| 96 | years ago | 1929 | Chris Kenner is born in Kenner, Louisiana, a few miles west of New Orleans. He'll grow up to write and sing hits such as I Like It Like That, which peaked at #2 in 1961, and was also a #7 hit for the Dave Clark Five in 1965. That same year, Cannibal and The Headhunters put another Chris Kenner tune, Land of 1,000 Dances, on the charts, as well. |
| 93 | years ago | 1932 | “Little Richard” Penniman is born. |
| 81 | years ago | 1944 | John Edwards of The Spinners is born. |
| 79 | years ago | 1946 | Jimmy Buffet is born. |
| 71 | years ago | 1954 | Annie Lennox is born. |
| 67 | years ago | 1958 | Alan Freed's Christmas Rock & Roll Spectacular opens a ten-day run at the Loew's State Theater in Manhattan with seventeen acts, including Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, The Moonglows, Jackie Wilson, Frankie Avalon, and The Everly Brothers. Johnnie Ray, not your typical rock & roll act, tops the bill the first five nights. However, it is Bo Diddley who steals the show. |
| 66 | years ago | 1959 | Richard Starkey receives his first drum set for Christmas. The 18-year-old Liverpudlian, who as The Beatles' Ringo Starr, will become one of the most famous rock & roll drummers in the world, is currently working as an apprentice engineer. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Mary Wells makes her debut on the R&B chart with Bye Bye Baby, her first and one of Motown's first releases. The record will make the R&B Top Ten and the pop Top Fifty. In the next five years, the 17-year-old will provide Motown with eleven pop Top 40 hits. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | George Harrison's girlfriend Patti Boyd is attacked by female Beatle fans at one of the groups Christmas shows in London. It seems the fans were resentful of Patti's place in George Harrison's life. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | Lou Christie's biggest hit, Lightning Strikes, enters the Hot 100 where it stays for 15 weeks, eventually giving Christie his only #1 hit. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | New York band, The Young Rascals, later to be known as the Rascals, enter the Hot 100 with I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore. It peaks at #52. However their next hit, Good Lovin,' hits #1 early next year. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | The Rolling Stones enter the Hot 100 for the tenth time with As Tears Go By, which peaks at #6. The song had origially been a hit for Marianne Faithful in late 1964. However, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones had written the song for her before she became his girlfriend. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | The Dave Clark Five hit #1 on the U.S. pop chart with Over and Over. Despite eight Top Ten records in their career, this is their only #1. |
| 58 | years ago | 1967 | Paul McCartney becomes engaged to Jane Asher, but they never marry. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | In today's Billboard, Grand Funk railroad manager Terry Knight claims “we are virtually devoid of radio play in major markets. Our only airplay comes from the ordinary stations that the major markets snicker at.” This, Knight adds, despite the band's string of gold records, sold-out tour, and recent platinum album, E Pluribus Funk. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | Noel Hogan of The Cranberries is born, as is Dido.
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| 54 | years ago | 1971 | Singer Dido is born. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | Third Day's Mac Powell is born. |
| 49 | years ago | 1976 | The Eagles' sixth album Hotel California, their first with Joe Walsh, goes platinum. It features the title song, a #1 hit single for the California country-rock band in May 1977. |
| 44 | years ago | 1981 | The J. Geils Band plays a Christmas concert for the inmates of Norfolk Correctional Center near Boston, the group's hometown. Following the show, lead singer Peter Wolf tells the audience, “We wanna be the first to buy you all a free drink on the outside.” |
| 35 | years ago | 1990 | James Brown, on a 4-day furlough from prison, gives his first concert performance in two years in front of Ft. Jackson, South Carolina soldiers. The troops' leave had been canceled because of the impending Gulf War. |
| 29 | years ago | 1996 | The People vs. Larry Flynt, starring Courtney Love, is released. |
| 19 | years ago | 2006 | Godfather of Soul James Brown dies in Atlanta from congestive heart failure caused by pneumonia. He had participated in a Christmas toy giveaway in Atlanta on a Friday just three days earlier, then went to a dentist Saturday, who suggested he see a doctor. He was admitted to the hospital Saturday night and died early the following Monday. The “hardest working man in show business” had plans to perform in New Jersey the following Saturday, and at B. B. King's nightclub in New York on Sunday, New Year's Eve. His home was in Beech Island, Souith Carolina, and he was 73 years old. |
| 9 | years ago | 2016 | Singer-songwriter George Michael dies at the age of 53 from heart failure. The English singer, songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame with the group Wham! “passed away peacefully at home.” |