1946, Petula Clark made her UK television debut appearing on the Cabaret TV series at the age of 13. Clark began with guest spots on radio when she was only 9 and made her first film a year later. ‘Put Your Shoes On Lucy’ was released as her debut release in 1949, her ‘The Little Shoemaker’ became her first U.K. hit in 1954.
1959, Billie Holiday died in a New York City hospital from cirrhosis of the liver after years of alcohol abuse, aged 43. (While under arrest for heroin possession, with Police officers stationed at the door to her room.) In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank.
1965, King Records released ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag’ by James Brown, which went on to sell over 2 million copies and receive the Grammy Award for best for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording. ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag’ is considered seminal in the emergence of funk music as a distinct style.
1967, American jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane died from liver cancer at Huntington Hospital in Long Island, New York, aged 40. Worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie. Released the 1964 album ‘A Love Supreme’.
1967, The Beatles single ‘All You Need Is Love / Baby You’re A Rich Man’ (originally called ‘One Of The Beautiful People’) was released in the US. It became The Beatles 14th US No.1.
1968, The animated film Yellow Submarine, premiered at The London Pavilion. The Beatles made a cameo appearance in the film but didn’t supply their own voices for the characters.
1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on the BBC late night talk show, Parkinson, where John chastised the British media for calling Yoko “ugly” and for saying that she broke up The Beatles.
1972, A bomb exploded under The Rolling Stones equipment van in Montreal, believed to be the work of French separatists. Angry fans rioted throwing bottles and rocks after 3,000 tickets for the show turned out to be fake.
1974, The Moody Blues opened what they claimed was the first ‘Quadraphonic’ recording studio in the world.
1975, Bob Marley and the Wailers played the first of two nights at The Lyceum, London, and both nights were recorded for the November released ‘live’ album, featuring the single ‘No Woman No Cry.’
1976, Demis Roussos was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Roussos Phenomenon EP’. It was the Greek singers only UK chart topper and the only No.1 EP to top the charts in the 1970s.
1978, Simple Minds made their live debut at The Satellite Club, Glasgow.
1979, Gary Moore left Thin Lizzy, during a US tour and was replaced by ex Slick & Rich Kids guitarist Midge Ure.
1982, Irene Cara was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Fame’, which was based on the hit TV series about a New York drama school. Cara (who played the role of Coco Hernandez in the original movie) won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for the same.
1987, The Ozzy Osbourne Band started a 16-week tour of US prisons.
1992, The first night of a North American tour by Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and Faith No More tour opened at the RFK Stadium in Washington DC.
1993, Take That had their first UK No.1 single with ‘Pray’. Their first of 8 No.1’s, they went on to be the most successful British boy band of the 1990s.
1993, Guns N’ Roses appeared at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in front of 80,000 people, the final show on their Use Your Illusion Tour. A highlight of the night was English drummer Cozy Powell playing drums with Matt Sorum, dressed as a Domino’s Pizza delivery boy.
1995, Robbie Williams left Take That. The group had scored six UK No.1 singles and two No.1 albums with Robbie in the group.
1996, Chas Chandler died aged 57 at Newcastle General Hospital, England, where he was undergoing tests related to an aortic aneurysm. He had been the bass player with The Animals and manager of Slade, Nick Drake and Jimi Hendrix.
1999, Kevin Wilkinson, drummer with Howard Jones hung himself at home aged 41. He had also worked with China Crisis, Holly and the Italians, Squeeze and The Waterboys.
2004, Half of the 4,500 people in the audience walked out of Linda Ronstadt’s show at the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas after the singer dedicated an encore of ‘Desperado’ to filmmaker Michael Moore and urged the crowd to see his film Fahrenheit 9/11.
2005, Jamaican musician Laurel Aitken died. Dubbed as ‘the Godfather of Ska’, his 1958 ‘Boogie In My Bones’ became the first release on the Island Record label and was No.1 on the Jamaican charts for 11 weeks.
2008, Ageing rock stars and session musicians would keep receiving royalties for their old recordings for the rest of their lives under a European Union plan. Performers currently lost the rights to their recordings after 50 years. Veteran artists like Sir Cliff Richard and Roger Daltrey were among those who campaigned for it to be extended. The EU had announced a scheme for copyright on recordings to last for 95 years.
2011, Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at a tribute to Clarence Clemons at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, N.J. The boss played a 45 minute set to an intimate crowd of 400. Clemons who died on June 18th of this year was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone with him since 1971. Springsteen and Clemons had first met at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park.
2013, U2 singer Bono received France’s highest cultural honour for his contribution to music and commitment to humanitarian causes when he was presented with the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti in Paris.
