| 85 | years ago | 1940 | Pianist, singer, and songwriter Mac Rebennack is born in New Orleans. They call him Dr. John, the Night Tripper. |
| 77 | years ago | 1948 | War’s Lonnie Jordan is born. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Brian Ritchie of The Violent Femmes is born. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Ray Charles has four hits in the Hot 100: Georgia on My Mind at #5, Ruby at #61, Hard Hearted Hannah at #66 and Come Rain or Come Shine (used as the theme song of the 1983 film King of Comedy) at #95. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | Motown's Marvin Gaye makes it to the Hot 100 for the fourth and last time this year with How Sweet It Is. The record remains on the charts for 14 weeks and peaks at #6. The song will later become a hit in a version by pop-folk singer James Taylor in the mid Seventies. |
| 58 | years ago | 1967 | Decca Records releases The Who's album, The Who Sell Out, with its very funny cover depicting the band's members endorsing such products as “Odorono” deodorant. The record is one the first examples of what will come to be known as the “concept album,” and includes the classic I Can See for Miles and the pre-Tommy mini-opera Rael. |
| 57 | years ago | 1968 | Alex James, bassist for Blur, is born in Bournemouth, England. |
| 51 | years ago | 1974 | After years of saying he wouldn't, Marty Balin joins the Jefferson Starship on stage at the Winterland in San Francisco. |
| 45 | years ago | 1980 | Eagles drummer/vocalist Don Henley is arrested in Los Angeles after paramedics treat a nude sixteen-year-old girl suffering from drug intoxication at his home. Henley is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, cocaine, and Quaaludes, and with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. |
| 45 | years ago | 1980 | A one-hour documentary film, Van Morrison in Ireland, featuring shots of the singer on-stage in Belfast and Dublin as well as offstage, premiers at London's National Film Theater. |
| 43 | years ago | 1982 | Joni Mitchell marries her bass player, Larry Klein, at the Malibu home of her manager, Elliot Roberts. |
| 42 | years ago | 1983 | Michael Jackson's Thriller video premiers in L.A. movie theatres. |
| 37 | years ago | 1988 | Pink Floyd releases its first live album, The Delicate Sound Of Thunder. |
| 35 | years ago | 1990 | Mick Jagger marries his girlfriend of ten years, model Jerry Hall, on the island of Bali. |
| 30 | years ago | 1995 | The Beatles Anthology I sets a first-day sales record, moving 450,000 units. |
| 30 | years ago | 1995 | Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong is arrested for dropping his pants at a concert in Milwaukee. He is fined $141. |
| 21 | years ago | 2004 | The Fox TV network announces that Paul McCartney will headline the NFL’s 2005 Super Bowl halftime show in Jacksonville, Florida on February 6th. Sir Paul had performed once before at the Super Bowl, during the 2002 pre-game show in New Orleans. |
| 18 | years ago | 2007 | Velvet Revolver cancels concerts scheduled for November 26-30 in Tokyo and three other Japanese cities after being denied visas due to the arrest backgrounds of several of the band members. They had played in Japan in 2005 with no problem. |
| 8 | years ago | 2017 | David Cassidy, pop culture idol of the 1970s, dies as a result of complications from dementia. The musician and actor was 67. His most famous role was as part of TV's Partridge Family. |