1958, The Everly Brothers started a four-week run at No.1 in the US with ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’. Written by the husband and wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the track was recorded in just two takes.
1961, The Beatles in Hamburg, West Germany, signed a recording contract with producer Bert Kaempfert. That evening they played at The Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg.
1963, Bob Dylan walked out of rehearsals for the US TV Ed Sullivan show after being told he couldn’t perform his song Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues due to it mocking the US military and segregation. CBS officials asked Dylan to substitute it for another song, but the singer reportedly said: ‘No, this is what I want to do. If I can’t play my song, I’d rather not appear on the show’.
1964, The Beach Boys started a four week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Beach Boys Concert’, the group’s first US No.1.
1965, The Rolling Stones recorded ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ at RCA Hollywood studios. Keith Richards had come up with the guitar riff in the middle of the night a week earlier. It gave the band their first number 1 single in the US.
1965, Wilson Pickett recored the soul classic ‘In the Midnight Hour’ with studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson of the Stax Records house band, including bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn. The song was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be assassinated in April 1968.
1967, Pink Floyd appeared at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, giving a special concert Games For May – Space Age Relaxation For The Climate Of Spring. This was reportedly the first show to include loudspeakers placed at the back of the hall to give a ‘sound in the round’, ie quadraphonic, effect. The sound system, developed by EMI technicians, was stolen after the show and not recovered for some years.
1967, ‘Are You Experienced’, the debut album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience was released in the UK. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest debuts in the history of rock music. The album features Jimi Hendrix’s innovative approach to songwriting and electric guitar playing which soon established a new direction in psychedelic and hard rock music.
1968, Jimi Hendrix was arrested by police on his way to Toronto for possession of hashish and heroin. Hendrix claimed the drugs had been planted on him.
1968, Brian Jones made his final live appearance with The Rolling Stones when they appeared at the New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley, England. Jones drowned while under the influence of drugs and alcohol after taking a midnight swim in his pool, on 3rd July 1969 aged 27.
1971, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger married Bianca Macias at St Tropez Town Hall. The guest list included the other members of the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Stephen Stills. The couple separated in 1977.
1973, Led Zeppelin started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with their fifth album Houses Of The Holy. The group’s third US No.1 album went on to spend 39 weeks on the US chart. Houses Of The Holy has now been certified 11 times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for US sales in excess of 11 million copies.
1975, Jefferson Starship gave a free concert in New York’s Central Park in front of 60,000 fans. The band and concert sponsor, WNEW-FM, were forced to pay $14,000 for cleaning up and damage done to the park after the event.
1977, After being dropped by both EMI and A&M records in less than 6 months, Virgin records announced they had signed the Sex Pistols.
1977, Led Zeppelin received the outstanding contribution to British music at the second Ivor Novello Awards held at the Grosvenor Hotel, London.
1981, Meat Loaf filed for bankruptcy with debts of over $1 million.
1984, Lionel Richie started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Hello’ his second US solo No.1, also a No.1 in the UK.
1986, Joe Strummer of The Clash was banned from driving after being convicted of drink driving.
1990, Adamski started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Killer’. The single featured Seal who remade the song under his own name, reaching the Top 10, the following year.
1996, 17-year-old Bernadette O’Brien died the day after being injured ‘body surfing’ at a Smashing Pumpkins gig at The Point, Dublin.
2000, Thieves stole the gates to Strawberry Fields the Merseyside landmark immortalised by The Beatles song. The 10′ high iron gates were later found at local scrap metal dealers in Liverpool.
2001, American singer and TV presenter Perry Como died aged 88. He scored fourteen US No.1 singles, from 150 US chart hits and over 25 UK chart hits, including the single ‘Magic Moments’ and ‘Catch A Falling Star.’ Como was once the highest-paid performer in the history of television.
2001, Travis played a gig at singer’s Fran Healy’s local primary school at Weston Park, Crouch End, London. The 150 crowd paid a £1 entry fee to the summer fete.
2004, Barry and Robin Gibb from The Bee Gees were both presented with honorary degrees from Manchester University. They also picked up a posthumous award for their brother Barry. The brothers had once lived in Manchester, England.
2008, Singer-songwriter Neil Young had a spider named after him. US university biologist Jason Bond discovered a new species of trapdoor spider and decided to name it after his favourite musician. Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi was found in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 2007.
2013, Thieves stole more than one million rand ($79,670) in takings after a Justin Bieber concert at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium. The gang, armed with ropes, hammers and chisels, broke into a strongroom where the takings from the Justin Bieber concert and a gig the previous evening by Bon Jovi.
