1962, Singer Brenda Lee was hurt when she attempted to rescue her poodle, Cee Cee from her burning house. Cee Cee later died of smoke inhalation.
1963, The Rolling Stones performed at Studio 51 in Soho, London, on the same bill as Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions, who featured a young Rod Stewart. The Stones played a regular Sunday afternoon gig at the club from 4 until 6.30pm and were billed as Rhythm and Blues with The Rolling Stones.
1965, The Kinks, The Who, Manfred Man, The Hollies and Gerry and the Pacemakers all appeared on tonight’s episode of TV pop show ‘Shindig!’ The US series featured “British invasion” bands and performers throughout its run.
1966, Pink Floyd and Soft Machine appeared at the UFO presents Night Tripper at the Blarney Club, London, England.
1967, The Beatles scored their 15th US No.1 with ‘Hello Goodbye’, Gladys Knight and the Pips were at No.2 with ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and The Monkees at No.3 with ‘Daydream Believer’
1968, Led Zeppelin I (who were advertised as Len Zefflin), appeared at Gonzaga University Gymnasium, Spokane on their first North American tour supporting Vanilla Fudge.
1969, Peter Tork quit The Monkees buying himself out of his contract which left him broke. He went on to form a group called Release and played banjo on George Harrison’s soundtrack to the film Wonderwall.
1970, Elvis Presley was given a private tour of the FBI headquarters in Washington DC. Elvis requested and was given a permit to carry a gun in every US state.
1995, Clarence Satchell from The Ohio Players died aged 55. Scored the 1974 US No.1 single ‘Fire’ and had hits with ‘Skin Tight’, ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘Love Roller Coaster.’
1998, Johnny Moore, lead singer for The Drifters on their 1960s hit ‘Under The Boardwalk’, died at the age of 64.
1999, George Harrison and his wife Olivia were attacked when an intruder broke into their home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Olivia beat off the attacker with a poker and heavy lamp. Harrison who was stabbed in the chest was admitted to hospital and treated for a collapsed lung and various minor stab wounds. His wife, Olivia, was treated for cuts and bruises she had suffered in the struggle with the intruder. Police later arrested Michael Abram from Liverpool who had nursed an irrational obsession with The Beatles.
1999, In the Queen’s Millennium Honours list, former Slade singer Noddy Holder was awarded an MBE and guitarist Mark Knopfler was awarded an OBE.
2002, Diana Ross was arrested for drink driving by the Arizona highway patrol after a motorist called to report a swerving vehicle in the western state of Arizona. When asked to walk in a straight line she fell over, could not count to 30 or balance on one foot. Police said the singer was twice over the drink drive limit with a blood-alcohol of 0.20, the legal limit is 0.08.
2002, The funeral of former Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer took place in London. Strummer had died of a suspected heart attack on 22nd Dec 2002 aged 50.
2003, Cris Kirkwood from the Meat Puppets was arrested and accused of hitting a federal post office security guard in the head with a baton that the musician took from the guard during a struggle, the guard then shot Kirkwood in the back. The incident began over a dispute about parking with another customer at a Phoenix post office.
2006, R&B singer Brandy was involved in a four-car crash that left one woman dead, after the singer failed to slow down and hit the back of another car. Brandy was alone in her car and no alcohol or drugs were involved.
2009, Singer, songwriter Neil Young was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Other Canadian musicians who have been given the award include Bryan Adams, Leonard Cohen and the members of Rush.
2012, Brian May was named animal welfare charity PETA UK’s Person of the Year for his efforts to help stop the culling of badgers. The guitarist’s group Save Me formed Team Badger alongside PETA and various other animal welfare groups. PETA’s Mimi Bekhechi said of May: “In his fight to save Britain’s badgers, Brian May never backed down: he spread his message of compassion for animals through everything he said, wrote and even wore until the world sat up and paid attention. His tenacity and boldness are an inspiration to kind people everywhere.”
2012, A rare copy of a Beatles LP signed by all four members sold – for the sum rejected at auction in Sussex a few weeks earlier. Chris Collins, from Eastbourne, and his sister, Liz Chambers, from Worthing, initially turned down a £12,000 bid for a copy of the album, Please Please Me. They had hoped to get £15,000 for the LP, which was given to their late father during a drinking session. But the siblings later accepted £12,000 from private buyers. The album was signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr after they used it as a drinks coaster during a card game in 1963.
2013, Bruce Springsteen’s latest album ‘High Hopes’ briefly appeared for download on Amazon’s US site for several hours, two weeks ahead of its scheduled release date. Although it was subsequently removed from sale, the record had now appeared on several file-sharing sites. The album’s official release date was listed as 14 January.
2014, The woman who inspired Pulp’s hit song ‘Disco 2000’ died shortly after being appointed an MBE. Deborah Bone, from Hertfordshire was a childhood friend of lead singer Jarvis Cocker in Sheffield. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. The 1995 Britpop hit contains the lyric: “Your name is Deborah. Deborah. It never suited ya.”
2016, Allan Williams the first manager of The Beatles died at the age of 86. Williams worked with The Beatles from 1960 to 1961, getting the band gigs in Britain, and in Hamburg. Williams personally drove the van to take the Beatles to Hamburg in 1960, which didn’t have seats; The Beatles had to sit on their amplifiers in the back of the van.
2016, A member of rap group Run-DMC filed a $50m lawsuit accusing retailers of unlawfully using the group’s name on items of clothing. Darryl “DMC” McDaniels said that products sold by Amazon, Walmart and other stores violated federal trademark and New York competition laws.
