| 85 | years ago | 1941 | Manfred Mann is born. |
| 85 | years ago | 1941 | Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the M. G.’s is born |
| 84 | years ago | 1942 | Elvin Bishop is born. In the opinion of Charlie Daniels, “He ain't good-looking, but he sure can play.” |
| 73 | years ago | 1953 | Former Go-Go's guitarist Charlotte Caffey is born. |
| 69 | years ago | 1957 | Toto’s Steve Lukather is born. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | In what will be his last studio session, Buddy Holly records, True Love Ways, It Doesn't Matter Anymore, Moondreams, and Raining in my Heart with the Crickets in New York. |
| 65 | years ago | 1961 | Bob Dylan records his first album, Bob Dylan, for Columbia Records. The album presents the 20-year old singer accompanied by his guitar and harmonica. The recording is done in a day and production costs run $400. Filling out his income-tax form, Dylan gives his name as Blind Boy Grunt. |
| 64 | years ago | 1962 | Top U.K. rocker Cliff Richard appears on the Ed Sullivan Show. Though he's hot at home, his popularity in the U.S. is marginal until the late '70s. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | The Kingsmen appear on Shindig! performing Louie Louie, along with the Dave Clark Five. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | The Who, done up in pop-art costumes and equipped with smoke bombs, flash powder, and other stage devices, appear on British television's Ready Steady Go! They play stuff from their rush released EP, Ready Steady Who! This includes the Batman Theme, Barabara Ann, Bucket T, Circles, and Disguises. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Nashville's top Country Music Awards go to Jeannie C. Riley's Harper Valley P.T.A. for best song and to Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison for best album. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | Mick and Biana Jagger welcome their daughter Jade to the world. She is born in the Belvedere Nursing Home in Paris. |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | Seventeen years after writing and recording the first of his many rock & roll classics, Chuck Berry gets his first U.S. #1 pop hit with My Ding-a-Ling. It's a singalong novelty song derived from grade-school level private parts jokes. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | Christian rocker Charlie Lowell of Jars of Clay is born. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | Elton John receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | Keith Moon plays his last North American show with The Who as he and the band wrap up an extensive year of touring at Toronto's Maple Leaf Garden. |
| 34 | years ago | 1992 | Elton John files a $35 million lawsuit in which he claims a reporter from the TV tabloid show Hard Copy falsely stated that he moved to Atlanta to be near an AIDS treatment center. Elton's lawyers say he moved to Atlanta because he likes the city. |
| 34 | years ago | 1992 | Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley and then husband Danny Keough, have a son they named Benjamin Storm Keough. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | Blind Melon lead singer Shannon Hoon dies of a cocaine overdose in New Orleans. He was 28. |
| 18 | years ago | 2008 | A criminal driving-without-a-license case against Louisiana native Britney Spears ends in a mistrial in Los Angeles after the jury deadlocks 10-2 in favor of acquittal. The defense argued Britney doesn't meet California residency requirements and her Louisiana driver's license is all she needs. |