1956, Elvis Presley surprised his mother with a gift of a pink Cadillac. The car remained in the Presley family and eventually went on display at Graceland.
1963, The Rolling Stones kicked off their fourth UK tour at The Astoria London. A 32-date package tour with Mike Berry and the Innocents The Mojos and Simon Scott and the Leroy’s.
1964, The Animals started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘House Of The Rising Sun’. When first released the record company printed the time of the song on the record as three minutes feeling that the real time of four minutes was too long for radio airplay.
1965, Sonny & Cher made their first live UK appearance when they appeared at the 100 Club in London.
1965, The Rolling Stones recorded their eighth single ‘Get Off Of My Cloud’ at RCA studios in Hollywood. The song peaked at No.1 in the US and the UK.
1966, John Lennon started work on his role as Private Gripweed in the film ‘How I Won The War’. The black comedy directed by Richard Lester, was filmed in Spain in Almería Province and saw Lennon, taking a long-overdue break from The Beatles after nearly four years of constant touring.
1967, Working at Abbey Road studios, London, The Beatles began recording John Lennon’s new song ‘I Am the Walrus’, recording 16 takes of the basic backing track.
1968, On their first ever visit to the UK The Doors appeared on Top Of The Pops performing ‘Hello I Love You’ live on the TV show.
1970, Janis Joplin started recording sessions recording a version of the Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster song ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. Joplin, (who was a lover and a friend of Kristofferson’s from the beginning of her career to her death), topped the US singles chart with the song in 1971 after her death, making the song the second posthumous No.1 single in US chart history after ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding.
1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington was seriously injured in a car crash in Florida.
1978, Joe Negroni from Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers died of a brain haemorrhage. They had the 1956 UK No.1 & US No.6 single ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love’ and are also noted for being rock’s first all-teenaged act.
1981, Soft Cell were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of ‘Tainted Love.’ The song had been a hit for Gloria Jones in 1964. (Jones who became Marc Bolan’s girlfriend was the driver of the car, that crashed and killed Bolan on 16 September 1977. Jones nearly died in the accident).
1981, Stevie Nicks went to No.1 on the US album with Bella Donna, featuring the tracks ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ (the Tom Petty duet), ‘Leather and Lace’ (with Don Henley), ‘Edge of Seventeen’ and ‘After the Glitter Fades.’
1987, Ian Astbury of The Cult was arrested after a show in Vancouver ended in a riot. Staff at the concert claimed they were assaulted by Astbury, who spent the night in the local police cells.
1990, Ian Dury And The Blockheads drummer Charley Charles died of cancer. Scored the 1978 UK No.1 single ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’.
1994, Oasis appeared at The Hacienda in Manchester to celebrate the launch of their debut album Definitely Maybe. The album went on to become the fastest selling debut album of all time in the UK and marked the beginning of Oasis’ success in America, selling over one million copies there.
1998, Aerosmith scored their first US No.1 single with the Diane Warren written song ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’. The song which was featured in the 1998 film Armageddon gave the band their first No.1 single after 28 years together.
1998, Manic Street Preachers scored their first UK No.1 single with ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’. The group’s 19th hit and the first Welsh act to have a No.1 single since Shakin’ Stevens in 1985. The song is in the Guinness World Records as the longest title for a No.1 single without brackets.
1999, After spending 58 weeks on the UK album chart, Shania Twain went to No.1 with ‘Come On Over’. It became the best-selling country music album, and the second best-selling studio album by a female act. To date, the album has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.
2002, Heather Mills, Paul McCartney’s second wife accepted £50,000 libel damages over an article in the Sunday Mirror. The paper had suggested that Mills acted dishonestly over cash collected for an earthquake appeal.
2006, Arctic Monkeys won this year’s UK Mercury Prize for their album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.’ The Sheffield-based bands album became the fastest-selling debut in chart history after shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week of release in Feb 2006.
2008, A study of more than 36,000 people from around the world concluded that musical tastes and personality type were closely related. The research, which was carried out by Professor Adrian North of Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh in the UK suggested classical music fans were shy, while heavy metal fans were gentle and at ease with themselves. Fans of Indie music had low self-esteem and were not hard working, fans of Rap music had high self-esteem and were outgoing. Country & Western fans were hardworking and outgoing, Reggae fans were creative but not hardworking, and fans of chart pop had high self-esteem, were not creative, but where hardworking and outgoing.
2012, Singer-songwriter Joe South, who had hits in the late 1960s and early ’70s, including ‘Games People Play,’ ‘Walk a Mile in My Shoes’ and ‘(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,’ died at home in Flowery Branch, Atlanta from a heart attack, aged 72. South also played on Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album.
2016, An asteroid was named after Freddie Mercury to mark what would have been the singer’s 70th birthday. The Queen frontman has had his name attached to Asteroid 17473, which was discovered in 1991 – the year he died. Queen guitarist Brian May told a gathering of 1,250 fans at Montreux Casino in Switzerland that the asteroid would now be known as Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury.
