| 90 | years ago | 1936 | Lead singer of the Four Tops, Levi Stubbs, is born. |
| 87 | years ago | 1939 | Gary “U.S.” Bonds is born. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Platters lead singer Tony Williams leaves the group to embark on a solo career. Williams sang lead on Platters classics such as Only You, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and The Great Pretender. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Roy Orbison's Only The Lonely is released. |
| 64 | years ago | 1962 | The Beatles, after an unsuccessful audition for Decca Records, audition for producer George Martin at EMI Records in London. He signs the group the following month. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | A full page ad taken out in six music trades by anonymous advertisers reads “in the public interest, watch the Rolling Stones crush The Beatles!” |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | New Orleans' own Dixie Cups knock The Beatles' Love Me Do out of the #1 slot on Billboard with Chapel of Love. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | The Rolling Stones release the eventual chart-topper (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | The Rolling Stones add the lyrics “... who killed the Kennedys …” to Sympathy for the Devil after the death of Robert Kennedy. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Rod Stewart, lead singer for the Jeff Beck Group, signs a solo recording contract with Mercury Records. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young's Teach Your Children is released. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear on stage for the first time since 1969, joining Frank Zappa for a jam at the Fillmore East. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | The Ed Sullivan Show is cancelled after 23 years and airs for the last time this night. It was TV's longest running variety show and had on every major music act in the 60's. Gladys Knight and The Pips are on the final show. |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars LP is released. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Stevie Wonder delivers an unannounced lecture to a UCLA class studying the record industry. He talks about his up and coming relationship with Motown and then performs a set. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | Over 85,000 people gather at the Rose Bowl for Peace Sunday: We Have a Dream. Among those performing at the anti-nuclear rally are Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks, Dan Fogelberg, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, and Bonnie Raitt. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | Genesis becomes the first group in history to spend a full year on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with tracks from only one album, Invisible Touch. The streak began in 1986 with the title track. |
| 36 | years ago | 1990 | A Federal judge in Florida declares that 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be LP was obscene. Two days later a record store owner is charged with selling the hit album. |
| 34 | years ago | 1992 | Pete Townshend wins a Tony Award for Best Original Score for the Broadway production of Tommy. The musical also wins four other awards including Best Director. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | The Detroit News reports that Detroit City Council Woman and former Motown star Martha Reeves, who has been a strong advocate of stricter housing code enforcement, owns a two-unit rental property where inspectors found 25 code violations, including two emergency infractions for lack of maintenance and fire doors. 10 of her 15 vacant lots are deep in overgrown weeds, grass, and trees. She says she bought most of the property sight unseen at a state land auction, hoping to revitalize some of the neighborhoods, and that “improvements are forthcoming.” |
| 19 | years ago | 2007 | Spice Girl Melanie Brown marries her boyfriend Stephen Belafonte. “Scary Spice” had given birth to Eddie Murphy's daughter two months earlier. Belafonte is a movie producer with Sisters and Thank You for Smoking to his credit. |
| 7 | years ago | 2019 | Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack dies of a heart attack in his New Orleans home. |