1949 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: That Lucky Old Sun by Frankie Laine

1955 : The Chrysler Corporation launched high fidelity record players for their 1956 line-up of cars. The unit measured about four inches high and less than a foot wide and mounted under the instrument panel. The seven inch discs spun at 16 2/3 rpm and required almost three times the number of grooves per inch as an LP. The players were discontinued in 1961.

1957 : During an Australian tour, Little Richard publicly renounced rock ‘n’ roll and embraced God, telling a story of dreaming of his own damnation after praying to God when one of the engines on a plane he was on caught fire. The singer threw four diamond rings, valued at $8,000, into Sydney’s Hunter River and soon after launched a Gospel career. Five years later, he would switch back to Rock.

1962 : Little Richard headlines a package bill at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, England, where he meets The Beatles for the first time, who are also on the bill.

1963 : Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs’ Sugar Shack hits #1

1965 : Working on their next album Rubber Soul at Abbey Road Studio’s London, The Beatles recorded ‘Run For Your Life’ in its entirety, in five takes. (Lennon later admits to lifting two lines from Elvis Presley’s 1955 hit ‘Baby Let’s Play House’). And another new Lennon song ‘This Bird Has Flown’, later known as ‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)’. The track included George Harrison’s double-tracked sitar part, the first appearance of that Indian instrument on a pop record.

1966 : Sammy Davis Jr. appears as a guest star on today’s “The Clock King’s Crazy Crimes” episode of ABC-TV’s Batman.

1966 : The Moody Blues split up, with Denny Laine signing a solo deal with their label, Deram. The group re-forms a month later with new members Justin Hayward and John Lodge.

1968 : Big Brother And The Holding Company went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Cheap Thrills’.

1969 : Russ Gibb, a DJ at WKNR in Detroit, takes a call from a listener who tells him that if you play The Beatles song “Revolution 9” backwards, a voice says, “Turn me on, dead man.” Gibb plays the record in reverse on the air, and the phone lines light up with astonished listeners offering more clues as to why Paul McCartney might be dead. For about a week, Gibb entertains a stream of rumors on the show, as ratings explode and the story goes national. Other clues include a voice at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever” that says “I Buried Paul” (actually John Lennon saying “Cranberry Sauce”) and the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album, where Paul is wearing an armband that says “OPD” – “Officially Pronounced Dead.”

1971 : Gene Vincent (Vincent Eugene Craddock), died from a perforated ulcer, aged 36. Had the 1956 US No.7 & UK No.16 single ‘Be Bop A Lula’. Appeared in the film, The Girl Can’t Help It with Jayne Mansfield. In 1960, while on tour in the UK, Vincent and songwriter Sharon Sheeley were seriously injured the car crash that killed Eddie Cochran.

1972 : The movie Lady Sings The Blues, a musical biopic of singer Billie Holiday that launches the movie career of star Diana Ross, opens in New York.

1973 : Elton John’s LP Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is certified gold

1974 : The Bay City Rollers went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut album ‘Rollin.’ The album included three British chart hits ‘Remember’, ‘Shang-a-Lang’, ‘Summerlove Sensation’) and the debut of Saturday Night’, never a British hit yet a No.1 smash in America.

1974 : Olivia Newton-John’s LP If You Love Me, Let Me Know hits #1

1975 : Rod Stewart and The Faces made their final live appearance when they played at Nassau Coliseum, Long Island.

1978 : Whilst living at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, Sex Pistol Sid Vicious called the police to say that someone had stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. He was arrested and charged with murder and placed in the detox unit of a New York prison. Vicious died of a heroin overdose before the case went to trial.

1979 : Jethro Tull lead singer Ian Anderson has his right eye torn open by a thorn, situated on a rose an adoring fan threw on stage at the band’s Madison Square Garden concert.

1985 : Ricky Wilson of the B-52’s died of complications from aids. The B-52’s, had the 1990 UK No.2 & US No.3 single ‘Love Shack’.

1985 : Jennifer Rush was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Power Of Love’. The song stayed at No.1 for five weeks and became the biggest selling single of the year and the biggest single ever for a woman in the UK. Celine Dion enjoyed a No.1 US hit with her version in 1993.

1991 : Simply Reds fourth album ‘Stars’ went to No.1 on the UK chart for the first of five times, featuring the singles ‘Thrill Me’, ‘For Your Babies’ and the title track ‘Stars.’ The album became the biggest seller of 1991 and 1992 in the UK spending 134 week’s on the chart.

1991 : Nirvana’s Nevermind becomes the #1 album in America.

1994 : Pink Floyd played the first of a 15-night run at Earls Court, London, England. Less than a minute after the band had started playing ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, a scaffolding stand holding 1200 fans, collapsed, throwing hundreds of people 20 feet to the ground. It took over an hour to free everyone from the twisted wreckage, ninety-six people were injured, with 36 needing hospital treatment. Six were detained overnight with back, neck and rib injuries. Pink Floyd sent a free T-shirt and a note of apology to all the fans who had been seated in the stand that collapsed. The show was immediately cancelled and re-scheduled.

1994 : MTV airs the reunion concert special of Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, entitled Unledded.

1996 : Though they’ve refused to release it on video for 27 years, largely due to dissatisfaction over their own performance, The Rolling Stones finally release their landmark 1968 all-star BBC television special, The Rolling Stones’ Rock And Roll Circus.

1997 : John Denver, an avid amateur pilot who loves flying experimental aircraft, is the victim of a fatal plane crash. The airplane he drives has the distinguishing feature that the fuel selection valve is placed behind the pilot’s head, forcing him to balance on the right rudder in order to switch tanks. That day, Denver leaves the airport with less fuel than he should have, and hit the right rudder when he attempted to switch, causing him to plow into the Pacific. The 53 year old star had scored 15 songs on Billboard’s Top 40 Pop chart, ten of which reached number one on either Billboard’s Adult Contemporary or Country chart.

1999 : The island of their birth, The Isle Of Man, issued six stamps honoring The Bee Gees. Their mother had run a local post office on the island.

1999 : David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young) appear at New York’s Madison Square Garden to announce their forthcoming album and CSNY2K tour.

2005 : Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee suffered minor burns at a concert in Casper, Wyoming during a pyrotechnics explosion. Lee was treated at a local hospital for the injuries to his arm and face, which occurred while he was suspended from a wire 30 feet above the stage.

2005 : Singer and Live Aid co-founder Midge Ure received an honorary degree from Dundee’s University of Abertay. He said: “Having left school at the age of 15, I never expected to receive such an accolade.”

2008 : Oasis went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Dig Out Your Soul’ the band’s seventh and final studio album.

2012 : The 11th annual Austin City Limits festival kicks off. Featured artists include:
* Red Hot Chili Peppers
* Neil Young and Crazy Horse
* The Black Keys
* Florence + the Machine
* The Avett Brothers