1961, Neil Christian and the Crusaders, featuring a young Jimmy Page on guitar, played a concert at Holloway Women’s Prison in London, England. The inmates were all dressed in washed out yellow, green, blue and red faded floral print dresses and wore homemade mascara, using the charcoal from burnt matches.
1962, The Beatles recorded their first BBC radio session at the BBC Paris studio on Regent Street in London. They played ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘P.S. I Love You’, the tracks were aired on the BBC Light Program ‘Talent Spot.’
1964, Mick Jagger was fined £16 for driving offences by a court in Tettenhall, Staffs. His solicitor told the court: “The Duke of Marlborough had longer hair than my client and he won some famous battles. His hair was powdered, I think because of fleas. My client has no fleas.”
1967, The 16-date UK package tour with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, The Nice, The Outer Limits, The Eire Apparent and Amen Corner travelled to Belfast to appear for two shows at the Whitla Hall, Queens College. It was Jimi’s 25th birthday and before the shows the guitarist was given a birthday cake by the promoters This was to be the only concert that The Jimi Hendrix Experience ever played in Ireland.
1969, During a North American tour The Rolling Stones played the first of four shows at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The group played to 55,000 fans over the four nights grossing over $100,000.
1970, George Harrison released All Things Must Pass which includes the hit singles ‘My Sweet Lord’ and ‘What Is Life’, as well as songs such as ‘Isn’t It a Pity’ and the title track that had been turned down for inclusion on releases by the Beatles. The triple album would go on to be certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA, making it the best selling album by a solo Beatle.
1970, Black Sabbath, Cactus and Steel Mill, (featuring Bruce Springsteen) all appeared at the Sunshine In, Asbury Park in New Jersey. All three acts played two shows, tickets cost $5.00.
1976, 20 Golden Greats by Glen Campbell started a six-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart. During his 50 years in show business, Campbell released more than 70 albums and has sold over 45 million records.
1981, The British Phonographic industry placed advertisements in the press claiming that ‘home taping was wiping out music’. The Boomtown Rats, 10cc, Elton John and Cliff Richard all backed the campaign.
1982, Lionel Richie was No.1 in the US with ‘Truly’. Richie achieved a No.1 each year from 78-86 as a writer, ‘Three Times A Lady’, ‘Still’, ‘Lady (Kenny Rodgers), ‘Endless Love’, (Diana Ross), ‘All Night Long’, ‘Hello’ ‘Say ‘You Say Me and as co-writer of ‘We Are The World’.
1986, Bon Jovi were at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’, it peaked at No.14 in the UK. Released as the first single from the album Slippery When Wet, in 2009 it was named the 20th-greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.
1991, Freddie Mercury’s funeral service was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest, for 35 of his close friends and family, with Elton John and the remaining members of Queen among those in attendance. Mercury was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery, West London, England.
1996, Former Stones Roses guitarist John Squires new band The Seahorses made their live debut, when they played at The Buckley Tivoli, England in front of 200 fans.
1997, A disturbed rock fan brought the funeral of INXS singer Michael Hutchence to a standstill when he tried to launch himself from a 20 ft high balcony with a cord around his neck. He was removed by police and taken away to a psychiatric unit.
2003, Figures released by The Rolling Stones showed that the band had grossed £175m from their 2002 ’40 Licks World Tour.’ The report also showed they had made over $1billion from 1989-2002 from royalties, album sales and tour revenue.
2005, Multimillionaire defence contractor David H. Brooks booked New York’s Rainbow Rooms and his daughter Elizabeth’s favourite acts for her ‘bat mitzvah’ coming-of-age celebration. The stars who appeared included 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Stevie Nicks. 50 Cent who was paid $500,000 to appear performed only four songs but he did manage to work in the lyric, “Go shorty, it’s your bat miztvah, we gonna party like it’s your bat mitzvah”. The party cost an estimated $10 million, including the price of corporate jets to ferry the performers to and from the venue.
2005, Tony Meehan drummer with The Shadows died aged 62 from head injuries sustained in a fall at his London flat in Maida Vale. Had the 1963 UK No.1 single ‘Foot Tapper’ plus 28 other UK Top 40 singles. Left The Shadows in 1961 to work as a session drummer with Joe Meek. Also had the UK No.1 hit ‘Diamonds’ with Jet Harris.
2006, Sir Cliff Richard lost a battle to extend the number of years that musicians could receive royalties for their records. Richard wanted copyright to last 95 years, rather than the present 50 years, but an independent review recommend the terms would not change. Sir Cliff’s earliest big hit ‘Move It’, recorded in 1958 would start to come out of copyright in 2008.
2014, Taylor Swift was at No.1 on the US album chart with her fifth studio album 1989. The total US sales figure from the debut week of 1989 was the highest of any album since 2002 and 1989 became the best-selling album of 2014 in the US. The album has now sold over 9 million copies worldwide.
