3 JUNE
In Music History
1968 Saffron (lead singer of Republica) is born Samantha Marie Sprackling is born in Lagos, Nigeria.
1967 It's a very trippy episode of American Bandstand, with Jefferson Airplane performing "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit."
1965 Mike Gordon (bass guitarist for Phish) is born in Sudbury, Massachusetts.
1964 The Rolling Stones perform for the first time on American TV when they're guests on a variety show called Hollywood Palace, which is hosted that week by Dean Martin. They play their cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," and endure ridicule from Martin, who quips, "Their hair is not that long - it's just smaller foreheads."
1964 During a photo shoot for The Saturday Evening Post, an exhausted Ringo Starr collapses and is rushed to the hospital, where he is diagnosed with tonsillitis and pharyngitis. Jimmy Nicol replaces him on the Beatles tour.
1964 Slayer guitarist Kerry King is born in Los Angeles, California.
1962 David Cole (of C and C Music Factory) is born in Johnson City, Tennessee.
1959 Billboard magazine responds to the growing popularity of stereophonic recordings by splitting its album chart in two: one chart for mono, one for stereo.
1957 Pat Boone's "Love Letters In The Sand" hits #1 on the US Top 100 and stays for seven weeks. Boone would have two of the Top 5 songs of 1957 ("April Love" is the other), while Elvis has the other three.
1957 The Isley Brothers release "Angels Cried."
1956 Danny Wilde (of The Rembrandts) is born Daniel Thomas in Houlton, Maine.
1955 Buddy Holly opens for Elvis Presley at a matinee concert in Lubbock, Texas. After the show, they sign autographs in a promotional appearance at the Johnson-Connelley Pontiac car dealership.
1954 Dan Hill, known for the 1977 ballad "Sometimes When We Touch," is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1953 Florence Beatrice Price, the first African American composer to have a composition played by a major orchestra, dies of a stroke at age 66.
1952 Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell is born in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Bill Clinton Plays Sax On Arsenio
1992Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, campaigning for US president, makes a whistle stop on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he plays the Elvis Presley hit "Heartbreak Hotel" on the saxophone to a cheering, youthful audience. The appearance is later seen as the definitive moment when Clinton captured the trust and support of young voters, and locked the election on charisma points.
Read more3 JUNE
Featured Events
2019 Forbes declares Jay-Z a billionaire, making him the first rapper to hit that mark. $310 million of his fortune comes from his stake in Armand de Brignac champagne.
2007 During a gig in New York, a fan throws something at Akon during his set. The singer brings the offender on stage, picks him up and hurls him into the crowd.More
1991 In an effort to pay off his tax debt, Willie Nelson releases Who'll Buy My Memories: The IRS Tapes. Available by mail order at (800) IRS-TAPE, it's part of a deal Nelson made with the IRS to help reconcile his whopping $32 million tax bill.
1972 The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" hits #1 as the group makes a successful transition from gospel to secular music.
1970 With the BBC refusing to air The Kinks' new single "Lola" because of its reference to "Coca-Cola" (brand names being a no-no for the corporation), lead singer Ray Davies flies all the way from London to New York to re-record the line as "Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola."More
1967 "It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day," as Billie Joe McAllister jumps off the Tallahatchee Bridge, according to the Bobbie Gentry song "Ode To Billie Joe."
1967 Aretha Franklin's "Respect" hits #1 in America. The song was written and originally recorded by Otis Redding, whose version hit #35 in 1965.
1967 The Doors release a truncated version of "Light My Fire" as a single, trimming it from an album-awesome 6:50 to a radio-friendly 2:52. The group's first single, "Break On Through," didn't, but "Light My Fire" ignites, going to #1 and becoming their most famous song.
1950 Suzi Quatro is born in Detroit. She makes her musical mark in England, where she moves in 1971 after Mickie Most signs her to his label. In America, she's best known for her role as Leather Tuscadero on the TV series Happy Days.
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