Births
1915 Billie Holiday, (Elinore Harris), the greatest female jazz singer of all time. Made over 100 records, worked with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, numerous arrests for drugs possession. Died on 17th July 1959 from liver failure, aged 44.
1937 Charlie Thomas, vocals, The Drifters, (1960 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Save The Last Dance For Me').
1938 Spencer Dryden, drums, Jefferson Airplane, (1967 US No.18 single 'White Rabbit'). Died of cancer on 10th January 2005.
1943 Alan Buck, The Four Pennies, (1964 UK No.1 single 'Juliet').
1943 Mick Abrahams, guitarist Blodwyn Pig, Jethro Tull, (1969 UK No.3 single and 1972 US No.11 single 'Living In The Past').
1946 Bill Kreutzmann, drums, The Grateful Dead, (1970 UK No.69 and US No.127 album, 'Workingman's Dead').
1947 Florian Schneider- Esleben, Kraftwerk, (1975 US No.25 single 'Autobahn', 1982 UK No.1 single 'Computer Love / The Model').
1947 Patricia Bennett, The Chiffons, (1963 US No.1 single 'He's So Fine', 1972 UK No.4 single 'Sweet Talkin Guy', first issued 1966).
1948 Carol Douglas, The Chantels, (1958 US No.24 single 'Maybe').
1949 John Oates, Hall and Oates, (1982 US No.1 & UK No.6 single 'Maneater', plus five other US No.1's).
1950 Steve Ellis, vocals, Love Affair, (1968 UK No.1 single 'Everlasting Love').
1951 Janis Ian, US singer songwriter, (1975 US No.3 single 'At Seventeen.' 1975 US No.1 album 'Between The Lines').
1952 Bruce Gary, The Knack, (1979 US No.1 & UK No.6 single 'My Sharona').
1960 Simon Climie, songwriter, producer, (1988 UK No.2 single, 'Love Changes Everything').
1979 Duncan James, singer, Blue, (2002 UK No.1 single 'If You Come Back').
Deaths
1981 Kit Lambert died after falling down a flight of stairs at his mother's home in London. Lambert managed The Who from 1964-1967 and produced the 'Tommy' album.
1998 American country singer Tammy Wynette died aged 55. Scored 12 hit singles including 'Stand By Your Man', sold over 30 million records world-wide, married five times and once filed for bankruptcy.
1998 Carlos Vega died of a self-inflicted gunshot.
2000 Heinz, bass player and singer with The Tornadoes died aged 57. The group had the Joe Meek produced 1962 UK & US No.1 single 'Telstar', making them the first UK group to score a US No.1 single.
Events
1949 The musical "South Pacific" by Rogers and Hammerstein debuted on Broadway.
1956 "Rock 'n Roll Dance Party" premiered on the CBS Radio Network.
1962 Shelley Fabares started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Johnny Angel'. It only reached No.41 on the UK chart.
1962 While at Ealing Jazz Club, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met Brian Jones for the first time. Jones was calling himself Elmo Lewis and was playing guitar with Paul Jones.
1963 Appearing at The Savoy Ballroom, Portsmouth, England, The Beatles.
1967 Sonny & Cher's "Good Times" movie debuted in Chicago, IL.
1970 On this week's US Top 5 singles chart; No.5, 'Bridge Over Trouble Water' by Simon and Garfunkel, No.4, 'Spirit In The Sky', Norman Greenbaum', No.3, 'Instant Karma' by John Lennon, No.2, 'ABC' The Jackson Five and at No.1, 'Let It Be', The Beatles.
1972 Appearing at The Empire Pool, London, The Grateful Dead, tickets ?1.
1973 Diana Ross started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Lady Sings The Blues.'
1973 Vicki Lawrence started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia.'
1975 Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple to form his own band Rainbow. Tommy Bolin replaced Blackmore.
1975 Beverly Sills made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Gioacchino Rossini's "Siege of Corinth."
1979 Aerosmith, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, The Boomtown Rats and Ted Nugent appearing at the California Music Festival.
1979 Siouxsie And The Banshees played a charity gig for MENCAP, but after crowd trouble were latter faced with a ?2,000 bill for seat damage.
1979 The Doobie Brothers went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Minute By Minute', the groups only US chart topper.
1981 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band started their first European tour in Hamburg, Germany.
1985 Prince ended his 32-city tour in Miami, FL, and said that he was withdrawing from live performances for "an indeterminate number of years." He later returned to live performing.
1984 A record 40 British acts appeared on the US top 100 singles chart.
1985 Wham! became the first Western act to play in China, when they played at the workers gymnasium in Beijing.
1985 At Farm Aid IV, Elton John performed "Candle in the Wind" for Ryan White. White, a young boy with AIDS, died later the same day.
1988 During a European tour, Alice Cooper accidentally hung himself in a rehearsal when a safety rope snapped; he dangled for several seconds before a roadie saved him.
1990 Bonnie Raitt started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Nick Of Time.'
1990 Motley Crue's Tommy Lee was injured when performing a stunt during a concert, falling 20 feet from a lighting rig.
1990 Taylor Dayne went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the Diane Warren song 'Love Will Lead You Back', a No.69 hit in the UK.
1990 The Carpenters started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Only Yesterday'; The LP went back to the top at the end of April 1990 for a further five weeks.
1994 Lee Brilleaux singer and harmonica player with Dr Feelgood died of throat cancer. (1979 UK No.9 single 'Milk And Alcohol').
1994 Courtney Love was arrested on drugs and theft charges after a reported overdose. Love was unaware that her husband Kurt Cobain was dead at their home.
1994 US soul singer Percy Sledge pleaded guilty to tax evasion.
1995 Airport police seized a loaded pistol from Eddie Van Halen's carry-on luggage. No charges were filed.
1996 Take That went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their 'Greatest Hits' album.
1997 Oasis singer Liam Gallagher marries actress Patsy Kensit. They divorced three years later.
1997 An Amsterdam university began offering a course entitled "Madonna 101."
1998 George Michael was arrested in a public restroom in Beverly Hills for lewd conduct. He was sentenced to community service for the incident.
1998 Mary Bono, the widow of Sonny Bono, won a special election to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term.
2000 Michael Abram attended a hearing for his attempt to murder George Harrison and his wife Olivia on December 30, 1999. Abram was ordered to appear for trial, but a date was not set.
2001 Paul McCartney bought the four-bedroom Beverly Hills home of Courtney Love for $3.995m. The gated 1930's house had it's own swimming pool and 1.5 acres of land.
2002 UK Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of 'Unchained Melody.' Making Gates the seventh act to have a Top 40 hit with the song). Jennifer Lopez was at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Ain't It Funny.' And Celine Dion had the UK & US No.1 album 'A New Day Has Come.'
2003 Avril Lavigne dominated Canada's national music awards the Junos, winning four prizes including best single, album and new artist. Shania Twain who hosted the show won three awards. Best group went to Sum 41.
2004 It was announced that Polar Studios, in Stockholm, would close in May due to high rent.
