21 JANUARY
In Music History
1979 Nokio the N-Tity (of the R&B group Dru Hill) is born Tamir Mateen Raheem Hameed Ruffin in Baltimore, Maryland.
1979 Lynyrd Skynyrd reunite at the Volunteer Jam in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the first time the band have played since the 1977 plane crash that killed three of their members. Lynyrd Skynyrd perform an instrumental version of "Free Bird" alongside The Charlie Daniels Band.
1976 Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice" of Spice Girls) is born in Finchley, North London.
1974 Bob Dylan meets future president Jimmy Carter at a gathering in Georgia, where Carter is serving as governor. "Carter has his heart in the right place," Dylan would later say. "He has a sense of who he is."
1965 The Animals are forced to cancel a show at New York City's famous Apollo Theater after US Immigration officials force the group to leave the country.
1959 The Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley" is certified Gold.
1957 Filming begins on Elvis Presley's second movie, Loving You.
1957 An unknown singer named Patsy Cline wins on CBS' Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts program with a rendition of the song "Walking After Midnight."
1956 Rob Brill (drummer for Berlin) is born in California.
1950 Billy Ocean is born Leslie Sebastian Charles in Trinidad and Tobago. At age 10 he moves to London with his family. He first charts in 1976 with "Love Really Hurts Without You," but he really breaks through with "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)" in 1984, kicking off a run of hits that includes "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" and "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going."
1945 Peter Kircher (drummer for Status Quo) is born in Folkestone, Kent, England.
1944 Chris Britton (lead guitarist for The Troggs) is born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England.
1942 Count Basie records "One O'Clock Jump."
1942 Motown singer Edwin Starr is born Charles Edwin Hatcher in Nashville, Tennessee, but grows up in Cleveland, Ohio.
1942 Country singer-songwriter Mac Davis is born in Lubbock, Texas. He writes "In The Ghetto" and "A Little Less Conversation" for Elvis Presley.
Hippies Gather At The Trips Festival
1966The first Trips Festival, a three-day event, begins at the Longshoreman's Hall in San Francisco. It's a landmark event in the evolution of psychedelic music.
Read more21 JANUARY
Featured Events
2020 Ever the trendsetter, Dolly Parton creates a viral meme that shows off four sides of her personality, as represented by LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Tinder. Celebrities like Oprah, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Garner, and Miley Cyrus join in on the fun with their own versions.More
1997 Pat Boone releases the album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, where he covers various hard rock classics, including "Stairway To Heaven," "Enter Sandman" and "Crazy Train."More
1987 The Second Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are held in New York City. Inductees include The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, B.B. King, Clyde McPhatter, Rick Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson, Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters, and Jackie Wilson.
1984 "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" by Yes goes to #1 in America, an uncharacteristic hit for the prog-rockers and their only Top 10.
1978 The soundtrack album to Saturday Night Fever hits #1 in the US and stays there for an astonishing 24 weeks.
1966 George Harrison marries Pattie Boyd in Surrey, England, with Paul McCartney as best man. The couple met on the set of The Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night. Eric Clapton would later fall in love with Pattie, inspiring the song "Layla."
1938 Lupine disc jockey Wolfman Jack is born Robert Weston Smith in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1960s he blasts rock 'n roll to the masses from a high-powered border blaster signal at XERF-AM in Mexico.
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