1962, After playing a lunchtime show at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, The Beatles played the first of three Monday night gigs at The Queen’s Hall, Widnes, Cheshire. Also on the bill, Billy Kramer and the Coasters, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and Sonny Kaye and the Reds. Tickets cost 3/6.
1965, A Rolling Stones gig in Dublin, Ireland ended in a riot after 30 fans jumped onto the stage. Jagger was knocked to the floor as the rest of the band fled the stage.
1966, Donovan went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sunshine Superman’, a No.2 hit in the UK. The track featured then Yardbird and future Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. The song was written for Donovan’s future wife Linda Lawrence.
1968, After a two week absence, Ringo Starr rejoined The Beatles. Upon Ringo’s return to the studio, he found his drum kit covered with flowers to welcome him back.
1970, Alan Wilson guitarist and songwriter with Canned Heat was found dead at fellow band-members Bob Hite’s garden in Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles aged 27. With Canned Heat, Wilson performed at two prominent concerts of the 1960s era, The Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969. Canned Heat appeared in the film Woodstock, and the band’s ‘Going Up the Country,’ which Wilson sang, has been referred to as the festival’s unofficial theme song. Wilson also wrote ‘On the Road Again,’ arguably Canned Heat’s second-most familiar song.
1970, Arthur Brown was arrested at the Palermo Pop ’70 Festival in Italy, after he set fire to his helmet (during the performance of his hit ‘Fire’), and stripped naked during his stage performance. The singer spent four days in solitary confinement before he was released.
1975, An all-star jam session took place at a party in Los Angeles for actor Peter Sellers’ 50th Birthday. The line-up for the group who named themselves the Trading Faces: Bill Wyman on bass, Ronnie Wood, Jesse Ed Davis, and Danny Kortchmar on guitars, Keith Moon organ and drums, Joe Cocker, vocals, Nigel Olsson, drums and David Bowie and Bobby Keys on sax.
1977, The month after his death, Elvis Presley had 27 albums and 9 singles in the Top 100 charts in the UK. ‘Moody Blue’ was the No.1 album while ‘Way Down’ was No.1 on the singles chart, (putting him equal with The Beatles each amassing 17 No.1 hits).
1977, Studio engineer Keith Harwood was killed in a car crash shortly after he left a recording session with The Rolling Stones. Harwood was noted for his work at Olympic Studios with David Bowie (Diamond Dogs), and The Rolling Stones albums It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll and Black And Blue. He also engineered a number of Led Zeppelin albums, including Houses Of The Holy, Physical Graffiti and Presence. The Rolling Stones dedicated their album Love You Live to the memory of Harwood.
1982, The three day US Festival in San Bernardino, California took place featuring, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, The Police, The Cars, Talking Heads, The Kinks, Ramones, B52’s, The English Beat, Gang Of Four, The Grateful Dead, Pat Benatar, Jackson Browne. Apple Computers founder Steven Wozniak bankrolled the festival.
1983, UB40 had their first UK No.1 single with ‘Red Red Wine’. Taken from their album Labour of Love the song was a cover of the 1968 Neil Diamond hit song. The re-released single was a US No.1 in 1988.
1991, Ike Turner was released from prison having served 18 months of a four-year prison term, (Ike had been arrested ten other times). In an interview with ‘Variety’ he claimed to have spent over $11 million on cocaine.
1991, During a European tour, Nirvana recorded ‘Dumb’, ‘Drain You’ and ‘Endless Nameless’ at Maida Vale studios in London for the BBC Radio 1 John Peel show.
1999, The largest music bootleg bust in US history was made. It was estimated that this one operation alone was responsible for $100 million in lost revenues. Recording equipment valued at $250,000 was confiscated, as were almost 1 million CDs and tapes.
2002, The Rolling Stones 40th anniversary Licks tour kicked off at the Fleet Centre Boston. Tickets for the best seats cost $224. The world tour would see the band playing to over 2.5m fans over 100 shows.
2003, Libertines singer Pete Doherty was sentenced to six months in jail after being found guilty to burglary and drug possession charges. His sentence was reduced to two months on appeal.
2004, Songwriter and producer Billy Davis died in New York after a long illness. He co-wrote Jackie Wilson’s, ‘Reet Petite’ and the jingle ‘I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke.’ Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and Gladys Knight all recorded his songs.
2004, Sir Cliff Richard stunned the music industry by ending his contract with EMI records and signing with Eminem’s label Universal Music. Cliff had sold over 250 million records with EMI during his 46 year career.
2005, Blues musician Fats Domino was rescued from New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the city. The 77-year-old singer had been reported missing since the storm in New Orleans which had flooding the city leaving thousands feared dead.
2006, Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘SexyBack’ his first UK No.1 hit. The track won Timberlake and Timbaland the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. It was the longest-running No.1 single of 2006 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, staying seven weeks at the top.
2008, R&B singer Ne-Yo was awarded $700,320 after he was dropped from a US tour with R. Kelly. The singer claimed he was fired as Kelly’s opening act last November because fans and critics preferred him – an allegation his co-star denied.
2008, Heavy metal band Slipknot scored their first US number one album – but only after a recount put them ahead of rapper The Game’s latest release. Slipknot topped the US chart with their fourth studio album All Hope Is Gone which, according to analysts Nielsen SoundScan, sold 239,516 copies – 1,134 more than the Games album.
2009, Friends and family of Michael Jackson paid their last respects to the singer at a funeral held at Glendale’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles. Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Macaulay Culkin, Berry Gordy and Lisa Marie Presley were among the 200 invited guests. The singer’s family arrived in a motorcade of 31 vehicles, Jackson’s brothers – Randy, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon – acted as pallbearers carrying Jackson’s gold-plated coffin.
2009, Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet world became the highest grossing tour ever for a solo artist tour making $408m. The 51 year old singer had performed in 32 countries.
2010, Mike Edwards a founding member of ELO was killed in a freak accident when a giant bale of hay tumbled down a hill and crashed into his van. The 62 year-old cellist died after the 600 kg (1,323 lb) bale rolled down a steep field in Devon, southern England, smashed through a hedge and careered on to the road. Edwards played cello with ELO, the seven-piece band led by Jeff Lynne, from their first live gig in 1972 until he left in January 1975. He quit the band in 1975 to become a Buddhist, changing his name to Deva Pramada and making his living by teaching the cello.
2012, Internal emails sent by the promoters of Michael Jackson’s planned 2009 comeback concerts saw them voice concerns over his stability and health. In one email, sent the day the singer appeared in London to announce his This Is It shows, he was described as “an emotionally paralysed mess”. The singer had locked him-self in his room and was said to be drunk and despondent.
(This Day in Music)
