1964, On their first full day in New York, The Beatles (minus George who had a sore throat), went for a photo-opportunity walk around Central Park. Over 400 girl fans followed The Beatles and extra police were called in to control them. Later in the day The Ronettes interviewed The Beatles for radio.
1968, The Band Of Joy, featuring John Bonham and Robert Plant, made their first London appearance, supporting Edwin Starr at the The Marquee Club in London, England. The Marquee was witness to the London scene of the late 60s, represented at the club by bands like the Move, The Syn, Pink Floyd, (who played the club many times), Neat Change, The In Crowd, Soft Machine and Arthur Brown.
1973, Max Yasgur died of a heart attack aged 53. He was the owner of the dairy farm in Bethel, New York at which the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held between August 15 and August 18, 1969.
1975, Bob Dylan went to No.1 on the US chart with his 15th studio album Blood On The Tracks, his second US No.1 album. The album has become one of Dylan’s all-time best-selling studio releases, with a double-platinum US certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.
1980, The divorce became final between David Bowie and his wife Angie. He won custody of their son Zowie, (now known as Joe), Angie received a £30,000 ($51,000) settlement.
1981, R.E.M. made their first ever-recording sessions at Bombay Studios Smyrna, Georgia. Tracks included ‘Gardening At Night’, ‘Radio Free Europe’ and ‘(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville.’
1983, Winners at the second annual Brit Awards held in London included Paul McCartney who won Best British Male Solo Artist, Kim Wilde won Best British Female Solo Artist, Dire Straits won British Group, British Breakthrough Act went to Yazoo, International Act was Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Best Selling Single Dexy’s Midnight Runners “Come On Eileen” and the Life Achievement Award went to Pete Townshend.
1986, Billy Ocean started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going’, as featured in the film ‘The Jewel Of The Nile.’ The video was banned in the UK because it featured non-musician union members. Boyzone took the song to No.1 in 1999.
1990, Suffering from depression American singer songwriter Del Shannon died of self inflicted gunshot wounds. He scored the 1961 UK and US No.1 single ‘Runaway’, plus nine US and 12 other UK Top 40 singles. In 1963, he became the first American to record a cover version of a song by the Beatles: his version of ‘From Me to You’ charted in the US before The Beatles’ version. Shannon had been working with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne and was rumoured to be replacing Roy Orbison who had recently died, in the Traveling Wilburys supergroup.
1992, UK act Right Said Fred started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I’m Too Sexy’, a No.2 hit in the UK.
1994, Oasis were forced to cancel their first foreign tour after they were deported from Holland. The band were involved in a drunken brawl on a cross-channel ferry resulting in members of the band being arrested and locked in the brig on the ferry.
2002, Bob Wooler died aged 76. He was the resident DJ and booker at The Cavern Club in Liverpool during the early 1960s. Wooler introduced The Beatles to their manager, Brian Epstein.
2005, American rock drummer, vocalist, and songwriter Keith Knudson from with The Doobie Brothers died of pneumonia aged 56. The Doobie Brothers scored the 1979 US No.1 single ‘What A Fool Believes’ and 1993 UK No.7 single ‘Long Train Runnin.’ He founded the band Southern Pacific with fellow Doobie Brother John McFee.
2005, Pete Doherty was released from jail on bail after four nights when his manager paid the remaining £100,000 ($170,000) bail to Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, London. The ex-Libertines star had been charged with robbery and blackmail after a fracas at a London hotel. His bail arrangements stated he would not be able to leave his house between 2200pm and 0700am every night and must be accompanied by a security guard or his manager if he goes out at any other time.
2005, Kylie Minogue was voted the world’s sexiest woman in her 30s by UK magazine Good Housekeeping. Sade was voted No.4 in the over 40s with Madonna coming in at No.7 and Jerry Hall at No.8. And Sharon Osbourne was voted into 3rd place in the over 50s section.
2009, R&B singer Chris Brown was questioned by police in Los Angeles over a complaint of assault. The 19-year-old had pulled out of his performance at the Grammy Awards, as did his pop star girlfriend Rihanna. Police said Mr Brown argued with an unidentified woman while sitting in a car. Brown had walked into a police station and was later released on $50,000 bail. Los Angeles police did not identify the woman who had made the complaint against Brown.
2013, A report on the the rise of digital music showed that one in five consumers (19.6%) bought all their music as downloads. The report said that 27.7% of UK music fans purchased downloads from stores such as iTunes or Amazon; or streamed songs on services like Spotify or YouTube and that the streaming market was now worth £49m to record labels.
2013, LA Superior Court Judge Charles Palmer threw out a claim by Axl Rose of fraud and misrepresentation against Guitar Hero III. Rose claimed that his deal with the company to license the song ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ for use in the game included a promise from Activision that no images of Slash would be used in the game. Later, both Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani’s band No Doubt sued the company over their own portrayals in Band Hero, a Guitar Hero series spin-off.
2015, British soul singer Sam Smith won four Grammy Awards in the US, including the prestigious prizes for record and song of the year for ‘Stay With Me’ and best new artist. Album of the year went to Beck for Morning Phase.
