1928 Mary Ford (Coleen Summers) born in Wisconsin. US Singer, Mary & her former husband Les Paul had several hits in the 50’s. (1953 UK No.7 single with Les Paul, ‘Vaya Con Dios’). Ford died from cancer on 30th September 1977.
1932 Reg Lindsay born in the Sydney suburb of Waverley. Australian country music singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and radio and television personality. He won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than five hundred songs in his fifty-year music career. In 1989 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to Australian music. He was best known for his song Armstrong, a tribute to the historic 1969 moon landing by American astronauts, particularly Neil Armstrong, which is now included in a time capsule at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The song was written by John Stewart, a member of The Kingston Trio, and gave Reg his first major hit, reaching No. 8 on the Australian Singles Chart in 1971. Also well known for July You’re A Woman, Silence on the Line and Empty Arms Hotel, he recorded over 60 albums, six of which went gold. Reg was well known for his support of numerous charities and appeared on many TV telethons to help raise money for various community organisations. He died of pneumonia on 5 August 2008 at Newcastle, New South Wales. Coincidentally, this date is also the birthday of the subject of his most famous song: Neil Armstrong.
1932 Joe Zawinul born in Vienna, Austria. pianist, Miles Davis band, Weather Report, (1976 single ‘Birdland’, 1977 album Heavy Weather’).He died a little from a rare form of skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma) on September 11, 2007 September 11th 2007.
1933 J.J. Barrie born in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. US singer, one hit wonder with 1976 UK No.1 single ‘No Charge’.
1936 Tommy Dee born in Vicker, Virginia. He was a San Bernadino disc jockey who wrote and performed “Three Stars”, a tribute song to the air tragedy that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson on February 3, 1959. He went on to become a country music producer, promoter and record executive. He died in Nashville, TN on January 26, 2007.
1940 Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) born in Liverpool, England. Drummer/Vocals with The Beatles. Sang lead vocals on one track on most Beatles albums, (The Beatles scored 21 US No.1 & 17 UK No.1 singles). Solo (1974 US No.1 & UK No.4 single ‘You’re Sixteen’ plus 9 other US Top 40 hits). Ringo Starr and his all Star Band, (featuring; Howard Jones, Ian Hunter, Peter Frampton, Greg Lake).
1944 Warren Entner born in Boston, Massachusetts. American singer, songwriter, organist and guitarist for the rock and roll band, The Grass Roots. He then became a manager for several successful heavy metal/rock groups. (1968 US No.5 single ‘Midnight Confessions’, plus 13 other US Top 40 singles).
1945 Jim Rodford born in St. Albans, Herts, England. UK Bass Player with Argent. From 1978 with the Kinks. Rodford played in the Animals II for two years, leaving to join the reformation of the Zombies in 2001. He also works with a group of former Kinks members, in the Kast Off Kinks. (1972 UK No.5 single ‘Hold Your Head Up’).
1947 Peter Banks born in England. Guitarist, Yes, (1968-70), Flash. Banks died of heart failure on 7 March 2013 at his home in Barnet, London. He was reportedly found after failing to show up for a scheduled recording session. He was 65.
1950 David Hodo born in born in Palo Alto, California.American singer who performed the construction worker character in the group the Village People from 1978-2013. (1978 US No.2 & 1979 UK No.1 single ‘YMCA’).
1950 Johnny Cash joins the US Air Force.
1954 Elvis Presley recording was played on radio for the first time by Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips who aired ‘That’s All Right Mama on WHBG.
1956 Elvis Presley’s 18th film, Tickle Me, opens in the US.
1957 Elvis Presley scored his first UK No.1 with ‘All Shook Up’, (his tenth UK single release). It stayed at No.1 for seven weeks.
1956 Johnny Cash makes his first appearance on the Grand Old Opry show in Nashville.
1956 The Platters release “My Prayer.” in the US.
1956 A riot breaks out at a Fats Dominoconcert in San Jose, California, with twelve injured.
1962 Clive Jackson born in Knotty Ash, Liverpool. UK Singer/Guitarist with Doctor And The Medics, (1986 UK No.1 single ‘Spirit In The Sky’).
1962 Mark White born in Queens, New York. Bass Guitarist with The Spin Doctors
1962 David Rose and his Orchestra went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Stripper’.
1962 The Beatles played at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, in Birkenhead. The show was a dance for the local golf club, the capacity of the hall was 450, but 500 people squeezed in to hear and see The Beatles.
