Births
1939 Barry Mann, US singer, songwriter. Wrote many early 60's pop hits including 'Saturday Night At The Movies', 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling', 'Walking In The Rain'. Also had the 1961 US No.7 solo single 'Who Put The Bomp, In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp.'
1940 Brian Bennett, Drums, The Shadows, (1963 UK No.1 single 'Foot Tapper' plus 28 other UK Top 40 singles. Plus hits with Cliff Richard).
1942 Carole King, US singer, songwriter, wrote many songs with Gerry Goffin, (1962 UK No.3 & US No.22 single, 'It Might As Well Rain Until September'. Her 1970 US No.1 album 'Tapestry' has sold over 15 million copies. Became a Grammy award winner in 71.
1947 Joe Ely, country singer, toured with The Clash in the late 70's, one time member of Linda Ronstadt's band.
1947 Major Harris, The Delfonics, (1968 US No.4 & 1971 UK No.19 single 'La- La Means I Love You').
1951 Dennis Thomas, Kool & The Gang, (1981 US No.1 & UK No.7 single 'Celebration', 1984 UK No.2 single 'Joanna' plus over 15 other Top 40 hits).
1955 Jimmy Pursey, vocals, Sham 69, (1979 UK No.6 single, 'Hersham Boys').
1960 Holly Johnson, vocals, Big In Japan, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, (1984 UK No.1 & US No. 10 single 'Relax' and six other UK Top 40 singles). Solo, (1989 UK No.4 'Love Train' & 1989 UK No.1 album 'Blast').
1963 Dave Rotheray, guitar, The Beautiful South, (1990 UK No.1 single 'A Little Time' plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles).
1964 Rachel Bolan, Skid Row, (1989 US No.4 & 1990 UK No.12 single '18 and Life').
Deaths
1967 Canadian conductor Percy Faith died aged 67. He scored the 1960 US No.1 'Theme From A Summer Palace', nine weeks at No.1
1981 Bill Haley was found dead, fully clothed on his bed at his home in Harlington, from a heart attack, Haley had sold over 60 million records during his career. Scored the 1955 UK & US No.1 single 'Rock Around The Clock', and became known as the first Rock 'n' Roll star.
1993 TV broadcaster Bill Grundy died. He conducted the famous *** Pistols interview when the band swore on live UK TV.
1997 Mississippi blues artist Jack Owens died aged 92, in recent years he had appeared in a jeans advertisement and also played for President Clinton.
Events
1961 The Beatles appeared at The Cavern Club, Liverpool, for the very first time (as The Beatles), they would go on to make a total of 292 other appearances at the Club.
1962 Neil Sedaka recorded "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" for the first time.
1963 Paul and Paula started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles charts with 'Hey Paula', it made No.8 in the UK.
1964 The Beatles made the first of three record-breaking appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." 73 million people watched the show. It was their American TV debut.
1966 Liza Minnelli brought her night club act to New York City. She opened at the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel.
1967 The film for the latest Bealtes single 'Penny Lane' and 'Strawberry Fields Forever' was shown on BBC-TV's Top Of The Pops. It was the first Beatles single not to make No.1 in the UK since 1963, held off the top by Engelbert Humperdinck's 'Release Me.'
1968 Hal Cone former manager of The Monkees and Head of Jones Records was found guilty of theft, forgery, receiving stolen property and conspiracy
1969 Roslyn Kind made her TV debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Roslyn Kind is the sister of Barbra Streisand.
1972 Wings made their concert debut at Nottingham University in England.
1972 Paul McCartney's Wings played the first night of a UK College tour in Nottingham; the group arrived unannounced asking social secretaries if they would like them to perform that evening.
1974 The Love Unlimited Orchestra went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Love's Theme', it made No.10 in the UK.
1975 Cher's TV show premiered with guests Elton John and Bette Midler.
1982 George Harrison presented UNICEF with a cheque for $9 million, ten years after the fundraising concert for Bangladesh.
1983 Prince's "Little Red Corvette" was released.
1985 Elaine Page and Barbara Dickson were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'I Know Him So Well.' The song was taken from the musical Chess, written by Tim Rice and Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from Abba.
1985 Madonna started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Like A Virgin', a No.3 hit in the UK.
1986 Pete Townshend, Chrissie Hynde and The Communards played a charity show at London's Albert Hall for the victims of a volcanic eruption in Colombia.
1987 Winners at this years Brit awards held in London included Peter Gabriel who won British Male Solo Artist, Kate Bush won British Female Solo Artist, Best British Group went to Five Star, British Album was Dire Straits 'Brothers In Arms', British Breakthrough Act was The Housemartins, International Solo Artist went to Paul Simon, The Bangles won Best International Group, Best British Video went to Peter Gabriel for 'Sledgehammer' and Best British Single was The Pet Shop Boys for 'West End Girls'.
1990 Nirvana set out on a short west coast tour opening for Dinosaur Jr. at the Pine Street Theater, Portland, Oregon.
1991 C & C Music Factory started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Gonna Make You Sweat', a No.3 hit in the UK.
1991 Jesus Jones went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their second LP 'Doubt.'
1992 Touring Australia and New Zealand for the first and only time Nirvana appeared at the Logan Campbell Center in Auckland, New Zealand.
1993 Mick Jagger released a solo album called "Wandering Spirit."
1993 Paul McCartney released a solo album, "Off The Ground."
1998 Oprah Winfrey announced that Garth Brooks had agreed to donate his earnings from sales from his album "Sevens" for a seven-day period. The money went to "Oprah's Angel Network."
1998 Brit Award winners included All Saints best single and video with 'Never Never', The Verve, best group and album with 'Urban Hymns', best male artist was Finley Quaye, best female was Shola Ama and Stereophonics won the best newcomers.
1999 Dave Grohl (Foo Fighter), his Roswell Records label, EMI Entertainment World and EMI Virgin Songs filed a suit against Miramax in California, accusing them unauthorized use of the Foo Fighters' song "Big Me" in trailers for the film "Rounders."
2001 Eminem beefed up security for his UK shows following the threat of gay rights protests. Campaigners said the rapper was a homophobe who fuelled prejudice with hate-filled lyrics.
2002 Billboard published the Top 5 selling albums in the world from 2001: Britney Spears' 'Britney', $7m (L4.1m); Shaggy's 'Hotshot', $7.2m L4.24m); Destiny's Child's 'Survivor', $7.8m (L4.6m); Linkin Park's 'Hybrid', $8.5m (L5m) and Dido's 'No Angel', $8.6m (L5.06m) sales.
2003 Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Simply Deep.'
2005 Winners at this years Brit Awards included The Streets who won Best British male solo artist, Joss Stone won British female solo artist, Best British Album went to Keane for 'Hopes and Fears', Franz Ferdinand won Best British Group and Best Rock Act, McFly won Best Pop Act, Scissor Sisters won Best International group and the Best Album award the Brits 25 best song award went to Robbie Williams for 'Angels' and Sir Bob Geldof won the Outstanding Contribution To Music award.
