Births
1933 Buddy Knox, singer, songwriter, (1957 US No.1 & UK No.29 single 'Party Doll').
1935 Loreta Lynn, country singer, the first woman to be named Country Music Artist Entertainer Of The Year.
1975 Lou Bega, singer, (1999 UK No.1 single 'Mambo No 5, A Little Bit Of'..).
1945 Ritchie Blackmore, guitarist, Deep Purple, (1970 UK No.2 single 'Black Night', 1973 US No.4 single 'Smoke On The Water'), Rainbow, (1981 UK No.3 single 'I Surrender').
1946 Patrick Fairley, Marmalde, (1968 UK No.1 single 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La- Da', 1970 US No.10 single 'Reflections Of My Life.'
1948 Larry Ferguson, Hot Chocolate, (1975 US No.3 single 'You Sexy Thing', 1977 UK No.1 single 'So You Win Again' plus over 25 other top 40 hits).
1949 Dennis Bryon, Amen Corner, (1969 UK No.1 single 'If Paradise Is Half As Nice', plus five other UK Top 40 hits). Worked with The Bee Gees during the 1970's & 1980's.
1949 June Millington, Fanny, (all Girl group, 1975 US No.29 single 'Butter Boy').
1949 Sonja Kristina, vocals, Curved Air, (1971 UK No.4 single 'Back Street Luv').
1965 Carl Hunter, The Farm, (1990 UK No.4 single 'All Together Now').
1965 Martyn Le Noble, Porno For Pyros, (1993 US No.3 & UK No.3 self-titled album).
1965 Sheila Chandra, Monsoon, (1982 UK No.12 single 'Ever So Lonely').
1973 David Miller, tenor, Il Divo, (2004 UK No.1 self-titled album, also number one in 13 countries around the world).
1980 Win Butler, lead vocalist, songwriter, Arcade Fire, (2005 album ‘Funeral’).
Deaths
1983 Pete Farndon of the Pretenders died of a drug overdose at the age of 29. He had been fired from the band the year before due to his drug problem.
1999 UK singer, actor Anthony Newley died of cancer. Scored 12 UK Top 40 singles from 1959-1962 including the No.1 single 'Why.'
Events
1953 Lita Roza was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with '(How Much) Is That Doggie In Window.'
1955 Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame" was released.
1958 Van Cliburn won the International Tchaikovsky piano competition.
1958 Van Cliburn appeared on national TV for the first time. He was on NBC's "The Tonight Show" with Jack Paar.
1960 The musical "Bye Bye Birdie" opened in New York City.
1963 The Beatles met the Rolling Stones after a Stones concert in Richmond, England.
1964 The King Bees, (featuring a young David Bowie, then David Jones), played at a wedding reception at the Jack Of Clubs in London.
1965 Millie Small appeared on ABC-TV's "Shindig!" and performed her song "My Boy Lollipop."
1966 The Spencer Davis Group were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Somebody Help Me', the groups second UK No.1.
1967 David Bowie's novelty record 'The Laughing Gnome' was released in the UK.
1967 A riot broke out at Warsaw's Palace Of Culture as The Rolling Stones made their first appearance in an Iron curtain Country; police used tear gas in a battle with 2,000 fans.
1967 Polydor Records released the Bee Gees 'New York mining Disaster 1941' It was released with a promotional slogan announcing 'The most significant talent since The Beatles'. The record became a Top 20 hit in the UK and US.
1967 The final "Where the Action Is" aired on ABC-TV.
1968 Phil Spector married Ronettes singer Veronica Bennett. The couple divorced n 1973.
1969 The recording of 'The Ballad Of John and Yoko' took place, with just two Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Paul played bass, drums and piano with John on guitars and lead vocals.
1969 The "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" TV special aired on NBC.
1970 Stephen Stills broke his wrist in an auto accident.
1970 Creedence Clearwater Revival made their live UK debut when they played the first of two nights at The Royal Albert Hall, London.
1971 The Illinois Crime Commission issued a list of 'drug-oriented records' including Jefferson Aiplanes 'White Rabbit', Procol Harums 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' and The Beatles 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.'
1973 Led Zeppelin started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Houses Of The Holy', also a No.1 in the US. The young girl featured on the cover of the album climbing naked up Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland is Samantha Gates who was 6 years old at the time of the photo shoot.
1975 After rumour's that Jimmy Page, Steve Marriott, Jeff Beck and Chris Spedding would replace Mick Taylor as guitarist in The Rolling Stones, a press release confirmed that Ron Wood would be joining the band for their forthcoming American tour.
1975 Art Garfunkel started a six week run at No.1 in the UK with the theme from the film 'Watership Down', 'Bright Eyes' which went on to become the biggest selling single of the year.
1976 Motown Records and Stevie Wonder held a news conference to announce he had signed a "$13 million-plus" contract with the label.
1976 Bay City Roller singer Eric Faulkner almost died after swallowing Seconal and Valium tablets.
1976 Motown Records and Stevie Wonder announce the largest contract renewal to date, worth $13 million.
1978 Joy Division played at the 'Stiff Test/Chiswick Challenge', at Raffters in Manchester. Future manager Rob Gretton and then journalist Tony Wilson saw the band for the first time.
1979 The Doobie Brothers went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'What A Fool Believes', the groups second US No.1, it made No.31 in the UK.
1980 A New Jersey state assemblyman introduced a resolution to make Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" the official state song.
1980 Gary Numan released "The Touring Principle," a 45-minute concert video. It was the first commercially available home rock videocassette.
1983 The Pretenders bass player Pete Farndon died from a drug overdose.
1983 Appearing at the De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Tears For Fears and Spandau Ballet played at The Royal Albert Hall, London.
1989 Tom Petty released his first solo album "Full Moon Fever."
1990 Madonna scored her seventh UK No.1 single with 'Vogue', also a US No.1 hit.
1990 Tommy Page went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'I'll Be Your Everything', his only hit in the UK reaching No.53.
1993 Paul McCartney kicked off a 24-date North American tour at the Sam Boys Silver Bowl in Las Vegas.
1994 Kurt Cobain was cremated at the Bleitz Funeral Home, Seattle. The death certificate listed Cobain's occupation as Poet/Musician and his type of business as Punk Rock.
1999 Tammy Wynette's body was exhumed and an autopsy performed in Nashville at the request of her husband, George Richey.
1999 It was reported that Prince intended to re-record the entire catalog of his music and re-release it.
2001 Sean Puffy Combs, (P. Diddy), was arrested in Miami for riding a scooter in South Beach on a suspended driver's license. He was released 20 minutes later after signing a promise to appear in court.
2002 Ashanti started a ten week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Foolish' and a three week run at No.1 on the US album chart with her self-titled album.
2003 A man was arrested accused of making up a Bjork concert then selling tickets. Alex Conate allegedly sold tickets worth $14,000 at $40 each after persuading a San Diego nightclub owner that Bjork had agreed to play there. He was accused of taking the money and moving to Hawaii, where he was arrested.
