| 101 | years ago | 1925 | Sue Thompson is born. She'll have million selling hits Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) and Norman in the 1960s. |
| 94 | years ago | 1932 | Blues guitarist Buster Benton is born. He'll play in Willie Dixon’s Blues All-Stars. |
| 89 | years ago | 1937 | Actor/singer George Hamilton IV is born. |
| 85 | years ago | 1941 | Singer Vicki Carr is born. |
| 82 | years ago | 1944 | Commander Cody (George Frayne IV) is born. |
| 80 | years ago | 1946 | Alan Gorrie of the Average White Band is born in Perth, Scotland. |
| 80 | years ago | 1946 | Phil Upchurch is born. In 1961, his record You Can't Sit Down, by the Philip Upchurch Combo, will sell over one million copies and be awarded a gold disc. |
| 79 | years ago | 1947 | Bernie Leadon, guitarist for The Eagles, and Queen guitarist Brian May are born. |
| 78 | years ago | 1948 | Keith Godchaux, keyboard player for the Grateful Dead, is born. |
| 74 | years ago | 1952 | Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd is born. |
| 72 | years ago | 1954 | Elvis' first single is released by Sun Records. It's That's All Right b/w Blue Moon of Kentucky. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | After a series of disputes over money (and a fistfight with the manager of Harlem's famous Apollo Theater), Drifters manager George Treadwell fires the entire group and installs the existing group the Five Crowns in their place, renaming them The Drifters. This lineup, featuring a lead tenor named Ben E. King, would prove to be the most popular critically and commercially, releasing hits like There Goes My Baby, This Magic Moment and Save The Last Dance For Me. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Kevin Haskins of Love & Rockets is born. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | Doing it his way, the 50-year-old Frank Sinatra marries the 20-year-old actress Mia Farrow in New York, causing a predictable media event. The marriage lasts just two years. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | The Monkees record (Theme From) The Monkees, and Johnny Rivers records Poor Side Of Town.
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| 57 | years ago | 1969 | The Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Women is released. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | The Spencer Davis group breaks up. |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | Five members of the Rolling Stones entourage, including Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, are picked-up in Warwick, Rhode Island on charges of assault and obstructing police. This follows an altercation with a newspaper photographer. All plead guilty and are released. The Stones are four hours late to their concert in Boston. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | Clarence White of the Byrds is buried in California. A couple of days before, he was hit by a suspected drunk driver outside a Palmdale, California nightclub. He was 29. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | Listen To What The Man Said by Wings hits #1 on the singles chart. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion peaks at #36 on the singles chart. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | Orleans' Dance With Me is released. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | Deep Purple breaks up. They reunite 8 years later. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | The Beatles' compilation album Rock 'N' Roll Music is certified gold. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Comedian and banjo player Steve Martin appears on The Muppet Show. He performs Dueling Banjos and makes balloon animals. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | David Bowie begins his run as The Elephant Man in Denver. The show does well, and Bowie takes the lead in the Broadway production later that year. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | Laguna Beach, California's Vorpal Gallery opens a new exhibit featuring paintings by Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, Klaus Voorman, and Ron Wood. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | Billy Joel's It's Still Rock & Roll To Me hits #1. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | Elton John's Little Jeannie hits #3 on the singles chart. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | The Grateful Dead's Alabama Getaway peaks at #68 on the singles chart. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | Jackson Browne's Hold Out enters the album chart. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | Queen's The Game LP enters the chart. It features the #1 hits, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One Bites The Dust. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | The Rolling Stones Emotional Rescue LP enters the album chart. It eventually hits #1 for 7 weeks. |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | Roy Orbison Day is celebrated in Odessa, Texas. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Dreams by Van Halen peaks at #22 on the singles chart. Robert Palmer's Hyperactive peaks at #33 on the singles chart. Genesis' Invisible Touch hits #1 on the singles chart. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | The Ruthless People soundtrack enters the album chart. It features the Billy Joel hit, Modern Woman. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | After finding over $40,000 in cash and checks in his cell at the Stevenson Correctional Institute in South Carolina, “Godfather of Soul” James Brown is moved to a cell with tighter security. |
| 36 | years ago | 1990 | Singer Vicki Carr helps dedicate the Nixon Presidential Library, singing in front of all four living presidents (Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush). She had performed for each of them at the White House during their terms. |
| 35 | years ago | 1991 | Former Guns n' Roses drummer Steven Adler files a lawsuit against the band. He claims the other members had forced him to use heroin, then made him quit the band while he tried to kick his drug habit. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | Elvis Presley's former doctor, Dr. George Nichopoulous, loses his medical license for being “too liberal” in prescribing addictive drugs. |
| 25 | years ago | 2001 | Judy Clay dies after a car accident at age 62. She worked backing artists like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Donny Hathaway, and Wilson Pickett. She also sang in a duo with Billy Vera. |
| 24 | years ago | 2002 | Movin' Out, a stage musical dedicated to the songs of Billy Joel, premieres in Chicago. |
| 22 | years ago | 2004 | James Lowe and Mark Tulin of the Electric Prunes, famous for their 1967 garage-psych hit I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night, sue their former label and publishing company for over one million dollars in unpaid royalties. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Beyonce Knowles and her mother Tina are sued for $1.5 million by a former business associate who claims they neglected to compensate him for securing a $15 million deal involving their House of Dereon clothing line. |
| 19 | years ago | 2007 | At a fashion shoot for OK! Magazine, Britney Spears watches her Yorkshire terrier puppy poop on a $6,700 designer gown. |
| 14 | years ago | 2012 | The Who announces it will end its tour next February 26 in Providence, Rhode Island, where one of their concerts was cancelled in 1979 by the Providence Mayor, who was concerned about safety. 11 people died in a stampede at a Who concert earlier in Cincinnatti. The band says it will honor any tickets for the 1979 show, when the highest ticket price was $14. Tickets for the 2013 show range from $57.50 to $127.50. |
| 13 | years ago | 2013 | Pearl Jam plays a sold-out show at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the first American stop touring behind their 10th studio album, Lightning Bolt. Seven songs in, the show is delayed by... lightning. After midnight, the band returns to the stage and plays a rousing set, as the place is still packed. |