30 DECEMBER
In Music History
1945 Davy Jones (of The Monkees) is born in Manchester, England.
1942 Michael Nesmith (of The Monkees) is born Robert Michael Nesmith in Houston, Texas.
1940 Perry Ford, of The Ivy League, is born Brian Pugh in Lincoln, England. The vocal trio, made up of session singers, was first heard on The Who's 1965 hit "I Can't Explain."
1939 Felix Pappalardi (bassist, vocalist for Mountain) is born in the Bronx, New York.
1937 John Hartford - bluegrass, folk and country musician - is born John Harford in New York City, New York. On the advice of record producer Chet Atkins, he would add the 't' to his name.
1937 Folk singer-songwriter Noel "Paul" Stookey (of Peter, Paul and Mary) is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
1934 Del Shannon of "Runaway" fame is born Charles Weedon Westover in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1931 Country singer Skeeter Davis, known for the 1962 crossover hit "The End of the World," is born Mary Frances Penick in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. She performs as part of the duo The Davis Sisters in the '40s before going solo in the '50s.
1865 The author, journalist and poet Rudyard Kipling is born in Bombay, Imperial India. The Joni Mitchell song "If" is based on his poem of the same name.
1536 Italian lutenist/composer Alessandro Piccinini is born in Bologna.
30 DECEMBER
Featured Events
2011 Russell Brand files to divorce Katy Perry, citing irreconcilable differences. According to Perry, she finds out the next day when he texts her the news.
2004 Levon Helm of The Band sues the ad agency BBDO for using the song "The Weight" in a commercial without his permission.More
1999 George Harrison is nearly killed when the mentally disturbed Michael Abram breaks into his home and stabs him in the chest. Harrison's wife, Olivia, saves her husband by attacking Abram with a poker and a table lamp. George suffers a collapsed lung, but survives.
1986 Ellie Goulding is born in Herefordshire, England.
1967 The Beatles' "Hello Goodbye" becomes their 15th #1 single in the US.
1942 Frank Sinatra performs as a solo act for the first time, playing to a crowd of screaming teenage girls at the Paramount Theater in New York City.
1928 R&B and rock 'n roll icon Bo Diddley is born Ellas Otha Bates in McComb, Mississippi. He grows up on the South Side of Chicago, where he and his friends perform music on street corners.
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