1908 : The first stereo advertisement, for an Edison Phonograph, appears in the Saturday Evening Post.

1937 : American blues singer Bessie Smith died aged 43 after being involved in a car accident while traveling along Route 61 outside Memphis, Tennessee. Her 1923 song ‘Downhearted Blues’ was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006.

1953 : The Ames Brothers’ “You You You” hits #1

1954 : Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill enters the charts

1956 : It’s Elvis Presley Day in Tupelo, Mississippi, where the singer was born. He is given a key to the city and performs at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show.

1956 : The Cassandra column in the Daily Mirror (written by William Connor) insinuates that the pianist, Liberace, is homosexual.

1960 : Connie Francis’ “My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own” hits #1

1961 : The Greenbriar Boys started a two-week residency at Gerde’s Folk Club in New York. The opening act was Bob Dylan.

1964 : Roy Orbison started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Oh Pretty Woman’. The title was inspired by Orbison’s wife Claudette interrupting a conversation to announce she was going out; when Orbison asked if she was okay for cash, his co-writer Bill Dees interjected “A pretty woman never needs any money.”

1965 : At the end of a European tour Roger Daltry knocked out Keith Moon and the singer was sacked from The Who. The band were playing two shows in one night in Denmark, when an argument broke about between all four band members. Daltrey was reinstated the following day.

1965 : Queen Elizabeth II presents The Beatles with the Order of the British Empire, recommended by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who said later: “I saw The Beatles as having a transforming effect on the minds of youth, mostly for the good. It kept a lot of kids off the streets.” The Beatles, who reportedly get high in a bathroom before the event, are said to be delighted, though many older and more conservative honorees return their honors in protest. John Lennon later gives his back, protesting “the war in Vietnam and also ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts.”

1967 : Pink Floyd played the first of three nights at the Fillmore in San Francisco, the groups first ever live dates in the US.

1968 : Rolling Stone Brian Jones was fined £50 with 100 guineas cost after being found guilty of possession of cannabis.

1969 : The Beatles released ‘Abbey Road’ in the UK. The final studio recordings from the group featured two George Harrison songs ‘Something’ (Harrison’s first A-side single), and ‘Here Comes The Sun’. In their interviews for The Beatles Anthology, the surviving band members stated that, although none of them ever made the distinction of calling it the “last album”, they all felt at the time this would very likely be the final Beatles product and therefore agreed to set aside their differences and “go out on a high note”.

1969 : Fleetwood Mac, East Of Eden, Family, Edgar Broughton Band, Grisby Dyke and Glass Menagerie all appeared at an all night indoor festival at The Pavillion Gardens, Buxton, Derbyshire, England, John Peel hosted the night.

1969 : Legendary promoter Bill Graham opens the Fillmore West, a West Coast version of his popular New York “rock ballroom,” in San Francisco.

1970 : Returning to Abbey Road studios in London, ex-Beatle John Lennon begins work on his first proper solo album, John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band.

1970 : Motown Records announces The Jackson 5 have sold 10 million records in nine months.

1974 : Released on this day, John Lennon – “Walls And Bridges” LP

1975 : The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens in Westwood, California. Featuring a young Meat Loaf along with Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, the movie tanks but later becomes a cult classic, with audience members shouting back at the screen and bringing toast, toilet paper, and other assorted items to enhance the viewing experience.

1976 : Marvin Gaye records a live album at the London Palladium (his first appearance in England in ten years.)

1981 : Bruce Dickinson joined UK rock band Iron Maiden, (Dickinson had been the vocalist with Samson).

1981 : The Go-Go’s started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Beauty And The Beat.’

1984 : Paul Anka receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6840 Hollywood Blvd.

1987 : Michael Jackson started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Bad’. Released nearly five years after Jackson’s previous studio album, Thriller, Bad, went on to become the world’s best-selling album having sold between 30 to 45 million copies worldwide. The album produced five US No.1’s, the first album to do so.

1987 : Whitney Houston started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Didn’t We Almost Have It All’.

1987 : David Bowie had his last hit chart in this decade when ‘Never Let Me Down’ scrapped into the US charts at No.27, the single peaked at No.34 in the UK.

1989 : Paul McCartney started his world tour at The Drammenshallen, in Drammen, Norway. It was McCartney’s first major tour outing in ten years, since Wings UK Tour 1979, and his first appearances in North America in thirteen years.

1992 : Gloria Estefan headlines a show featuring Paul Simon, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Jimmy Buffett at a Miami concert to raise money for Hurricane Andrew relief.

1995 : AC/DC released Ballbreaker their 12th international studio album. The album which was produced by Rick Rubin, featured the return of former drummer Phil Rudd, who had been fired from the band in 1983 as a result of drinking and drug problems and a fight with founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young.

1996 : Police found drugs hidden in a Smarties tube when they raided the London home of Paula Yates and INXS singer Michael Hutchence. The couple were away in Australia at the time of the raid.

1997 : The initial 300,000-unit shipment of Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind 1997” sells out in Japan on its first day of release. The single, retailing for 1,300 yen ($10.66) racks up unusually high sales for a foreign release.

1997 : The Irish Independent Radio Commission placed a ban on radio stations playing any songs by Eurovision Song Contest winner Dana. It was seen to be giving her an unfair advantage during the current election campaign she was involved with.

2003 : English singer, songwriter Robert Palmer died of a heart attack aged 54 in Paris France. He was a member of Vinegar Joe and Power Station (with Duran Duran members Andy Taylor and John Taylor with drummer and former Chic member Tony Thompson). As a solo artist had the 1986 US No.1 & UK No.5 single ‘Addicted To Love’ and the 1988 hit ‘Simply Irresistible’.

2003 : A report published on requests by artists to venues of their backstage requirements revealed; Limp Bizkit insisted that all the lamps in their rooms be dimmable while Mariah Carey would only have ‘bendy’ straws as she will not use straight ones. Van Halen insisted that back-stage celery is trimmed and not peeled. The Red Hot Chili Peppers asked for a meditation room and a selection of aromatherapy candles. Barry Manilow requested that the air temperature in the auditorium be kept at a regular 65 degrees.

2004 : Green Day scored their first UK No.1 album with ‘American Idiot’ the bands seventh release.

2007 : A charitable foundation set up by Shakira donated $40 million to help victims of natural disasters. The money would go towards repairing damage caused by an earthquake in Peru and a hurricane in Nicaragua. A further $5 million would be spent on health and education in four Latin American countries.

2007 : Phil Spector’s first trial in the murder case of Lana Clarkson in 2003 ends in a hung jury, with 10 guilty votes and 2 not guilty. A retrial begins the next year and he is eventually found guilty.

2012 : Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro gets into hot water for his slurs against Lady Gaga. The extensive rant consists, in part, of “There’s Gaga. Here’s this, this, I would call her a slut. This slut is influencing many, many children.” and “So we have a job to do with these actresses, these actors, these ball players. They use drugs as it’s nothing. We shouldn’t praise them. We shouldn’t honor them. We should really hit them.” Despite several other New York politicians defending the artist, Molinaro later doubles down on his remarks, stating that “A slut is someone that’s immoral or uses improper conduct.”