1940 : Billboard’s first comprehensive record chart was published. The magazine had previously published best-seller lists submitted by the individual record companies, but the new chart combined the top sellers from all major labels. Their first number one song was ‘I’ll Never Smile Again’ by Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

1954 : The Blue Moon Boys made their live debut appearing on the back of a flatbed truck outside a new drug store for its grand opening in Memphis. The band line up was Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black. The name was taken from a song they had recorded just two weeks previously, ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky.’

1961 : The Beatles, known as The Beat Brothers, get some press in the British paper Mersey Beat, which announces their first record deal.

1963 : Jan and Dean started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Surf City’, written by Beach Boy Brian Wilson, with the Beach Boys on backing vocals. The single peaked at No.26 in the UK.

1963 : During a UK tour The Beatles played the second night at The Ritz Ballroom in Rhyl, North Wales. The Rolling Stones played at The Corn Exchange in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

1963 : The Beatles nab their first UK Number One LP with Please Please Me.

1965 : Frank Sinatra appears at the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where he leaves his handprints in the cement outside.

1968 : Cream started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Wheels Of Fire’. The double album which consisted of a studio and a live record reached No.3 in the United Kingdom.

1968 : Hugh Masekela started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Grazing In The Grass.’

1968 : Iron Butterfly’s second album, ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’, entered the US album chart for the first time. The album contained the 17-minute title track that filled the second side of the LP which went on sell over four million copies in the US alone.

1968 : Jane Asher announced on the national British TV show, Dee Time, that her engagement to Paul McCartney was off. Paul reportedly was watching at a friend’s home and was surprised by the news. She was said to have inspired many of McCartney’s songs, such as ‘All My Loving’, ‘And I Love Her’, and ‘We Can Work It Out’. Jane went on to have a career in films and television as well as becoming a successful author and business woman.

1971 : The Carpenters show ‘Make Your Own Kind Of Music’, started a six week run on NBC-TV.

1973 : TV talent show Opportunity Knocks winners Peters And Lee were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their first single and only chart topper ‘Welcome Home.’

1974 : Tim Buckley, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van Morrison, The Doobie Brothers and The Allman Brothers all appeared at Knebworth Park, England.

1974 : Joey Ramone becomes the new lead singer for The Ramones.

1975 : Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the opening night on their Born To Run Tour at The Palace Theatre, Providence, Rhode Island. This also saw the live debut of Steven Van Zandt, (Miami Steve) as a member of The E Street Band.

1976 : Buzzcocks made their live debut supporting The Sex Pistols and Slaughter & The Dogs at The Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester. In the audience was, Morrissey, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook (soon to form Joy Division) and Mark E Smith, (The Fall) and Mick Hucknall. Tickets cost £1.

1977 : Gary Kellgren studio engineer at the Los Angeles Record Plant studio drowned in a Hollywood Swimming pool. Kellgren had worked with John Lennon, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Barbara Streisand and Rod Stewart.

1986 : The film based on the life of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, ‘Sid And Nancy’ premiered in London, England.

1986 : Carlos Santana celebrated his 39th birthday, and 20th anniversary in the music business, with a concert in San Francisco. Previous group members were assembled for the event, as 17 of them performed together on stage.

1990 : Madonna played the first of three sold out nights at Wembley Stadium, London, England, on her 57-date Blond Ambition World Tour.

1991 : EMF went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Unbelievable’ it spent 14 weeks on the chart before reaching the top.

1999 : Church group’s in middle America claimed that pictures of Britney Spears printed in Rolling Stone magazine encouraged child pornography. The shots showed Britney with not many clothes on in her bedroom.

1999 : The Rolling Stones reported a gross income of $337 million, from almost two years of touring from their Bridges to Babylon and No Security tours. The Stones had played to over 5.6 million people, selling out all but 20 shows.

1999 : Paul McCartney had an upcoming single bootlegged when ‘I Got Stung’ was taken from a BBC broadcast and distributed over the Internet. The track was from his forthcoming release ‘Run Devil Run’ album.

2000 : The Evergreen Ballroom in Lacey, Washington was destroyed by a fire. During the ballroom’s heyday in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, many of music’s greats played there: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and Fats Domino. Glen Campbell had lived in the kitchen at the venue for a while before he became famous.

2003 : A tooth said to have been pulled out of Elvis’s mouth after an injury failed to sell on the auction site eBay. The tooth had been put on a 10-day sale with a reserve price of $100,000. Bids had pushed the price up to $2m but they were later found out to be fraudulent.

2008 : John Lydon denied claims by Kele Okereke from Bloc Party that he was racially abused and attacked by a member of the Sex Pistols’ entourage at a music festival in Barcelona. Okereke claimed he had been attacked by several men after approaching Lydon backstage at the Summercase festival. He said the ‘unprovoked’ attack left him with a split lip and bruises. Lydon said: ‘I feel very sorry for a man that needs to lie about what was a perfect evening.’

2009 : Jackson Browne settled his lawsuit against US Senator John McCain and the Republican Party after his 1977 hit ‘Running On Empty’ was used without permission in a 2008 McCain presidential campaign ad that aired on TV and the Internet. McCain and the Republican Party apologized for using the song in the ad and said that McCain himself “had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the creation or distribution of the video.”

2011 : Pictures of The Beatles’ first US concert in Washington DC on February 11th, 1964, taken by a then 18-year-old Mike Mitchell, sold at Christie’s auction house for $361,938. Security in those days was very casual and Mitchell was just feet from the band as he snapped the black and white photos which he stored for years in a box in his basement.