Births1928 Tony Williams, The Platters, (1959 UK & US No.1 single 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes'). Died on 14th August 1992.
1929 Joe Meek, producer. Shot himself dead on 3rd February 1967 after killing his landlady. Produced 'Telstar' the 1962 UK and US No.1 single by The Tornadoes. The first British act to have a No.1 in the US. Also produced hits for John Leyton and The Honeycombs.
1939 Ronnie White, The Miracles, (1970 UK & US No.1 single with Smokey Robinson, 'The Tears Of A Clown').
1941 Dave Swarbick, Fairport Convention, UK folk group, (1969 UK No.21 single 'Si Tu Dois Partir').
1942 Alan Clarke, vocals, The Hollies, (over 25 top 40 hits, 1972 US No.2 single 'Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress'), 1988 UK No.1 single 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother', first released in 1969.
1944 Nicholas Caldwell, The Whispers, (1980 UK No.2 & US No.19 single 'And The Beat Goes On').
1950 Agnetha Faltskog, vocals, Abba, (first UK hit 1974 No.1 'Waterloo', followed by eight other UK No.1 singles and 9 UK No.1 albums, 1977 US No.1 single 'Dancing Queen').
1951 Everton Morton, The Beat, (1983 UK No.3 single 'Can't Get Used To Losing You'').
1954 Stan Ridgeway, Wall Of Voodoo, solo, (1986 UK No.4 single 'Camouflage').
1961 Jacob Slichter, drummer, with Semisonic had hits with ‘Secret Smile’, ‘Closing Time’ and ‘Chemistry’.
1965 Mike McCready, guitar, Pearl Jam, (1992 UK No.15 single 'Jeremy', 1993 US No.1 album 'Vs').
1968 Paula Cole, US singer, (1997 UK No.15 single, 'Where Have All The Cowboys Gone'').
1973 Pharrell Williams, one half of the writing duo, The Neptunes (with Chad Hugo). Produced numerous No.1 hits for Mystikal, Jay-Z, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Nelly. 2003 US No.1 album ‘The Neptunes Present…Clones’
Deaths1981 Canned Heat singer Bob Hite died of a heart attack aged 36. (1970 UK No.2 & US No.26 single 'Let's Work Together').
1983 Danny Rapp, leader of 50's group Danny and the Juniors committed suicide by shooting himself. (1958 US No.1 & UK No.3 single 'At The Hop').
1994 Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Seattle. His death was officially ruled a suicide by self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. Since then, the circumstances surrounding his death have fueled much analysis and debate.
1998 British drummer Cozy Powell was killed when his car smashed into crash barriers on a motorway in Bristol, England. Powell had worked with Whitesnake, ELP, Black Sabbath, Rainbow and the ELP spin-off Emerson, Lake, & Powell. Plus sessions with Donovan, Roger Daltrey, Jack Bruce, Jeff Beck, Gary Moore and Brian May.
2006 Gene Pitney was found dead aged 65 in his bed in a Cardiff hotel. The American singer was on a UK tour and had shown no signs of illness. Pitney helped the Rolling Stones break the American market with his endorsement of the band. Jagger and Richards wrote his hit That Girl Belongs to Yesterday which became the Stones duo's first composition to reach the American charts. He scored the 1962 US No.4 single 'Only Love Can Break A Heart'. and 1967 solo UK No.5 & 1989 UK No.1 single with Marc Almond 'Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart', plus over 15 other US & UK Top 40 hits.
Events1955 Ray Charles married his second wife Della Beatrice Howard Robinson; the couple had three children and divorced in 1977.
1958 Irvin Feld's Greatest Show of Stars opened an 80-day tour of North America.
1964 The Searchers appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show." They were the first British Invasion group to appear on the show after the Beatles. It was the Searchers' U.S. debut.
1967 Monkees fans walked from London's Marble Arch to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square to protest Davy Jone's planned call-up. Jones was exempted because he was deemed responsible for supporting his father.
1968 The first date of a twice-nightly UK tour featuring, Amen Corner, Gene Pitney, Status Quo, Simon Dupree & The Big Sound and Don Partridge kicked off at The Odeon Theatre, Lewisham, London.
1974 The Guess Who hosted a celebrity tennis tournament in Toronto to benefit Ballet of Canada.
1975 Minnie Riperton went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Loving You' it was the singers only US chart hit who died on 12th July 1979. A No.2 hit in the UK.
1976 Led Zeppelin released their seventh studio album, "Presence."
1977 David Bowie appeared on Dinah Shore's TV special.
1978 Duran Duran made their live debut at The Lecture Theatre, Birmingham Polytechnic.
1980 Genesis scored their first UK No.1 album when 'Duke' went to the top of the charts.
1980 R.E.M. played their first ever gig when they appeared at St Mary's Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia.
1982 After eight years of publication to the radio and recording industry, "Record World" magazine ceased publication and filed for bankruptcy protection.
1983 The Beach Boys were banned from the Fourth of July concert at the White House. U.S. President Ronald Reagan overturned the ban two days later.
1984 Marvin Gaye's funeral took place at The Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Angeles; Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy and other Motown singers, writers and producers, attended the service.
1985 At 3:50pm GMT, over 5,000 radio stations worldwide aired the charity single by USA for Africa 'We Are The World'. The single went on to be a No.1 in the US & UK, and most Western territories.
1985 UK Channel 4 music show The Tube aired a two-hour end of series special featuring UB40, Alison Moyet, Style Council, The Pogues, Spandau Ballet, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Bronski Beat.
1993 Construction began on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
1993 In Beverly Hills, CA, Marky Mark Wahlberg had assault charges against him dropped. He had reached an out-of-court settlement with the man he allegedly beat in 1992.
1997 The Chemical Brothers went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Block Rockin Beats.'
1998 James went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'The Best Of James.'
1998 The Spice Girls performed their first ever-live UK concert when they appeared in front of a 9,000 strong audience in Glasgow, Scotland.
1999 Three of Tammy Wynette's daughters filed a $50 million lawsuit that blamed Wynette's death on negligence by her husband and her doctor.
1999 The online song-lyric auction Hits Under the Hammer at
www.icollector.com closed after raising $67,000 for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and for Norwood Ravenswood children's charities.
2000 Ziggy Marley became the official spokesman for the Hemp Bar.
2003 Paul McCartney kicked off the UK leg of his 'Back In The World Tour' at Hallam FM Arena a year after it began in America. The set included 22 Beatles songs.
2006 Marion "Suge" Knight staved off receivership by seeking bankruptcy protection for himself and his music label, Death Row Records. The record producer had been ordered to pay more than $100m (?57m) to a former associate who said she had helped start the record label in 1989. Lawyers for Mr Knight said he did not have the money to pay the judgement, and was forced to seek federal protection. The label helped launch the careers of rappers such as Snoop Doggy Dogg.
