| 83 | years ago | 1943 | Teen idol and singer Fabian is born. |
| 81 | years ago | 1945 | Reggae legend Bob Marley is born. |
| 69 | years ago | 1957 | The Del-Vikings' first and biggest hit, Come Go with Me, debuts on the pop chart. In four weeks, it peaks at #5 while on the R&B chart, it hits #3. |
| 69 | years ago | 1957 | Toto's Simon Phillips is born. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Jesse Belvin, an important figure in West Coast R&B during the Fifties, dies in an automobile accident in Los Angeles. He made his biggest impact as the co-author of Earth Angel, the Penguins' classic from 1954. Belvin was 20 years old. |
| 64 | years ago | 1962 | Axl Rose of Guns & Roses is born. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Tim Brown of the Boo Radleys is born. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | John Lennon's Instant Karma backed with Yoko Ono's Who Has Seen the Wind? is released in the U.K. on Apple Records. |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | A New York Post headline reads “Surviving Beatles Plan New Album as Lennon Tribute.” In fact, Ringo Starr is in Montserrat working with Paul McCartney on this Tug of War LP. George Harrison is not around. The album, however, did contain McCartney's elegy to his late partner John Lennon, Here Today. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | Van Halen's remake of Roy Orbison's 1964 chart topper, Oh, Pretty Woman, enters the Hot 100, where it will peak at #12, making it the band's biggest hit single thus far in their career. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | Joan Jett's I Love Rock 'n' Roll enters the pop chart at #63. The song will catapult the singer to the top of charts near the end of next month. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | Joan Jett makes her acting debut, co-starring with Michael J. Fox in Light Of Day. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | The late Sonny Bono declares his candidacy for mayor of Palm Springs. |
| 36 | years ago | 1990 | Billy Idol breaks several bones in a serious motorcycle accident. He had been scheduled to have a major role in Oliver Stone's The Doors but because of the accident he has to give it up. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | Rapper Tupac Shakur is sentenced to 1-1/2 to 4-1/2 years in prison on a sexual assault charge. |
| 28 | years ago | 1998 | Beach Boy Carl Wilson dies of lung cancer at age 51 in Los Angeles. |
| 28 | years ago | 1998 | Singer Falco, who had a hit with Rock Me Amadeus, is killed in a traffic accident in the Dominican Republic. |
| 21 | years ago | 2005 | Paul McCartney performs at the halftime of Superbowl XXXIX in Jacksonville. He takes off his jacket, but nothing else, and has no “wardrobe malfunction” like Janet Jackson did the year before. McCartney, who also performed Freedom at Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans, plays Drive My Car, Get Back and Live and Let Die, then leads a sing-along of Hey Jude. The New England Patriots go on to repeat as NFL champions, beating the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21. |