1946 : Dean Martin begins his recording career mere weeks before teaming up with nightclub comic Jerry Lewis.

1951 : On WJW in Cleveland, Alan Freed broadcasts his first “Moondog House Rock and Roll Party,” marking the first radio show with the phrase “Rock and Roll” and giving Freed a claim on the origin of the term. More importantly, Freed plays R&B music, which introducing the sound to a new (and mostly white) audience.

1955 : Alma Cogan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Dreamboat’. Cogan went on to score over 20 UK Top 40 singles. Nicknamed ‘The Girl With the Laugh In Her Voice’, she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era.

1960 : The Hollywood Argyles’ Alley Oop hits #1

1962 : The Telstar satellite, the first active communications satellite, is launched by AT&T, inspiring the Tornadoes’ instrumental hit of the same name later that year.

1964 : The Beatles appeared live on the ABC Television program “Lucky Stars (Summer Spin)”, performing ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘Long Tall Sally’, ‘Things We Said Today’ and ‘You Can’t Do That’. To avoid the crowd of fans waiting for them, The Beatles arrived at the Teddington Studio Centre by boat, traveling down the River Thames.

1964 : Dean Martin’s Everybody Loves Somebody enters the charts

1966 : Elvis Presley begins filming his 24th motion picture, Double Trouble.

1969 : ‘Space Oddity’ by David Bowie was released in the UK for the first time. It was timed to coincide with the Apollo moon landing but had to be re-released before it became a hit, later in the year in the UK (but not until 1973 in the US).

1969 : Released on this day, The Rolling Stones – “Honky Tonk Women”

1970 : The soundtrack to the film Woodstock hits #1

1970 : Self Portrait gave Bob Dylan his fifth UK No.1 album. Released by Columbia Records, his tenth studio album was Dylan’s second double album, and featured mostly cover versions of well-known pop and folk songs.

1970 : Three Dog Night started a two-week run at No.1 in the US with their version of the Randy Newman song ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’, which was also a No.3 hit in the UK. The song was first covered by Eric Burdon on his first solo album in 1966 and gave Tom Jones & Stereophonics a No.4 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 2000.

1971 : The Bruce Springsteen Band opened for Humble Pie at the Sunshine In, Asbury Park in New Jersey. After the show an impressed Peter Frampton from Humble Pie, tells Springsteen and the band he’d like to have them open for them on a national basis. Frampton also said he would be happy to get the band an audition with his record label, A & M Records. For no logical reason Springsteen’s manager Tinker West declined both offers on the spot.

1971 : The first stage performance of Jesus Christ, Superstar is in Pittsburgh.

1974 : The Mac Davis Show summer TV series premieres.

1977 : Tonight saw the opening night of a new punk venue, The Vortex Club, on Wardour Street, London with Siouxise, Adam And The Ants, The Slits and Sham 69.

1979 : The space station Skylab crashes to Earth after 6 years in space. Leading up to the event, Electric Light Orchestra take out ads in trade magazines dedicating their new single, Don’t Bring Me Down, to Skylab.

1981 : Cliff Richard started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Love Songs’, his fifth No.1 album.

1981 : The Specials had their second and final UK No.1 single with ‘Ghost Town’. Despite being a song about Coventry, the band chose to film the video of themselves driving a Vauxhall Cresta around some empty London streets.

1982 : Phil Collen, former guitarist with the glam rock band Girl, replaced Pete Willis in Def Leppard who was fired due to excessive alcohol consumption on the job.

1987 : Heart started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Alone’, it made No.3 in the UK.

1990 : Steven Adler is fired from Guns N’ Roses because of his drug use. He is replaced by Matt Sorum, who was previously with The Cult.

1991 : American singer and lyricist Roger Christian died. Worked with The Beach Boys and co-wrote songs recorded by Jan and Dean. Christian worked as a radio personality in the 1960’s.

1992 : A range of eight ‘ties’, designed by Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead went on sale in the US. President Bill Clinton bought a set. The collection grossed millions in the US by the end of the year.

1994 : Michael Jackson’s spokesperson publicly denies rampant rumors that the singer has married Lisa Marie Presley.

1996 : Jonathan Melvoin keyboard player with the Smashing Pumpkins died from a drug overdose in New York City aged 34. Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin who was with Melvoin tried but failed to revive him after Chamberlin was allegedly advised by 911 operators to put Melvoin’s head in the shower. Several songs were inspired by his death, including Sarah McLachlan’s hit single ‘Angel.’ He was the brother of Susannah and Wendy Melvoin of Prince and the Revolution. Melvoin had also been a member of The Dickies.

1999 : Ricky Martin started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’. A US No.1 for 5 weeks. The song was the first No.1 song to be recorded, edited, and mixed totally on a DAW (digital audio workstation).

1999 : Limp Bizkit started a three week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Significant Other’ the bands first US No.1.

2002 : The funeral of The Who’s bass player John Entwistle took place at a church in The Cotswolds. More than 200 mourners filed into the 12th century church of St Edward in Stow-on-the-wold

2004 : UK band McFly went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Room On The 3rd Floor.’ They broke the record set by The Beatles as the youngest group ever to debut at No.1 on the album charts.

2004 : The Darkness replaced David Bowie at this years T In The Park Scottish festival following his heart operation. Other acts appearing included Muse, Franz Ferdinard, Faithless, Scissor Sisters, Black Eyed Peas and Pink.

2009 : The Black Eyes Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling’ started a 14-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart ending the 12-week run of the band’s previous single ‘Boom Boom Pow’. It made the band only the fourth to replace themselves at No.1 in chart history, following The Beatles, Boyz II Men, and OutKast.