1953 : Elvis Presley hitchhikes to the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Show in Meridian, Mississippi and wins second prize in the talent competition there.

1956 : Two months after heading to his scheduled television appearance and nearly dying in a car crash, Carl Perkins finally appears on NBC-TV’s Perry Como Show.

1956 : Liberace, at the peak of his powers, plays to a crowd of 16,000 at Madison Square Garden in a three-hour solo set that draws mostly ladies.

1958 : Jerry Lee Lewis ends his British tour when is booed off the stage, from fallout over his engagement to his 14-year-old cousin, Myra Lee Brown. When he returns to America, he finds the scandal has followed him.

1959 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit – Johnny Horton’s “Battle of New Orleans”

1962 : Acker Bilk went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Stranger On The Shore’; it became a million seller in the UK making No.2 on the charts.

1964 : Marianne Faithful recorded the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards song ‘As Tears Go By’, accompanied by future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page on guitar and John Paul Jones on bass.

1965 : The Rolling Stones perform “How Many More Years” with one of their big influences, bluesman Howlin’ Wolf, on the ABC variety show Shindig!

1966 : The Rolling Stones were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Paint It, Black’, their sixth UK No.1 single. It was originally titled ‘Paint It Black’ without a comma. Keith Richards has stated that the comma was added by the record label, Decca. It was the first No.1 single to feature a sitar on the recording.

1966 : The Beatles recorded ‘Yellow Submarine’ at Abbey Road studios in London. Recovering from a case of food poisoning, producer George Martin missed this recording, EMI engineer Geoff Emerick worked on the session. The track features John Lennon blowing bubbles in a bucket of water, shouting “Full speed ahead Mister Captain!”

1968 : US blue artist Little Willie John died in prison after being convicted of manslaughter. Co-wrote and was the first to record a ‘Fever’ (covered by Peggy Lee in 1958), and ‘Need Your Love So Bad’ covered by Fleetwood Mac. James Brown recorded a tribute album ‘Thinking Of Little Willie John… And A Few Other Nice Things’.

1966 : Recorded on this day, The Beatles – “Yellow Submarine”

1967 : Recorded on this day, The Beatles – “It’s All Too Much”

1968 : Pink Floyd, Blonde On Blonde and The Pretty Things all appeared at the OZ magazine benefit at the Middle Earth Club, Covent Garden, London, England. OZ was a satirical humour magazine, founded by Richard Neville and based in Sydney, Australia from 1963. In its second and better-known incarnation it became a counter-culture magazine, based in London from 1967 to 1973.

1969 : John and Yoko began an eight-day ‘bed in’, in room 1742 of The Hotel La Reine Elizabeth, Montreal, Canada, to promote world peace. They recorded ‘Give Peace a Chance’ in the hotel room (Petula Clark can be heard on the chorus). The song was credited to Lennon & McCartney, even though Paul had nothing to do with the record.

1970 : The Beatles’ LP “Let It Be” is certified gold.

1970 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit – Ray Stevens’ “Everything Is Beautiful”

1971 : Recorded on this day, Don McLean – “American Pie”

1972 : Mott The Hoople, on the verge of breaking up, are offered help from David Bowie, who allows them to record two songs he wrote. They pass on “Suffragette City” but cut “All The Young Dudes,” which becomes their biggest hit and revives their career.

1972 : The first day of the four day UK festival ‘The Great Western Express’ near Lincoln featuring; The Faces, Joe Cocker, Humble Pie, Slade, The Groundhogs, Ry Cooder, Don McLean, Brewers Droop plus a special appearance by Monty Python.

1973 : The Edgar Winter Group went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Frankenstein’, the bands only US No.1, it reached No.18 in the UK. The group featured ex McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. In live performances of the song, Edgar Winter further pioneered the advancement of the synthesizer as a lead instrument by becoming the first person ever to strap a keyboard instrument around his neck.

1973 : Released on this day, Deep Purple – “Smoke On The Water”

1973 : The Beatles’ LP “The Beatles 1967-1970” hits #1.

1974 : An overenthusiastic crowd at a David Cassidy concert in London rushes the stage, injuring a thousand screaming fans and crushing 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, who died from her injuries four days later. A distraught Cassidy refuses to tour for the next eleven years.

1977 : Beatlemania!, a Broadway tribute to the music of The Beatles, starring sound- and look-alikes, opens at the Winter Garden Theater to rave reviews.

1977 : Rock sensations and serial marketers Kiss provide Marvel Comics with a vial of their blood to be mixed with the red ink used to print their upcoming comic book.

1977 : Billy Powell singer with The O’Jays died of cancer. (1972, hit ‘Back Stabbers’, 1973 US No.1 & UK No.9 single ‘Love Train’). Originally known as The Triumphs, and then The Mascots, they took the name “The O’Jays”, in tribute to radio disc jockey Eddie O’Jay.

1978 : On Irish television today; at 4.00 ‘Top Cat’, 4.30 ‘Skippy’ and at 5.30 a program called ‘Youngline’ a series for young people highlighting their interests. On today’s show a feature on a new pop group, The Hype (U2).

1979 : ‘Sunday Girl’ gave Blondie their second UK No.1 hit single. The track was taken from the group’s ‘Parallel Lines’, which went on to become the biggest selling album of 1979.

1979 : The first day of the two day Loch Lomond Festival with The Stranglers, Dr Feelgood, Skids, Third World, The Dickies. Day two featured The AWB, Buzzcocks, Rockpile and The Boomtown Rats who played ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ live for the first time.

1982 : Bobby Darin, who died in 1973, gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1984 : Former backing singer with Stevie Wonder, Deniece Williams started a 2 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Let’s Hear It For The Boy’, taken from the film ‘Footlose’, a No.2 hit in the UK.

1990 : For the first time ever the Top five positions on the US singles chart were held by female artists; Madonna was at No.1 with ‘Vogue’, Heart were at No.2, Sinead O’Connor No.3, Wilson Phillips at No.4 and Janet Jackson was at No.5

1993 : Singapore lifts its decades-old ban on the music of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Chicago.

1994 : Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. The couple divorced in 1995. They had first met when the seven-year-old Presley attended several of Jackson’s concerts in Las Vegas.

1996 : Firemen arrive at the burning home of Eric Clapton to find the guitarist running in and out of the home to save his guitar collection. The house is gutted, with about three million dollars’ damage.

1999 : British punk band Manic Street Preachers refuse to play a concert to mark the opening of Wales’ parliament because Queen Elizabeth II is present.

2000 : Drummer Tommy Lee was jailed for five days for drinking alcohol. Lee appeared in front of a LA court charged with violating his probation by consuming alcohol, an act that directly contravenes the terms of his parole.

2002 : The first episode of ‘At Home With The Osbournes’ was shown on MTV in the UK. Already becoming a hit in the the US, the show focused on the madman and his family (his wife Sharon, and two of their three children). Oblivious to the camera, they bicker, squabble, curse and hang out backstage at Ozzy shows.

2004 : Days after touching down in the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to film a documentary on the war-torn country, Sum 41 are forced to evacuate from their hotel in Bukavu after serious fighting erupts. They are rescued by UN peacekeeper, Chuck Pelletier. Sum 41 would go on to name their third studio album Chuck in honor of Pelletier.

2008 : Yale University awards Paul McCartney an honorary Doctorate of Music.

2009 : A US judge ended a bitter two-year battle over the late soul singer James Brown’s estate. Judge Jack Early ruled half of his assets will go to a charitable trust, a quarter to his wife and young son, and the rest to his six adult children. Brown’s family and wife Tomi Rae Hynie Brown, had fought over his fortune since he died of heart failure in 2006.