28 DECEMBER
In Music History
1947 Dick Diamonde (bass guitarist for The Easybeats) is born Dingeman Adriaan Henry van der Sluijs in Hilversum, the Netherlands.
1946 Edgar Winter is born in Beaumont, Texas.
1943 Chas Hodges of the duo Chas & Dave is born in North Middlesex Hospital, Edmonton.
1937 French composer Maurice Ravel dies in Paris aged 62.
1932 Rockabilly singer Dorsey Burnette (of Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio) is born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1921 Johnny Otis is born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes in Vallejo, California. A singer and songwriter in his own right, he also works as a talent scout and discovers several artists, including Etta James and "Hound Dog" singer Big Mama Thornton.
1914 Roebuck "Pops" Staples (The Staple Singers) is born on a cotton plantation near Winona, Mississippi.
1910 Billy Williams is born Wilfred Williams in Waco, Texas. He has a hit cover of Fats Waller's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" in 1957.
1903 Jazz pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines is born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania.
Florida Hosts The First Major East Coast Rock Festival
1968Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, Steppenwolf and the Grateful Dead, land in Hallandale, Florida's Gulfstream Park to entertain 100,000 fans at Miami Pop Festival II, the East Coast's first major rock festival.
Read more28 DECEMBER
Featured Events
2015 Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister dies of cancer. He got the diagnosis two days after turning 70, and died two days later.
2003 Out on bail and awaiting trial on charges he molested a teenage boy, Michael Jackson proclaims his innocence on 60 Minutes, telling Ed Bradley, "I was outraged. I could never do something like that."
1993 Shania Twain and superproducer Mutt Lange get married. In 2001, they have a son named Eja, but divorce in 2010 after Lange takes up with Twain's best friend.
1983 Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys dies after diving into very cold water from a boat slip in Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles.
1968 The Beatles' ninth studio album, The Beatles (aka The White Album), hits #1 in America.
1963 Merle Haggard makes his first appearance on the country chart with "Sing A Sad Song," which peaks at #19.
1960 The Connie Francis movie Where The Boys Are is released. The movie - risqué for its time - is about four college girls on Spring Break. It leads to a whole genre of Spring Break movies and popularizes Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where it was shot, as the destination of choice.
1944 Leonard Bernstein scores his first big hit when his musical On The Town, featuring the song "New York, New York," opens on Broadway.
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