Birthdays:
Chuck Portz - Turtles (1945)
John Evans - Jethro Tull (1948)
Milan Williams - Commodores (1948)
Reba McEntire (1954)
Steve Turner - Mudhoney (1965)
Cheryl James (Salt) - Salt-n-Pepa (1969)
James Atkin - EMF (1969)
Mr. Cheeks - Lost Boyz (1971)
Dave Keuning - Killers (1976)
Lady Gaga (1986) Her 2008 single "Poker Face" reached #1 in twenty countries
They Are Missed:
Delta blues singer and guitarist Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup died of a stroke in 1974 (age 69). He wrote "That's All Right (Mama)," covered by Elvis Presley.
Freaky Tah (Lost Boyz) was killed in 1999 by a ski-masked gunman who came up behind him and fired a single gunshot into his head. Freaky Tah was 27 years old.
History:
Eddie Cochran recorded the epic cut "Summertime Blues" in 1958.
In 1958, Buddy Holly kicked off the first night of a 43 date tour at Brooklyn Paramount Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. The Alan Freed’s Big Beat Show also featured Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, The Diamonds, Billy Ford, Danny & The Juniors, The Chantels, Larry Williams, Screaming Jay Hawkins, The Pastels, Jo-Ann Campbell and Ed Townsend. On most days the acts played two shows.
Brenda Lee recorded "I'm Sorry" in 1960.
Radio Caroline goes on the air in 1963. The pirate radio station (actually a ship broadcasting off the English coast) gives music fans an alternative to the BBC. The first song aired is the Rolling Stones’ "Not Fade Away" (written and originally recorded by Buddy Holly).
Madame Tussauds, London unveiled the wax works images of The Beatles in 1964 - the first pop stars to be honored.
In 1967, working on session for the new Beatles album 'Sgt Pepper' at Abbey Road studios in London, John Lennon recorded his lead vocal for "Good Morning Good Morning" and Paul McCartney added a lead guitar solo to the track. Lennon had decided he wanted to end the song with animal sound effects and asked that they be sequenced in such a way that each successive animal was capable of scaring or eating the preceding one. Hmmmm, I did not know that.
Van Morrison recorded the classic song "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967.
Joe Cocker played his first American concert in 1969.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Woodstock" was released in 1970.
Elvis Presley recorded "Burning Love" in 1972.
In 1976, Genesis began their first North American tour since Peter Gabriel left the band, appearing in Buffalo, New York, with Phil Collins taking over as lead singer.
Blondie started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1981 with "Rapture," which was the group's fourth US #1 hit.
Also in 1981, Elton John's version of The Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There" was released as a tribute to John Lennon.
David Crosby was arrested in 1982 after crashing his car on the San Diego Highway. Police also found cocaine and a pistol in the Crosby Stills & Nash stars car. When the police asked Crosby why he carried the gun, his reply was, "John Lennon."
In 1986 - More than 6,000 radio stations of all format varieties played "We are the World" simultaneously at 10:15 a.m. EST.
Over a $100,000 worth of damage was caused at The Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, California in 1992, when Ozzy Osbourne invited the first two rows of the audience on stage. Several others took up the offer and the band was forced to exit the stage.
After bassist Chris Novoselic and drummer David Grohl threaten to disband Nirvana in 1994 if their singer/songwriter/guitarist Kurt Cobain doesn’t get drug treatment, Cobain enters the SoCal Exodus Recovery Center. This is after Cobain nearly dies from an OD in Rome only weeks earlier. Cobain walks out three days later.
In 1995, country singer Lyle Lovett and actress Julia Roberts announced they were separating after 21 months of marriage.
In 1996, Phil Collins announced that he was leaving Genesis to concentrate on his solo career.
Kiss played the first of five sold-out nights on their Alive II world Tour at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan in 1998.
In 2000, Jimmy Page accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages from a magazine which claimed he had caused or contributed to the death of his Led Zeppelin bandmate John Bonham. Page's solicitor, Norman Chapman, told High Court Judge Mr Justice Morland that the feature in Ministry magazine printed in 1999 claimed Page was more concerned with keeping vomit off his bed than saving his friend's life, and that he stood over him wearing Satanist robes and performing a useless spell.
The artist formerly known as both Puffy and Puff Daddy said in an interview on MTV in 2001 that he now wanted to be known as P. Diddy. In August 2005, he changed his stage name to simply "Diddy." In related news, I now want to be called 'Bob Diddy'...
After playing a warm-up date the night before at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, U2 kicked off their Vertigo tour at the iPay One Center in San Diego, California in 2005. The 131 date world tour would see the band playing in North America, Europe, South America and Japan. By the time it finished, the Vertigo Tour had sold 4,619,021 tickets, grossing $389 million; the second-highest figure ever for a world tour.
In 2006, Tina Brown, the sister-in-law of Whitney Houston, sold pictures taken in her bathroom to the National Enquirer claiming Whitney Houston had been taking crack cocaine. The pictures showed drug paraphernalia including a crack-smoking pipe, rolling papers, cocaine-caked spoons and cigarette ends strewn across the surface tops of the bathroom.
Kelly Clarkson started a two-week run at #1 on the US album chart in 2009 with ‘All I Ever Wanted’, the singer’s fourth studio album.