| 109 years ago (1914) | Future Vietnam-era Army General William Westmoreland is born. Some theorize that he is “Bungalow Bill” to whom The Beatles refer on their “White” album. |
| 79 years ago (1944) | Diana Ross is born. |
| 75 years ago (1948) | Stephen Tyler, lead vocalist for Aerosmith, is born. |
| 74 years ago (1949) | Singer and TV star Vicki Lawrence is born. |
| 74 years ago (1949) | Fran Sheehan, bassist with Boston, is born. |
| 73 years ago (1950) | Singer Teddy Pendergrass is born. |
| 66 years ago (1957) | Ricky Nelson records his first songs. |
| 62 years ago (1961) | Gene McDaniels' One Hundred Pounds of Clay, his first and biggest hit, enters the pop chart. It peaks at #3. |
| 62 years ago (1961) | Elvis Presley sets a British chart first: #1 with three straight releases: It's Now or Never, Are You Lonesome Tonight? and Wooden Heart. |
| 58 years ago (1965) | NME announces guitarist Eric Clapton's replacement in the Yardbirds is Jeff Beck. Clapton quit the group protesting the commerciality of tunes like For Your Love and Heart Full of Soul. |
| 55 years ago (1968) | Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha is born. |
| 53 years ago (1970) | Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, & Mary whose album, Peter, Paul, and Mommy is the latest Grammy Award winner for Best Recording for Children, pleads guilty to “taking immoral liberties” with a 14 year old girl in Washington D.C. |
| 52 years ago (1971) | The Rolling Stones tape a live performance at the Marquee Club for television. Although the program later aired in Europe, British television has no interest in it whatsoever. |
| 51 years ago (1972) | Mott the Hoople decide to pack it in after four albums. However, David Bowie comes to their rescue, with a song called All the Young Dudes. Hoople records it. Bowie produces it, and it becomes a smash in the U.K. and Top Forty in the U.S. |
| 49 years ago (1974) | David Essex enjoys his one and only successful U.S. hit Rock On, which turns gold on this date. |
| 48 years ago (1975) | Tommy, the film, premiers in London. Elton John stars in the rock opera by The Who Pete Townshend. |
| 47 years ago (1976) | Wings guitarist Jimmy McCullough breaks a finger after slipping in his hotel bathroom after the last show of the band's European tour, in Paris. The injury pushed back by three weeks the start of Paul McCartney's first shows in the United State in a decade. |
| 46 years ago (1977) | Stiff Records releases Less Than Zero b/w Radio Sweetheart, the first single by Elvis Costello. |
| 43 years ago (1980) | Seven years after Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon, it breaks the record for the longest-charting pop album, previously held by Carole King's Tapestry. |
| 37 years ago (1986) | Guns N' Roses is signed to Geffen Records. |
| 28 years ago (1995) | Rapper Eazy-E dies of AIDS in Los Angeles. He was 31. |
| 23 years ago (2000) | Phil Collins wins an Oscar at the 72nd Academy Awards for Best Original Song thanks to You'll Be In My Heart from the Disney animated feature Tarzan. |
| 19 years ago (2004) | Singer Howie Day is charged with misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct for allegedly locking a woman in the bathroom of a tour bus after she refused his sexual advance. He was also accused of breaking another woman's cell phone when she tried to call police. It happened after a concert two nights earlier where Howie opened for Barenaked Ladies in Madison, Wisconsin. |
| 18 years ago (2005) | Paul Hester of Split Enz and Crowded House hangs himself in Melbourne, Austrailia. |
| 16 years ago (2007) | Elton John makes his catalog of music (more than 30 albums) available as digital downloads for the first time. Apple`s iTunes Music Store has the exclusive through April 30. His biggest hits are also made available as ringtones and some of his classic videos are commercially offered online. |