Births
1934 Skip Battin, The Byrds, (1965 US & UK No.1 single' Mr Tambourine Man'). Member of New Riders Of The Purple Sage and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Battin died on July 6th 2003.
1940 Alan Caddy, guitarist with The Tornadoes, who had a 1962 UK & US No.1 single with 'Telstar'. This was the first major hit from a UK act on the American chart. Caddy died on August 16th 2000.
1942 Graham Nash, guitar, vocals, with The Hollies who he left in 1968. Member of Crosby Stills Nash & Young, (1969 UK No.17 single 'Marrakesh Express' and 1970 US No.1 album 'Deja Vu').
1943 Peter Macbeth, The Foundations, (1967 UK No.1 single 'Baby Now That I've Found You', 1969 US No.3 single 'Build Me Up A Buttercup').
1945 Ronnie Goodson, John Fred and His Playboy Band, (1968 US No.1 & UK No.3 single 'Judy In Disguise').
1946 Howard Bellamy, Bellamy Brothers, (1976 US No.1 single 'Let Your Love Flow', 1979 UK No.3 single 'If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me').
1947 Peter Lucia, Tommy James and the Shondells, (1966 US No.1 single 'Hanky Panky', 1968 UK No.1 single 'Mony Mony').
1947 Derek Sulman, Simon Dupree And The Big Sound, (1967 UK No.9 single 'Kites'. Member of Gentle Giant.
1948 Alan Mckay, guitar, Earth Wind and Fire, (1975 US No.1 single 'Shining Star', 1981 UK No.3 single 'Let's Groove').
1949 Ross Valory, bass, Steve Miller Band, (1974 US No.1 & 1990 UK No.1 single 'The Joker').
1963 Eva Cassidy, US singer. She is the only artist to score three posthumous UK No.1 albums: 2001's 'Songbird'; 2002's 'Imagine' and 2003's 'American Tune'. In 2001 she also had a UK No.42 single with 'Over The Rainbow' and the 2007 UK No.1 single 'What a Wonderful World' with Katie Melua. Eva died of skin cancer on November 1st 1996, aged 33.
1964 Charlie Heather, drums, The Levellers, (1995 UK No.12 single 'Just The One').
1966 Robert Deleo, bass, Stone Temple Pilots, (1993 UK No.23 single 'Plush').
1966 Steve Firth, bass, Embrace, (2006 UK No. 2 single 'Natures Law', 2006 UK No.1 album 'This New Day').
1969 John Spence, singer, original member of No Doubt in the late 1980's. Committed suicide on December 21st 1987 by shooting himself.
1971 Ben Mize, drums, Counting Crows, (1994 UK No.28 single 'Mr Jones', 1996 US No.1 album, 'Recovering The Satellites').
1977 Shakira, (Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll), singer, (2002 UK No.2 single 'Whenever Wherever', 2006 world-wide No.1 single 'Hips Don't Lie'). Highest selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold over forty million albums.
Deaths
1979 Sex Pistols bass player Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York. There had been a party in the flat to celebrate Vicious' release on $50,000 bail pending his trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, the previous October. Party guests, said that Vicious had taken heroin at midnight.
2007 Billy Henderson, one of the founders of US soul group The Spinners, died aged 67 after complications from diabetes. Had the 1980 UK No.1 & US No.2 single 'Working My Way Back To You.'
2007 US keyboardist Joe Hunter, a veteran session musician as one of the Funk Brothers who helped craft the distinctive Motown sound, died in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 79. Hunter performed with such legendary Motown acts as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Martha and the Vandellas.
Events
1937 Guy Lombardo and his orchestra recorded "Boo Hoo."
1949 The first 45 RPM record was released.
1956 The Coaster signed with Atlantic Records.
1957 Fats Domino sang "Blueberry Hill" and "Blue Monday" on the "Perry Como Show" on television.
1959 Frankie Avalon's "Venus" was released.
1959 The Coasters song, "Charlie Brown," was released.
1959 Appearing at Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly, Richard Valens and The Big Bopper. This was all three acts last ever gig before being killed in a plane crash the following day.
1962 The Beatles played their first professionally organised gig outside of Liverpool at The Oasis Club, Manchester. The group's set started with their version of 'Hippy Hippy Shake.'
