1953 : Elvis Presley graduates from Humes High School in Memphis, TN.

1961 : Patsy Cline was seriously injured in a car accident. During her two month hospital stay, her song “I Fall to Pieces” gave the singer her first Country No.1 and also became a huge country-pop crossover hit.

1961 : After a performance at the Majestic Theatre in Newcastle, England, Gene Vincent is mobbed by admirers who accidentally push him down a flight of stairs, where he is knocked out.

1961 : Elvis Presley’s 7th movie, Wild In The Country, premieres in his hometown of Memphis.

1964 : Touring Australia The Beatles arrived in Melbourne and were greeted at the airport by over 5,000 fans. Another 20,000 fans lined the route from the airport to the hotel, army and navy units were brought in to help control the crowds, cars were crushed, hundreds of girls fainted and over 50 people were admitted to hospital with broken bones.

1964 : The Manish Boys, (featuring David Bowie) auditioned for the UK television talent show Opportunity Knocks.

1964 : Workers at a London railway station open a tea chest addressed to The Beatles and find 12-year-old Carol Dryden, a fan who’d decided to mail herself to the group.

1965 : Recorded on this day, The Beatles – “I’ve Just Seen a Face”, “I’m Down”, “Yesterday”

1965 : Released on this day, The Beatles – “Beatles VI” album their seventh Capitol Records release in the U.S.

1966 : Recorded on this day, The Beatles – “Here, There And Everywhere”

1967 : Recorded on this day, The Beatles – “All You Need Is Love”

1967 : Recorded on this day, The Monkees – “Daydream Believer”

1967 : The Doors appeared at Steve Paul’s Scene, New York City, Jimi Hendrix was in the audience.

1970 : Eric Clapton’s new band is introduced as “Derek and the Dominos” when they take the stage at the Lyceum in London. They told the promoter they were “The Dynamics,” but he convinced them to add the “Derek,” which was a nickname for Clapton. His mangled name interpretation stuck.

1970 : Grand Funk Railroad unveil their famous “Closer To Home” billboard in New York, which costs $100,000 and takes a full city block to promote their new single of the same name.

1970 : Blood, Sweat & Tears begins a tour of Romania, Poland and Yugoslavia on behalf of the US State Department. Working as government ambassadors under the Nixon administration put the band in bad standing with the protest movement they were part of when they played Woodstock.

1971 : Frank Sinatra announces his retirement from show business, only to return a year and a half later with the legendary comeback album “Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back”.

1972 : Actor Warren Beatty organizes his fifth benefit concert for doomed US Presidential candidate George McGovern at Madison Square Garden, featuring, among others, Simon & Garfunkel and Peter, Paul and Mary.

1974 : Ray Stevens was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Streak’ a song about the latest British craze of streaking, (running naked in a public place).

1975 : America went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sister Golden Hair’, the group’s second US No.1. Not a hit in the UK.

1975 : America’s Sister Golden Hair hits #1.

1976 : The Beatles’ “Rock ‘N’ Roll Music” is certified gold.

1977 : Led Zeppelin played the last of six sold out nights at Madison Square Garden, in New York City during their 11th and final North American tour. The 3-hour set included: The Song Remains The Same, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, Ten Years Gone, Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Rock And Roll and When the Levee Breaks.

1979 : Little Feat announce their breakup.

1980 : Billy Joel started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Glass Houses’, his second US No.1 album.

1980 : Peter Gabriel scored his first UK No.1 album with his third solo release ‘Peter Gabriel’.

1984 : A model of Boy George from Culture Club was unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks in London, England on his 23rd birthday.

1986 : Bob Geldof was named in HRH The Queen’s Birthday Honors List, receiving an honorary Knighthood in recognition of his humanitarian activities.

1986 : Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘On My Own’. The pair recorded their vocal parts separately and had never met until after the song went to number one.

1986 : Queen scored their 5th UK No.1 album with ‘A Kind Of Magic’, featuring the single ‘One Vision’.

1986 : Three fans died during an Ozzy Osbourne gig at Long Beach Arena, California after falling from a balcony.

1987 : Madonna played the first date on her Who’s That Girl World Tour at the Osaka Stadium, Osaka, Japan. The tour became the highest-grossing tour ever, grossing over $20 million.

