1968 Motown sues their most prolific songwriting team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, for their refusal to write more songs until their royalty rate is increased. The trio are eventually released from the label and go on to start their own Invictus and Hot Wax labels.
1967 Bluegrass singer-songwriter Gillian Welch is born in New York City. She grows up in Los Angeles, where her adoptive parents, Ken and Mitzie Welch, write music for The Carol Burnett Show.
1967 The entire Grateful Dead are arrested for marijuana possession in San Francisco.
1967 Bud Gaugh (drummer for Sublime) is born Floyd I. Gaugh IV in Long Beach, California.
1965 "Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys hits #1 in America. The song was originally released the previous year as "My Girl Sloopy" by the R&B group The Vibrations. That version went to #26.
1962 Sigtryggur Baldursson (drummer for The Sugarcubes) is born in Norway to Icelandic parents.
1962 The Cookies release "Chains."
1961 The Crystals release "There's No Other Like My Baby."
1961 Ben Casey (with would-be singer Vince Everett) premieres on ABC-TV (running 5 seasons).
1960 Pop singer/songwriter Robbie Nevil is born in Los Angeles, California. Known for the 1986 hit "C'est La Vie."
1959 The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS-TV. The original orchestral opening used throughout Season One was composed by Bernard Herrmann, and was later replaced by the now-iconic theme from French composer Marius Constant.
1956 Soul singer Freddie Jackson is born in Harlem, New York. Known for the 1985 hit "Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)," among others.
1955 Philip Oakey (frontman for The Human League) is born in Oadby, Leicestershire, England.
1950 Rocker Mike Rutherford (of Genesis) is born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.
1945 Don McLean is born in New Rochelle, New York.
Tom Petty, 66, goes into cardiac arrest at his Malibu home. He is taken to UCLA medical center, but cannot be revived. Later that night, after his friends and family gather, he is taken off life support.
Read more2011 Louis Tomlinson of One Direction sends a tweet to his bandmate Harry Styles that becomes the second-most-retweeted in history.More
2002 Return of the King: 25 years after his death, Elvis Presley has a #1 album in 17 countries - including the United States - when Elv1s 30 No. 1 Hits makes its debut.
1995 (What's the Story?) Morning Glory is released and makes worldwide stars of the British rock band Oasis. The epic "Champagne Supernova" - exclusively released as a single in the US - reaches #1 on the Modern Rock chart.
1982 "Jack And Diane," a little ditty about two American kids growin' up in the heartland, hits #1 in America. It's the first and only #1 on the tally for John Cougar, who later reverts to his real name, John Mellencamp.
1954 Elvis Presley makes his one and only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, where he sings "Blue Moon Of Kentucky." It doesn't go over well with the crowd, which does not approve of his take on traditional country music. The Opry's talent director, Jim Denny, reportedly tells Presley he should go back to driving a truck. Elvis swears never to return.
1951 Sting is born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner in Wallsend, Northumberland, England. He earns his nickname when a fellow musician says he looks like a bee in his yellow-and-black striped sweater. He is working as a schoolteacher when his band The Police hit the big time.More
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