| 115 | years ago | 1910 | Louis Ferdinand Busch, record producer, musician, and songwriter is born. He'll be best known for performing as a pianist under the nickname Joe "Fingers" Carr, backing singers such as Peggy Lee, “Tennessee” Ernie Ford, and Jo Stafford. |
| 96 | years ago | 1929 | Screamin’ Jay Hawkins is born. He'll do the original I Put a Spell on You, and open for artists like Fats Domino and the Rolling Stones. |
| 94 | years ago | 1931 | “Papa” Dee Allen of War is born. |
| 90 | years ago | 1935 | The Dells’ Johnny Funches is born. |
| 87 | years ago | 1938 | Ian Stewart is born. |
| 86 | years ago | 1939 | Singer Brian Auger is born, as is Dion DiMucci. |
| 84 | years ago | 1941 | Singers Martha Reeves and Lonnie Mack born. |
| 82 | years ago | 1943 | Robin McDonald of Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas is born. |
| 80 | years ago | 1945 | The Animals’ Danny McCullock is born. |
| 79 | years ago | 1946 | Tim Lynch of The Flamin’ Groovies is born. |
| 77 | years ago | 1948 | Phil Harris of Ace is born. |
| 76 | years ago | 1949 | Wally Bryson of The Raspberries is born. |
| 75 | years ago | 1950 | Cesar Zuiderwyk of Golden Earring is born. So is the leather guy in The Village People, Glenn Hughes. |
| 72 | years ago | 1953 | Elvis Presley records My Happiness as a gift for his mother. It was his first recording. |
| 71 | years ago | 1954 | Ricky Skaggs is born. |
| 70 | years ago | 1955 | Terry Chambers of XTC is born. |
| 68 | years ago | 1957 | Keith Levene of The Clash is born. |
| 67 | years ago | 1958 | Nigel Twist of The Alarm is born. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Brenda Lee's I'm Sorry hits #1. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Hank Ballard and the Midnighters release The Twist. The song doesn’t become a hit until later in the year when Chubby Checker covers it. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Elvis Presley's It's Now Or Never is released. |
| 63 | years ago | 1962 | Widespread Panic’s John Hermann is born, as is Pearl Jam’s Jack Irons. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | The Supremes release Where Did Our Love Go. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | The Beatles A Hard Days Night is released. The album features two #1 hits, Can't Buy Me Love and the title track. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | The Rolling Stones first hit, a cover of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away peaks at #48. And The Four Seasons' Rag Doll hits #1. |
| 59 | years ago | 1966 | Bobby Fuller, the leader of the Bobby Fuller Four, is found dead in his car in Los Angeles. No conclusive cause of his death was ever established. |
| 57 | years ago | 1968 | Hugh Masekela receives his only gold record for the instrumental Grazing in the Grass. And Gary Puckett and the Union Gap's Lady Willpower is certified gold. |
| 57 | years ago | 1968 | The Grateful Dead release their 2nd album, Anthem of the Sun. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 enters the album charts. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | Pink Floyd and Deep Purple play a free concert at London's Hyde Park. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | All six members of Sly And The Family Stone are arrested in Hollywood after police search their tour bus and find two pounds of marijuana and two vials of cocaine. |
| 51 | years ago | 1974 | The U.S. Justice Department orders John Lennon out of the country by September 10. The Immigration and Naturalization Service denies him an extension of his non-immigrant visa because of his guilty plea in England to a 1968 marijuana possession charge. |
| 50 | years ago | 1975 | Daron Malakian of System Of A Down is born. |
| 50 | years ago | 1975 | System of a Down’s Daron Malakian is born |
| 48 | years ago | 1977 | Barry Manilow’s Looks Like We Made It hits #1. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | Def Leppard make their live debut before an audience of 150 at a school in Sheffield, England. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | Tony Fagenson of Eve 6 is born. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | The star of Saturday Night Fever and Grease, actor John Travolta, garners his first #1 with You're the One That I Want. He sang it with his Grease partner, Olivia Newton-John. It's awarded a platinum on this date. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | Once a member of Stealers Wheel, Gerry Rafferty earns a gold record for Baker Street. |
| 45 | years ago | 1980 | Billy Joel's Glass Houses tops the album chart. |
| 44 | years ago | 1981 | Santana's Winning peaks at #17 on the singles chart. |
| 43 | years ago | 1982 | Ryan Cabrera is born. |
| 43 | years ago | 1982 | Rock singer Ryan Cabrera is born. |
| 42 | years ago | 1983 | Following up on momentum from their free Central Park reunion concert, Simon and Garfunkel start a 19-city tour in Akron, Ohio. |
| 37 | years ago | 1988 | Ike Turner is sentenced to one year in a Santa Monica, California jail for six grams of crack found in his car during a traffic stop in August, 1987. |
| 37 | years ago | 1988 | The Velvet Underground’s Nico dies of a heart attack. |
| 37 | years ago | 1988 | A California appeals court upholds a lower courts' decision to dismiss a case against Ozzy Osbourne and CBS Records. In 1984 a teenager allegedly killed himself after listening to Ozzy's Suicide Solution. |
| 34 | years ago | 1991 | The very first Lollapalooza music festival is held in select locations throughout North America. Bands and artists include Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Ice-T, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes, Fishbone, Emergency Broadcast Network, and Rage Against The Machine. |
| 32 | years ago | 1993 | Rage Against The Machine protests music censorship by appearing at their Lollapalooza set in Philadelphia completely nude except for duct tape over their mouths. The refuse to play any music, and simply stand for 25 minutes with the letters PMRC written on their chests, a reference to the Parents Music Resource Center. |
| 30 | years ago | 1995 | Neil Young and his manager Elliot Roberts form their own record label, Vapor Records. |
| 19 | years ago | 2006 | The National Enquirer publishes a rare apology and retraction in its British edition to pop star Britney Spears, whom the tabloid last month reported was ready to split from husband Kevin Federline. Spears had sued for libel in Ireland, where it’s easier for plaintiffs. The settlement agreement calls for the printed retraction and public apology, but no monetary damages. |
| 17 | years ago | 2008 | Billy Joel performs the last concert ever at Shea Stadium. Paul McCartney shows up to help out, and tells Billy, “Came here a long time ago. We had a blast that night, and we're having another one tonight.” The Beatles performed the very first concert at Shea, which is torn down at the end of baseball season and replaced with a new stadium across the street. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Tony Bennett, The Who’s Roger Daltry, and Garth Brooks also perform in “The Last Play at Shea.”. |
| 13 | years ago | 2012 | Country music legend Glen Campbell, at the age of 74, is forced to cancel his farewell tour dates in Australia and New Zealand due to failing health from Alzheimer's disease. |
| 13 | years ago | 2012 | The Who announce the launching of a tour to revive their rock opera Quadrophenia. The original run of the film of Quadrophenia debuted in 1979; the album in 1973. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, as the surviving members of the group, are also tapped to perform the ending song for the 2012 Olympic games in London. |