| 80 | years ago | 1946 | Sly and the Family Stone horn player Cynthia Robinson is born. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Charlie Gillingham of CountingCrows is born. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Parlophone releases, Please Please Me backed with Ask Me Why, The Beatles second U.K. single. In two months, it's #2 on the U.K. charts, however, it doesn't appear on the U.S. charts for another year. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | The Cascades make their chart debut with Rhythm of the Rain. Their biggest hit, it will go to #3 on the pop chart and #7 on the R&B chart. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Bob Dylan performs in a radio play for the BBC in London. The play was called, The Madhouse of Castle Street and he played a folk singer. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | Hullabaloo premieres on NBC TV. Featured acts include host Jack Jones, the New Christy Minstrels, comedian Woody Allen, actress Joey Heatherton and a segment from London in which Brian Epstein presents the Zombies and Gerry and the Pacemakers. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward premieres on NBC. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | The Doors' second album, Strange Days, goes gold. Highlights are People Are Strange, Love Me Two Times, Moonlight Drive and When the Music's Over. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | The Supremes appear in an episode of the NBC-TV show, Tarzan. The ladies played a group of nuns. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Spice Girl Melanie Chisolm is born. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | A nine-city 18-show tour of Europe starts for Warner Brothers acts Little Feat, Tower of Power, the Doobie Brothers, Bonaroo, Montrose & Graham and Central Station. The Warner Brothers Music Show does well with European audiences, especially Little Feat which establishes an adoring cult audience during the month-long tour. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Keith Richards is fined 750 pounds for possession of cocaine in his wrecked car on May 19, 1976 and charged an additional 250 pounds for court costs. At the same English court appearance, he is found not guilty of possession of LSD. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Long May You Run an LP by the Stephen Stills/Neil Young band is certified gold. The album and tour (cut short due to Young's throat problems) are Young's last professional collaborations with any of his ex-bandmates, although the other three, Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash will reunite several times in the years to come. |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | Rock albums donated to the Library of Congress by the Recording Industry Association of America are Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, Kiss' Alive! and Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. |
| 34 | years ago | 1992 | Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall have their third child. |
| 33 | years ago | 1993 | The original members of Cream reunite in Los Angeles to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Along with Cream, others to be inducted included CCR, The Doors, Van Morrison, Sly and the Family Stone, Frankie Lymon, Dinah Washington and Etta James. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | The Rock and Roll Induction Ceremonies are held. Those being inducted this year: Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers Band, Martha and the Vandellas, Neil Young, Janis Joplin, Al Green and Frank Zappa. |
| 28 | years ago | 1998 | The Rock and Roll Induction ceremonies are held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Those inducted: The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, the Mamas & the Papas, Santana, Lloyd Price, Gene Vincent, Allen Toussaint and Jelly Roll Morton. |
| 16 | years ago | 2010 | American Idol debuts its 2010 season with a two-hour special this night and the next. New Orleans’ own comedienne Ellen DeGeneres replaces singer Paula Abdul as a judge. |