Births
1931 Faron Young, country singer, songwriter, (1961 US No.7 single 'Hello Walls').
1942 Roy Michaels, Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys, (1969 US No.21 single 'Good Old Rock 'N' Roll').
1943 This day was commonly thought to be George Harrison's birthday. In 1992, Harrison was reported to have said, "I only learned recently after all these years that the date and time of my own birth have always been off by one calendar day and about a half hour on the clock." His birthday is actually February 24.
1948 Elkie Brooks, (Elaine Bookbinder), singer, solo, (1977 UK No.8 single 'Pearl's A Singer'), also a member of Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer.
1956 his first national hit when 'I Forgot To Remember To Forget' went to No.1 on the Billboard Country & Western chart.
1957 Stewart Wood, Bay City Rollers, (1975 UK No.1 single 'Bye Bye Baby' plus 11 other UK Top 20 singles', 1976 US No.1 single 'Saturday Night').
1957 Dennis Diken, drums, US group, The Smithereens, (1988 US No.41 album 'Smithereens 11).
1959 Mike Peters - guitarist and vocalist with The Alarm, who had a 1983 UK No.17 single with '68 Guns'. Solo and member of Dead Men Walking with Kirk Brandon, (ex Spear Of Destiny), Slim Jim Phantom, (Stray Cats), Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) and Bruce Watson (Big Country).
1971 Daniel Powter, Canadian singer, songwriter, (2005 UK No.2 single 'Bad Day'). The song had been featured in a Coca-Cola ad campaign in Europe.
Events
1952 The first musical choreography score was copyrighted. It was Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate".
1953 The musical "Wonderful Town" opened. It ran for 559 performances.
1957 Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded "That'll Be The Day." The song would be their first hit. A previously recorded version, on July 22, 1956, was produced poorly and the vocals were performed differently.
1961 Elvis Presley played his last live show for eight years when he appeared at the Block Arena in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.
1963 The first Beatles single 'Please Please Me' was released in the US on the 'Vee Jay' label. Also The Beatles played a gig at the Casino Ballroom, Leigh, Lancashire on this day.
1964 The Beatles recoded their next single 'Can't Buy Me Love', at Abbey Road studios, London. They also recorded the B-side, 'You Can't Do That' and another new song 'I Should Have Known Better'.
1965 The Seekers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'I'll Never Find Another You', the groups first UK No.1.
1971 A Led Zeppelin concert from the Paris Theatre in France was broadcast live on UK television.
1972 Led Zeppelin appeared at the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand.
1977 The Jam signed to Polydor Records UK for L6,000 ($10,200).
1978 Jefferson Starship declared "Earth Day" for the release of their new album, "Earth". It was premiered 2 days later.
1981 Winners at this years Grammy Awards included Bob Seger who won Best Rock performance for 'Against The Wind', Pat Benatar won Best female performance for 'Crimes Of Passion' and Christopher Cross won Best new artist and Best song for 'Sailing.'
1984 The Thompson Twins scored their first UK No.1 album with their third release 'Into The Gap.'
1984 'Jump', by Van Halen started a five-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart, a No.7 hit in the UK.
1985 U2 began their first full north American arena tour, starting at the Dallas Reunion Arena in Texas.
1987 Frank Sinatra guest starred on CBS-TV's "Magnum P.I."
1989 Simple Minds were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Belfast Child.' At 6 minutes 39 seconds it became the second-longest running No.1 after The Beatles 'Hey Jude.'
1992 James Brown received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.
1995 Lyle Lovett broke his collarbone riding a motorcycle in Mexico.
1995 Madonna started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Take A Bow', the track which was co-written with Babyface became a No.16 hit in the UK.
1996 The Bluetones went to No.1 on the UK album charts with their album 'Expecting To Fly.'
1998 During Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards, Ol Dirty Bastard grabbed the microphone and made various observations such as "Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best" and "Wu-Tang is for the children". He was then escorted offstage.
1998 Bo Diddley and Roy Orbison received Lifetime Achievement Grammy awards.
1999 Prince filed a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against nine Web sites, with allegations that included selling bootlegged recordings and offering unauthorized song downloads.
2000 It was announced that Britney Spears would be releasing her own brand of bubble gum, "Britney Spears CD Bubble Gum", in March of 2000.
2000 The five original Spice Girls were facing a bill of up to Ł1 million ($1.7 million) after losing a legal battle against the sponsors of their 1988 world tour. The Aprilia Scoter Company had claimed the girls knew of Geri's impending departure.
2001 Rapper Lil' Kim said a shooting which happened after she left a New York radio station was unconnected to her. One man was wounded in the incident outside the radio station Hot 97 in New York when five men fired 22 bullets. The New York Daily News reported the incident was the result of a feud between Lil' Kim and rival rappers, Capone-N-Noreaga.
2004 The Rolling Stones topped a US Rich List of music's biggest money makers. The list was based on earnings during 2003 when the band played their "Forty Licks" tour, which made them $212 million, (L124.7m) in ticket, CD, DVD and merchandise sales. The three million fans who went to the shows spent an average of $11 (L6.47) each on merchandise. Bruce Springsteen was listed in second place and The Eagles in third.
2005 Whitney Houston was rushed to a hospital in Paris with suspected food poisoning after becoming ill during a flight from Los Angeles to Spain.
2006 the 4th Annual TRL Awards were held in New York City. Madonna won the Lifetime Achievement Award and Bono won the Most Inspired Artist/Humanitarian Award. Other winners included Fall Out Boy, Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Ashlee Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Amanda Bynes, and My Chemical Romance.
2006 'Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George' by Jack Johnson & Friends was at No.1 on the US album chart.
2007 Fall Out Boy were at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Infinity on High' the American group's 4th album and first No.1.
