12 MAY
In Music History
1950 Rocker Billy Squier is born in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
1948 Steve Winwood (of Traffic, Blind Faith and The Spencer Davis Group) is born in Handsworth, Birmingham, England.
1945 Ian McLagan (keyboardist for The Small Faces, The Faces) is born in Hounslow, Middlesex, England.
1944 R&B singer James Purify (of James & Bobby Purify) is born in Pensacola, Florida.
1942 Ian Dury (Kilburn and the High-Roads, Ian Dury & the Blockheads) is born in England.
1942 Country singer Billy Swan is born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
1940 Motown songwriter Norman Whitfield is born in Harlem, New York City.
1884 Czech composer Bedrich Smetana dies at age 60.
Astronaut Plays "Space Oddity" In Space
2013After the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield records the David Bowie song "Space Oddity" on board the International Space Station, his sublime rendition is posted to YouTube, quickly garnering millions of views.
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Featured Events
2000 Following the launch of Metallica's legal case against the popular online file-sharing service Napster, Chuck D of Public Enemy and Lars Ulrich of Metallica appear on The Charlie Rose Show, where they debate whether MP3 downloading is a vehicle for piracy or a return of power to the people.More
1984 Lionel Richie's "Hello," a song inspired by his younger years when he was too shy to talk to the ladies, goes to #1 in America.
1977 The Sex Pistols sign with Virgin Records for £15,000 after being dropped by both EMI and A&M. This one takes, and Virgin issues their landmark album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. "I've always liked Richard Branson because, pompous rich t--t that he is, he has a great sense of rebelliousness," lead singer Johnny Rotten says.
1972 The Rolling Stones release Exile On Main Street, a landmark double album recorded primarily at a villa in France, where the group is living to avoid British taxes (they are "tax exiles," thus the album name).
1967 The first Jimi Hendrix album, Are You Experienced?, is released. Songs include "Foxy Lady," "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze."
1963 Bob Dylan refuses to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show when they won't let him play "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues."More
1929 Burt Bacharach is born in Kansas City, Missouri.More
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