1961, The Beatles played a lunchtime show at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. In the evening they appeared at Litherland Town Hall in Liverpool with Gerry & the Pacemakers, and Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, admission price was 3 shillings (15 pence).
1963, Bobby Vinton started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Blue Velvet’. The single became a hit in the UK 27 years later when it reached No.2.
1968, Deep Purple made No.4 on the US singles chart with their debut single ‘Hush’, also a hit for Kula Shaker in 1997.
1968, Jeannie C Riley went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Harper Valley PTA’. Jeannie won a Grammy for the best female country singer of 68.
1968, Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks in London gave The Beatles their fifth image change of clothes and hair in four years.
1970, Freda Payne was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Band Of Gold’, the singers only UK No.1 which spent six weeks at the top of the chart.
1971, The first edition of the new BBC TV music show ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ was aired. Presented by Richard Williams, the show included; film clips of Jimi Hendrix from Monterey Festival playing ‘Wild Thing’, Bob Dylan playing ‘Maggies Farm’, plus America and Lesley Duncan ‘live’ in the studio. The influential show went on to enjoy a run from 1971 to 1987. According to presenter Bob Harris, the programme derived its name from a Tin Pan Alley phrase from years before. When they got the first pressing of a record they would play it to people they called the old greys—doormen in grey suits. The songs they could remember and whistle, having heard it just once or twice, had passed the old grey whistle test.
1974, Barry White went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love Baby’, the singers first and only US solo chart topper. It made No.8 in the UK.
1974, Carl Douglas was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Kung Fu Fighting.’ The song was recorded in 10 minutes, had started out as a B-side and went on to sell over 10 million and made Douglas a One Hit Wonder.
1980, During a North American tour, Bob Marley collapsed while jogging in New York’s Central Park. After hospital tests he was diagnosed as having cancer. Marley played his last ever concert two nights later at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1981, Adam And The Ants were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their second No.1 ‘Prince Charming’.
1985, Madonna scored her first UK No.1 album with ‘Like A Virgin’, ten months after its release. The album spent a total 152 weeks on the UK chart.
1985, With the help Of heavy MTV exposure ‘Money For Nothing’ gave Dire Straits their first US No.1 single.
1986, The National Inquirer Magazine featured a picture of Michael Jackson in an oxygen chamber with a story claiming that Jackson had a bizarre plan to live until he was 150 years old.
1987, American jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius died from injuries sustained in a fight. Pastorius was trying to enter the Midnight Bottle Club in Wilton Manors, Florida, (where he’d been banned), and became involved in a fight with a bouncer, Pastorius fell into a coma and was put on life support. In 2006, Pastorius was voted “The Greatest Bass Player Who Has Ever Lived” by readers in Bass Guitar magazine. Was a member of Weather Report and worked with various acts including Joni Mitchell and Herbie Hancock.
1991, Status Quo put themselves in the Guinness Book Of Records by appearing four venues in one day, Sheffield, Glasgow, Birmingham and London, performing all four in a 12-hour period.
1992, Parlophone Records released ‘Creep’ by Radiohead. as their debut single. The single didn’t chart but featured in the majority of critics lists at the end of the year and later appeared on their first album, Pablo Honey.
1996, The Fugees scored their second UK No.1 single with ‘Ready Or Not’. The chorus in the song is based on ‘Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide from Love)’ by The Delfonics. The Fugees previous single ‘Killing Me Softly,’ was so successful that the track was ‘deleted’ and no longer supplied to retailers whilst the track was still in the Top 20 to make way for the next single ‘Ready or Not’.
2002, Pink went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Just Like A Pill’, the American singers first UK No.1.
2007, Snoop Dogg was sentenced to three years probation and 160 hours of community service after pleading guilty to carrying a collapsible baton. The rapper was arrested in September 2006 after the baton was found in his bag at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. In April 2007 he was given five years probation and 800 hours community service after pleading no contest to gun and drug charges in a Californian court.
2009, American singer John ‘Bootsie’ Wilson from The Silhouettes died. The doo wop/R&B groups single ‘Get A Job’ was a No.1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart and pop singles chart in 1958. The doo-wop revival group Sha Na Na derived their name from the song’s lyrics. ‘Get A Job’ is included in the soundtracks of the film American Graffiti, Trading Places and Stand By Me. The Silhouettes performed in the 1986 movie Joey.
2011, A contract revealing that The Beatles refused to perform in front of a segregated audience at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California on August 31st, 1965, sold for $23,033 at an auction in Los Angeles. In addition to the desegregation clause, the contract guaranteed the band $40,000 and at least 150 police officers to provide security at the show.
2015, Trumpeter Ben Cauley, a member of the Stax Records group The Bar-Kays and the only survivor of the 1967 plane crash that killed Otis Redding died at the age of 67. The Bar-Kays appeared as the backing band on numerous recordings for Stax artists such as Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, The Staple Singers and Sam and Dave.