1963 Cliff Richard and The Shadows started a 14-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Summer Holiday'.
1963 The Beatles played at the Gaumont Cinema, Bradford on the opening night of the nationwide Helen Shapiro UK tour. The Beatles were at the bottom of the six-act bill playing just four songs, 'Please Please Me', 'Chains', 'Keep Your Hands Off My Baby' and 'A Taste of Honey.'
1966 The Rolling Stones released '19th Nervous Breakdown' it peaked at No.2 on the UK singles chart.
1967 The Jimi Hendrix Experience played live on UK TV show Top Of The Pops performing 'Purple Haze.'
1969 Yoko Ono divorced her husband Tony Cox, Yoko was granted custody of their daughter Kyoko. John Lennon and married Yoko the following month on 30th March.
1972 During a UK tour Stevie Wonder appeared at the Manchester Odeon, England.
1973 Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer injured his hands when his piano rigged to explode as a stunt, detonated prematurely during a concert in San Francisco.
1973 NBC-TV debuted "Midnight Special."
1974 Barbra Streisand started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with the theme from the film 'The Way We Were'. The single won an Oscar and a Grammy for 'Song of the year.'
1974 The Carpenters started a four week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'The Singles 1969-73', featuring 12 hits and the US No.1 'Top Of The World' it went back to the top of the charts on three other occasions.
1978 Van Halen signed with Warner Brothers Records.
1980 The Specials were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Special A.K.A. Live E.P'.
1984 Gigs around the UK; The Smiths kicked off a UK tour at Coventry University, Tina Turner appeared at Gloucester Leisure Centre and The Alarm played The Mayfair in Newcastle upon Tyne.
1985 Foreigner started a two-week run at No.1 on the US singles charts with 'I Want To Know What Love Is', also a UK No.1.
1989 George Michael received undisclosed damages in excess of Ł100,000 ($170,000) from The Sun newspaper over articles printed that stated Michael had gatecrashed a party given by Andrew Lloyd Weber and was drunk and abusive.
1991 KLF featuring The Children Of The Revolution were at No.1 on the UK single chart with '3am Eternal'.
1991 Sting scored his second UK No.1 album with 'The Soul Cages'.
1993 Willie Nelson and the IRS settle their longstanding tax feud. The U.S. government kept $3.6 million in assets it had already seized and Nelson would have to pay $5.4 million of the $13.1 million balance.
1997 Placebo kicked of a 16-date UK tour at the Cambridge Junction.
1999 Prince released "1999 New Master." It was a re-release and re-done version of the 1982 version of the song "1999."
2000 Moby kicked off a 9-date UK tour at the Anson Rooms, Bristol.
2001 Bad Manners singer Buster Bloodvessel was told he was 'too fat' to survive an urgently needed operation. Buster collapsed on stage during a show in Italy but Doctors felt that his huge 30 stone frame might not make it through surgery.
2002 The P.P.L. (Phonographic Performance Ltd), launched performersmoney.com for artists to check if they were owed any of the Ł10 million ($17 million) in unclaimed money. It showed that Michael Jackson was owed over Ł100,000 ($170,000) for 'Say, Say, Say', Stevie Wonder had money owing for 'Ebony And Ivory' and Ray Davies of The Kinks was owed a six-figure fee for 'You Really Got Me'. Director Dominic McGonigal said "If anyone has seen Rick Astley please let him know, he is still earning money for his hits."
2002 Britney Spears was the host and musical guest on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."
2003 Russian girl duo Tatu started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'All The Things She Said'.
2003 Jennifer Lopez started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'All I Have'.
2004 TV network CBS apologised for its broadcast of the American Super Bowl after Janet Jackson was left exposed when Justin Timberlake ripped her top. The pair had been performing a raunchy half-time duet when one of Jackson's breasts was exposed as Timberlake pulled at her top. CBS quickly cut away from the scene but was still flooded with calls from angry viewers about the half-time entertainment, produced by MTV. Timberlake insisted it had been an accident saying "I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the half-time performance of the Super Bowl."
2005 Former Libertines frontman Pete Doherty was arrested on suspicion of theft and assault. He was held in custody at a north London police station after an alleged incident at a hotel in Clerkenwell, central London.
2008 The Spice Girls cut short their reunion world tour, blaming "family and personal commitments". The band said they would end their tour in Toronto on 26 February, with planned shows in Beijing, Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires being axed. A spokesman for the group said: "Sadly, the tour needs to come to an end by the end of February due to family and personal commitments."
