1957 Shirley Bassey is held hostage at gunpoint in a London hotel by a deranged man who enters as she is approving dresses for her tour. After a three-hour standoff with police, he releases the singer.
1956 Ian Craig Marsh (keyboardist for The Human League) is born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England.
1953 Singer-songwriter Marshall Crenshaw is born in Detroit Michigan, but will grow up in nearby Berkley, Michigan.
1953 Andy Partridge (guitarist, songwriter for XTC) is born in Mtarfa, Malta, but will be raised in Swindon, Wiltshire, England.
1952 Paul Cowsill (of The Cowsills) is born in Portsmouth, Virginia.
1950 Jim Peterik is born in Berwyn, Illinois. He fronts The Ides of March and later joins Survivor, co-writing their hit "Eye of the Tiger."
1947 Pat "Dirty" Daugherty (bass guitarist, vocalist for Black Oak Arkansas) is born in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
1945 Chris Dreja (rhythm guitarist, bassist for The Yardbirds) is born in Surbiton, England.
1945 Vince Martell, guitarist for Vanilla Fudge (known for their cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On"), is born Vincent James Martellucci in New York City.
1944 Frank Sinatra, boy singer for the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey big bands, signs with Columbia as a solo recording artist.
1943 Mac Kissoon (of Mac and Katie Kissoon) is born Gerald Farthing in Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies.
1940 Guitarist Dennis Coffey is born in Detroit, Michigan. A Motown alum, he is known for the Funk instrumental hit "Scorpio."
1938 Roger Lavern (keyboardist for The Tornados) is born in Kidderminster, England.
1929 Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy record "Froggy Bottom."
1929 R&B singer LaVern Baker is born Delores LaVern Baker in Chicago, Illinois. Known for '50s and '60s hits like "Tweedlee Dee," "Jim Dandy," and "I Cried a Tear."
Per Michael Jackson's wishes, one week before his controversial "Black Or White" music video airs, a memo circulates at MTV instructing the network's on-air personnel to refer to Jackson as the King of Pop at least twice a week during the next two weeks.
Read more2008 Eighteen-year-old Taylor Swift releases her second album, Fearless, which goes on to sell over 10 million copies in America. Standout tracks include "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me."
1994 Christie's auction house in New York City holds their first-ever auction of rock memorabilia, including The Beach Boys' guitars, a stage outfit worn by Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon's famous Army fatigues.
1986 David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright announce they are working on a new Pink Floyd album despite a lawsuit from original member Roger Waters trying to retire the group. The album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, is issued the following year; soon after, the lawsuit is settled.
1982 Prince begins his 1999 tour with a show in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The opening acts are two groups he put together in Minneapolis: The Time and Vanity 6.
1972 Berry Oakley (bassist for The Allman Brothers Band) dies at age 24 after a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia, just three blocks from the site of Duane Allman's fatal motorcycle crash a year earlier.
1970 Bob Dylan publishes his first novel, a poorly received stream-of-consciousness work called Tarantula.
1968 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release the album Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins with a cover photo of the pair naked. Many record stores stock it in a brown paper wrapper.More
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