1957, 5,000 fans greeted Bill Haley when he arrived from New York on the liner Queen Elizabeth at Southampton, for his debut UK concert tour. Haley was the first American rock artist to tour the UK.
1962, The Beatles played two shows, one at The Cavern Club at lunchtime and in the evening at the Kingsway Club in Southport. This was the first time Ringo Starr appeared live with the group after drummer Pete Best became ill.
1966, Petula Clark had her second No.1 in the US singles chart with ‘My Love’, making her the first British female to have two US No.1 hits. ‘My Love’ became a No. 4 in the UK.
1967, The Beatles filmed part of the promo clip for ‘Penny Lane’ around the Royal Theatre, Stratford, London and walking up and down Angel Lane in London. Together with the video for ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, this was one of the first examples of what later became known as a music video.
1967, The News Of The World reported that Mick Jagger had taken LSD at the Moody Blues’ home in the UK. Jagger sued the paper for libel in an on-going feud between the News Of The World and The Stones.
1969, The Move were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Blackberry Way’, the group’s only UK No.1 and the band’s most successful single.
1970, David Bowie recorded four songs at the BBC Paris Cinema, London, for the John Peel Sunday Concert radio show. This was guitarists Mick Ronson’s first appearance with Bowie who went on to work with Bowie as one of the Spiders from Mars.
1971, Black Sabbath started recording what would be their third album, ‘Master Of Reality’ at Island Studios in London, England. Released in July of this year, it is sometimes noted as the first stoner rock album. Guitarist Tony Iommi, decided to down tune his guitar down three semi-tones, Geezer Butler also down tuned his bass guitar to match Iommi. The result was a noticeably ‘darker’ sound that almost two decades later would prove hugely influential on at least three of the biggest grunge acts, namely Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, and Nirvana.
1972, T Rex were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Telegram Sam’, the group’s third UK No.1 which was taken from their album The Slider. The song is also known for bringing the term “main man” into popular culture.
1972, Paul Simon released his first new song without Art Garfunkel, ‘Mother and Child Reunion’, which peaked at No.4 in the US. Simon got the idea for the song’s title from a chicken-and-egg dish called Mother and Child Reunion that he saw on a Chinese restaurant’s menu.
1976, American saxophonist Rudy Pompilli died of lung cancer aged 52. Although not a smoker himself, it is believed he contracted the disease through second hand smoke. With Bill Haley and his Comets, he had the 1955 UK & US No.1 single with ‘Rock Around the Clock’. Pompilli released one solo album, Rudy’s Rock: The Sax That Changed the World.
1983, Def Leppard’s album ‘Pyromania’, started a 92 week run on the US charts, it never reached No.1 but sold over 6 million copies in the US alone.
1998, American guitarist Tim Kelly from Slaughter was involved in a fatal car accident while traveling on Highway 96 in Arizona. Kelly’s vehicle was hit head on when an 18 wheeler crossed the middle line. Kelly released four studio albums with Slaughter and two live albums.
2003, Courtney Love blamed her bad language for the alleged air rage incident that led to her arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport. As she left Heathrow’s police station the singer said: “I cussed at a lady-my daughter always said I had a potty mouth.” When asked what it had been like inside the police station, the singer said: “It was fine. They were wonderful in there. It was like being on Prime Suspect.” Come Fly With Me
2004, Janet Jackson’s right breast became the most searched-for image in net history, Jackson’s breast was seen by millions on TV after Justin Timberlake pulled at her bodice during a duet. Search engines reported a big jump in searches for Janet Jackson and Super Bowl, as people turned to the web for images of the event. Wardrobe Malfunction
2006, The Rolling Stones played three songs during the half-time show of The Super Bowl in Detroit. After the event, the Stones expressed their displeasure over having Mick Jagger’s microphone turned down during the song “Start Me Up”. The line “you make a dead man come” was cut short and a barnyard reference to “cocks” in the new song “Rough Justice” also disappeared.
2007, Producer Phil Spector won $900,000 after settling an embezzlement claim. Spector said former assistant Michelle Blaine removed $425,000 from his pension and did not repay a $635,000 loan. Ms Blaine claimed the loan was a gift, and the pension funds were for a film aimed at improving Spector’s image. As part of the settlement, she dropped a counter-claim of sexual harassment.
2008, Amy Winehouse was questioned by police in connection with a video apparently showing her smoking a crack-cocaine pipe. The singer, who was not arrested, was interviewed under caution after the video was posted online by the Sun newspaper.
2012, American record producer and session musician Al De Lory died aged 82. In the early Sixties De Lory played keyboards for various Phil Spector productions, and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. As a producer for Capitol Records he worked on a series of worldwide hits by Glen Campbell including John Hartford’s ‘Gentle on My Mind’, Jimmy Webb’s ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’, ‘Wichita Lineman’ and ‘Galveston’. He was also a member of the Los Angeles session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew. As a bandleader he had his own hit in 1970 with an instrumental version of the ‘Song from M*A*S*H’.
2013, American musician Paul Tanner died of pneumonia at the age of 95. He was a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra and later developed and played the Electro-Theremin, an electronic musical instrument that mimics the sound of the theremin. He can be heard performing on the opening title theme music of the 1963-66 CBS-TV comedy series My Favorite Martian. His Theremin playing is also featured on several recordings by The Beach Boys, most notably on ‘Good Vibrations’, ‘Wild Honey’, and ‘I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times’.
2015, INXS guitarist Tim Farriss said he may never play the guitar properly again after severing his finger in a boating accident. Farriss caught his left hand while operating a winch on his boat in Sydney, severing his ring finger. He had undergone surgery twice to try to reattach the finger but had been left with permanent hand damage.
2016, A new species of black tarantula that lives near Folsom Prison, California, was named after Johnny Cash. Aphonopelma johnnycashi was among 14 new tarantula species from the southern US which were described by biologists in the journal ZooKeys.
