1980 The Ants of Adam & The Ants leave to join Bow Wow Wow, whose manager, the punk godfather Malcolm McLaren, presents the offer. Adam Ant had paid McLaren £1000 for musical advice, for which he learned about African beats, but lost his band, which he quickly replaced.
1976 Diana Ross's "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" hits #1 in America.
1970 Dr. Robert Moog unveils the "minimoog" synthesizer, one of the first portable synth keyboards, at a price of $2,000. The American Federation of Musicians at first opposes the instrument, fearing its "realistic" settings will put horn and string sections out of work. The minimoog becomes the first synth to go on tour with rock bands.
1970 Doo-wop singer James "Shep" Sheppard (of Shep & the Limelites, The Heartbeats), age 35, is found dead in his car along the Long Island Expressway, the victim of an apparent robbery.
1969 Jethro Tull play their first American show, opening for Blood, Sweat & Tears at New York's Fillmore East.
1962 The Beatles sign their first and only management contract with Brian Epstein at the manager's offices at 12 Whitechapel St. in Liverpool. Epstein is to receive a full one-quarter of the band's earnings, yet to prove his worth, he does not sign the contract until the following October.
1961 Mel Blanc, who was the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and many other cartoon favorites, gets in a horrible car accident on a stretch of road in Los Angeles known as "Dead Man's Curve." Hearing the news, Roger Christian is inspired to write a song about the treacherous turn.
1958 Jools Holland (original keyboardist for Squeeze) is born in Blackheath, London, England.
1957 Elvis Presley records "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear."
1953 Pop singer-songwriter Matthew Wilder is born Matthew Weiner in Manhattan, New York.
1949 John Belushi is born in Chicago. He is one of the original cast members on Saturday Night Live and forms The Blues Brothers with fellow SNL star Dan Aykroyd.
1941 Aaron Neville, vocalist with the Neville Brothers, is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He also finds success as a solo artist, and sings on the hit duet "Don't Know Much" with Linda Ronstadt.
1939 Ray Stevens is born Harold Ray Ragsdale in Clarkdale, Georgia.
1936 Country singer/musician Doug Kershaw is born in Tiel Ridge in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
1936 Canadian rock 'n roll singer Jack Scott is born Giovanni Domenico Scafone, Jr. in Windsor, Ontario.
Aretha Franklin records her first Top 10 pop hit, "(I Never Loved A Man) The Way That I Love You," at a tumultuous session at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama where her husband gets into an altercation with one of the musicians.
Read more2018 Elton John announces his retirement from touring, ending with a five-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.More
2005 The second Britney Spears album, Oops!... I Did It Again, is certified Diamond for sales of over 10 million in America, making her the only female artist to reach this milestone with her first two albums.
1998 The Titanic soundtrack goes to #1 in America, replacing Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love. Both albums contain the hit song from the movie, "My Heart Will Go On."
1982 The Super Bowl is held in Pontiac, Michigan, so the halftime show is a salute to Motown. Diana Ross sings the national anthem.
1962 "The Twist" craze peaks, with a re-released version of Chubby Checker's song at #1 for the last time.
1961 Bob Dylan arrives in New York after dropping out of the University of Minnesota. He immediately gets to work, playing a show at the club Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village.
1947 Warren Zevon is born in Chicago, Illinois. He tours as a keyboardist with The Everly Brothers in the '70s while attempting to kickstart a solo career. He gets a boost when Linda Ronstadt begins recording several of his tunes.
1941 Neil Diamond (yep, that's his real name) is born in Brooklyn, New York.
©2024 Songfacts®, LLC