16 DECEMBER
In Music History
1981 Ray Charles receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1971 Michael McCary (original bass singer for Boyz II Men) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1971 Frank Zappa's film 200 Motels premieres in London.
1968 Christopher Thorn (rhythm guitarist for Blind Melon) is born in Dover, Pennsylvania.
1967 The Rolling Stones announce that they have signed Mick Jagger's girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull as the first act on their new Mother Earth record label.
1965 Peter & Gordon record "Woman."
1961 Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee welcome their first an only child, a son named Dodd Mitchell Darin.
1957 Elvis Presley's Elvis' Christmas Album, which includes his cover of "White Christmas," hits #1 in America. It goes on to become the best-selling holiday album of all time.
1957 Pat Boone's "April Love" hits #1 in the US for the first of six weeks. The song is from the movie of the same name starring Boone and Shirley Jones.
1954 Bill Hayes records "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."
1949 Billy Gibbons (guitarist, lead vocalist of ZZ Top) is born in Houston, Texas.
1946 Benny Andersson (of ABBA) is born in Vällingby, Sweden.
1945 Tony Hicks (of The Hollies) is born in Nelson, Lancashire, England.
1931 Karl Denver is born in Springburn, Glasgow, Scotland. He lands several '60s-era hits on the UK pop chart with his signature falsetto yodeling.
1899 Noël Coward is born in the Teddington suburb of London, England.
"Hey Joe" Released As First Hendrix Single
1966The first Jimi Hendrix single is released: "Hey Joe." The song is about a guy shoots his "old lady" after catching her cheating.
Read more16 DECEMBER
Featured Events
2007 Dan Fogelberg dies of prostate cancer at age 56. Emerging out of the '70s soft rock scene, the singer-songwriter made his mark with sensitive records like "Leader Of The Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne."
2003 Shania Twain becomes the first woman with three Diamond albums when the RIAA certifies her fourth album, Up!, with 10 million in sales. Her second and third albums, The Woman in Me (1995) and Come On Over (1997) also went Diamond.
2000 Eminem lands his second UK #1 when "Stan" tops the chart. The song, which tells the story of a deranged, obsessive fan, samples the lilting Dido song "Thank You," giving her a huge boost in America.More
1993 Nirvana's Unplugged concert airs on MTV. A rare look at the band in an acoustic setting, it is one of Kurt Cobain's last performances, as he is found dead less than four months later.
1983 Pete Townshend issues a statement announcing he's leaving The Who, not surprising considering they called their last shows in 1982 their "Farewell Tour." It's far from the end, as they reunite for a seemingly unending series of "reunions," starting with Live-Aid in 1985.
1972 "Me and Mrs. Jones," a song about a man cheating on his wife, knocks Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" out of the top spot on the Hot 100.
1969 At the Fillmore West in San Francisco, Keith Emerson's band The Nice shares a bill with Greg Lake's band, King Crimson. The pair enjoy a jam session before the show and discuss a partnership, which with the addition of Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster, becomes Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
1770 Ludwig van Beethoven is born in Bonn, Germany.
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