1929, Born on this day, American virtuoso jazz guitarist Joe Pass who worked with Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Mathis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and worked on TV shows including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Steve Allen Show. Pass died on May 23 1994.
1938, Born on this day, Australian poet, guitarist, singer, composer and performance artist Daevid Allen. He was co-founder of progressive rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) and Gong. Allen died on 13th March 2015.
1948, Born on this day, John Lees, Barclay James Harvest, eight UK Top 40 albums from 1974-87.
1955, Born on this day, Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly who was a member of the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers.
1957, Born on this day, Don Snow, keyboards, Squeeze, (1979 UK No.2 single 'Up The Junction').
1957, Born on this day, Jim Paris, bass, Carmel, (1983 UK No.15 single 'Bad Day').
1959, Born on this day, heavy metal bassist James LoMenzo known for his roles as a former member of White Lion and Megadeth. He is also known for his work in Black Label Society.
1961, Born on this day, Graham McPherson, (Suggs), vocals, Madness, (1982 UK No.1 single 'House Of Fun' plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles. Solo, 1995 UK No.7 single with cover of The Beatles 'I'm Only Sleeping').
1961, Born on this day, American musician Wayne Coyne, guitar, vocals, Flaming Lips. They have released over 15 albums, their 2009 album Embryonic peaked at No.9 on the US album charts.
1962, Born on this day, American singer and actor Trace Adkins who has charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard country music charts.
1963, Born on this day, American guitarist Tim Kelly from Slaughter. Kelly released four studio albums with the band, and two live albums. Kelly was involved in a fatal car accident on February 5, 1998, while traveling on Highway 96 in Arizona. Kelly's vehicle was hit head on when an 18 wheeler crossed the middle line.
1964, Born on this day, David McClusky, drums, The Bluebells, (1993 UK No.1 single with the re-issued 'Young At Heart').
1975, Born on this day, Norwegian award winning musician Rune Eriksen best known as the former guitarist in the black metal band Mayhem under the stage name Blasphemer.
1962, Chubby Checker went back to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Twist'. The song first went to No.1 in Sept 1960 and became the only record in American chart history to top the charts on two separate occasions.
1963, The Beatles recorded a TV appearance on the ABC Television program "Thank Your Lucky Stars" in Birmingham playing their new single, 'Please Please Me' The show was broadcast on January 19.
1965, The first day of recording sessions for Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home album were held at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. Dylan recorded Subterranean Homesick Blues and 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue'.
1967, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr both went to the Bag O'Nails Club, London, England to see the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
1968, Johnny Cash played a show, which was recorded, for his forthcoming live album at Folsom Prison, near Sacramento, California in front of 2,000 inmates. When released, the lead single, 'Folsom Prison Blues' (an update of his 1956 hit) became one of the most famous recordings of his career.
1969, Elvis Presley began a ten day recording session that would produce his final US number one record, 'Suspicious Minds'. The tracks were laid down at American Sound Studios in Memphis and marked the first time Presley had recorded in his hometown since his Sun Records days in 1956.
1970, Steel Mill, (featuring Bruce Springsteen) played at The Matrix in San Francisco, California. Boz Scaggs was the scheduled headliner but he cancelled at that last minute due to illness. Rock critic Philip Elwood, who turned up intending to review Scaggs ended up writing a highly favorable review of Steel Mill for The San Francisco Examiner.
1973, Eric Clapton made his stage comeback at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with Pete Townsend, Ronnie Wood, Stevie Winwood, Rebop, Jim Capaldi and support from The Average White Band. The night's two shows were recorded for the 'Rainbow Concert' album. Pete Townshend from The Who had organised the concert to help Clapton kick his heroin addiction.
1978, With a budget of only £1,500 borrowed from Stewart Copeland's brother Miles Copeland III, The Police started recording their debut album at Surrey Sound Studios, Surrey, England with producer Nigel Gray. The album 'Outlandos d'Amour' which was released in November of this year featured the hits 'So Lonely', 'Roxanne' and 'Can't Stand Losing You'.
