| 78 | years ago | 1948 | Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor is born. |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | Steve Earle is born. |
| 70 | years ago | 1956 | Paul Young is born. |
| 69 | years ago | 1957 | Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles is born. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | Vee Jay Records files a motion in New York Supreme Court against Capitol and Swan records, seeking an injunction restraining Capitol and Swan from manufacturing, distributing, advertising or otherwise disposing of recordings by The Beatles. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts' book, Ode to a High Flying Bird, a tribute to jazz great Charlie Parker, is published. Also, the same day the Stones record The Last Time and Play with Fire. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Led Zeppelin's debut album was released. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Chicago R&B singer Billy Stewart and three of his band members are killed when their car goes out of control and off a bridge over the River Neuse in North Carolina. Stewart is best known for his 1966 hit Summertime. He was 32 years old. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | A display of John Lennon's erotic Bag One lithographs opens in London. Scotland Yard seizes prints two days later as evidence of pornography. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | The Doors' two-night stand at the Felt Forum in New York is recorded for their forthcoming album, Absolutely Live. Several other shows around the country will also be recorded for the album. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | Kid Rock is born. |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | Highway 51 South in Memphis is renamed “Elvis Presley Blvd. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Dino Martin, singer and son of Dean Martin, is arrested on suspicion of possession and sale of two machine guns. He is arraigned and released the next day on $5,000 bail. He now faces indictment by a federal grand jury. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and Dolly Parton announce after spending a week together talking, they'll record an album together. Parton describes their decision as “a week-long slumber party.” |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | Prince enters the soul chart for the fourth time since September 1979 with Dirty Mind, which peaks at #65. Prince is more favored by critics rather than record buying public, although I Wanna Be Your Lover makes it to #1 R&B in 1979. That changes this year when Prince breaks out with the album Controversy and its title single. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | Tommy Tucker, author of Hi Heel Sneakers and a bunch of other R&B hits, dies of carbon tetrachloride poisoning sustained while he was finishing floors in his home. He was 48 years old. |
| 36 | years ago | 1990 | Hank Ballard, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, The Kinks, Simon and Garfunkel, the Platters and The Who are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame during ceremonies at New York's Waldorf Astoria. |
| 33 | years ago | 1993 | Hundreds of thousands of people gather in Washington for a free outdoor concert that was part of the presidential inauguration ceremonies. Among those performing are Aretha Franklin and Michael Bolton. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | David Bowie, Tom Donahue, The Jefferson Airplane, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Little Willie John, Pink Floyd, Pete Seeger, The Shirelles and the Velvet Underground are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Songwriting partner David Porter says Isaac Hayes is in a Memphis hospital being treated for exhaustion. He had performed in Atlantic City, Washington, D.C., and Tunica, Mississippi just a few nights earlier. Porter says the 63-year-old Hayes was just overworked, and is doing much better. |
| 13 | years ago | 2013 | Chicago's Styx lights up the House of Blues in New Orleans. |
| 10 | years ago | 2016 | Tower of Power announces the death of longtime band member, trumpeter Mic Gillette, from a heart attack. |