1963 – The Beatles appeared live on the ITV show Tuesday Rendezvous, miming ‘From Me to You’ and ‘Please Please Me’ (during the closing credits). In the evening The Beatles played live at the Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn, London.
1967 – The Doors and The Jefferson Airplane appeared at Cheetah, Santa Monica Pier, Venice, California. This was the largest show The Doors had played to date with a crowd of over 3,000
1969 – Bob Dylan released his ninth studio album Nashville Skyline, which embraced country music. With liner notes by Johnny Cash, (who also appeared on the record), at the time of release it was dismissed by some critics as lightweight, but included ‘Lay, Lady, Lay’, a major hit single for Dylan. The album also gave Dylan his fourth UK No.1 album.
1973 – Newly signed to EMI Records, Queen played a showcase gig for their new record label at the The Marquee London.
1974 – Terry Jacks was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Seasons In The Sun.’ Jacks became the first Canadian to score a No.1 since Paul Anka in 1957. The song (written in French by Belgian, Jacques Brel), had English lyrics by poet Rod McKuen.
1976 – American folk singer songwriter Phil Ochs, hung himself at his sister’s home in Queens, New York. Wrote ‘There But A Fortune’, a hit for Joan Baez.
1977 – ABBA went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Dancing Queen’, the group’s 7th US Top 40 hit and first No.1. The song was also a No.1 in the UK in 1976 and 12 other countries.
1983 – David Bowie was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the title track from his latest album ‘Let’s Dance’, his fourth UK No.1 and featuring blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. The song introduced Bowie to a new, younger audience oblivious to his former career in the 1970s and was a US No.1 hit, Bowie’s first single to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic.
1988 – Dave Prater of soul duo Sam & Dave was killed when his car left the road and hit a tree in Syracuse, Georgia, on his way to his mother’s house in Ocilla. He was 50. Recorded for Stax Records from 1965 – 1968, hits included ‘Soul Man’ and ‘Hold On, I’m Coming.’
1988 – American singer and songwriter Brook Benton died aged 56. He scored over 20 US top 40 singles, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he scored hits such as ‘It’s Just A Matter Of Time’ and ‘Endlessly’, and made a comeback in 1974 when he had the No.4 hit ‘Rainy Night In Georgia.’
1988 – Billy Ocean started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car’, a No.3 hit in the UK.
1989 – Rolling Stone Bill Wyman announced his forthcoming marriage to 19-year old Mandy Smith. He revealed the couple had been dating for six years.
1991 – Record producer Martin Hannett died. He worked with many Manchester acts including The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Magazine as well as U2 and The Psychedelic Furs.
1994 – Take That scored their fourth UK No.1 single with the Gary Barlow penned single ‘Everything Changes’ the fifth single from the band’s second album Everything Changes.
1997 – Songwriter Mae Boren Axton died aged 82 after drowning in her bath at her home in Hendersonville, Tennessee after an apparent heart attack. Known as the ‘Queen Mother of Nashville’ she wrote over 200 songs including a co-writing credit on the Elvis Presley hit ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. She was the mother of country singer, songwriter Hoyt Axton.
2000 – Craig David went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Fill Me In’. At 18 years 11 months he became the youngest UK male solo artist to write and sing a UK No.1.
2000 – Moby started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Play’. The album went on to spend 81 weeks on the chart.
2004 – A man was arrested for allegedly stalking Avril Lavigne. James Speedy, 30, from Seattle, Washington, was arrested after police searched his home, he was later released on $5,000 bail. Mr Speedy had been under investigation since last summer for allegedly sending harassing letters and e-mails to the 19-year-old singer. He was later charged with stalking the singer.
2004 – Motley Crue singer Vince Neil pleaded no contest to battery charges after accusations that he assaulted a sex worker at the Moonlight BunnyRanch (a legal, licensed brothel in Mound House, Nevada), by grabbing the woman around the throat and throwing her against a wall. Neil was sentenced to a 30-day jail suspension, 60 days anger management, and was fined $1,000.
2007 – Country and western singer Tanya Tucker was sued by her manicurist for $300,000 over claims the star’s dog attacked and injured her. Danielle Hobbs stated in court papers that she was bitten by Bella at the singer’s Nashville home and also claimed that the alleged attack, had left her with painful and disfiguring scars on her leg. She stated that Tucker’s assistant told her the dogs were “just babies” and said “they will not hurt you”.
2009 – Randy Cain, a founding member of US soul group The Delfonics died at his home in Maple Shade, New Jersey at the age of 63. The Philadelphia group, whose hits include ‘La-La (Means I Love You)’, won an R&B Grammy in 1970 for their song ‘Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time’. The chorus of ‘Ready or Not’ by The Fugees sampled The Delfonics’ 1969 hit ‘Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love)’.
2009 – Bay City Rollers manager Tam Paton died in the bath at his Edinburgh home of a suspected heart attack. The 70-year-old, who had suffered two previous heart attacks and a stroke in recent years, was found dead in his luxury mansion. Paton had made millions through the success of the band in the 1970s, but was a far more controversial figure in recent years. He was convicted of sex offences against two boys aged 16 and 17 in 1982, and was convicted of drug dealing in 2004 after £26,000 worth of cannabis was found at his home, but was cleared on appeal.
2013 – According to the Official Charts Company one billion songs had now been downloaded in the UK. Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ was the most downloaded single of all time in the UK, followed by tracks by Maroon 5 and Gotye. The Official Charts Company said on average more than three million tracks were now sold every week.
