1966 Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band play their first gig, performing at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.
1966 When John Entwistle and Keith Moon are late for a Who show at the Rikki Tik club in Newbury, England, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey go on with the opening act as their rhythm section. Entwistle and Moon show up halfway through, and after the show Moon announces that he and Entwistle are leaving to form a duo. All is well a week later when they patch things up.
1965 The Rolling Stones debut "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on the American variety show Shindig! They make sure one of their musical heroes, Howlin' Wolf, is also on the show and introduce his performance of "How Many More Years."
1964 The Drifters' lead singer Rudy Lewis is found dead on the morning the group is scheduled to record "Under The Boardwalk." He is replaced by Johnny Moore, who was with a previous incarnation of the group, who sings lead on the song the next day. Lewis' death is widely reported as a drug overdose, although this is never confirmed by a medical authority.
1961 Haircut 100 lead singer Nick Heyward is born in Beckenham, Kent, England.
1959 Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills) is born in Canton, Ohio, the youngest member and only daughter of the Cowsill family.
1958 Jane Wiedlin (rhythm guitarist of The Go-Go's) is born in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
1955 Steve George (keyboardist for Mr. Mister) is born in Phoenix, Arizona.
1954 Jimmy Henderson (guitarist for Black Oak Arkansas) is born in Mississippi.
1944 Joe Cocker is born John Robert Cocker in Sheffield, England.
1942 Pop singer Jill Jackson (of Paul & Paula) is born in McCartney, Texas.
1941 Harry James records "You Made Me Love You."
1940 Soul singer Shorty Long, known for the 1968 hit "Here Comes The Judge," is born Frederick Earl Long in Birmingham, Alabama.
1925 Vic Ames, pop singer of the '40s and '50s (The Ames Brothers), is born in Malden, Massachusetts.
1920 Montreal Canada's XWA broadcasts the first scheduled radio program in North America.
The Finnish band Lordi win the Eurovision Song Contest - the first heavy metal band ever to do so.
Read more2017 Toby Keith performs to an all-male audience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in one of the first concerts in the city since a ban on public performance of music was relaxed after more than 25 years.
2012 Lady Gaga appears on The Simpsons, where she tries to help Lisa improve her social standing in the episode "Lisa Goes Gaga."
1989 Paula Abdul notches her second #1 US hit with "Forever Your Girl," the title track to her debut album. The song is written by Oliver Leiber, son of Jerry Leiber of the Leiber & Stoller songwriting team.
1981 Alice Cooper and his wife Sheryl have their first child, a daughter named Calico. Their next two kids also have creative names: Dash and Sonora.
1967 Because of the line, "I'd love to turn you on," the BBC bans The Beatles song "A Day In The Life," claiming it may promote drug use.
1954 Bill Haley and His Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" is released for the first time. It stalls on the charts, but becomes a hit a year later when it is used in the movie Blackboard Jungle.
1946 Cher is born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California. She first records as "Bonnie Jo Mason," and then "Cherilyn." Teaming up with Sonny Bono in 1964, they record as "Caesar and Cleo," before changing it to "Sonny and Cher" the next year. When they hit it big with "I Got You Babe," she sticks with Cher.
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