| 96 | years ago | 1929 | American Bandstand host and perennial teenager Dick Clark is born. |
| 82 | years ago | 1943 | Rob Grill, singer for The Grassroots, is born. |
| 81 | years ago | 1944 | R & B singer Luther Ingram is born |
| 80 | years ago | 1945 | Roger Glover, bass player for Deep Purple, is born. |
| 70 | years ago | 1955 | Billy Idol is born. |
| 68 | years ago | 1957 | John Ashton of The Psychedelic Furs is born. |
| 67 | years ago | 1958 | Coed Records releases the Crests' 16 Candles. It will be the Johnny Maestro-led group's biggest hit, reaching #2 on the pop chart and #4 on the R&B chart in January. Eleven years later, in 1969, another Maestro-led group called Brooklyn Bridge would put The Worst That Could Happen into Billboard's Top Ten for seven weeks. |
| 66 | years ago | 1959 | Billboard reports the payola scandal “will substantially damage the careers of at least twenty-five DJs.” Alan Freed is quoted as saying that his career has gone “down the drain.” |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | The Colorado State government, on the occasion of the Rolling Stones' concert in Denver, declares this day to be Rolling Stones Day. |
| 57 | years ago | 1968 | Sly & The Family Stone's Everyday People is released. |
| 56 | years ago | 1969 | Simon & Garfunkel's first TV special airs. Sponsor AT&T backs out when they learn that the duo plan to show footage of Bobby Kennedy's funeral march and clips of the Vietnam War. |
| 56 | years ago | 1969 | David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Grapefruit, and the Graham Bond Organasation and other acts perform at the Save Rave '69 benefit concert to aid the youth culture magazine, Rave, in London. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | Wings release Hi, Hi, Hi, which is banned from the BBC because of its “unsuitable lyrics.” However, the song is a hit, making #5 in the U.K. and #10 in the U.S. in early 1973. |
| 51 | years ago | 1974 | The Eagles' Best Of My Love is released. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken is born. |
| 45 | years ago | 1980 | At the Top Rank club in Wales, Elvis Costello and Squeeze perform a benefit concert for the family of late Welsh boxer Johnny Owen, killed recently by head injuries suffered in an American match. |
| 37 | years ago | 1988 | LL Cool J performs the first rap concert held in Africa. |
| 31 | years ago | 1994 | Rapper Tupac Shakur is shot five times while being robbed outside a New York City recording studio. He survives that shooting, but is killed in another shooting nearly two years later in Las Vegas. |
| 27 | years ago | 1998 | Singer and guitarist Jewel stops her show at a Creative Coalition benefit in New York to ask for nail clippers. A well-equipped guest comes through for the singer, and she proceeds with the show after trimming her nails. |