1979, American soul and gospel singer, songwriter Donny Hathaway committed suicide falling from a 15th floor New York hotel window. At the height of his career Hathaway was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was known to not take his prescribed medication regularly enough to properly control his symptoms. He scored the 1972 UK No.29 single with Roberta Flack 'Where Is The Love', (which won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo in 1973) and the 1978 US No.2 single 'The Closer I Get, also with Roberta Flack.
1984, BBC Radio 1 announced a ban on 'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, after DJ Mike Read called it 'obscene', a BBC TV ban also followed. The song went on to become a UK No.1 and spent a total of 48 weeks on the UK chart.
1986, Sex Pistols members John Lydon, Steve Jones and Paul Cook, as well as the mother of Sid Vicious, sued former manager Malcom McClaren for £1 million ($1.7 million). They later settled out of court.
1990, New Kids On The Block had their second and last No.1 UK single with 'Hangin' Tough.' They had a further 7 Top 10 hits by the end of 1991. They broke up after that, but set the scene for numerous boy bands throughout the 90s.
2003, Diana Ross appeared in a US court charged with driving while twice over the drink driving limit. Police in Tucson reported that Miss Ross could not walk in a straight line, touch her nose or count to 30 after she had been stopped for swerving across the road.
2003, Who guitarist Pete Townshend was arrested on suspicion of child porn offences. Police officers impounded seven computers from his £15 million ($25.5 million) home in Richmond, Surrey.
2005, A report showed that more songs had been written about Elvis Presley than any other artist. It listed over 220 songs including: Graceland by Paul Simon, A Room At The Heartbreakhotel by U2, Calling Elvis, Dire Straits, Happy Birthday Elvis, Loudon Wainwright III, There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis, Kirsty MacColl, I Saw Elvis in a UFO, Ray Stevens. Elvis Has Left the Building by Frank Zappa and 'My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis' by Ray Herndon.
2010, Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass died at the age of 59 following a difficult recovery from colon cancer surgery. Pendergrass enjoyed early success with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, whose hits included If You Don't Know Me By Now, before going solo in 1976. He was the first black male singer to record five consecutive multi-platinum albums in the US.
2010, Beyonce and Jay-Z were named Hollywood's top-earning couple by Forbes magazine. The pair earned an estimated $122m (£75.1m) between June 2008 and June 2009 - more than any other couple married or unmarried.
2010, A plaque of The Beatles iconic yellow submarine, which was stolen six months ago from Liverpool's Albert Dock, was set to be replaced by a new creation. The 5ft (1.5m) design featured the faces of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison peering through its portholes. The new submarine would hang outside the museum dedicated to the band, The Beatles Story.
2016, The Rolling Stones first manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, passed away at the age of 82. He owned the Crawdaddy Club in London where The Rolling Stones were the house band. After he was replaced by Andrew Loog Oldham in May, 1963, Gomelsky went on to manage The Yardbirds, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger before moving to New York in 1978 and opening The Green Door nightclub.
2016, Ed Sheeran's new singles 'Shape of You' and 'Castle On The Hill' entered the UK singles chart at No.1 and No.2 respectively. The Official Charts Company said it was the first time in history an artist had taken the top two chart positions with brand new songs.
2017, Magic Alex (Alexis Mardas) a Greek electronics engineer died aged 74. He is best known for his close association with the Beatles. His nickname was given to him by John Lennon when he was involved with the group between 1965 and 1969, during which time he became head of Apple Electronics. Mardas often said that the Abbey Road studio was "no good", much to producer George Martin's annoyance. He allegedly said that he could build a 72-track tape machine and was then given the job of designing the new Apple Studio in Savile Row, London. His schemes lost Apple at least £300,000 (£3 million in 2017 pounds).
1926, Born on this day Ray Price, singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music. Price died on 16th Dec 2013 aged 87 at his ranch outside Mount Pleasant, Texas.
1932, Born on this day, Des O'Connor, UK singer, comedian, TV presenter, (1968 UK No.1 single 'I Pretend'. Plus seven other UK Top 40 singles). Toured the UK with Buddy Holly in 1958.
