Births
1921 Sheb Wooley, actor, singer, (1958 US No.1 & UK No.12 single, 'The Purple People Eater', played Pete Nolan in the TV series 'Rawhide').
1932 Nate Nelson, The Platters, (1959 UK & US No.1 single 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes').
1936 Bobbie Smith, vocals, Detroit Spinners, (1980 UK No.1 & US No.2 single 'Working My Way Back To You').
1947 Karl Russell, The Hues Corporation, (1974, US No.1 & UK No.6 single 'Rock The Boat').
1947 Bunny Livingston, Bob Marley and the Wailers, percussion, vocals, left in 1974.
1948 Fred Smith, bass, Television, (1977 single and album 'Marquee Moon').
1950 Ernest Stewart, keyboards, KC and the Sunshine Band, (1975 US No.1 single 'That's The Way, I Like It', 1983 UK No.1 single 'Give It Up'). He died on 26th April 1997.
1950 Dave Pevertt, vocals, guitar, Savoy Brown, Foghat, (1976 US No. 20 single 'Slow Ride'). He died on 7th February 2000.
1950 Eddie Hazel, Parliament, Funkadelic, (1978 US No.16 album 'One Nation Under A Groove').
1953 Terre Roche, singer, songwriter, The Roches, worked with Paul Simon and Loudon Wainwright.
1957 Steven Gustafson, 10,000 Maniacs, (1993 UK No.47 single 'Candy Everybody Wants', 1994 US No.11 single 'Because The Night').
1959 Brian Setzer, guitar, vocals, The Stray Cats, (1980 UK No.9 single 'Runaway Boys', 1983 US No.3 single 'Stray Cat Strut'). Brian Setzer Orchestra.
1959 Katrina Leskanich, Katrina And The Waves, (1983 UK No.8 single 'Walking On Sunshine').
1959 Kenneth Edmonds, 'Babyface', (1996 US No.6 & UK No.12 single 'This Is For The Lover In You', written for & produced, Boyz II Men, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, TLC, Toni Braxton).
1963 Mark Oliver Everett, lead singer, guitarist, and keyboardist with Eels.
1964 Alan 'Reni' Wren, drums, The Stone Roses, (1989 UK No.8 single 'Fool's Gold', 1989 album, The Stone Roses').
1968 Kenediid Osman, bass, Sleeper, (1996 UK No.10 single 'Sale Of The Century').
1970 Mike Mushok, guitar, Staind, (2001 US No.1 album, 'Break The Cycle', 2001 US No. 7 & UK No. 15 single 'It's Been A While').
1979 Sophie Ellis Bextor, singer, theaudience, (2000 UK No.25 single 'If You Can't Do It When You're Young, When Can You Do It'), 2000 UK No.1 single with Spiller, 'Groovejet, If This Ain't Love'), Solo, (2001 UK No.2 single 'Murder On The Dancefloor).
1980 Bryce Dane Soderberg, bassist and singer, Lifehouse, (2001 US No.10 & UK No.25 single 'Hanging By A Moment').
1981 Elizabeth Margaret, vocals, Atomic Kitten, (2000 UK No.1 single 'Whole Again').
Deaths
1958 US singer Chuck Willis was killed in a car accident aged 30. Had the 1957 US No. 12 single 'C.C. Rider').
1962 The Beatles former bass player Stuart Sutcliff died. Sutcliff had stayed in Hamburg after leaving the group. Died of a brain haemorrhage in an ambulance on the way to hospital aged 22.
2003 US singer Little Eva died, (1962 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'The Loco- Motion'). Babysitter for Carole King and Gerry Goffin who asked her to record a song they'd just written.
2003 Former Oak Ridge Boys member Noel Fox died at a Nashville hospital following a series of strokes aged 63. Fox sang with the Oak Ridge boys until 1972, and later became a music business executive.
Events
1940 Ricky Valance, (born David Spencer), the first Welsh singer to score a UK No.1 with the 1960 single, 'Tell Laura I Love Her.'
1953 Eddie Fisher was discharged from the Army and arrived home to a check of $330,000 for record royalties for the 7 million records that were sold while he was enlisted.
1956 Nat King Cole was attacked on stage during a show in Birmingham, Alabama by racial segregationists.
1957 Ricky Nelson sang for first time on TV's "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." He performed the song "I'm Walking."
1958 Bobby Darin recorded "Splish Splash."
1961 Del Shannon performed "Runaway" on "American Bandstand."
1965 A British school in Wrexham, North Wales, asked parents to please keep children in school uniform and not to send them to school in 'corduroy trousers', like the ones worn by The Rolling Stones.
