1936 : Billie Holiday becomes the first major artist to record the classic song “Summertime,” which was featured in the musical Porgy and Bess a year earlier.

1950 : The US music show Your Hit Parade premiered on NBC-TV. The program, which featured vocalists covering the top hits of the week, had been on radio since 1935. It moved to CBS in 1958 but was canceled the following year, unable to cope with the rising popularity of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

1950 : The Victor Talking Machine Company trademarks the phrase “His Master’s Voice,” which refers to the dog in their logo (Nipper) listening to a record player because he thinks it is his owner. The company later becomes the record label RCA Victor.

1954 : Producer Sam Phillips took an acetate of Elvis Presley singing ‘That’s All Right’ to DJ Dewey Phillips at Memphis radio station WHBQ. After Dewey played the song on the air around 9:30 that evening, listeners flooded the phone lines, requesting to hear the song again.

1961 : Bobby Lewis started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Tossin’ and Turnin’, the longest running No.1 single of 1961, spending seven weeks at the top of the chart.

1964 : 200,000 Liverpudlians took to the streets to celebrate The Beatles return to Liverpool for the northern premiere of the group’s first film ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’ The group were honored in a public ceremony in front of Liverpool Town Hall and as The Beatles stood on a balcony looking at the large crowd gathered below, John Lennon, gave a few Nazi “Sieg Heil” salutes. Not everyone appreciated his sense of humor.

1965 : The Rolling Stones started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, the group’s first chart-topper there. In the UK, the song was initially played only on pirate radio stations because its lyrics were considered too sexually suggestive.

1966 : Johnny Tilotson, The Jive Five, The Tymes, The Shangra-Las and local band The Castiles (with Bruce Springsteen on vocals) all appeared at the Surf ‘n See Club in Seabright New Jersey.

1967 : Kenny Rogers leaves theThe New Christie Minstrels and forms The First Edition, who have a hit the next year with “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).”

1968 : Eric Clapton announces the breakup of the supergroup Cream, currently finishing up its last tour.

1968 : The Nice were banned from appearing at London’s Royal Albert Hall after burning an American flag on stage. Two years later, Keith Emerson, leader of the Nice, joined Greg Lake and Carl Palmer in Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

1969 : The funeral of Rolling Stone Brian Jones took place in his home town at Hatherley Road Parish Church, Cheltenham. Canon Hugh Evan Hopkins read Jones’ own epitaph, ‘Please don’t judge me too harshly’. Bill Wyman, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts from The Stones attended the funeral.

1974 : David Bowie played the first of five dates at The Tower Theatre in Philadelphia the recordings of which made up the ‘David Live’ album released later that year.

1974 : Mac Davis debuts his own summer variety music show on NBC TV.

1975 : Gregg Allman and Cher’s famously rocky marriage almost ends in divorce after only ten days. Cher changes her mind three weeks later.

1975 : Gladys Knight and the Pips debut their own summer variety music show on NBC TV.

1976 : One hit wonders Starland Vocal Band started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Afternoon Delight’, it was also their only hit in the UK making No.18 on the chart.

1976 : England Dan and John Ford Coley’s I’d Really Love To See You Tonight enters the charts

1976 : Rod Stewart scored his sixth No.1 UK album when ‘A Night On The Town’ went to the top.

1976 : A 16 year-old girl is stabbed to death at a Yes concert in Jersey City, New Jersey.

1978 : Rolling Stone Bill Wyman was knocked unconscious after falling from the stage during a Stones concert at the Coliseum, St Paul, Minnesota.

1979 : Chuck Berry is sentenced to jail (for 5 months) for the second time, this time a tax-evasion charge that nets him four months (for allegedly bilking Uncle Sam out of $200,000 back in 1973).

1980 : Bob Marley and the Wailers began what would be Marley’s last ever UK tour when they appeared in Dublin, Ireland.

1980 : During their 23 date ’11 O’Clock Tick Tock’ tour U2 appeared at The Clarendon Hotel in London.

1986 : Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead slips into a diabetic coma. He recovers five days later.

1987 : Producer and record company executive John Hammond died. He brought Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen to Columbia Records. Hammond also worked as a producer with Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman and Count Basie.

1989 : David F Pearsall age 18 from Manchester, New Jersey was charged with theft after stealing a guitar at a concert in Riverfront Park belonging to Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi.

1989 : The Monkees get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the ceremony, all four Monkees reunite for the first time – Mike Nesmith was a holdout on their reunion tour.

2000 : A much-ballyhooed Supremes “reunion” tour, “Return To Love,” which features only Diana Ross from the original group, is canceled after initial ticket sales don’t match expectations.

2002 : David Bowie, Suede, Divine Comedy, Green Day, No Doubt, Paul Weller, Ian Brown, Joe Strummer, New Order, Doves and Shed 7 all appeared at the four day Move festival, Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester, England.

2005 : The four members of Led Zeppelin were voted the UK’s ideal supergroup after 3,500 music fans were asked to create their fantasy band for Planet Rock Radio. Jimmy Page won best guitarist, followed by Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore. John Paul Jones was named top bassist, with John Bonham, who died in 1980, winning best drummer and Robert Plant beat the late Freddie Mercury to best singer.

2005 : George Strait was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Somewhere Down In Texas’, the US country singers third No.1 album.

2008 : The drum skin used on the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album sold for $1M at Christie’s Memorabilia auction in London. Other items sold included John Lennon’s lyrics for ‘Give Peace a Chance’ which sold for $832,257 and a pair of tinted prescription sunglasses belonging to Lennon, which he wore for the cover of the single ‘Mind Games’, sold for $79,000. A rare 1/4 inch reel to-reel master tape recording of the Jimi Hendrix Experience performing at the Woburn Music Festival in 1968 went for $95,000, a Marshall amplifier used by Hendrix in concert fetched $50,000 and a pair of his stripy flared trousers made $49,000.

2008 : VH1’s Rock Honors pays tribute to The Who.

2009 : Robert Plant is officially a Commander of the British Empire after being bestowed with the title by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.

2010 : The audience attending a benefit for Palestinian children in Oxfordshire, England knew they were going to be entertained by David Gilmour. What they didn’t know was that Gilmour’s onetime Pink Floyd bandmate, Roger Waters was going to drop in for a surprise four-song set. Waters said in a Facebook posting that he agreed to do it after Gilmour agreed to join him for a performance of The Wall in March 2011 in Europe. The last time the two had been on stage together was at the 2005 Live 8 London concerts.

2011 : A pub in Dundee, Scotland called Lennon’s Bar was forced to change the name of the venue and remove all Beatles memorabilia the former Beatles wife Yoko Ono threatened legal action for copyright infringement (REALLY?? no wonder I can’t stand the b**ch).

2012 : Slash, of late Guns N’ Roses fame, gets his star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Charlie Sheen is master of ceremonies at the event, and comments, “It seems quite fitting that Slash is getting a star on the very street Axl Rose will one day be sleeping on.” Oooooooooh, burn!