| 104 | years ago | 1922 | Singer Kay Starr is born. |
| 95 | years ago | 1931 | Plas Johnson, the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s The Pink Panther Theme, is born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. |
| 87 | years ago | 1939 | Kim Fowley is born. He'll be best known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways in the 1970s. He'll also be credited as the inspiration behind promoter John Brower's call to John Lennon that resulted in the last minute appearance of The Plastic Ono Band at The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival on September 13, 1969 where Fowley was the emcee. At this event, Fowley will create the iconic experience of having the audience light matches and lighters to welcome a nervous John Lennon to The stage. This becomes a tradition in rock and roll world-wide with fans using cell phones now. |
| 81 | years ago | 1945 | Rosie Hamlin of Rosie and the Originals is born, as is Mike Wilson of The Four Pennies, the English 60's pop group. |
| 80 | years ago | 1946 | Barry Whitwam of Herman's Hermits is born. |
| 78 | years ago | 1948 | Cat Stevens is born. |
| 73 | years ago | 1953 | Eric Bazilian of The Hooters is born. |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | Howie Epstein of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers is born. So is Taco, who will have a hit with Puttin' On The Ritz in 1983. |
| 70 | years ago | 1956 | Billboard calls Elvis Presley “the most controversial entertainer since Liberace.” The article also notes that Ed Sullivan, who once said Presley would never appear on his show, has just signed the singer for three appearances. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | Elvis Presley's Hard Headed Woman hits #1. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Elvis Presley receives a first degree black belt in karate. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Brian Hyland appears as a guest on CBS’ popular TV game show To Tell The Truth. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | The Birth of Beatlemania? 4,000 fans without tickets try to crash a Beatles gig in Blackpool, England. The only way the band can get in is via the roof. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | The Monkees record A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | The day after the Apollo 11 moon landing (the first time man walked on the moon), Duke Ellington performs a song he wrote for the occasion called Moon Maiden as part of ABC's coverage of the historic event. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Emerson Hart of Tonic is born. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | Carole King receives a gold album for Tapestry as the single It’s Too Late hits #1. |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | Rod Stewart releases Never a Dull Moment. The album peaks at #2 and has two Top 40 hits: You Wear it Well, and a re-make of Jimi Hendrix's Angel. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | Bad, Bad Leroy Brown reaches #1 on the Billboard pop singles chart, becoming Jim Croce's second big hit. It stays for two weeks. His first Top 10 hit was You Don't Mess Around with Jim a year earlier. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | “Mary Wilson Day” is declared in Detroit in honor of The Supremes member. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Linda Ronstadt, who's just released a cover version of The Rolling Stones’ Tumblin’ Dice, hops onstage at the band's Tucson, Arizona concert to sing it with them. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Genesis' first album in over two years, Duke, goes gold. The LP makes it up to #11 and gives the group their first major hit, Turn It On Again. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Robert Palmer's Bad Case Of Loving You is released. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | The Grateful Dead's Keith Godchaux is injured in a car accident. He dies two days later. |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | Blake Lewis of American Idol fame is born. |
| 43 | years ago | 1983 | Diana Ross plays a free concert in New York City's Central Park on a rainy day. She has a good attitude, claiming that the rain “Feels good” and saying, “It took me a lifetime to get here, I ain't going nowhere.” Positive thinking could not save the show, however, and the show is stopped and rescheduled for the next day. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | Guns 'n Roses release their debut album, Appetite For Destruction. |
| 38 | years ago | 1988 | In Aiken circuit court in South Carolina, James Brown pleads guilty to charges of gun possession and resisting arrest. Brown was arrested in May after leading police on a car chase. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | Performing on the Club MTV tour at a stop in Bristol, Connecticut, Milli Vanilli’s tracks go screwy when they try to lip-synch to the song Girl You Know It's True. As the line “girl you know it's...” repeats over and over, the duo panic and scurry off stage. It will later be revealed that they didn’t sing on their album. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | Weird Al Yankovic's first movie, UHF opens. |
| 36 | years ago | 1990 | Roger Waters performs The Wall at Potsdamer Platz, Germany -- the site of the former Berlin Wall. Other artists making guest appearances included Cyndi Lauper, Joni Mitchell, Bryan Adams, and Phil Collins. At the end of the concert, a mock wall made of plastic foam falls. Proceeds from ticket sales go to an international fund for disaster relief. |
| 36 | years ago | 1990 | BBC's Radio One apologizes to listeners after Madonna repeatedly cursed during a live concert broadcast. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | A Los Angeles judge throws out a lawsuit filed against Michael Jackson by five of the pop star’s security guards, who alleged that they were fired after learning the “truth” about Jackson’s nighttime visits with young boys. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil is arrested for allegedly hitting a fan who was trying to take his picture in a hotel in North Carolina. |
| 27 | years ago | 1999 | Charley Pride receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. |
| 25 | years ago | 2001 | Lauryn Hill tapes her MTV Unplugged special, playing new songs in a very emotional performance. It’s clear that she’s not going for mainstream appeal, and is not about to follow up her The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill album with another big seller. |
| 24 | years ago | 2002 | Gus Dudgeon, long time record producer for Elton John, dies. |
| 22 | years ago | 2004 | Film and TV music composer and conductor Jerry Goldmsith dies. |
| 21 | years ago | 2005 | Long John Baldry dies. Rod Stewart and Elton John got their starts in Baldry’s band. |
| 21 | years ago | 2005 | Michael Jackson posts on his Web site that as a result of his recent child molestation trial, he's too exhausted to attend his dad Joe’s 76th birthday party at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Herb Kalin of The Kalin Twins dies. |
| 18 | years ago | 2008 | Yeah Yeah Yeah’s front woman Karen O premieres her new side project, Native Korean Rock, at Union Pool in Brooklyn, New York. |