on the UK chart.
1982 During a Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the audience threw an unconscious bat onto the stage. Thinking it was one of his rubber fakes, Ozzy picked it up and bit off its head. The singer was taken to hospital to be given a rabies injection.
1982 Stiff Little Fingers played the first night of an 11- date tour at The Tower in Hull, promoting their new 4-track EP. The press ads said, 'Pay no more than L1.10, more cuts than Maggie Thatcher.'
1985 Foreigner had their only UK No.1 single with 'I Want To Know What Love Is'.
1986 Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan appeared at a concert to celebrate the first Martin Luther King day in the US.
1988 The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Yoko, Sean, and Julian Lennon all attend. Paul McCartney does not attend, sending instead a letter stating that continuing business differences with the other ex-Beatles was the reason for his absence.
1990 Michael Bolton started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'How Am I Supposed To Live Without You', the singers first No.1 and the first No.1 single of the 90's in the US.
1996 Bobby Brown was fined $1,000, sentenced to two years probation and ordered to attend anger management classes after assaulting a security guard.
1997 Russell Senior guitarist and violinist with Pulp quit the group after 13 years to pursue new projects.
1997 Ben and Jerry's introduced 'Phish food', a new flavor of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients are chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge.
1999 Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots), while on probation for a 1997 heroin case, was arrested for failing to provide a urine sample to his live-in drug treatment center.
2000 Ray Jones, bass player with Billy J Kramer died. 1964 UK No.1 & US N0.7 single 'Little Children'.
2001 A memorial service was held for Kirsty MacColl who was killed in a boating accident off the coast of Mexico in December 2000. Bono from U2 and Billy Bragg were among friends and fans that packed St Martin-in-the-fields church in London.
2002 George Harrison had the posthumous UK No.1 single with the re-release of the 1971 former No.1 'My Sweet Lord'. Harrison's single replaced Aaliyah's 'More Than A Woman', the only time in chart history that one deceased artist had taken over from another at number 1.
2002 Stereophonics started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with their second No.1 'Just Enough Education To Perform.'
2002 Usher started a four-week run at No.1 on the US singles charts with 'U Got It Bad'.
2002 Sting won his first Golden Globe for his song "Until" from the "Kate & Leopold" soundtrack.
2003 8 Mile, starring Eminem toppled The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers from its four-week hold at the top of the UK box office. The story of a Detroit rapper took L4,440,334 at 423 cinemas in the UK and Ireland.
2008 Scouting For Girls went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut and self titled album.
