Births
1918 Blues and jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald born. She died 15th June 1996, (1960 US No.27 & UK No.19 single 'Mack The Knife').
1923 Blues singer and guitarist (left-handed Gibson "Flying V") Albert King (Albert Nelson) born in Indianola, Mississippi. Early on (50s) King played drums with Jimmy Reed, releasing his own first recording on the Parrot label in 1953.
1933 Jerry Leiber, (& Stroller), songwriter and producer for Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly. The Monkees, Cliff Richard.
1943 Tony Christie, UK singer, 1971 UK No.18 single (‘Is This The Way To) Amarillo’, re-released in aid of Comic Relief in 2005 becoming a UK No.1 with comedian Peter Kay. This broke the record set over 18 years previously by Jackie Wilson. His "Reet Petite" topped the chart in Dec 1986; 29 Years, 1 Month, and 11 Days after it first entered the chart. The new record set by Christie was 33 Years, 3 Months, and 27 Days.
1944 Charlie Harper, vocals, punk band, UK Subs, (1979 UK No.26 single 'Stranglehold').
1945 Bjorn Ulvaeus, guitar, vocals, Abba, (first UK hit was 1974 No.1 single 'Waterloo', followed by eight other UK No.1 singles and nine No.1 albums, 1977 US No.1 single 'Dancing Queen').
1945 Stu Cook, bass, Creedence Clearwater Revival, (1969 UK No.1 and US No.2 single 'Bad Moon Rising' plus 11 other US Top 40 singles, 1970 US & UK No.1 album 'Cosmo's Factory').
1945 Michael Kogel, Los Bravos, (1966 UK No.2 & US No.4 single 'Black Is Black'). First Spanish rock band to have a UK & US hit single.
1946 Ronnie Gilbert, The Blue Magoos, (1967 US No.5 single, 'We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet').
1949 Michael Brown, singer, Stories, (1973 US No.1 single 'Brother Louie'). Written by Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate who had a UK No.7 with the song the same year.
1949 Steve Ferrone, who replaced the Robbie McIntosh in the Average White Band, born in Brighton, England.
1958 Fish, (Derek Dick), Marillion and solo, vocals, (1985 UK No.2 single 'Kayleigh'). Radio presenter.
1964 Andy Bell, Erasure, (1992 UK No.1 single 'Abba- esque' plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles).
1964 Maya Gilder, keyboards, Furniture, (1986 UK No.21 single 'Brilliant Mind').
1965 Eric Avery, Jane's Addiction, (1991 UK No.34 single 'Been Caught Stealing', 1990 US No. 19 album 'Ritual De Lo Habitual').
1965 Simon Fowler, vocals, Ocean Colour Scene, (1996 UK No.4 single 'The Day We Caught The Train', plus over 12 other Top 40 singles, 1997 UK No.1 album ‘Marchin’ Already’).
1980 Born on this day, Jacob Underwood, O-Town, winners of US TV show 'Making The Band' (2001 US No.3 single 'All Or Nothing', 2001 UK No.3 single 'Liquid Dreams').
Deaths
1970 Otis Span, blues pianist known for his work with Muddy Waters, dies from cancer.
1974 Pam Morrison (born Courson), widow of Jim Morrison, dies, age 27, from a heroin overdose.
1988 Carolyn Franklin the Younger Sister of Aretha died of cancer at the age of 43.
1999 Roger Troutman (the lead singer of the band Zapp) died at the age of 47. He had been shot several times. His brother, Larry, was found near the crime scene with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
2002 In Honduras, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (TLC) was killed in a car crash.
Events
1954 Johnnie Ray was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Such A Night.' The singers first of three UK No.1's.
1960 Elvis Presley started a 4 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Stuck On You' it made No.3 in the UK.
1961 Elvis Presley made his last stage appearance for nearly eight years at Bloch Arena, HI.
1967 The Beatles recorded the theme to 'Magical Mystery Tour' at Abbey Road studios in London.
1968 The Beatles refused to perform for the Queen of England at a British Olympic Appeal Fund show because "Our decision would be the same no matter what the cause. We don't do benefits."
1970 The Jackson Five started a 2 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'ABC'. It was the groups 2nd US No.1, it made No.8 in the UK.
1974 Greg Allman played the last date of his solo tour. A 90-minute encore followed with the Allman Brothers Band.
1977 Elvis Presley made the last recordings of his life during a concert at the Saginaw, Michigan Civic Centre. Three songs from the show appeared on the posthumously released Presley album, 'Moody Blue'.
1978 In London the 100 Club ceases to host punk music, the final evening featuring ATV (Alternative TV).
1978 New singles reviewed in this weeks NME included Elvis Costello, 'Pump It Up', XTC, 'This Is Pop', Blondie, 'I'm Always Touched By Your Presence Dear' and Single Of The Week, The Tom Robinson Band, 'Up Against The Wall'.
1979 The Police made their debut on BBC TV's 'Top Of The Pops' performing 'Roxanne'
1979 The film Rock 'n' Roll High School, featuring the Ramones, premieres in Los Angeles.
1980 Stranglers singer, guitarist Hugh Cornwell was released from a London prison after serving six weeks for possession of drugs.
1981 Wings broke up with the departure of Denny Laine.
1985 "Big River," the musical by Roger Miller, opened on Broadway.
1987 Madonna became the only female artist to have four UK No.1s, when 'La Isla Bonita', went to the top of the charts.
1987 U2 start a five week run at No.1 in the US album chart with 'The Joshua Tree'.
1988 Bon Jovi's manager Doc Mcgee was convicted on drug offences arising from the 1982 seizure of 40,000lb of marijuana smuggled into north Carolina from Colombia. McGee was sentenced to a five year suspended prison term and a $15,000 fine.
1989 101, a concert film of Depeche Mode, has its premier in Canada.
1990 Tthe Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock festival was auctioned off for a record $295,000.
1992 Kris Kross started a 8 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Jump', a No.2 hit in the UK. The duo of Chris Smith and Chris Kelly were 12 and 13 when they recorded the song.
1992 Right Said Fred went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their LP 'Up'.
1994 Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for attacking a TV cameraman during the memorial services for actor River Phoenix the previous November.
1996 A pair of skin-tight trousers owned by Queen singer Freddie Mercury was sold at a pop memorabilia sale in London.
1997 U2's 'Pop Mart' world tour kicked off at The Las Vegas San Boyd Stadium in front of 35,000 fans. Featuring the largest video screen in the world and set to visit 80 cities world wide.
1998 Next started a four-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Too Close.'
1999 Irish boy band Westlife went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their debut release 'Swear It Again'. They became the 8th Irish act to score a UK No.1 in less than a year.
2003 Sinead O'Connor announced on her Web site that she was going to retire.
2001 Ash kicked off a 13-date UK tour at the Portsmouth Pyramid.
2003 In this years Sunday Times Rich List, Paul McCartney was confirmed as the world's richest musician with a fortune worth over 760m pounds. Madonna was 4th in the list with 227m pounds, Mick Jagger 6th with 175m pounds and Elton John 7th with 170m pounds. Ozzy Osbourne became the 24th Richest musician after earning an estimated 42m pounds from his MTV show 'The Osbournes.' And Simon Fuller was said to have earned over 50m pounds from sales of the 'Pop Idol' TV show.
