| 84 | years ago | 1941 | Ian Whitcomb is born. |
| 84 | years ago | 1941 | Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, a.k.a. Jelly Roll Morton, New Orleans’ self-proclaimed inventor of jazz, dies at age 50. |
| 83 | years ago | 1942 | Ronnie James Dio of Black Sabbath and Rainbow is born, and in Detroit, so is Sixto Díaz Rodríguez (better known simply as “Rodríguez”). He is the subject of the 2012 film Searching for Sugar Man. |
| 82 | years ago | 1943 | Jerry Miller of Moby Grape is born. |
| 81 | years ago | 1944 | John Dymond of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich is born. |
| 78 | years ago | 1947 | Arlo Guthrie is born in Coney Island, New York. |
| 76 | years ago | 1949 | Dave Smalley of The Young Rascals and The Raspberries is born. |
| 75 | years ago | 1950 | Greg Kihn is born. |
| 75 | years ago | 1950 | The Victor Talking Machine Company trademarks the phrase “His Master's Voice,” which refers to the dog in their logo (Nipper) listening to a record player because he thinks it is his owner. The company later becomes the record label RCA Victor. |
| 75 | years ago | 1950 | The nation's favorite popular music countdown, “Your Hit Parade,” gets its own home on NBC-TV to match its longtime radio counterpart. |
| 71 | years ago | 1954 | Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys is born. |
| 64 | years ago | 1961 | Bobby Lewis’ Tossin’ and Turnin’ hits #1 on the charts. |
| 62 | years ago | 1963 | Martha and the Vandellas release Heatwave. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | The film A Hard Day's Night premieres in The Beatles' hometown of Liverpool. Hundreds of thousands line the streets from the airport to the city center for a parade. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | The Rolling Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction tops the U.S. chart for the first of four weeks. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | Wilson Pickett's In The Midnight Hour is released. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | Sonny and Cher break onto the pop charts with I Got You Babe. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | Peter DiStefano of Porno for Pyros is born. |
| 59 | years ago | 1966 | Cat Stevens’ first single, I Love My Dog, is released. |
| 58 | years ago | 1967 | Bobbie Gentry's first single, Ode To Billie Joe, is released. It goes on to top the Hot 100 for four weeks. |
| 58 | years ago | 1967 | Kenny Rogers leaves The New Christie Minstrels and forms The First Edition, who have a hit the next year with “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” |
| 57 | years ago | 1968 | The Nice are banned from London's Royal Albert Hall after burning an American flag on stage as an antiwar protest. |
| 57 | years ago | 1968 | Eric Clapton announces that Cream will break up following a farewell tour. |
| 56 | years ago | 1969 | The funeral is held for The Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones, who was found dead in his swimming pool a week earlier. |
| 56 | years ago | 1969 | The Beatles release Maxwell's Silver Hammer as a single from the Abbey Road album. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | Three Dog Night's Liar is released. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | Harry Nilsson's album Son of Schmilsson is released. It features George Harrison, using the name George Harrysong, and Ringo Starr, using the name Richie Snare, on some of the tracks. |
| 51 | years ago | 1974 | David Bowie, in the middle of a tour, records his two-night stand at Philadelphia's Tower Theatre. David Live is released later in the year and goes to the Top Ten. |
| 51 | years ago | 1974 | Mac Davis debuts his own summer variety music show on NBC-TV. |
| 50 | years ago | 1975 | Gregg Allman and Cher's famously rocky marriage almost ends in divorce after only ten days. Cher changes her mind three weeks later. |
| 49 | years ago | 1976 | England Dan and John Ford Coley’s I'd Really Love to See You Tonight enters the charts, while The Starland Vocal Band’s Afternoon Delight hits #1. |
| 48 | years ago | 1977 | Cher gives birth to Elijah Blue Allman, her first and only child with Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman falls from the stage at a gig St. Paul, Minnesota and is knocked unconscious. |
| 46 | years ago | 1979 | Chuck Berry gets four months in prison for income-tax evasion. In 1973, he shortchanged Uncle Sam $200,000. |
| 45 | years ago | 1980 | Singer and actress Jessica Simpson is born. |
| 39 | years ago | 1986 | Grateful Dead guitarist and spiritual leader Jerry Garcia lapses into a diabetic coma. He is released from the hospital weeks later. |
| 36 | years ago | 1989 | The Monkees get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the ceremony, all four Monkees reunite for the first time. Mike Nesmith was a holdout on their reunion tour. |
| 32 | years ago | 1993 | Bob Seger marries Juanita Dorricott. |
| 25 | years ago | 2000 | Promoters cancel the remainder of a Supremes reunion tour due to poor ticket sales. The tour featured Diana Ross without Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong, who refused to join due to money. |
| 22 | years ago | 2003 | Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe stops at the Moonlite BunnyRanch after a concert in Reno. He allegedly chokes prostitute Andrea “TrixXxie Blue” Terry and throws her against a wall at the Mound House brothel. Neil pleads no-contest to the battery charge at a hearing the following year. |
| 18 | years ago | 2007 | Bad Religion release their fourteenth full-length studio album New Maps of Hell. |
| 16 | years ago | 2009 | Robert Plant is named a Commander of the British Empire after the title is bestowed by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. |
| 15 | years ago | 2010 | The audience attending a benefit for Palestinian children in Oxfordshire, England knows they are going to be entertained by David Gilmour. What they don't know is that Gilmour’s onetime Pink Floyd bandmate, Roger Waters, is will drop in for a surprise four-song set. Waters says in a Facebook post that he agreed to do it after Gilmour agreed to join him for a performance of The Wall in March, 2011 in Europe. The last time the two had been on stage together was at the 2005 Live 8 London concerts. |
| 13 | years ago | 2012 | Slash of Guns N' Roses gets his star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Charlie Sheen is master of ceremonies at the event, and comments, “It seems quite fitting that Slash is getting a star on the very street Axl Rose will one day be sleeping on.” |