1956, Bill Haley had five songs in the UK Top 30; ‘Rockin Through The Rye’, ‘Saints Rock n’ Roll’, ‘Rock Around the Clock’, ‘Razzle Dazzle’, and ‘See You Later Alligator’.
1959, Berry Gordy’s third release on the newly established Motown Records, ‘Bad Girl’ by The Miracles, entered the Billboard Pop chart.
1960, Ricky Valance was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’, making him the first Welsh singer to top the charts, and a One-hit Wonder.
1961, Robert Shelton, wrote a glowing review of Bob Dylan’s support slot at Gerde’s Folk City in the New York Times, calling him ‘One of the most distinctive stylists to play Manhattan in months’. On the same day Dylan played harmonica at a recording session produced by John Hammond.
1967, Working at Abbey Road in London, The Beatles mixed the new John Lennon song ‘I Am the Walrus’, which included the sound of a radio being tuned through numerous stations, coming to rest on a BBC production of William Shakespeare’s “King Lear”. Lennon composed the song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyse Beatles’ lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words.
1971, On the last night of their first ever Japanese tour Led Zeppelin appeared at Osaka Festival Hall. Near the end of the set the group played a medley of songs during an extended version of ‘Whole Lotta Love’, including ‘Let That Boy Boogie’, ‘I Gotta Know’, ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘Fortune Teller’, ‘Good Times Bad Times’ and ‘You Shook Me’.
1973, Grand Funk Railroad went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘We’re An American Band’, the group’s first of two US chart toppers.
1976, Enjoying his own birthday celebrations singer Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shot his bass player Norman Owens in the chest. Lewis had been blasting holes in an office door. Owens survived but sued his boss.
1979, The Police had their first UK No.1 single with ‘Message In A Bottle’ the group’s third Top 20 hit. The song was released as the first single from Reggatta de Blanc and also topped the charts in Ireland and reached No.5 in Australia. Despite its popularity in the UK, the single only reached No.74 in the United States.
1984, Prince and the Revolution started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, his second US No.1, and a No.7 hit in the UK. It was the opening track on both the album and the film Purple Rain.
1987, Pink Floyd’s thirteenth studio album A Momentary Lapse Of Reason was on the UK chart. The shoot for the album cover involved dragging 800 hospital beds onto Saunton Sands in Devon, but rain interrupted the session and they had to repeat the exercise two weeks later. A hang glider can be seen in the sky, a possible reference to the track ‘Learning to Fly’. Photographer Robert Dowling won a gold award at the Association of Photographers’ Awards for the image, which took about two weeks to create.
1989, While travelling on his motorbike from Los Angeles, Bruce Springsteen called in at Matt’s Saloon in Prescott, Arizona and jammed with the house band. Bruce played a bunch of rock and roll classics, including Elvis Presley’s ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ and Chuck Berry’s ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ and ‘Route 66.’ Bruce also donated $100,000 to a barmaid’s hospital bill.
1990, Maria McKee was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Show Me Heaven’ the song featured in the Tom Cruise film ‘Days Of Thunder’.
1992, American singer, songwriter Paul Jabara died from lymphoma related to AIDS at the age of 44. He wrote Donna Summer’s Oscar and Grammy Award-winning hit ‘Last Dance’ and Barbra Streisand’s ‘The Main Event/Fight’ and co-wrote the Weather Girls hit, ‘It’s Raining Men’ with Paul Shaffer.
1999, The Manic Street Preachers were given a bill for £28.000 after smashing up equipment during their show at Scotland’s T In The Park festival.
2004, Keith Moon’s five-piece drum kit, custom-made for The Who drummer in 1968, sold for £120,000 pounds ($215,772) in London to an American collector, setting a world auction record for a set of drums.
2004, The Sun reported that Michael Jackson had a secret fourth child who was now 19. The story claimed that Norwegian Omar Bhatti was born after a one night stand and had stayed with Jackson at his Neverland home in California.
2007, US rapper 50 Cent was beaten by rival rap star Kanye West in the stand-off to claim the best-selling album in the US. West’s Graduation shifted 957,000 copies in its first week of sales while 50 Cent’s album, Curtis, only sold 691,000. Before the albums went on sale 50 Cent vowed he would retire from making solo albums if he was outsold by West. 50 Cent axed his forthcoming European tour and a performance at London Mobo Awards the Vodafone Live Music Awards in London, as well as at an MTV show in Germany.
2012, The UK press reported that there really was a girl who works down the chip shop and swears she’s Elvis’ daughter, after Lisa Marie Presley was spotted serving up deep-fried treats on a mobile motor called Mr Chippy. The 44-year-old, offspring of Elvis and actress Priscilla, donned an apron and cooked battered cod for the locals. Kim Scales, who owned the business, said: “Lisa Marie likes to see how we live and experience British life. We were laughing because the customers didn’t know who she was. She really enjoyed it.” The singer, had moved to the quaint village of Rotherfield, East Sussex, two years ago from Los Angeles.
2015, The original contract signed by The Beatles and manager Brian Epstein sold at Sotheby’s for £365,000, ($548.000). The 1962 document was said to be one of the most important contracts in popular music, marking the beginning of the band’s journey to international fame.
