| 84 | years ago | 1942 | Paul Kantner, guitar player with Jefferson Airplane and Starship, is born. |
| 78 | years ago | 1948 | Singer-songwriter James Taylor is born. |
| 77 | years ago | 1949 | Little Feat’s Bill Payne is born |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | Jazz saxophonist Charlie Bird Parker dies in New York City of heart failure. He more-or-less invented the be-bop form of music and just the week before played at the New York City jazz club Birdland, which was named after him. Charlie Parker was 34 years old. |
| 70 | years ago | 1956 | Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris is born. |
| 69 | years ago | 1957 | Marlon Jackson, one of The Jackson Five, is born. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | Jazz singer Billie Holiday, who had pled guilty to a narcotics-possession charge in 1956, is given a year's probation by a Philadelphia court. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | The 11th annual Grammy Awards are announced and Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson is named Record of the Year. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | George Harrison and his wife Patti are arrested in the town of Esher in Surrey, south of London, on charges of cannabis resin possession after authorities found 120 joints in their house. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Paul McCartney weds American photographer Linda Eastman in London. Paul's brother Mike McGear is the best man; no other Beatle is in attendance. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | John Lennon is involved in an altercation with a photographer outside the Troubadour club in Los Angeles. Lennon and Harry Nilsson had been heckling comedian Tommy Smothers and were ejected from the club. |
| 43 | years ago | 1983 | U2's War enters the British LP chart at #1. |
| 38 | years ago | 1988 | Producer Jimmy Iovine presents the Special Olympics with a donation of $5 million. The money were proceeds from the A Very Special Christmas LP. |
| 32 | years ago | 1994 | Pat Benatar and husband Neil Geraldo give birth to daughter Hana Juliana. |
| 22 | years ago | 2004 | Elizabeth Arden, Inc., the cosmetics company, announces that pop star Britney Spears has signed a deal with them to develop and market her own line of perfumes and cosmetics. The Kentwood, Louisiana native's first product will be a fragrance to be launched at department stores in the fall. |
| 22 | years ago | 2004 | Uncut magazine releases excerpts of a French television journalist's August, 1993 interview of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, eight months before his suicide. Asked whether he wanted to collaborate with wife Courtney Love and her band Hole, Cobain reportedly said, “It's a nice thought. I'd like to. But to tell you the truth, I would rather just quit my band and join Hole, you know, only because when I have played music with them, there's a level of connection that's a little bit higher than with anyone else I ever played with. It's amazing. |
| 21 | years ago | 2005 | Art Garfunkel, in Wisconsin for a concert at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton, is ticketed for speeding 11-15 miles-per-hour over the posted freeway limit by the Wisconsin State Patrol. He posts a bond of $181, and a court date of April 25 is set. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Bonnie Raitt performs the first of two consecutive nights at New Orleans’ House of Blues. The Katrina-weary, sold-out crowd, initially typically noisy, had quieted for The Bed I Made and most of her classic I Can’t Make You Love Me. But they erupt with raised fists at the song’s peak when Bonnie sings, “I won’t give up the fight,” then repeats the line louder for emphasis. Raitt has pledged a portion of the tour’s proceeds to Hurricane Katrina relief. |
| 19 | years ago | 2007 | EddieVan Halen, Alex Van Halen, and David Lee Roth don’t attend the band Van Halen’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York. Ironically, only ex-members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony represent the rock combo. Members of Velvet Revolver induct the band, then play two Van Halen songs. Eddie Van Halen had just entered rehab, and original vocalist David Lee Roth refused to appear after he couldn't agree on a song to sing with Velvet Revolver. |
| 16 | years ago | 2010 | New Orleans soul guitarist and vocalist Rockie Charles dies of cancer before he can make his scheduled performance at the upcoming New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Charles was 67, and known as the “President of Soul.” He had just finished a new album, I Want First Class. |
| 13 | years ago | 2013 | Peter Banks, the original guitarist of British progressive rock band Yes, dies at the age of 65. The same day, Clive Burr, best known for his years drumming in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, dies at his home. He was 56 and had multiple sclerosis. |
| 11 | years ago | 2015 | The Zombies make their debut appearance in New Orleans at the House of Blues, 52 years after their first British Invasion hit. They open with I Love You. Original members Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent are both 69 at the time. |