| 90 | years ago | 1936 | Rock & roll legend Buddy Holly is born in Lubbock, Texas. |
| 80 | years ago | 1946 | Alfa Anderson of Chic is born. |
| 77 | years ago | 1949 | Disco diva Gloria Gaynor is born. |
| 75 | years ago | 1951 | Chrissie Hynde, guitarist and vocalist for the Pretenders, is born. |
| 72 | years ago | 1954 | One of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Benmont Tench, is born. |
| 67 | years ago | 1959 | Dick Clark's Michigan State Fair stage show, winding up a four day stand, attracts 15,000 spectators-it's the most in the fair's 110-year history. Appearing on stage are Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, La Vern Baker, Freddy Cannon, Duane Eddy, the Coasters, Lou Rawls, and Bobby Rydell. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | The Beatles' She Loves You hits #1 in England. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | The Doors' Waiting For The Sun LP hits #1. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida LP enters the charts as does Canned Heat's Boogie With Canned Heat. |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | Curtis Mayfield's Super Fly goes gold and becomes the country's #1 album. The soundtrack LP also includes Freddie's Dead, a #4 in October. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | Elton John being introduced at the Hollywood Bowl by the show's emcee, porn star Linda Lovelace: “Here he is, the biggest, largest, most gigantic and fantastic man, the costar of my next movie....Elton John.” |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | The president of the slumping MGM Records since 1969, Mike Curb, resigns. The 28-year-old made his reputation as a purveyor of middle-of-the-road music. He once got rid of eighteen acts from his label because the were allegedly “drug oriented.” Curb had other things on his mind, like politics, and became Lieutenant Governor of California. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Elton John gets a gold record for Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | The Guess Who play their final concert with a gig in Montreal. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | Judge Richard Owen of the New York State Supreme Court rules that George Harrison “subconsciously plagiarized” He's So Fine, the Chiffon's 1963 hit. Harrison's 1970 hit My Sweet Lord is the reason for the problem. Harrison is ordered to pay $587,000 to ABKCO Music, a company owned, ironically, by Harrison's former business manager (when he was one of The Beatles), Allen Klein. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | Ex-Sex Pistol bassist Sid Vicious performs at Max's Kansas City, a New York City punk club. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | The Who's drummer, Keith Moon, dies in London after overdosing on Hemenephirin, a prescription drug which was supposed to have helped him with alcohol. His untimely death does not mean the end of the Who. He is replaced by ex-Faces drummer Kenney Jones. Keith Moon was 31. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Gary Numan releases his LP The Pleasure Principle, which features the track, Cars. |
| 41 | years ago | 1985 | David Bowie and Mick Jagger's version of Dancing In The Streets hits #1 on the U.K. pop chart. |
| 41 | years ago | 1985 | Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker's Rebels peaks at #74 on the pop singles chart. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Michael Nesmith joins the other three Monkees on stage for the first time since the band disbanded. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | Despite threats from former member Roger Waters to sue promoters if the show goes on, Pink Floyd kicks off their A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour in Ottawa, Canada. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | Rapper Tupac Shakur and Marion Suge Knight are shot while riding in Knight's Mercedes in Las Vegas following a Mike Tyson fight. Shakur would die 6 days later. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam, signs with Atlantic Records to release An Other Cup in the coming November. His last studio album was Back to Earth in 1978. |
| 14 | years ago | 2012 | Dorothy McGuire Williamson, who teamed with sisters Christine and Phyllis for a string of hits in the 50s and 60s as the popular McGuire Sisters singing group, dies at her son’s home near Phoenix. The McGuire Sisters earned six gold records for hits including 1954's Sincerely and 1957's Sugartime. The sisters were known for their sweet harmonies and identical outfits and hairdos.
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| 9 | years ago | 2017 | Tower of Power's lead singer Rick Stevens dies at age 77. |