| 93 | years ago | 1933 | Singer Buddy Knox is born. |
| 86 | years ago | 1940 | The industry publication Billboard combines its sales charts for the first time, including all major labels. The first #1 is Tommy Dorsey's I'll Never Smile Again, with vocals by Frank Sinatra. |
| 83 | years ago | 1943 | John Lodge of the Moody Blues is born. |
| 80 | years ago | 1946 | Singer Kim Carnes is born. |
| 79 | years ago | 1947 | Carlos Santana, guitarist and vocalist for Santana, is born. So is Tony Thorpe of The Rubettes. |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony is born, as is Marisa DeFranco of The DeFranco Family. |
| 70 | years ago | 1956 | Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols is born. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | Mick McNeil of Simple Minds is born. |
| 65 | years ago | 1961 | The Beatles, then known as The Beat Brothers, get some press in the British paper Mersey Beat, which announces their first record deal. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Ray Conniff's Concert In Rhythm and Memories Are Made Of This are certified gold. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Jan & Dean's Surf City tops the singles chart just two weeks after its release. Meanwhile, The Beatles nab their first UK #1 LP with Please Please Me, and Lesley Gore releases Judy's Turn To Cry. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | The Beatles release two records this week: And I Love Her backed with If I Fell and I'll Cry Instead with I'm Happy Just to Dance on the other side. They also release the album Something New. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave is born. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | Frank Sinatra appears at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where he leaves his handprints in the cement outside. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone is released by Columbia records. The disc turns out to be his biggest hit ever climbing to #2 on the U.S. pop chart and #4 in the U.K. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | Kama Sutra Records releases the Lovin' Spoonful's first record, Do You Believe in Magic. It will reach #9 on the pop chart. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard is born. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | Jerry Lee Lewis returns to the scene of his May 1958 demise -- England. He discovers there are a few English rock & rollers willing to forgive and actually never deserted him. His shows are well attended and reviews favorable. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Jane Asher announces on national British TV show, Dee Time, that her engagement to Paul McCartney was off. McCartney reportedly was watching and was surprised by the news. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Hugh Masekela's Grazing In The Grass hits #1, and Cream's Wheels Of Fire LP hits #1. Meanwhile, Iron Butterfly's album In-a-Gadda-da-Vida, featuring the 17-minute title track with one of the longest drum solos in rock history, debuts on the U.S. charts. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Roy Hamilton dies. He is best known for his 50’s recordings of Don't Let Go and Unchained Melody, as well as 1961’s You Can Have Her. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | The Carpenters appear as guest bachelor and bachelorette on ABC's Dating Game TV show. |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | Vitamin C (Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick) is born. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Bob Dylan's Before the Flood LP enters the chart as does The Grateful Dead's Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Joey Ramone steps out from behind the drum kit and becomes the lead vocalist for The Ramones. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | “Miami” Steve Van Zandt performs for the first time in concert as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band in Providence, Rhode Island. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Gary Kellgren, operator and part owner of two of the most popular recording studios on the West coast, the Los Angeles Record Plant and the Sausalito Record Plant, drowns in a Hollywood swimming pool. He had engineered and produced albums by Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Rod Stewart, Barbara Streisand, and Sly & the Family Stone. He was 38. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | American Idol singer Elliott Yamin is born. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | E.L.O. takes out advertisements in magazines dedicating the release of Don't Bring Me Down to NASA's Skylab project. |
| 41 | years ago | 1985 | Sting's solo debut, The Dream of the Blue Turtles enters the album charts. The LP features the hits, If You Love Somebody Set Them Free and Fortress Around Your Heart. |
| 41 | years ago | 1985 | Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart's remake of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready peaks at #48 on the chart. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Van Halen's manager Ed Leffler is beaten up by an unknown assailant in a Dallas hotel elevator. He is hospitalized. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Sid and Nancy, a film biography of the Sex Pistols, premieres in London. Gary Oldman plays Sid Vicious. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Santana celebrates their 20th anniversary at a concert in San Francisco that features a jam with all previous members of the band. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Santana celebrate their 20th anniversary with a massive group reunion, as all 17 current and former members play a concert in San Francisco. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | Production wraps on Prince's third movie, Sign O' The Times in Minneapolis. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | Mick Jagger shoots the video for his solo hit, Let's Work in New York. |
| 35 | years ago | 1991 | Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' Into The Great Wide Open LP enters the chart. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | De La Soul's Stakes Is High debuts at #13 on the Billboard 200 chart, and #4 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. |
| 14 | years ago | 2012 | Electro-dubstep musician Skrillex, in a sign of the times, hits #1 on a chart for the first time. The chart is the Billboard Social 50, which measures digital audiences on websites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The video for Skrillex's song Goin' In gets 11.8 million views on social media. |
| 9 | years ago | 2017 | Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington is found dead in his California home. An autopsy report released months later shows that the singer had a minute amount of alcohol in his bloodstream, as well as traces of MDMA — also known as ecstasy. |