1987 : 30 hired hands moved 800 rented NHS beds onto Saunton Sands in North Devon for Storm Thorgerson to shoot what would be the cover of the forthcoming Pink Floyd album ‘A Momentary Lapse Of Reason’.

1989 : Carole King gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1989 : Pete De Freitas drummer with Echo And The Bunnymen was killed at the age of 27, when his motorbike collided with a car.

1994 : Composer Henry Mancini died aged 70. Wrote the music to ‘Moon River, which was originally sung in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Audrey Hepburn, was also the theme song for the Andy Williams television show. Had the 1969 US No.1 single ‘Love Theme from Romeo And Juliet.’ Recorded over 90 albums, contributed music to over 100 movies, including ‘Theme From The Pink Panther.’

1995 : Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher died after a chest infection set in following a liver transplant. Had been a member of Taste before going solo, sold over 30m albums worldwide. Voted Melody Maker’s Top Musician of the Year in 1972, auditioned for The Rolling Stones following the departure of Mick Taylor. Gallagher made his final performance on 10 January 1995 in the Netherlands.

1995 : ABC’s Diane Sawyer interviewed Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley on ABC-TV’s Prime Time Live. It was the couple’s first interview since their surprise marriage a year earlier and was part of the publicity push for Jackson’s album ‘HIStory – Past, Present and Future: Book One’. Jackson and Presley declared they were a “normal married couple who hoped to have a baby”. When asked if they had sex, they replied “yes, yes, yes!” They also confirmed that a prenuptial agreement had been signed.

1996 : George Martin, Beatles producer, is made a knight by Queen Elizabeth II.

1997 : Puff Daddy and Faith Evans started a 11 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I’ll Be Missing You’, a tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G. Also a No.1 in the UK.

2000 : Noel Gallagher from Oasis was voted into first place in Melody Maker’s annual ‘Un-coolest People in Rock’ survey. Marilyn Manson came second and Robbie Williams was voted third.

2002 : During an UK visit Michael Jackson made a tour of Parliament and was shown the monarch’s throne in the House of Lords. Whenever Jackson went outside he called for an umbrella to shield his face from the sun.

2002 : Former East 17 singer Brian Harvey was jailed for 56 days at the High Court London after breaching an injunction taken out by his estranged wife.

2002 : Mick Jagger became a Sir when he was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

2003 : Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers is awarded a Member of the British Empire medal by Queen Elizabeth in London.

2006 : Rufus Wainwright, son of folksinger Loudon, recreates the whole of Judy Garland’s legendary 1961 Carnegie Hall concert at the famous institution in order to mark the show’s 35th anniversary.

2006 : Shakira kicked off her 99 date Oral Fixation world tour in Zaragoza, Spain. Attended by over 2m fans, the tour grossed over $98 million dollars.

2007 : Bob Dylan won Spain’s Prince of Asturias Arts Award, one of the country’s most prestigious honours. Jury chairman Jose Llado called Dylan a ‘living legend of popular music and the guiding star of a generation that dreamed of changing the world’. Previous winners of the annual prize include US film-maker Woody Allen.

2007 : Chris Tomlin’s cover of “Indescribable” is used as the official wake-up call for NASA astronaut, Patrick Forrester, while on the Space Shuttle mission, STS-117.

2008 : Among others artists, Pearl Jam and My Morning Jacket bond, Kanye West riles the crowd and calls organizers “squid brains” and MGMT dance like hippies at Bonnaroo 2008.

2009 : At The Dave Matthews Band concert held at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in New York, Dave Matthews is arrested because he allegedly “forcibly touched and groped a 20-year-old woman” at the show. However, the man was not the performer but an 18-year-old suspect who shares the same name as the band’s leader.

2012 : Ringo Starr’s birthplace in Liverpool was saved from the threat of demolition. The house, a run-down three-bedroom Victorian terrace, was one of 400 buildings marked for demolition in the Dingle area of Liverpool, but Beatles fans and city residents had successfully lobbied to save the house, along with 15 others in the area. The Liverpool City Council has agreed to give locals the opportunity to fix up the properties.