1963 – Publicist Andrew Oldham and agent Eric Easton signed a management deal with The Rolling Stones after buying the rights to the bands first recordings for £90. They also persuade keyboard player Ian Stewart to drop out of the line up and become the bands road manager, (and still play piano at the back of the stage).
1965 – Jimmy Nicol, the drummer who stood in for Ringo Starr during a Beatles Australian tour in 1964, appeared in a London Court faced with bankruptcy with debts of £4,000.
1967 – The 14 hour Technicolour Dream benefit party for The International Times was held at Alexandra Palace in London. Seeing the event mentioned on TV, John Lennon called his driver and went to the show. Coincidentally, Yoko Ono was one of the performers. Other acts to appear included The Flies, Pink Floyd, Arthur Brown, The Move and Suzie Creamcheese.
1976 – After a gig in Memphis Bruce Springsteen took a cab to Elvis Presley’s Graceland home and proceeded to climb over the wall. A guard took him to be another crank fan and apprehended him.
1978 – P.J. Proby was sacked from his role in the London stage musical Elvis after repeatedly changing his lines from the script. Proby had been playing the oldest of three Presley’s in the play.
1980 – Black Sabbath began their first tour with vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who had replaced Ozzy Osbourne.
1981 – Elton John paid £14,000 for 232 ‘Goon Show’ scripts broadcast during the 50s at an auction held at Christies, London.
1990 – Floyd Butler of The Friends of Distinction, died of a heart attack at the age of 49. Had the US No.3 single ‘Grazing In The Grass’ in 1969.
1993 – Guitarist, producer, Mick Ronson died of liver cancer aged 46. Ronson recorded and toured with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973. Released the 1974 solo album ‘Slaughter On Tenth Avenue’. Ronson co-produced Lou Reed’s album Transformer, also part of Hunter Ronson Band with Ian Hunter. And worked with Morrissey, Slaughter & The Dogs, The Wildhearts, The Rich Kids, Elton John, Johnny Cougar, T-Bone Burnett.
1997 – Boy George was accused of being a ‘professional liar’ by musician singer Kirk Brandon during a London court hearing. Brandon was in court suing the singer over claims in George’s autobiography that pair had slept together.
1997 – American bass guitarist Keith Ferguson died of liver failure at the age of 50, due in part to a nearly thirty-year addiction to heroin. He was a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds who had two hit songs in the 1980s, ‘Tuff Enuff’ and ‘Wrap It Up.’
1998 – Steven Tyler broke his knee at a concert in Anchorage, Alaska delaying Aerosmith’s ‘Nine Lives’ tour and necessitating camera angle adjustments for the filming of the video for ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.’
2001 – Rod Stewart asked for a change in wedding vows bringing them up to-date and to be treated like a dog licence. Stewart said ‘a change is needed because they’ve been in existence for 600 years when people used to live until they were only 35’.
2001 – A blue plaque was unveiled at 38 Aubrey Walk, Kensington, London to honor the musical heritage of the address where British singer Dusty Springfield lived between 1968-1972.
2003 – A $5 million lawsuit against former Creedence Clearwater Revival leader John Fogerty was dismissed after a personal-injury lawyer claimed that he suffered hearing loss in his left ear from attending a Fogerty concert. The Judge said the plaintiff assumed the risk of hearing damage when he attended the concert in 1997.
2007 – Arctic Monkeys started a three week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with their second album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare.’
2009 – An anonymous Queen fan won a two-hour one-to-one guitar lesson with Brian May, after bidding £7,600 (approximately $11,900) at a private charity auction. The auction, in support of the Action for Brazil’s Children Trust, of which May is a patron, was held at the exclusive Cuckoo Club in London.
2014 – David Gilmour, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and Philip Selway all signed an open letter, published by The Guardian, to keep musical instruments available to UK prisoners. Spearheaded by Billy Bragg, the singer-songwriter founded an “independent initiative” called Jail Guitar Doors in 2007 to provide instruments for the rehabilitation of inmates.
2016 – Fifteen of Prince’s albums made it into the UK chart as fans rushed to buy his music following his sudden death. Six were in the top 40 with The Very Best Of, Ultimate and Purple Rain at two, three and four.