1963 Vonda Shepard born in New York. US singer, songwriter, (1998 UK No.10 single ‘Searchin’ My Soul’, featured in TV show Ally McBeal).
1963 The Rolling Stones made their UK TV debut when they appeared on ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars.’ Also appearing on the show was, Mickie Most, The Cadets, Helen Shapiro and Gordon Mills. The group made a total of 13 appearances on the show between 1963 and 1966.
1964 The Animals were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The House Of The Rising Sun.’
1966 The Kinks were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Sunny Afternoon’, the group’s third and last UK No.1.
1968 The Yardbirds disband immediately after a gig in Luton, England. Jimmy Page begins forming what will become Led Zeppelin.
1968 Elvis Presley releases “Charro.” in the US.
1968 The folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary appear as the “mystery guest” on CBS-TV’s What’s My Line?
1969 George Harrison recorded his new song ‘Here Comes the Sun’ with just two other Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Abbey Road in London. John Lennon was absent recovering from a car crash in Scotland.
1971 26-year-old pop star Bjorn Ulvaeus and 21-year-old Agnetha Faltskog married in Verum, Sweden. 3000 ABBA fans arrived and in the chaos a police horse stepped on the brides foot, causing her slight injury.
1971 Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA are married in Verum, Sweden (it lasts eight years).
1973 Billy Preston started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Will It Go Round In Circles’, his first of two US chart toppers.
1975 The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards is arrested in Arkansas for reckless driving and firearm possession.
1977 Styx tie in with the date (7-7-77) by releasing their 7th album in the US, The Grand Illusion.
1978 The Grateful Dead played the first of four nights at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.
1980 Led Zeppelin played their last-ever concert when they appeared at Eissporthalle, West Berlin at the end of a European tour. The set included: ‘Black Dog’, ‘The Rain Song’, ‘Hot Dog’, ‘All My Love’, ‘Trampled Under Foot’, ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, ‘Kashmir’, ‘Stairway To Heaven’ and ‘Rock And Roll’. They finished the show with a 17-minute version of ‘Whole Lotta Love’.
1981 Synyster Gates (Brian Elwin Haner, Jr.), American guitarist, songwriter of Avenged Sevenfold, who had the 2010 US No.1 album Nightmare and the 2013 US No.1 album Hail to the King.
1984 Bruce Springsteen went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Born In The USA’. It went on to spend a total of 139 weeks on the chart. Including Dancing In The Dark, Glory Days, Cover Me, I’m On Fire & My Hometown.
1984 Prince started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘When Doves Cry’, his first US No.1 which went on to sell over 2 million copies, it made No. 4 in the UK.
1988 Ilan Rubin, drummer, Lostprophets, (2006 UK No.1 album ‘Liberation Transmission’).
1989 It was announced that for the first time compact discs were out selling vinyl albums. This week’s UK No.1 album was ‘Emergency On Planet Earth’ by Jamiroquai.
1990 The Rolling Stones played the last of three sold out nights at Wembley Stadium, London as part of the bands ‘Urban Jungle’ tour.
1992 Spinal Tap cap their reunion tour with a sold-out show at Royal Albert Hall in London.
1993 Mia Zapata (lead singer of The Gits), age 27, is murdered after being accosted by a stranger outside of Seattle’s Comet Tavern. The case goes unsolved for years until DNA evidence links the crime to Florida fisherman Jesus Mezquia in 2003, who eventually is sentenced to 36 years in prison.
1994 Ashton Irwin, drummer with 5 Seconds Of Summer who had a No.1 UK hit with ‘She Looks So Perfect’, their debut album was a US No.1 and UK No.2.
1999 It was reported that to attract young people to their mobile vans UK ice cream sellers would start to play pop hits as music instead of the traditional chimes. Spice Girls and Oasis hits would be the first to be played.
2000 Bobby Brown was released from jail. The singer was released early from the North Broward Detention Centre after receiving a 10-day reprieve for good behaviour.
2000 Eminem’s wife, Kimberly Mathers, was hospitalised after she slit her wrists following her husband’s show as part of the Up in Smoke Tour at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Also on this day, Eminem scored his first UK No. single with ‘The Real Slim Shady’, taken from his second album The Marshall Mathers LP the song was a No.4 hit in the US.
