1956 : RCA Records placed a half page advert in Billboard Magazine claiming that Elvis Presley was ‘the new singing rage.’

1958 : Big Records released ‘Our Song’ by a teenage duo from Queens, New York, Tom and Jerry. The duo will become famous in the ’60s under their real names, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

1960 : UK trade paper Record Retailer published the UK’s first ever EP (extended player) chart and LP chart. No. 1 EP was ‘Expresso Bongo’ by Cliff Richard & The Shadows and No.1 LP ‘The Explosive Freddy Cannon.’

1962 : Bruce Channel started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Hey! Baby’, it made No.2 on the UK chart.

1964 : Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel record ‘The Sounds Of Silence’ as an acoustic duo. It wasn’t until record company producers added electric guitar, bass and drums, without the knowledge of Paul and Art, that the song would become a hit in late 1965.

1965 : Davie Jones (David Bowie) and the Manish Boys appeared at the Bromel Club, Bromley Hill, England.

1973 : Pink Floyd released their eighth studio album The Dark Side of The Moon in the US. It remained in the US charts for 741 discontinuous weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in history. After moving to the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Chart, the album notched up a further 759 weeks, and had reached a total of over 1,500 weeks on the combined charts by May 2006. With an estimated 45 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide.

1977 : At 7am in the morning on a trestle table set up out-side Buckingham Palace, London, the Sex Pistols signed to A&M Records, (the real signing had taken place the day before). The contract lasted for six days.

1988 : Younger brother of The Bee Gees, Andy Gibb died in hospital. His death from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) followed a long battle with cocaine addiction, which had weakened his heart.

1996 : Alanis Morissette won Best Album for Jagged Little Pill, Best Female singer, Best Rock Album, Best songwriter and best single at the 25th Juno Awards held in Hamilton, Canada.

2000 : Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde was arrested for leading an animal rights protest against the clothing firm Gap, who were accused of using leather from cows slaughtered ‘illegally and cruelly’. The protest took place in a store in Manhattan.

2000 : The Daily Mail published pictures of Paul McCartney dancing with a cowgirl on the bar of a New York club. McCartney sang along to ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ through a megaphone and mimicked a strip tease in front of 100 onlookers.

2002 : Alanis Morissette went to No.1 on the US album chart and No.2 on the UK chart with ‘Under Rug Swept.’

2003 : Johnny Cash was admitted to Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee to undergo treatment for pneumonia.

2005 : A survey carried out by Music Choice concluded that ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams was the song Britons would most like played at their funeral. Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ was second and Monty Python’s ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ was voted into third place.

2009 : Tickets for a one-off gig by Sir Paul McCartney in Las Vegas sold out seven seconds after going on sale. The former Beatle was booked to perform at the opening of the New Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on 19 April 2009 in-front of 4,000 fans. Tickets cost $750 each.

2010 : Pink Floyd won a court battle with EMI that prevented the record company from selling single downloads and ringtones on the Internet from the group’s albums. Pink Floyd’s back catalogue was second only in sales to The Beatles.