1953 : Mantovani and his Orchestra were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Song From The Moulin Rouge’, (from the film of the same name). The first ever instrumental No.1 on the UK chart.

1958 : Britain’s answer to Elvis, 17 year old Cliff Richard, signed a record deal with EMI records. Also on this day Cliff Richard started a four-week residency at Butlins Holiday Camp in Clacton-On-Sea, Essex as Cliff Richard and the Drifters.

1959 : Lloyd Price’s Stagger Lee hits #1

1963 : The first ever edition of ‘Ready Steady Go! was shown on UK TV. Introduced by Keith Fordyce and 19 year-old Cathy McGowan. The first show featured The Searchers, Jet Harris, Pat Boone, Billy Fury and Brian Poole and The Tremeloes. The final show was in Dec 1966 after 175 episodes. Originally 30 minutes long, it expanded to 50 minutes the following year, and soon attracted the most popular artists, including The Beatles, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Rolling Stones, The Four Tops, The Kinks and many others.

1964 : Bob Dylan and Joan Baez share the stage for the first time, singing “With God On Our Side” at the Newport Folk Festival.

1964 : The Rolling Stones appeared at the New Elizabeth Ballroom in Belle Vue, Manchester. Two policemen fainted and another was taken to hospital with broken ribs after trying to control over 3,000 screaming teenagers.

1967 : Scott McKenzie was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair).’ The singers only UK Top 40 hit was written by John Philips of Mamas & Papas.

1967 : The Small Faces entered the singles chart with ‘Itchycoo Park’, the single peaked at No.3 in the UK chart. The song was one of the first pop singles to use flanging, an effect that can be heard in the bridge section after each chorus. Most sources credit the use of the effect to Olympic Studios engineer George Chkiantz who showed it to the Small Faces regular engineer Glyn Johns.

1967 : At England’s National Jazz and Blues Festival in Sunberry, Jerry Lee Lewis is kicked off the stage after the overenthusiastic crowd responds to his set with a near-riot.

1968 : Deep Purple, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Ten Years After, The Nice, Ginger Baker, Traffic, John Mayall, Spencer Davis, Taste, Jerry Lee Lwis and Arthur Brown all appeared at the 3 day National Jazz & Blues Festival, Kempton Park Racecourse, Sunbury On Thames, England.

1968 : After the other Beatles had gone home for the evening (2.00 am), Paul McCartney stayed behind and recorded ‘Mother Nature’s Son’, taping 25 takes at Abbey Road studios. The song was included on the ‘White Album.’

1969 : During a North American tour Led Zeppelin appeared at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Jethro Tull who opened for the band were at No.1 on the UK album chart with their second release ‘Stand Up’.

1975 : The Bee Gees started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Jive Talkin’, the group’s second US No.1 it made No.5 in the UK.

1978 : Muddy Waters performs at the Carter White House.

1980 : Abba scored their eighth UK No.1 single with ‘The Winner Takes It All’. Taken from their ‘Super Trouper’ album. By this time, both couples were divorced.

1980 : AC/DC scored their first UK No.1 album with ‘Back In Black’. It was the first AC/DC album recorded without former lead singer Bon Scott, (who died on 19 February 1980 at the age of 33), and was dedicated to him. The album has sold an estimated 49 million copies worldwide to date, making it the second highest selling album of all time, and the best selling hard rock or heavy metal album, as well as the best selling album ever released by a band.

1980 : Ten original Gerald Scarfe drawings for Pink Floyd’s album ‘The Wall’ were stolen from the foyer of Earls Court, London, England where they were being exhibited.

1985 : After the massive success of the Motown 25 TV special on NBC, the network debuts the ill-fated Motown Revue variety series, which would only run for five weeks.

1986 : 250 Gary Numan fans picketed BBC Radio 1 in London, demanding more airtime for their favorite pop star.

1986 : Queen gave what would be their last ever live performance when they appeared at Knebworth Park in England. The last two songs the band played were ‘We Are The Champions’ and ‘God Save The Queen’. Over 120,000 fans attended the show, also on the bill were Big Country, Belouis Some and Status Quo, advanced tickets cost £14.50.

1991 : The 5th Dimension are awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

1994 : During an Oasis gig at The Riverside in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, guitarist Noel Gallagher was hit in the face by a man who had jumped on the stage. Noel refused to carry on playing and after leaving the stage a mob of over 300 people attacked the bands bus as they were leaving.

1995 : Jerry Garcia guitarist and singer from The Grateful Dead died from a heart attack at the Serenity Knolls rehabilitation clinic in San Francisco aged 53. Garcia co-founded the New Riders of the Purple Sage and also released several solo albums. He was well known for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarist’s of All Time”

1995 : The original members of Kiss play together for the first time since 1980 when Peter Criss and Ace Frehley join the current band to record their MTV Unplugged special, which is later released as the album Kiss Unplugged. Not counting Ace Frehley’s 1976 wedding, it also marks the only time the original members performed without makeup. The appearance goes over so well that Criss and Frehley rejoin the band in 1996, replacing Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer. The subsequent tour becomes the top grossing tour that year.

1999 : Spice Girls manager Bob Herbert was killed in a car crash in Windsor, England. Herbert was behind the formation of The Spice Girls and Five and had managed Bros during the 80’s.

2005 : The Magic Numbers walked out of an appearance on UK music show Top of the Pops after presenter Richard Bacon said the band had been put in a “fat melting pot of talent.” The band left the studio in protest at the “derogatory, unfunny remarks”.

2005 : Marc Cohn survived being shot in the head during an attempted car jacking as he left a concert in Denver, Colorado. Cohn was struck in the temple by the bullet but it did not penetrate his skull. Police said a man tried to commandeer Cohn’s tour van as it left after a show, the attacker was fleeing police after trying to pay a hotel bill with a stolen credit card.

2006 : Shakira played the first date on the North American leg of her 99 date Oral Fixation world tour at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.

2007 : As the first Phil Spector / Lana Clarkson murder trial winds down, the legal teams visit the famed producer’s Alhambra mansion in California to take a look at the scene of the crime.

2007 : Amy Winehouse cancelled a series of European shows after being admitted to hospital suffering from “severe exhaustion”. The 23-year-old singer was taken to University College London Hospital and later discharged. In the past few weeks she had pulled out of the T in the Park festival – also citing “exhaustion”, Liverpool’s Summer Pops event and concerts in Norway and Denmark.

2007 : Baltimore’s mayor Sheila Dixon proclaimed today as the city’s official ‘Frank Zappa Day’ citing Zappa’s musical accomplishments as well as his defense of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.