2001 Fred Neil – US Singer/Songwriter who wrote ‘Everybody’s Talkin’ – died aged 64.
2001 Stereophonics, David Gray, The Dandy Warhols, The Proclaimers, Paul Weller, Texas, Coldplay, Beck, Toploader, Ash, Starsailor, Nelly Furtado, James and Muse all appeared at this years T In The Park festival, Scotland, weekend tickets, £64.
2002 Oasis scored their fifth UK No.1 album with ‘Heathen Chemistry.’
2003 It was reported that Britney Spears had made $500.000 profit after selling her 5 bedroom home in Los Angeles. The singer had paid £1.8m for the house 2 years ago and sold for £2.3m.
2005 Members of The Hollies asked High Court judge to jail one of their founder members claiming bass player Eric Haydock had flouted a court order made in 1998 not to play under their name. Haydock formed the group in Manchester, England in the early 1960’s with Allan Clarke and Graham Nash (who left in 1966). Haydock was working in a group calling itself Eric Haydock’s Hollies.
2006 Syd Barrett died from complications arising from diabetes aged 60. The singer, songwriter, guitarist was one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, active as a rock musician for only about seven years before he went into seclusion. He joined Pink Floyd in 1965 but left three years later after one album. Barrett released two solo albums before going into self-imposed seclusion lasting more than thirty years, with his mental deterioration blamed on drugs.
2007 Ozzy Osbourne became the first artist to be honoured on Birmingham’s own Hollywood-style Walk of Fame. The singer, from Aston, told more than 1,000 fans on Broad Street that the brass paving star meant more to him that than any Hollywood accolade. Organisers named other local pop stars who could be joining Ozzy for the walk included Duran Duran, Jamelia, Robert Plant and UB40.
2007 Snow Patrol Keyboard player Tom Simpson was arrested in connection with a failed court appearance in Glasgow. He was later released and the band went on to headline the T in the Park festival in Scotland. Amy Winehouse pulled out of her slot from the event suffering from “exhaustion”.
2007 The Live Earth concerts took place around the world with The Police closing the days events in New Jersey. The concerts were organised by former US Vice-President Al Gore, as part of his campaign to “heal the planet”. Rock stars from around the world performed to hundreds of thousands of fans to highlight climate change. Concerts were held in Washington, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Shanghai and Sydney. Madonna brought London’s Live Earth concert to a close, playing a song she had written for the event. Other major acts who appeared included; Snow Patrol, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis, The Beastie Boys, James Blunt, The Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, UB40, Snoop Dogg, Enrique Iglesias, Crowded House & Joss Stone.
2009 Michael Jackson’s family and fans said farewell to the pop superstar at an emotional memorial service. The singer’s coffin was placed in front of the stage during the event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles after an earlier private funeral. Jackson’s daughter Paris, 11, fought back tears to describe him as “the best father you could ever imagine”. Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey paid tribute before the family joined a sombre finale on stage. Motown boss Berry Gordy, who signed the Jackson Five, ended his tribute with the words: “Michael, thank you for the joy, thank you for the love. You will live in my heart forever.”
2009 Lionel Richie got his first big break when The Commodores snagged 42 dates in the opening slot for The Jackson 5 in 1972. Thirty-seven years later on the same date, he performs The Commodores song “Jesus is Love” at a memorial service for the late Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
2010 Paul McCartney joined Ringo Starr onstage at a concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to help celebrate the former Beatle drummer’s 70th birthday. With Ringo’s All Starr Band joined by Yoko Ono, Joe Walsh, Angus Young and Steven Van Zandt, Paul belted out “Birthday” and Ringo delivered “With A Little Help From My Friends”.
2015 Climate scientists from five leading universities found that 163 of Bob Dylan’s542 songs reference the climate – almost a third – making him the musician most likely to mention the weather in his lyrics. The Beatles came in at number two, mentioning the weather in 48 of the 308 songs they wrote.
2017 The Official Charts Company overhauled the way it compiles the UK Top 40 in an effort to stop A-list artists elbowing newer acts out of the way. The move was prompted by Ed Sheeran, whose new album ÷ [Divide] proved so popular that it propelled 16 tracks into the top 20 in March.