1965 British acts started a run of seven weeks at the top of the US charts when Freddie and the Dreamers went to No.1 with 'I'm Telling You Now', followed by Wayne Fontana's 'Game Of Love', Hermans Hermits 'Mr's Brown' and The Beatles 'Ticket To Ride.'
1965 the last night of a twice-nightly UK package tour featuring Dusty Springfield, Heinz, The Zombies and Bobby Vee was at The Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Wales.
1967 The song "Somethin' Stupid" became the first father-daughter song to hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. The song was performed by Nancy and Frank Sinatra.
1968 Mickey Hart joined the Grateful Dead.
1968 Jan De Grey supported by Genesis appearing at Eel Pie Island, Twickenham.
1968 On his 41st single release Cliff Richard had his ninth UK No.1 with 'Congratulations' the British entry in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest.
1970 During a concert in Boston, Doors singer Jim Morrison asked the audience if 'anyone wants to see my genitals', the management switched of the power.
1970 27 year-old Paul McCartney issued a press statement, announcing that The Beatles had split. McCartney said, 'I have no future plans to record or appear with The Beatles again, or to write any music with John'.
1971 John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads" hit the charts. It was his first appearance on the charts.
1972 Isaac Hayes won an Oscar for the Best Music, Original Song award for the song "Shaft".
1976 Peter Frampton went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Frampton Comes Alive', the biggest selling 'live' album in rock history.
1976 The TV soundtrack album 'Rock Follies' started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK chart. Follies featured Julie Covington.
1976 UK music weekly The Melody Maker reviewed a *** Pistols gig with the words, 'I hope we shall hear no more of them.'
1977 David Soul's "Don't Give Up on Us" was the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit. Soul starred as as Ken Hutchinson in the television show "Starsky and Hutch."
1978 Cher appeared on the cover of "People" with her boyfriend Gene Simmons (KISS).
1981 Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott married model Peggy Sue Fender.
1982 Iron Maiden scored their first UK No.1 album with 'The Number Of The Beast.'
1985 Madonna set out on her very first tour ‘The Virgin Tour’ in Seattle, Washington, ending on June 11th at Madison Square Garden in New York.
1988 Pet Shop Boys were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Heart', the duo's fourth UK No.1.
1990 Tom Waits took Doritos Chips to court for using a 'Waites', sound-alike on radio ads. The jury awarded him $2.475 million in punitive damages, Waites comments after the case, 'now by law I have what I always felt I had...a distinctive voice.'
1991 Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block) agreed to tape public service announcements warning against doing drugs, driving drunk, and starting fires. The deal was an exchange for having arson charges against him reduced by a Louisville, KY, judge.
1993 Depeche Mode entered the US album chart at No.1 with 'Songs Of Faith And Devotion.'
1993 Suede went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut self-titled LP.
1994 Over 5,000 fans attended a US public memorial service for Kurt Cobain at Seattle Flag Pavilion.
1994 Mariah Carey went back to No.1 on the UK album chart for one week with 'Music Box.'
1998 Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland married Heather McMillan, the honeymoon was spent visiting amusement parks across the country.
1999 George Michael, Sinead O'Connor, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, and Paul McCartney all performed at the "Here There and Everywhere: A Concert for Linda", a charity tribute to Linda McCartney held at London's Royal Albert Hall.
1999 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were the musical guests on "Saturday Night Live."
1999 TLC started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'No Scrubs.'
2000 Sony Music Entertainment announced plans to make its first commercial digital downloads available to U.S. consumers. Sony said it would offer about 50 hit songs from Lauryn Hill, Pearl Jam, Michael Jackson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and others.
2001 Bruce Springsteen won a court battle to keep the rights to his early songs. Ronald Winter of Masquerade Music had released the album 'Before The Fame' was found to be in breach of copyright. Springsteen was awarded more than ?2m damages.
2001 Sean Puffy Combs was stopped by police in Golden Beach, Miami who informed him that his driving license was suspended. Combs was not arrested because he claimed he was unaware of the suspension, but he was cited for the traffic violation.
2002 The Statler Brothers announced their final tour dates. The group said they planned to continue making music after their retirement from touring.
2003 Three gunmen shot at a convoy of cars, one of which carried Snoop Dogg.
2005 The final episode of The Osbournes was aired on MTV in the UK. The show reached a peak audience of eight million at it's height during a three year run, Ozzy was at a loss to explain its popularity, saying, "I suppose Americans get a kick out of watching a crazy Brit family like us make complete fools of ourselves every week."
2005 Natalie Imbruglia went to No.1 on the UK album chart with her third album and first No.1 ‘Counting Down The Days’.
2006 Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin announced they had named their second child, a boy, Moses Martin. The couple also had a daughter named Apple.