1939, Born on this day, William Lee Gordon, Oak Ridge Boys, (1981 US No.5 single 'Elvira').
1941, Born on this day, Long John Baldry, vocals, Bluesology and solo artist, (1967 UK No.1 single 'Let The Heartaches Begin'). Baldry died of a chest infection on 21st July 2005.
1945, Born on this day, Maggie Bell, singer, The Power, Stone The Crows & solo, (UK No.11 solo single 'Hold Me').
1945, Born on this day, Abe Tilmon, Detroit Emeralds, (1973 UK No.7 single 'Feel The Need In Me'). Died of a heart attack in 1982
1946, Born on this day, Cynthia Robinson, vocals, Sly and The Family Stone who had 1971 US No.1 & 1972 UK No.15 single 'Family Affair', and her voice and presence were featured in the hit 'Dance To The Music'. She died on November 23, 2015.
1951, Born on this day, Chris Bell, American singer, songwriter and guitarist with Big Star. Bell was killed in a car accident on 27/12/78.
1954, Born on this day, Felipe Rose, vocals, The Village People, (1978 US No.2 & 1979 UK No.1 single 'YMCA').
1959, Born on this day, Blixa Bargeld, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, (1996 UK No.36 single with PJ Harvey,' Henry Lee').
1960, Born on this day, Charlie Gillingham, keyboards, Counting Crows, (1994 UK No.28 single 'Mr Jones', 1996 US No.1 album 'Recovering The Satellites').
1963, Born on this day, Guy Chambers, singer, songwriter, producer, member of The Waterboys, World Party, The Lemon Trees. Worked with Robbie Williams from 1997 as co-songwriter and producer penning tracks including 'Angels', 'Rock DJ', 'Millennium' and 'Let Me Entertain You'.
1965, Born on this day, Greg Kriesel, bass, 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, Born on this day, Raekwon, Wu-Tang Clan, (1997 US & UK No.1 album 'Wu-Tang Forever').
1970, Born on this day, Zack de la Rocha, vocals, Rage Against The Machine, (1996 US No.1 album 'Evil Empire', 1993 UK No.16 single 'Bullet In The Head').
1974, Born on this day, Melanie Chisholm, Mel C, Sporty Spice, The Spice Girls who scored the 1996 UK No.1 & 1997 US No.1 single 'Wannabe'. Her first solo attempt was collaborating with Bryan Adams on a hit "When You're Gone". She then released her debut solo studio album, Northern Star in 1999, which sold four million copies.
1975, Born on this day, Jason Freese, American musician, songwriter, record producer who has performed on over 50 albums by more than 35 different artists, including multiple albums by the Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day and Jewel.
1991, Born on this day, Pixie Lott, British singer, 2009 UK No.1 with her debut single 'Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)'.
1993, Born on this day, Zayn Malik from English-Irish pop boy band One Direction who formed after finishing third in the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010. Scored the 2011 UK No.1 single 'What Makes You Beautiful' and the 2013 No.1 'One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)'.
1996, Born on this day, Ella Henderson, British singer-songwriter. She was a finalist on the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012. Her debut single, 'Ghost' went to No.1 in 2014.
1964, The Beatles appeared on the ATV show Sunday Night At The London Palladium performing I Wanna Hold Your Hand, This Boy, All My Loving, Money and Twist And Shout. The compere for the evening was Bruce Forsyth. When The Beatles appeared on this show on October 13, 1963, their fee had been £250, now, just three months later, their fee was £1,000.
1969, Led Zeppelin's debut album was released in the UK. Recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, the album took only about 36 hours of studio time to complete at a cost of just £1,782, most of the tracks being recorded 'live' in the studio with very few overdubs. The album spent a total of 71 weeks on the UK chart.
1974, The Steve Miller Band were at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Joker', the group's first of three No.1's. It reached No.1 on the UK chart in 1990.
1975, The first night of a UK tour kicked off under the banner of The Warner Brothers Music Show. It featured Little Feat, Montrose, Tower Of Power, The Doobie Brothers and Graham Central Station. Also released was an album sampler featuring all the acts that was priced at 69p ($1.17).
