1958, Elvis Presley’s mother Gladys died. At her funeral two days later Presley was so overcome with grief he was unable to stand and had to be supported. Over 500 police were at the service to keep the gigantic crowd at bay.
1962, Unhappy with drummer Pete Best’s role in The Beatles Brian Epstein and the other three members decided to sack him. Best played his last gig the following night at The Cavern, Liverpool. Ringo Starr who was nearing the end of a three-month engagement with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes at a Butlin’s holiday camp received a telephone call from John Lennon, asking him to join The Beatles. Ringo gave Rory Storm three days notice and on August 18, appeared as a member of The Beatles for the first time.
1964, US singer Johnny Burnette was killed in a boating accident on Clear Lake California, aged 30. His unlit boat was struck by an unaware cabin cruiser, the impact threw him off the boat and he drowned. Burnette scored the 1961 US No.8 & UK No.3 single ‘Your Sixteen’.
1965, Sonny & Cher started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Got You Babe’. Sonny Bono is said to have been inspired to write the song to capitalize on the popularity of the term “babe,” as heard in Bob Dylan’ss ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’.
1965, The Beatles taped an appearance for CBS-TV’s The Ed Sullivan Show at Studio 50, New York City. They performed ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘I’m Down’, ‘Act Naturally’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Help!’ Also today, The Beatles fifth album ‘Help!’ started a nine-week run at No.1 on the UK charts.
1966, Little Anthony & The Imperials, (Steve Van Zandt’s band), The Shadows and The Castiles (with Bruce Springsteen on vocals) all appeared at the Surf ‘n See Club in Seabright New Jersey.
1967, All UK offshore pirate radio stations were closed down when the marine broadcasting act came into force. Radio Caroline continued to broadcast until March 68.
1968, ‘Fire’ by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown was at No.1 on the UK singles chart. As part of his act Brown would perform the song on stage with his hat set alight!
1970, Stephen Stills was arrested on suspected drugs charges while staying at a San Diego Hotel after being found crawling along a corridor in an incoherent state. Still’s was later freed on bail.
1970, The first day of the three day UK Yorkshire Folk, Blues & Jazz Festival at Krumlin, Yorkshire took place featuring Atomic Rooster, Pink Floyd, (who didn’t appear after being fog bound at Paris Airport), The Kinks, Elton John, Mungo Jerry, Yes, Alan Price, Georgie Fame, Juicy Lucy, Pretty Things and The Groundhogs. Weekend tickets, £3.
1971, The Who released their fifth studio album Who’s Next which featured the classic song ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and has since been viewed by critics as the Who’s best record and one of the greatest rock albums of all time. The cover artwork shows a photo of the band apparently having just urinated on a large concrete piling, but according to photographer Ethan Russell, most of the band members were unable to urinate, so rainwater was tipped from an empty film canister to achieve the desired effect.
1976, Funded by a £400 loan, ‘So It Goes’ by Nick Lowe became the first record released on Stiff Records. The label’s marketing and advertising was often provocative and witty billing itself as “The World’s Most Flexible Record Label”. Other slogans were “We came. We saw. We left”, and “If It Ain’t Stiff, It Ain’t Worth a Fuck”.
1985, Michael Jackson won a bid over Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney to secure the ATV Music Publishing catalogue. At $47.5m he gained the rights to more than 250 songs written by Lennon and McCartney. McCartney had been negotiating with Yoko Ono, who had decided to withdraw her side of the deal because of ‘astrological’ reasons.
1988, Lead singer, poet and frontman of Hawkwind Robert Calvert died of a heart attack. He was a member of Hawkwind from 1972-1979 during which time he co-wrote their hit single ‘Silver Machine’ and directed their Space Ritual Tour.
1988, Guitarist Roy Buchanan died after hanging himself with his own shirt in Fairfax County Adult Detention Center having been arrested for drunkenness. Buchanan released over 15 solo albums; Jeff Beck dedicated the song ‘Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers’ to Buchanan in 1975 on his Blow by Blow album.
1992, Tony Williams lead singer with The Platters died in his sleep of emphysema aged 64. He sang most of the group’s hits up until 1961 when he was replaced by Sonny Turner. Had the 1959 UK & US No.1 single ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’.
1993, Freddie Mercury had his first solo UK No.1 single with ‘Living On My Own’. The song had been a minor hit in 1985 when released from his solo album Mr. Bad Guy, this remixed version was reissued.
1995, Foo Fighters made their network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman when they performed their new single ‘This Is A Call’.
1999, Ronan Keating had the UK No.1 single with ‘When You Say Nothing At All’. The debut solo single from the Boyzone lead singer. The song was from the film Notting Hill.
2001, A pizza-stained piece of paper signed by three of the four Beatles sold for $48,000 to an anonymous collector at an auction in Melbourne. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison all signed the paper during their 1964 tour of Australia. Drummer Ringo Starr had laryngitis and was not on the tour. A fan managed to get the autographs while the band was staying in a hotel in Adelaide.
2002, Dave Williams lead singer of US heavy rock band Drowning Pool was found dead on the band’s tour bus during Ozzy Osbourne’s Ozzfest tour in Manassas, Virginia. The autopsy concluded that he suffered from a form of heart disease. The bands debut album, Sinner, had sold over 1 million copies in the US since its release in June 2001.
2003, One True Voice the boyband formed from the ITV1 pop talent show Popstars: The Rivals split up. The group were formed alongside Girls Aloud after winning their places in the Popstars: the Rivals series. One True Voice were later voted Britain’s worst group in a poll just a day after their tour was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
2005, James Blunt topped both the UK singles chart (with ‘You’re Beautiful’), and album charts (‘Back to Bedlam’), for a fifth week in a row, a feat last achieved by Celine Dion. Her single ‘Think Twice’ and album ‘Colour Of My Love’ topped both charts simultaneously for five weeks in 1995.
2005, Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty was forced to endure an all-body strip search at Gardermoen Airport in Norway after being held by customs officers for three hours while they ensured he was carrying no drugs.
2005, Faith Hill was at No.1 on the US chart with ‘Fireflies’, Hill’s third consecutive album to debut at number 1 on both the country and Billboard album charts.
2006, Boy George was seen sweeping streets in New York as part of a five-day community service sentence. The former Culture Club frontman was moved into a fenced-off area after only 30 minutes after he was mobbed by the media. The 45-year-old singer was found guilty of wasting police time earlier this year and was threatened with jail if he failed to complete the court-imposed sentence.
2008, Lita Roza died in Liverpool, England. She had the 1953 No.1 hit with her version on the of Patti Page hit ‘How Much Is That Doggie In The Window’’ Roza was the first British female singer to top the UK singles charts.
2009, George Michael was arrested and held on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink or drugs after his Land Rover was in collision with a lorry on the A34 in Berkshire. The singer was later released without charge.
2015, Jazz Summers, manager of bands such as Wham!, Snow Patrol, Scissor Sisters and The Verve, died from lung cancer. He co-managed Wham! and is credited with the duo breaking into the United States market in 1985 and to go onto to become the first western pop group to tour China.
2015, American record producer Bob Johnston died aged 83. Johnson produced a string of notable and highly influential albums including; Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait, New Morning, as well as Simon & Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence, Leonard Cohen: Songs from a Room and many others.
2016, American keyboard and synthesizer player James Woolley died at the age of 49. Woolley was known for his playing with industrial metal group Nine Inch Nails as well as Rob Halford’s one-time band 2wo, which also included John 5 of Marilyn Manson.
