Births
1934 Don Kirshner, who launched the careers of Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Harry Nilsson, The Monkees and The Archies.
1940 Billy Fury, (1961 UK No.3 single 'Halfway To Paradise', plus 25 other Top 40 UK singles). Fury died of a heart attack on 28th January 1983.
1943 Roy Estrada, bass, Frank Zappa band, (1970 UK No.9 album 'Hot Rats').
1948 Jan Hammer, keyboard player, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, solo, (1985 US No.1 & UK No.5 single 'Miami Vice Theme', 1987 UK No.2 single 'Crockett's Theme').
1954 Michael Sembello, guitarist, singer, (1983 US No.1 & UK No. 43 single 'Maniac', featured in the film 'Flashdance'. a No.43 hit in the UK).
1955 Pete Shelley, guitar, vocals, Buzzcocks, (1978 UK No.12 single 'Ever Fallen In Love, With Someone You Shouldn't've').
1964 James Keenan, Tool, (2001 US No.1 album 'Lateralus'). Also a member of A Perfect Circle and Puscifer.
1967 Matt Chamberlain one of the world's most widely-heard session drummers. Worked with, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, Morrissey, Fiona Apple, Christina Aguilera, Dido, David Bowie, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, The Wallflowers, Natalie Merchant, Robbie Williams, Kanye West, Garbage, John Mayer and William Shatner.
1970 Redman, US rapper, (2001 US No.4 album ‘Malpractice’, 2002 UK No.1 single with Christina Aguilera ‘Dirrty’.)
1974 Victoria Adams, Posh Spice, The Spice Girls, (1996 UK No.1 & 1997 US No.1 single 'Wannabe', plus eight other UK No.1 singles). Solo 2000 UK No. 2 single 'Out Of Your Mind'). Married footballer David Beckham at Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland in June 1999.
Deaths
1960 Eddie Cochran died in Bath, England, from severe brain injuries sustained in a car crash near Chippenham, Wiltshire. Gene Vincent was seriously injured in the accident.
1974 Vinnie Taylor, guitarist with the 50s revivalist group, Sha Na Na, dies of a drug overdose, aged 25.
1983 Felix Pappalardi, producer and bass player with Mountain was shot dead by his wife Gail Collins during a jealous rage. Collins was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to four years in prison. Pappalardi who was 43 had produced the Cream albums 'Disraeli Gears 'and 'Wheels of Fire.'
1987 Carlton Barrett of The Wailers was shot dead outside his house in Kingston.
1998 Linda McCartney died after a long battle against cancer.
2003 Earl King the New Orleans Blues guitarist died aged 69. King wrote the classic song Come On, (Let The Good Times Roll).
Events
1953 Benny Goodman returned to Carnegie Hall after 15 years.
1964 The Rolling Stones' debut album, "The Rolling Stones" was released in the U.K.
1964 The FBI lab reported that it could not determine the lyrics to "Louie Louie."
1964 Them made their first concert appearance.
1965 The Beach Boys' "Help Me Rhonda" was released.
1965 Bob Dylan's debut album 'The FreeWheelin' Bob Dylan' was at No.1 on the UK chart
1969 The Band make their debut as a band on their own. They had been the back up group behind Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan.
1970 Johnny Cash played at the White house for President Nixon, who requested he played 'A Boy Named Sue'
1970 'Motown Chartbusters 'Vol 5' started a 3 week run at No.1 on the UK chart
1970 Three Dog Night started a 6 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Joy To The World'. The groups 2nd US No.1, it made No.24 in the UK.
1971 All four Beatles had solo singles in the UK charts, Paul McCartney with 'Another Day', John Lennon, 'Power To The People', George Harrison, 'My Sweet Lord' and Ringo Starr, 'It Don't Come Easy.'
1971 'Motown Chartbusters Vol 5' started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK chart.
1971 Three Dog Night started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Joy To The World'. The groups second US No.1; a No.24 hit in the UK.
1972 Keith Richards Girlfriend Anita Pallenberg gave birth to their second child, daughter Dandelion
1973 Pink Floyd's album 'The Dark Side of the Moon' went gold in the US. The LP went on to stay in the US chart for more than ten years and become the longest charting rock record of all time.
1973 Tito and John Jackson from The Jackson Five were arrested for buying stolen TV and stereo equipment
1980 Bob Marley performs at the Independence Day celebrations for Rhodesia which was renamed Zimbabwe.
1982 Buck's Fizz had their 3rd UK No.1 single with 'My Camera Never Lies' 1982, Vangelis had a No.1 album in the US with 'Chariots Of Fire', he also won an Oscar for best original score
1982 Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast" was #1 on the British albums chart.
1982 Vangelis was at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Chariots Of Fire', he also won an Oscar for best original score.
1991 Appearing at the OK Hotel in Seattle, Nirvana played ‘Smell’s Like Teen Spirit’ live for the first time.
1993 David Bowie went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Black Tie White Noise' his 8th UK No.1 LP
1993 Susanna Hoffs and screenwriter M. Jay Roach were married.
1994 Pink Floyd started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'The Division Bell', their fourth No.1 album.
1995 Courtney Love of Hole is the first AOL subscriber to have her e-mail account shut down, mainly for the death threats she posted against people she thought deserved them.
2002 Tammy Wynette's four daughters reached a confidential agreement with Wynette's doctor over her death. Wynette's daughters filed a lawsuit that claimed the Pittsburgh doctor had contributed to Wynette's death in 1998.
2002 Music weekly The NME published a list of the 50 most influential icons. At No.10, Public Enemy, 9, U2, 8, The Jam, 7, Radiohead, 6, Oasis, 5, The *** Pistols, 4, David Bowie, 3, The Stone Roses, 2, The Beatles and No.1 The Smiths.
2004 Kurt Cobain's Mark IV-style Mosrite Gospel guitar sold for $100,000 at the Icons of 20th Century Music auction held in Dallas, Texas. Other items sold included Elton John and Bernie Taupin's song writing piano which sold for $140,000 and a 1966 Rickenbacker guitar owned by The Byrds Roger McGuinn's sold for $99,000.
2005 Basement Jaxx went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Singles’.
2006 A line from U2's 1992 hit ‘One’ was voted the UK's favourite song lyric after in a poll of 13,000 people by music channel VH1. The line "One life, with each other, sisters, brothers" came top. The Smiths lyric “So you go, and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry, and you want to die" from the song ‘How Soon is Now?’ came second in the poll, followed by "I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us", from Nirvana's ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ which was voted into third place.
2007 Bryan Ferry was forced to apologise after praising Nazi iconography in a German magazine. Talking to Welt am Sonntag, he said the Nazis "knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves...I'm talking about the films of Leni Riefenstahl and the buildings of Albert Speer and the mass marches and the flags. Just amazing - really beautiful." British MPs asked shoppers to think twice about shopping in Marks and Spencer asking for Ferry to be dropped as the face of the M&S Autograph menswear collection. Ferry said he was "deeply upset" by the publicity surrounding the interview.
