1958, Cliff Richard and The Shadows played their first gig together when they appeared at the Victoria Hall, Hanley, England.
1962, The Beatles debut single ‘Love Me Do’ was released in the UK. It spent 26 week’s on the chart peaking at No.17. Beatles producer George Martin has said when ‘Love Me Do’ was released, it was the day the world changed.
1965, Johnny Cash was arrested crossing the Mexican border into El Paso, Texas after customs officials found 100’s of pills in his guitar case. He received a suspended jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.
1966, Having moved to and living in London, England, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding played together for the first time – The Jimi Hendrix Experience were formed.
1967, The Doors played the final night of a five night run at Steve Paul’s Scene in New York City.
1970, Led Zeppelin III was released in the UK on Atlantic records. The album peaked at No.1 on both the UK and US charts. It has now been certified 6 times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for US sales in excess of 6 million copies.
1973, Elton John released his seventh studio album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Under the working titles of Vodka and Tonics and Silent Movies, Talking Pictures, Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to the album in two and a half weeks, with John composing most of the music in three days while staying at the Pink Flamingo Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road has now sold over 30 million copies worldwide and is his best-selling studio album.
1974, Mike Oldfields ‘Tubular Bells’ went to No.1 for the first time on the UK album chart 15 months after being released. It went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide.
1974, Olivia Newton-John started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Honestly Love You’, the singers first of five US chart toppers
1974, The Beach Boys went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Endless Summer’, the group’s second US No.1.
1975, Stevie Wonder appeared at the Wonder Dream Concert in Kingston, Jamaica, a Jamaican Institute for the Blind benefit concert. Along with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, the three original Wailers, performing together for the last time.
1980, UK music weekly The NME had Joy Division’s ‘She’s Lost Control’ as single of the week. The song is about a girl who singer Ian Curtis worked with at a disability center. One day she didn’t come to the center and Ian later learned that she died from a epileptic seizure.
1984, Queen played the first of nine concerts at the Sun City Super Bowl, Sun City, Republic of Bophuthatswana (integrated into South Africa’s North West Province in 1994). The 1984 ‘The Works’ tours saw the reintroduction of older material to Queen’s live set, including songs from the first three albums.
1985, Midge Ure was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘If I Was.’ The former Ultravox and Slik singers only solo No.1. The song features Mark King of Level 42 on bass guitar.
1987, Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr began rehearsals with The Pretenders in preparation for the band supporting U2 on their North America tour.
1989, Motley Crue played a warm-up show for their forthcoming Dr. Feelgood tour at the Whisky a Go Go, West Hollywood, California, under their pseudonym The Foreskins. The show was also used for the filming of their next video, ‘Kickstart My Heart’.
1991, Guns N’ Roses started a two week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Use Your Illusion II’.
1992, American singer Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations died aged 52 of lung cancer one year after having one lung removed. His was the lead voice on ‘The Way You Do The Things You Do’, ‘Get Ready’, and ‘Just My Imagination’. As a solo artist, Kendricks recorded several hits of his own during the 1970s, including the US No.1 single ‘Keep On Truckin’.
1996, ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’ by American group Deep Blue Something was at No.1 on the UK singles chart. The song is a reference to the classic
1960 Audrey Hepburn film of the same name.
1999, Roger Daltrey announced that The Who were reforming, making their first performance in Las Vegas on Oct 29th. The show was also to be broadcast live on the Internet.
2000, UK TV show Top Of The Pops issued a Top 40 chart based on singles that had spent the longest time on the UK chart. No.3 was ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra, No.2 ‘She Loves You’, The Beatles and No.1 ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood’.
2000, Beatles fans across the world rushed out to buy copies of the Fab Four’s autobiography. Stores in Japan and Britain opened at midnight to satisfy demand for the book, the first written by the band members. Publishers said the 350,000-word volume, at a cost of £35, had already attracted more than 1.5m orders worldwide.
2003, Beyonce started a nine week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Baby Boy.’ Outkast were at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Speakerboxxx / The Love Below.’
2006, Reggae legend Bob Marley was honoured with a heritage plaque at his former north London home at 34 Ridgmount Gardens in Camden. The event was part of Black History Month, a season of events promoting the contribution of African-Caribbean communities in London.
2006, Jeffrey Borer, who admitted secretly videotaping Michael Jackson on a private jet, was sentenced to six months of home detention and fined $10,000. Borer, who was the owner of private jet firm XtraJet, had instructed an employee to buy and install two video recorders on the plane.
2007, Isaac Hanson from US pop band Hanson had surgery to remove a blood clot from his lungs after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal condition. The guitarist who had developed Paget-Schroetter Syndrome was expected to make a full and speedy recovery.
2008, Pink started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singels chart with ‘So What’, the singers third UK No.1 hit.
2011, David Cassidy filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Sony, claiming he had not been paid royalties for sales of Partridge Family merchandise which bear his image, including lunchboxes, magazines and board games. Cassidy told CNN “It’s just a matter of being fair and doing the right thing. Just be fair, be real, be genuine, don’t be greedy.”
2015, Stevie Wonder’s divorce from fashion designer Kai Millard was finalised after several years in court. The pair were married in 2001, but split in 2009 and Stevie filed for divorce in 2012.
