1959, Jerry Keller was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Here Comes Summer’. A One Hit Wonder, Keller went on to be a vocalist for television jingles throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
1964, The Beatles spent the afternoon recording ‘Eight Days A Week’ at Abbey Road studios in London. Late evening was spent at The Ad Lib Club, London, partying with The Ronettes and Mick Jagger.
1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded a session for the UK BBC radio show ‘Top Gear.’ Stevie Wonder who was also appearing on the show jammed with Hendrix.
1967, The Doors appeared at the Cal State Gymnasium, Los Angeles, California. With The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and The Sunshine Company.
1967, Pink Floyd appeared at the Miss Teenage Brighton Contest, Top Rank Suite, Brighton, England, playing the musical interlude during the contest.
1969, George Harrison’s song ‘Something’ was released as the “A” side of a Beatles’ 45, a first for Harrison. Along with Lennon and McCartney’s ‘Come Together’, the single went on reach No.1 on the US chart the following month. Both tracks were lifted from the Abbey Road album.
1972, During sessions at RCA Studios, New York City, David Bowie recorded ‘The Jean Genie’, which became the lead single from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. The track spent 13 weeks in the UK charts, peaking at No.2, making it Bowie’s biggest hit to date. The line “He’s so simple minded, he can’t drive his module” would later give the band Simple Minds their name.
1973, Cher started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Half-Breed’, the singers second US No.1. The single didn’t chart in the UK.
1978, Australia’s ‘King of rock ‘n’ roll’ Johnny O’Keefe died aged 43 of a heart attack. He was the first Australian rock’n’roll performer to tour the United States, and Australia’s most successful chart performer, with 29 Top 40 hits between 1958 and 1974,. O’Keefe’s 1958 hit, ‘Real Wild Child’, was covered by Iggy Pop in 1986.
1979, Buzzcocks, supported by Joy Division appeared at the Odeon Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland, tickets £2.50
1979, Led Zeppelin’s In Through The Out Door was at No.1 on the US album chart. Six versions of the cover were released, each depicting the same bar scene photographed from one of six different angles.
1979, ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’ gave Bob Dylan his twelfth US top 40 hit when it entered the chart for the first time. Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the song won Dylan the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1980.
1984, David Bowie scored his sixth UK No.1 album with ‘Tonight’, featuring the single ‘Blue Jean’.
1991, Michael Jackson gave away the bride at Elizabeth Taylor’s seventh wedding, held at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. The Groom was construction worker Larry Fortensky, whom Taylor would divorce in 1997.
1998, A music industry poll was published by London Magazine ‘Time Out’, naming the top stars from the past 30 years. 5th place was Marvin Gaye, 4th; James Brown, 3rd; Bob Marley, 2nd; The Beatles and first place went to David Bowie
1999, Winners at The Mobo Awards included Kele Le Roc, for best newcomer and best single. Shanks & Bigfoot won best dance act. TLC won best video for ‘No Scrubs’. Lauryn Hill, won best International act and Tina Turner won a Lifetime Achievement Award.
2000, Manhattan Supreme Court sentenced rapper Busta Rhymes to five years probation after pleading guilty to a gun possession charge.
2004, Britney Spears threw a full cup of cola over a photographer. The snapper was waiting to take pictures of the singer and her new husband outside a subway take-away shop in Malibu, California.
2005, A The Rolling Stones concert at the University of Virginia, in the US, was halted eight songs into the show at the Scott Stadium after police received a bomb threat targeting the stage area. A 45-minute police sweep of the area found nothing unusual, and the band completed the show. The Stones were touring to promote their latest album, ‘A Bigger Bang.’
2007, Bruce Springsteen was being sued for $850,000 by a man who claimed he backed out of a contract to buy a horse. Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa were both named in legal documents filed in Florida by Todd Minikus. He claimed the couple pulled out of a deal to pay $650,000 for a horse, named Pavarotti.
2007, Queen’s groundbreaking promo for their 1975 hit Bohemian Rhapsody was named the UK’s best music video in a survey of music fans. Out of 1,051 adults polled by O2, 30% named the six-minute video, (which took only three hours to shoot and cost a mere £3,500 to make), their favorite.
2010, A set of John Lennon’s fingerprints were seized by the FBI from a New York memorabilia dealer who intended to sell them for $100,000 minimum bid. The prints were taken at a New York police station in 1976 when Lennon applied for permanent US residence. The bureau believed the card was still government property and was investigating how it landed in private hands.
2011, Starship’s ‘We Built This City’ was named ‘the worst song of the 1980s’ in a poll by Rolling Stone magazine. ‘The Final Countdown’ by the Swedish band Europe came in second and ‘Lady in Red’ by Chris de Burgh was third. Also making the top five were Wham!’s ‘Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)’ and ‘The Safety Dance’ by Men Without Hats.
2016, The death of English songwriter, record producer, and musician Rod Temperton was announced. He initially made his mark as the keyboardist and main songwriter for the R&B funk/disco band Heatwave. Temperton was recruited by Quincy Jones to write songs for Michael Jackson, including ‘Thriller’, ‘Off the Wall’, and ‘Rock with You’.
