Births
1941 John Steel, drums, The Animals, (1964 UK & US No.1 single 'House Of The Rising Sun').
1944 Florence Larue, The 5th Dimension, (1969 US No.1 & UK No.11 single 'Aquarius').
1947 Margie and Mary Ann Ganser, vocalists for The Shangri-Las, who had a 1964 US No.1 & UK No.11 single with 'Leader Of The Pack'. Margie died of breast cancer on July 28th 1996.
1948 Alice Cooper, (Vincent Furnier), singer, Earwigs, Alice Cooper Band, (1972 UK No.1 & US No.7 single 'School's Out').
1950 James Dunn, vocals, The Stylistics, (1975 US No.1 single 'You Make Me Feel Brand New', 1975 UK No.1 single 'Can't Give You Anything But My Love' plus 15 other UK Top 40 singles).
1951 Phil Ehart, Kansas, (1978 US No.3 single 'Dust In The Wind', UK No.59 single 'Carry On Wayward Son').
1952 Jerry Shirley, drums, Humble Pie, (1969 UK No.4 single 'Natural Born Bugie').
1960 Tim Booth, vocals, James, (1991 UK No.2 single 'Sit Down'), Solo.
1962 Country singer, Clint Black, US hit with 'Desperado', from The Eagles tribute album 'Common Thread'. 1992 US No 8 album, 'The Hard Way'.
1963 Wasserman, guitar, The Offspring, (1999 UK No.1 & US No. 59 single 'Pretty Fly, (For A White Guy)', 1999 US No.6 & UK No.10 album 'Americana').
1968 Steve Queralt, Ride, (1992 UK No.9 single 'Leave Them All Behind').
1975 Natalie Imbruglia, actress, singer, (1997 UK No.2 single 'Torn', 1997 UK No.5 album 'Left Of The Middle').
Deaths
1975 Saxophonist Louis Jordon died aged 66. Influenced artists from Chuck Berry to Joe Jackson.
1982 Scottish singer Alex Harvey died of a heart attack in Zeebrugen, Belgium. Formed Alex Harvey Big Soul Band in 1959 and then mid 1960's band Tear Gas. Had the 1975 UK No.7 single with Sensational Alex Harvey Band 'Delilah' and 1975 album 'Next').
1983 Karen Carpenter died aged 32 of a cardiac arrest at her parent's house; the coroner's report gave the cause of death of imbalances associated with anorexia nervosa.
1984 Paul Gardiner bass player with Gary Numan's Tubeway Army died of a heroin overdose.
1999 US soul singer Gwen Guthrie died of cancer. Worked with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and wrote songs for Sister Sledge and Roberta Flack.
Events
1937 Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra recorded "A Study in Brown."
1954 The Drifters recorded "White Christmas."
1955 James Brown recorded "Please Please Please."
1959 Frankie Avalon and Jimmy Clanton took over headlining the Winter Dance Party after the death of Buddy Holly.
1961 Johnny Burnette was rushed to a hospital in Hollywood for an emergency appendectomy.
1965 The Righteous Brothers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'. Also a US No.1 at the same time.
1967 The Monkees self-titled debut album started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK chart.
1968 Billed as 'Tour 60 cities in 66 Days' The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared at the Winterland in San Francisco.
1968 Working at Abbey Road studios, London, The Beatles recorded 'Across the Universe.' John and Paul decided the song needed some falsetto harmonies so they invited two girl fans into the studio to sing on the song. The two were Lizzie Bravo, a 16-year-old Brazilian living near Abbey Road and 17-year-old Londoner Gayleen Pease.
1969 "Carl Perkins Day" was celebrated in Jackson, TN.
1970 John Lennon and Yoko Ono donated their hair for an auction in aid of the Black Power movement.
1971 Diana Ross guest starred on Danny Thomas' "Make Room For Granddaddy" TV show.
1974 John Lennon and Yoko Ono temporarily seperated.
1977 "American Bandstand" celebrated its 25th anniversary with an ABC-TV special hosted by Dick Clark.