1977, EMI Records issued a statement saying it felt unable to promote The Sex Pistols records in view of the adverse publicity generated over the last two months.
1977, Rolling Stone Keith Richards was fined £750 ($1,275) for possession of cocaine found in his car after the guitarist had been involved in a car crash.
1977, The Police had their first rehearsal, held at drummer's Stewart Copeland's London flat, with Henri Padovani on guitar.
1981, It was reported that the White House had expanded its record library by including albums by Bob Dylan, KISS and the Sex Pistols.
1983, Swedish percussionist with Traffic, Reebop Kwaku Baah died from a brain haemorrhage in Stockholm, Sweden. Also worked with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Can and The Rolling Stones.
1992, Bob Geldof was arrested after a disturbance on a Boeing 727, which had been grounded for 5 hours at Stansted Airport.
1993, Van Morrison failed to turn up at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction dinner, making him the first living inductee not to attend.
1995, Snoop Doggy Dogg was charged in Los Angeles with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
1996, AC/DC played the first date on their Ballbreaker World Tour in Greensboro, North Carolina. The world tour would last for 11 months finishing on November 30, 1996 in Christchurch, New Zealand.
2001, British Airways staff complained about Oasis singer Liam Gallagher after he had grabbed a stewardess' bottom, refused to stop smoking and threw objects around the cabin during a flight from London to Rio De Janeiro.
2002, Aaliyah had the posthumous UK No.1 single with 'More Than A Woman'. Aaliyah was killed in Aug 2001 in a plane crash in the Bahamas aged 22. The Cessna plane crashed a few minutes after take off killing everyone on board. Aaliyah had been filming a video on the island for her latest release 'Rock The Boat'.
2003, Singer-songwriter Maurice Gibb from The Bee Gees died aged 53 in Miami Hospital, Florida following a heart attack during abdominal surgery. The Bee Gees released over 20 albums and had the 1979 world-wide No.1 album 'Spirits Having Flown', and 'How Deep Is Your Love, 'Stayin' Alive', and 'Night Fever' from the soundtrack 'Saturday Night Fever' were all US No.1 singles. Gibb was married to the Scottish singer Lulu from 1969 to 1973. In 2002, Maurice was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), along with his brothers.
2004, American songwriter and guitarist Randy VanWarmer died from leukaemia aged 48. (1979 US No.4 & UK No.8 single 'Just When I Needed You Most'). Also wrote The Oak Ridge Boys No.1 US Country hit 'I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes.' VanWarmer's had arranged for a space burial and his cremated remains were sent into space in 2007.
2005, It was announced that the Strawberry Field children's home immortalised by The Beatles was to close. The home in Woolton, Liverpool was made famous when John Lennon wrote 'Strawberry Fields Forever' after playing there as a child.
2007, Toni Braxton filed a lawsuit at the U.S District Court in Manhattan against her former manager Barry Hankerson for $10 million, alleging "fraud, deception and double dealing." According to Braxton, Hankerson placed his own personal financial interests ahead of hers by using "double-talk" to compromise the relationship between Braxton and her former recording label, Arista Records.
2010, Shakin' Stevens was found guilty of hitting a press photographer with a microphone stand during a concert at a hotel in Ballymena. The Welsh singer who scored No.1's in the 80's was fined £300 for assault and criminal damage and ordered to pay the photographer £479 to compensate for his damaged camera lens.
2013, The 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow used by Freddie Mercury until his death in November 1991, sold at auction for £74,000 to a Russian businessman. The 62,000-mile classic Rolls-Royce which had a guide price of just £9,000-£11,000 featured grey leather, wood trim, electric windows, automatic gearbox, a car phone and radio cassette player and a 6.75-litre V8 engine. It was sold as part of the Coys auction at Autosport International.
2017, Richard Carpenter said he was owed at least $2m (£1.6m) in royalties for the hits he recorded in The Carpenters. He claimed Universal Music had only paid the band a "minuscule fraction" of the money they were owed from downloads on sites like iTunes and Amazon. The musician was suing for compensation, according to legal documents filed in Los Angeles.
