1962 – B Bumble and the Stingers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Nut Rocker.’ The instrumental was based on Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker Suite.’
1963 – The Beatles appeared live on the national BBC TV children’s program ‘Pops and Lenny’, at Television Theatre, Shepherd’s Bush Green, London, in front of an live audience. The Beatles performed ‘From Me to You’ and a shortened version of ‘Please Please Me.’
1964 – Mary Wells started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘My Guy’. Written and produced by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, it made No.5 in the UK.
1965 – Driving away from a gig at the Civic Hall, Long Beach, California, the limo taking The Rolling Stones back to their hotel was besieged by fans who caved in the roof by standing on it. The band attempted to hold the roof up while their chauffeur drove off with bodies falling onto the road
1966 – The Beach Boys released the album Brian Wilson. To confirm this, Pet Sounds has been widely ranked as one of the most influential records ever released and has been ranked at No.1 in several music magazines lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical Express, The Times and Mojo Magazine. In 2003, it was ranked No.2 in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, (Sgt. Pepper’S came first).
1966 – Bob Dylan’s iconic Blonde On Blonde album was released, reaching No.9 in the US charts and No.3 in the UK. Rock’s first double album, and Dylan’s seventh studio effort, it was recorded with Al Kooper, Robbie Robertson and Nashville country music session players, and had what Dylan later called ‘that wild mercury sound’.
1969 – Pete Townshend spent the night in a US jail for assaulting a man during a Who gig at The Fillmore East. What Townshend didn’t know was the man who jumped onto the stage was a plainclothes policeman trying to warn the audience that a fire had broken out. The Who guitarist was later fined $30 for the offence.
1970 – Crosby Stills Nash & Young went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Deja Vu’. The album featured three Top 40 singles: ‘Teach Your Children,’ ‘Our House,’ and ‘Woodstock’. In 2003, the album was ranked number 148 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
1970 – The England World Cup Squad were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Back Home.’ The track spent three weeks at the top of the charts.
1974 – Guitarist Brian May collapsed in New York while Queen were on a US tour and was flown back to England suffering from hepatitis.
1976 – Patti Smith made her UK debut at The Roundhouse, London. The American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses.
1977 – The London Evening Standard reported that Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant had been arrested at Atlanta Airport for being drunk and pulling a knife. Since Plant was at his home in Wales at the time of the incident, the person arrested was a man impersonating Plant and the British paper ran an apology the following night.
1981 – Former New Christy Minstrels member (with Kenny Rogers), Kim Carnes started a nine week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Bette Davis Eyes’, the singers only US No.1 and a No.10 hit in the UK.
1984 – Ozzy Osbourne was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee for ‘staggering drunk’ down Beale Street. Osbourne was released from the Memphis jail five hours later, after drying out, and was not required to return for a court appearance. He continued on with a tour in support of 1983’s Bark at the Moon.
1987 – U2 started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart ‘With Or Without You’, the group’s first US No.1. The third track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree the song was the group’s most successful single at the time.
1992 – Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine scored their first and only UK No.1 album with ‘1992 The Love album.’ The English indie rock band formed in 1988 with singer Jim “Jim Bob” Morrison and guitarist Les “Fruitbat” Carter.
1993 – US soul singer Marv Johnson died of a stroke. He had the US Top 10 single ‘I Love The Way You Love’ and the 1969 UK No.10 single ‘I’ll Pick A Rose For My Rose’. Johnson’s recording of Berry Gordy’s song ‘Come To Me’ became Motown Records first ever-single release in May 1959.
1998 – Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards fell while reaching for a book of nude art in his Connecticut home. The fall broke his ribs, causing the Stones to postpone many dates on their Bridges To Babylon tour.
2004 – Frankee started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘F.U.R.B. (F U Right Back)’. The song was a “reply” to the No.1 by Eamon that it replaced, (Fuck It, I Don’t Want You Back). This is the first time that a record and its reply have both made No 1.
2009 – Bob Dylan went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Together Through Life’, his 33rd studio album. The album received two Grammy Award nominations in Best Americana Album category and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance category for ‘Beyond Here Lies Nothin’. The album also is significant as the only album by Dylan to top the US and UK charts consecutively.
2010 – Ronnie James Dio, singer with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and his own band Dio died after a six-month battle with stomach cancer. He was 67 years old. Dio’s career began in 1957 with The Vegas Kings, which later changed to Ronnie and the Rumblers, then Ronnie and the Redcaps, then in
1961, Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. In 1967, Dio and Prophets guitarist Nick Pantas formed the Electric Elves, which shortened its name to Elf. The band’s success eventually landed them an opening slot for Deep Purple which exposed Dio’s voice to Deep Purple’s guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore, who later recruited Dio and other members of Elf for his new band Rainbow.
2013 – It was reported that George Michael had been injured after the car in which he was travelling in crashed on the M1 during the evening rush-hour. Ambulance crews confirmed that the singer had to be airlifted from the scene, near the junction with the M25. Three days later Katherine Fox told The Sun newspaper that she was driving behind a silver Range Rover when the singer tumbled from out the passenger door on to the third lane of the northbound carriageway. She said Michael had “a nasty cut on his forehead and the back of his head. There was blood all down his face and on his teeth. He was breathing and conscious but in shock.”
