Births
1934 Huey 'Piano' Smith, US R&B pianist, (1958 US No.9 single 'Don't You Just Know It', played on Frankie Ford's hit 'Sea Cruise').
1945 Ashley Hutchings, bass, Fairport Convention, UK folk group, (1969 UK No.21 single 'Si Tu Dois Partir').
1948 Corky Laing, drums, Mountain, (1971album 'Nantucket Sleighride').
1949 Derek Holt, Climax Blues Band, (1976 UK No.10 & 1977 US No.3 single 'Couldn't Get It Right').
1951 David Briggs, Little River Band, Australian group, (1978 US No.3 single 'Reminiscing' plus 12 other US Top 40 singles).
1957 Eddie Van Halen, guitar, (1984 US No.1 & UK No. 7 single 'Jump').
1957 Norman Hassan, percussion, UB40, (1983 UK No.1 & 1988 US No.1 single 'Red Red Wine' and over 30 other Top 40 hit singles).
1963 Andrew Ridgeley, vocals, Wham! (1984 UK & US No.1 single 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' plus 10 other UK Top 20 hit singles).
1963 Jazzie B, Soul II Soul & producer, (1989 UK No.1 single 'Back To Life').
Deaths
1972 Sean Combs' (Puff Daddy) father Melvin was shot dead in his car in a Manhattan park aged thirty-three. Sean was aged 2 at the time.
1989 Donnie Elbert, US soul singer died of a stroke aged 53. (1972 US No. 22 & UK No.11 single 'I Can't Help Myself', Sugar Pie Honey Bunch').
1998 S.P. Leary died, he'd played with many blues legends including Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters.
Events
1961 Elvis Presley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Are You Lonesome Tonight'. The singers sixth UK No.1.
1963 The Rooftop Singers started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Walk Right In', a No.10 hit in the UK.
1963 The Beatles played two gigs, the first was at the El Rio Club/Dance Hall in Macclesfield, Cheshire, supported by Wayne Fontana and the Jets. Then The Beatles drove 20 miles to their next gig at King's Hall, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire.
1965 During a Rolling Stones tour of Australia and New Zealand, guitarist Keith Richards had his shirt torn off after 50 fans invaded the stage during the gig at The Town Hall in Brisbane.
1966 Eric Burdon (The Animals) sang lead vocals for Manfred Mann at a London concert.
1970 Australia's first rock festival, the Ourimbah Rock Festival was attended by 11,000 people over the weekend.
1970 John Lennon wrote, recorded and mixed his new single 'Instant Karma' all in one day.
1973 Sweet were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Blockbuster'. The groups only UK No.1 of 15 Top 40 hits.
1974 Mud were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Tiger Feet', the groups first of three UK No.1's.
1974 Ringo Starr went to No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of the Johnny Burnette 1960 hit 'Your Sixteen', a No.3 hit in the UK.
1974 The Doobie Brothers opened their first European tour in London.
1975 The BBC showed a documentary on David Bowie called "Cracked Actor."
1975 The BBC 'Omnibus' documentary 'Cracked Actor' a film about David Bowie was shown on UK TV.
1977 Patti Smith fell off the stage and was rushed to the hospital for 22 stitches to her head. She temporarily retired from stage performing.
1977 Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac's first lead guitar player, was committed to a mental hospital in England. He had fired a pistol in the general direction of a delivery boy. Green left the band in May of 1970.
1978 Appearing at The Marquee, London, England, Adam And The Ants, tickets 65p.
1979 The 'Gizmo' guitar synthesizer was first demonstrated.
1980 Prince made his TV debut on the US show American Bandstand.
1980 During their 22 date UK tour The Clash appeared at Deeside Leisure Centre.
1985 Foreigner started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Agent Provocateur'.
1986 Allen Collins from Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed his car, paralysing him from the waist down and killing his girlfriend Debra Jean Watts.
1988 The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Phantom of the Opera" opened at Broadway's Majestic Theater.
1991 Cher made a special video for the troops involved in Desert Storm during the gulf war. Cher's Video Canteen, featured Janet Jackson, Paul Simon, Van Halen and Bonnie Raitt.
1991 German duo Enigma went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ' MCMXC' featuring the UK No. 1 single 'Sadness Part 1'.
1991 Queen had their second UK No.1 with 'Innuendo'. It was the third longest No.1 song of all time behind The Beatles 'Hey Jude' and Simple Minds 'Belfast Child'.
1991 US act Surface went to No.1 on the US singles charts with 'The First Time'; it made No.60 in the UK.
1993 During a UK tour Rage Against The Machine appeared at The Underworld, Camden, London.
1995 Joni Mitchell made a rare concert appearance at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum theater in Los Angeles. She was promoting material from "Turbulent Indigo," her newest album.
1997 ZZ Top, James Brown and the Blues Brothers performed at the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show.
1999 The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that John Denver died in a 1997 airplane crash because he took off with too little fuel in one tank, had trouble switching to his backup tank and inadvertently put his plane into a roll while his attention was diverted.
2003 Billy Joel was hospitalized for several hours after crashing his car into a tree in Sag Harbor, NY. He was released early the next morning.
2003 B2K and Puff Daddy went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Bump Bump Bump'.
2003 Justin Timberlake went to No.1 on the UK album chart with his debut solo album 'Justified', which went on to spend over a year on the UK chart.
2004 John Lydon was one of ten contestants to take part in the latest I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here UK TV show set in the Australian outback. The former *** Pistols singer was seen by 11 million viewers on the first night covered in bird seed being pecked by giant ostriches. Lydon who was paid L25,000 ($42,500) to appear in the show, but walked off the jungle set after four days.
2007 The Rolling Stones topped the US music rich list for the second year running after making $150.6m (L76.2m) in 2006. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were second in the poll with a combined fortune of $132m (L67.2m) and American country band Rascal Flatts appeared third, having earnt $110.5m (L56.2m) in the past year.
2008 Alicia Keys was at No.1 on the US album chart with her third album 'As I Am.' The album sold over 742,000 copies in its first week the largest ever first week sales for any female R&B artist.
