Births
1924 Doris Day, singer, actress, (1956 US No.2 & UK No.1 single 'Whatever Will Be, Will Be, (Que Sera, Sera, plus 17 other UK Top 40 singles).
1928 Don Gibson, US country singer songwriter, (1958 US No.7 single 'Oh Lonesome Me', 1961 UK No.14 single 'Sea Of Heartbreak.)' Neil Young covered 'Oh Lonesome Me' on 'After The Gold Rush' album. Died on 17th November 2003
1938 Jeff Barry, songwriter. Wrote 'Tell Laura I Love Her', 'Da Doo Ron Ron', 'Be My Baby', 'Baby I Love You', 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy.'
1938 Phillip Wynne, vocals, Detroit Spinners, (1980 UK No.1 & US No.2 single 'Working My Way Back To You'). He died 14th July 1984.
1941 Jan Berry, Jan and Dean, (1963 US No.1 & UK No.26 single 'Surf City', co-written by Beach Boy Brian Wilson). Berry died on 26th March 2004 after being in poor health from the lingering effects of brain damage after a 1966 car crash.
1943 Richard Manuel, The Band, (1969 US No.25 single 'Up On Cripple Creek', 1970 UK No.16 single 'Rag Mama Rag'). Manuel committed suicide on 6th March 1986.
1944 Barry Pritchard, guitar, vocals, The Fortunes, (1965 UK No.2 & US No.7 single 'You've Got Your Troubles'). He died on 11th January 1999.
1944 Tony Orlando, singer, Dawn, (1971 UK & US No.1 single 'Knock Three Times', 1973 US & UK No.1 single 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree').
1949 Richard Thompson, guitar, vocals, Fairport Convention & solo, (1991 UK No.32 album, 'Rumour And Sigh').
1951 Mel Schacher, Grand Funk Railroad, (1974 US No.1 single 'The Locomotion'). Most successful US Heavy Metal band of the 70's selling over 20m albums.
1961 Eddie Murphy, Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and comedian. Regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984. Appeared in the 2006 motion picture musical Dreamgirls. Scored the 1986 US No.3 single, 'Party All The Time.'
1962 Simon Raymonde, Cocteau Twins, (1984 UK No.29 single 'Pearly Dewdrops' Drops').
1968 Sebastian Bach, Skid Row, (1989 US No.4 & 1990 UK No.12 single '18 and Life').
1970 Matthew Priest, Dodgy, (1996 UK No.4 single 'Good Enough').
1985 Leona Lewis, singer, winner of the third UK series of the The X Factor, 2006 UK No.1 single ‘A Moment Like This’. The download single set a world record, by being downloaded over 50,000 times within 30 minutes of being available online.
Deaths
1990 Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan died of Lung cancer. (1954 US No.6 single 'Make Yourself Comfortable').
1999 Composer Lionel Bart died from cancer aged 69. Wrote 'Living Doll' for Cliff Richard, 'Little White Bull' for Tommy Steele, composed the musical, 'Oliver.'
2002 Frank Tovey of Fad Gadget died died of heart failure.
2003 Stax records songwriter Homer Banks died aged 61.
Events
1955 Fred Astaire appeared on television for the first time on "The Toast of the Town," with host, Ed Sullivan.
1956 Elvis Presley performed on "The Milton Berle Show." The show was broadcast live from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock. Elvis played the songs "Heartbreak Hotel," "Money, Honey," and "Blue Suede Shoes."
1959 The BBC banned the Coasters song "Charlie Brown" because of the word "spitball." Two weeks later the BBC changed its position on the song.
1961 The Marcels started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with the Rodgers and Heart song 'Blue Moon', also a No.1 in the UK.
1960 The Everly Brothers made their British concert debut.
1964 Bob Dylan made his first entry on the UK charts with 'The Times They Are A-Changin'.
1965 "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh's was released.
1966 Peter Tork opened a solo stint in Hollywood at The Troubadour. Tork had already auditioned for 'The Monkees,' who he will join later in the year.
1969 Jim Morrison was arrested by the FBI for interstate flight, which stemmed from obscenity charges after a Miami concert.
1971 The Temptations scored their second US No.1 with 'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)' a No.8 hit in the UK.
1975 Steve Miller was charged with setting fire to the clothes and personal effects of a friend, Benita DiOrio, and resisting arrest. The charges were dropped the next day.
1976 Johnnie Taylor started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Disco Lady', his 10th US Top 40, a No.25 hit in the UK.
1978 Cher's TV special with guest Rod Stewart aired on ABC.
1979 Kate Bush kicked off the 28-date 'Tour Of Life' trek making her concert debut at Liverpool's Empire Theatre, England. Bush never set out on another tour again.
1983 After completing a 29-date UK tour, U2 appeared on BBC TV Top Of The Pops performing their latest single ‘Two Hearts Beat As One.’
1985 On BBC Radio 1, Janice Long with The Chameleons in session and Stephen Tin Tin Duffy playing his favourite records and at 10pm Muriel Gray sitting in for John Peel with Simple Minds and The Cocteau Twins in session.
1989 Pepsi dismissed Madonna as a spokesperson after her "Like a Prayer" video was called "blasphemous" by the Vatican.
1991 Dweezil Zappa and Donny Osmond performed the BeeGees song "Stayin' Alive."
1991 Paul McCartney recorded his unplugged session for MTV.
1993 10 years after it's first release, The Bluebells had a UK No.1 single with 'Young At Heart' after the track was featured on a Volkswagen TV commercial. The song was co-written by Bananarama member Siobhan Fahey.
1993 Depeche Mode went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Songs Of Faith And Devotion' their first UK No.1 and their 10th album release.
1994 A forthcoming tour by Nirvana and Hole was cancelled amid continuing speculation about Kurt Cobain's drug problems.
1994 Morrissey went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Vauxhall & I.'
1996 MC Hammer filed for bankruptcy.
1998 Dave Navarro left the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
1998 Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Michael Katherine Jackson was born.
2000 Mariah Carey was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital suffering from dehydration and complications from food poisoning after eating raw oysters.
2001 Robbie Williams won the award for the most radio plays in the UK for the third year running. The singer picked up the award at the Radio Academy awards in London.
2007 Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards denied that he snorted the ashes of his late father during a drugs binge. Jane Rose, Richards' manager, told MTV News the remarks were made "in jest", and she could not believe they had been taken seriously. Richards had said in an interview with The NME: "He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow." But NME interviewer Mark Beaumont was convinced that Richards was not joking when speaking to him about the alleged incident. "He did seem to be quite honest about it. There were too many details for him to be making it up," he later told BBC news.
