1962 – The Beatles made their third trip to Germany for a 48-night residency at The Star Club, Hamburg. During the seven week run The Beatles had only one day off.
1965 – The Beatles record the song ‘Help!’ during an evening recording session at Abbey Road in London. During an interview with Playboy Magazine in 1980, John Lennon recounted: “The whole Beatles thing was just beyond comprehension. I was subconsciously crying out for help”.
1967 – Nancy and Frank Sinatra were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Somethin’ Stupid’, (making them the only father and daughter to have a UK No.1 single as a team). The song was written by folk singer C. Carson Parks and originally recorded in 1966 by Parks and his wife Gaile Foote, as “Carson and Gaile”. Robbie Williams recorded the song as a duet in 2001 with actress Nicole Kidman which went on to top the UK charts.
1971 – The Rolling Stones released ‘Brown Sugar’ taken from their latest album Sticky Fingers, the first record on their own label, Rolling Stones Records, which introduced the infamous licking- tongue and lips logo.
1973 – David Bowie released his sixth studio album Aladdin Sane, the name of the album is a pun on “A Lad Insane”. Two hit singles included on the album preceded its release, ‘The Jean Genie’ and ‘Drive-In Saturday’.
1973 – Bob Marley and the Wailers released Catch a Fire their first album on Island Records and which is now regarded as one of the greatest reggae albums of all time. The album was also groundbreaking as its singles were released as long-playing records as against to the early reggae songs coupled with two sides.
1974 – Elton John went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Bennie And The Jets’, his second US No.1, it made No.37 in the UK.
1974 – Paul McCartney’s Band On The Run went to No.1 on the US album charts. McCartney’s third US No.1, went on to sell over 6 million copies world-wide. It’s commercial performance was aided by two hit singles ‘Jet’ and ‘Band on the Run’.
1979 – Thin Lizzy, released their ninth studio album Black Rose: A Rock Legend. The album, which featured guitarist Gary Moore, contained the hits ‘Do Anything You Want To’, ‘Waiting For An Alibi’ and ‘Sarah’, which was written with Moore about Lynott’s newborn daughter.
1982 – David Crosby was arrested when police found him preparing cocaine backstage in his dressing room before a show in Dallas.
1993 – The first Aerosmith Day was observed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts after the band were given their very own holiday.
1996 – Rage Against The Machine appeared on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Their two-song performance was cut to one song when the band attempted to hang inverted American flags from their amplifiers.
2002 – Thieves broke in to a house in Bexhill, Sussex and stole a hi-fi system and several CD’s. They left albums by Madonna, Robbie Williams and Oasis but took the owners entire Showaddywaddy collection.
2003 – The Beatles Apple Corp company was listed as Britain’s fastest profit-growth firm with an annual profit growth of 194%.
2003 – Madonna struck back at web sites who were offering illegal downloads of her new album, ‘American Life’ by flooding file-sharing networks with decoy files. When the files were opened they were greeted by the voice of Madonna asking, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” The latest Madonna album has been kept under tight wraps to avoid piracy, with promotional copies being held back from journalists until just before the official release.
2007 – Julian Lennon sold a ‘significant’ stake of his share in the songs his father John wrote for The Beatles to US music publishing company Primary Wave. The firm would now receive payments when any Lennon compositions were sold on CD, performed live or played on the radio. The company, who were about to market Julian Lennon’s new music project, declined to reveal how much the deal was worth.
2008 – Producer and drummer Clifford Davies, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his home in Atlanta, aged 59. Davies had worked with Ted Nugent from 1979-1982. It was reported that Davies was “extremely distraught” over outstanding medical bills.
2009 – 68-year-old US music producer Phil Spector was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, after a five-month retrial. He had pleaded not guilty to the second degree murder of 40-year-old Ms Clarkson, who was shot in the mouth at Spector’s home in Los Angeles. During the five-month retrial, five female acquaintances testified that Spector had threatened them at gunpoint in incidents dating back to the 1970s. An earlier trial was abandoned in 2007 after a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision. Spector was remanded in custody until sentencing on 29 May 09.
2009 – Procol Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ was the most played song in public places in the past 75 years, according to a chart compiled for BBC Radio 2. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was at number two followed by ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ by the Everly Brothers. Wet Wet Wet’s 1994 hit, ‘Love Is All Around’, was at number four followed by Bryan Adams’s 1991 hit ‘(Everything I Do), I Do It For You.’
2010 – Brian May launched a major new campaign to try to prevent the return of legalised blood sports to the British Countryside. The ‘SAVE-ME’ campaign – named after May’s song, called on the British public to consider how their vote will affect the welfare of animals; and in particular fox-hunting, stag hunting and hare-coursing. The first ‘SAVE-ME campaign poster was unveiled by Brian at a prime advertising site on London’s West Cromwell Road.
2011 – A portrait of Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett was returned to the London art gallery it had been stolen from the previous week. The late singer’s former girlfriend, Libby Gausden, pleaded for its safe return and offered a reward of £2,000, and following an appeal, the image was returned undamaged and intact to the gallery by post.
2012 – Five of Tom Petty’s guitars were stolen from a soundstage in Culver City, California, where Petty and his band, the Heartbreakers, were rehearsing for their upcoming worldwide tour.The stolen gear included a 1967 Blonde Rickenbacker, a 1967 Epiphone Sheridan, a 1965 Gibson SG TV Jr., a Fender Broadcaster and a Dusenberg Mike Campbell Model, which belonged to Campbell himself. Petty was offering a “no questions asked” reward bounty of $7,500 to anyone with information leading to the guitars’ recovery.
2013 – Sir Paul McCartney topped the Sunday Times Rich List of musicians with the £680m fortune he shares with his wife Nancy Shevell. Sir Paul, whose American heiress wife is said to be worth £150m, has topped each list since 1989 when he was worth an estimated £80m. Andrew Lloyd Webber was second, with £620m, while U2 were third, with £520m. Adele topped the list for young music millionaires in Britain and Ireland with an estimated fortune of £30m.
2015 – The UK’s first weekly vinyl chart was launched by the Official Charts Company as sales of vinyl albums and singles continued to soar. The first official vinyl albums chart was topped by All Time Low’s Future Hearts.