1977 Fleetwood Mac's second album, "Rumours", was released.
1978 Abba started a seven week run at No.1 on the UK chart with 'The Album' their third No.1 LP.
1978 Appearing at the Oasis, Swindon, England, Talking Heads plus special guests Dire Straits.
1978 The Bee Gees started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Staying Alive'. From the film soundtrack Saturday Night Fever, it gave the brothers their fifth US No.1, also No.1 in the UK.
1978 'Up Town Ranking' by Althia and Donna was at No.1 on the UK singles chart. It was the Jamaican duo's only hit.
1983 The Smiths appeared at The Hacienda, Manchester, England.
1984 Culture Club started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Karma Chameleon' the groups 5th US Top 10 hit, also a No.1 in the UK.
1984 Eurythmics scored their first UK No.1 album with their second release 'Touch', featuring the singles 'Here Comes The Rain Again', 'Who's That Girl' and 'Right By Your Side'.
1985 Appearing at The Cricketers, Kennington, London, John Cooper Clarke and Nico.
1986 Appearing at Shelleys, Stoke On Trent, England, Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
1989 Sheriff went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'When I'm With You', not a hit in the UK.
1991 "Cher at the Mirage" aired on CBS-TV.
1992 Appearing at The Borderline in London Pearl Jam.
1995 Celine Dion started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Think Twice'. The song peaked at No.95 on the US chart.
1996 Former Milli-Vanilli member Rob Pilatus was hospitalised after a man hit him over the head with a baseball bat in Hollywood, California. Pilatus was attempting to steal the man's car at the time of the attack.
1996 Rob Pilatus, formerly of Milli-Vanilli, was hospitalized when he was hit over the head with a baseball bat in Hollywood. Pilatus was attempting to steal a car. The owner was the person who hit him.
1998 Former lead singer of East 17, Brian Harvey, was fined Ł1,000 after being convicted of kicking a press photographer who was curled up on the ground in a ball. Harvey was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of L2,852.
1999 Freddy Fender received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was the 2,129th star to be dedicated.
2000 Bjorn Ulvaeus confirmed that the members of Abba had turned down a $1 billion offer by American and British consortium to reform the group. "It is a hell of a lot of money to say no to, but we decided it wasn't for us," band member Benny Andersson told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
2001 Atomic Kitten started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Whole Again', the group's first UK chart topper.
2001 Jimmy Buffet was ordered by NBA referee Joe Forte to give up his courtside seat due to the use of profanity. After a several-minute delay, the game between the Miami Heat and the visiting New York Knicks continued.
2002 Stevie Wonder sang "Happy Birthday" to Rosa Parks on her 89th birthday at the premiere of the made-for-TV movie "Ride to Freedom: The Rosa Parks Story."
2003 Courtney Love was arrested at Heathrow airport for 'endangering an aircraft' on a transatlantic flight. The singer was said to have hurled abuse at the cabin crew on the flight from Los Angeles to London after her nurse who was in an economy seat was barred access to sit with Love in the upper class cabin.
2004 Police questioned Noel Gallagher after a photograph of him trespassing on a railway line appeared in a newspaper. The Oasis guitarist was in a studio in Cornwall recording the bands new album when he took a walk along the railway line. British Transport Police said 'he was setting a bad example.'
2007 A Razorlight's gig in Lyon was halted mid-set because of an altercation between singer Johnny Borrell and bassist Carl Dalemo. The pair exchanged insults before they came to blows onstage. Borrell then stormed off leaving the French crowd amazed and unsure about what was going on.
2007 Norah Jones scored her third UK No.1 album with 'Not Too Late', also a No.1 in the US and over 20 other countries.
2008 Leona Lewis went to No.1 on the Australian album charts with her debut release 'Spirit.'
