83 years ago (1941) | Wilson Pickett is born. |
67 years ago (1957) | Bill Haley and the Comets are back from an eleven-week tour of Australia, Europe, and the British Isles. They played for a half-million fans. |
62 years ago (1962) | Gary “U.S.” Bonds appears on The Ed Sullivan Show to perform his latest hit, Twist, Twist, Senora. |
59 years ago (1965) | Rolling Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Bill Wyman engage in what police call “insulting behavior” in London. The “insulting behavior” turns out to be urinating on the wall of the Francis Garage, a gas station where the band members had sought use of the men's room; when the owner said it was out of order, they went. The owner brought on a private prosecution against the boys and each were fined five British pounds. |
58 years ago (1966) | Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains is born. |
56 years ago (1968) | At 3 a.m., the staff of San Francisco's “progressive” rock station KMPX-FM walks out on strike citing a lack of control over programming and “hassles over the whole long-hair riff.” Performers like the Rolling Stones, Joan Baez, the Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead request the station not play their music as long as the station is run by strikebreakers. |
54 years ago (1970) | Country Joe McDonald is convicted for obscenity and find $500 for leading a crowd in his infamous Fish Cheer (“Gimme an F..!”) at a concert in Massachusetts. |
52 years ago (1972) | Ringo Starr begins work on his documentary on Marc Bolan, Born to Boogie, by filming T. Rex's concert at Wembley, England. |
47 years ago (1977) | The Clash's first single, White Riot is released. |
46 years ago (1978) | The rock festival California Jam II is held in Ontario, California. 250,000 attend to hear the likes of Santana, Bob Welch, Aerosmith, Dave Mason, Heart, Ted Nugent and others. |
42 years ago (1982) | Teddy Pendergrass is severely injured in a car accident in Philadelphia. The disco-soul singing star ends up paralyzed from the waist down. |
35 years ago (1989) | Phil Collins and his wife Jill become parents to daughter Lily Jane. |
30 years ago (1994) | Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain has four guns and 25 boxes of ammo confiscated after his wife, Courtney Love, calls police fearing he would commit suicide. He, of course, did commit suicide about 3 weeks later. |
30 years ago (1994) | The Rolling Stones announce Darryl Jones as the replacement for Bill Wyman on bass. Wyman had previously announced that he would no longer tour with the band. |
28 years ago (1996) | The Sex Pistols announce they are reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour. |
23 years ago (2001) | John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas dies in Los Angeles at age 65 of heart failure. |
19 years ago (2005) | First American Idol winner Ruben Studdard is sued for $500,000 in damages by his former manager, Ron Edwartds, who claims Ruben failed to pay his management fees and reimburse him for expenses. It’s a countersuit to Studdard’s February suit against Edwards for misuse of $246,000. |
19 years ago (2005) | Former Fugees Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean reunite onstage at a 7-hour “Force of Nature” charity concert for tsunami victims. Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan sings a love ballad in Mandarin. Other performers include The Backstreet Boys, Balck Eyed Peas, and Boyz II Men. |
15 years ago (2009) | New Orleans singer, pianist, songwriter, and producer Eddie Bo dies of a heart attack at age 79. He inspired a dance craze with his 1962 hit Check Mr. Popeye. |
7 years ago (2017) | Rock 'n' roll pioneer Chuck Berry is found dead in his home near St. Louis. He was 90. |