1956, The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love’. A No.6 hit in the US. At 13, Lymon was the youngest performer to make No.1.
1958, John Lennon’s mother Julia was killed by a car driven by an off-duty drunken police officer named Eric Clague (Clague was later acquitted of the offence). John Lennon was 17 years old at the time.
1965, This weeks US Top three singles, No.3 The Byrds, ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, No.2 The Four Tops, ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ and at No.1 The Rolling Stones with ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’
1967, The Doors and The Jefferson Airplane both played an afternoon and evening show to over 8,000 fans at Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California.
1972, Elton John started a five week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Honky Chateau’, his first US chart topper.
1973, The Edgar Winter Group, Sly & The Family Stone, Canned Heat, Lindisfarne and The Kinks all appeared at The Great Western Express festival at White City, west London. With his wife having recently walked out of their marriage, taking their young children with her, Ray Davies of The Kinks announces from the stage that he is sick of the whole thing and is retiring. He then walks into a local hospital and collapses from an overdose of tranquillizers.
1978, Bob Dylan with special guest Eric Clapton, Joan Armatrading and Graham Parker all appeared at Blackbushe Aerodrome, Surrey, England. Reputedly this was the biggest ever UK audience for Bob Dylan, with over 200,000 fans attending.
1978, The Rolling Stones started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Some Girls the group’s seventh US No.1 album. The cover designed by Peter Corriston, featured The Rolling Stones in garish drag alongside select female celebrities and lingerie ads. The cover immediately ran into trouble when Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, Liza Minnelli (representing her mother Judy Garland), Raquel Welch, and the estate of Marilyn Monroe who all threatened legal action.
1985, Nude photos of Madonna taken in 1977 appeared in this months Playboy and Penthouse Magazines.
1989, Simply Red scored their second US No.1 single with ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’, a 1973 UK hit for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.
1989, Pink Floyd appeared in Canal di San Marco, Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy on a floating stage. Over 200,000 people attended the gig (almost double the number authorities had planned for) causing damage to buildings and bridges. The cleaning of the area after the concert was said to be around £25,000 and the concert was broadcast live on TV to over 20 countries with an estimated audience of almost 100 million. Two Venice councillors were later ordered to stand trial for the costs incurred by the concert.
1998, Aerosmith were forced to cancel a forthcoming US tour after Joey Kramer was involved in a freak accident. The drummer’s car set on fire and was completely destroyed as he was filling up with petrol. He was admitted to hospital with second-degree burns.
2000, Sad Cafe singer Paul Young died of a heart attack at his Manchester home aged 53. ‘Run Home Girl’ was a hit for Sad Cafe in the US, ‘Everyday Hurts’ was a UK No.3 hit in 1979. Joined Mike Rutherford and Paul Carrack in Mike and the Mechanics and had the hits ‘The Living Years’ and ‘Silent Running’.
2000, An Oasis fan was killed when he tried to walk home along the M61 motorway in Manchester, England after Oasis had played a sold-out gig at The Reebok stadium.
2000, A Manchester judge reprimanded Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder after he turned up a day late in court to give evidence. Ryder told the court he had been on ‘a bender’. A man was cleared of dangerous driving and assaulting Ryder.
2002, Sir Paul McCartney was named the highest-earning music star of the year so far after selling tickets worth £33.9m during his recent US tour.
2005, Victor Edward Willis, the original policeman in the Village People, was arrested after police found a gun and drugs in his convertible in Daly City, south of San Francisco. Willis also had an outstanding $15,000 felony warrant for possession of narcotics.
2007, The UK music industry reacted angrily at a decision to give away ‘Planet Earth’ the new album by Prince as a ‘covermount’ with the Mail on Sunday newspaper. The 10-track CD was not due to be released in stores until 24 July. Stephen Miron, the newspaper’s managing director, said: “No one has done this before. We have always given away CDs and DVDs, but this is just setting a new level.”
2007, Over 10,000 people applied for a job with P Diddy after the rapper posted an advert on Youtube looking to find a new personal assistant. He warned applicants that the job would be far from easy and would involve everything from getting him ready for the red carpet to aiding in billion dollar deals to helping him jump out of planes in movies.
2012, Queen were crowned top of the patriotic pops in a survey of 100,000 music fans. The band’s anthem We Are The Champions was named number one by fans who were asked what song made them proud to be British. The track, which got to number two in 1977, picked up 13,000 votes in the survey carried out among users of the Lucky Voice website. It was followed by the Oasis hit Wonderwall which was nominated by 11,000 karaoke singers and then Let It Be by The Beatles which got 10,000 votes. Elton John’s Candle In The Wind and London Calling by The Clash rounded off the top five.
2015, A judge trimmed more than $1m from the damages Pharrell Williams was ordered to pay after the Blurred Lines copyright trial. The case revolved around the question of whether Williams and his co-writer Robin Thicke had copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit ‘Got To Give It Up’. The judge also gave Gaye’s family a 50% cut of future earnings from the song.
2015, The Los Angeles home of US singer Chris Brown was raided and ransacked by three masked men who locked his aunt in a closet. Officials said the suspects, who were armed with handguns, got away from the Tarzana property with an unknown amount of money and some personal items.
2015, Robbie Williams made a surprise appearance at an auction selling some of his memorabilia for charity. The singer took control of the gavel as 150 items, including handwritten lyrics and bespoke suits, went under the hammer for a Staffordshire hospice. The auction raised over £120,000, ($177,300).
