1959 : Craig Douglas was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the Sam Cooke hit ‘Only Sixteen’. Terence Perkins was employed as a milkman before becoming a professional singer and was known as the ‘Singing Milkman’.

1963 : The Beatles recorded an appearance on the BBC radio program ‘Saturday Club’, at the Playhouse Theatre in London. They performed ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘Memphis’, ‘Happy Birthday Saturday Club’ (arrangement credited to John Lennon), ‘I’ll Get You’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘Lucille’.

1966 : Filming begins on the Roy Orbison/Sam the Sham movie, The Fastest Guitar Alive.

1968 : The Doors played the first of two nights at The Roundhouse, London, playing 2 shows a night on their first UK visit. Granada TV filmed the sold out gigs (later shown as “The Doors Are Open”), which were attended by members of The Rolling Stones and Traffic.

1968 : Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham made their live debut as Led Zeppelin but billed as The New Yardbirds at Teen Club in Gladsaxe (a suburb in the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark). Around 1,200 youngsters attended the show at Egegard School. Teen Club President Lars Abel introducing ‘The New Yardbirds’ on stage introduced Robert Plant as Robert Plat. A local review stated; ‘Their performance and their music were absolutely flawless, and the music continued to ring nicely in the ears for some time after the curtains were drawn after their show. We can therefore conclude that the new Yardbirds are at least as good as the old ones were’.

1971 : David Bowie started recording sessions at Trident Studios in London, for what would become the concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. The character of Ziggy was initially inspired by British rock ‘n’ roll singer Vince Taylor, whom Bowie met after Taylor had had a breakdown and believed himself to be a cross between a god and an alien.

1974 : The 101ers made their performing debut at the Telegraph pub in Brixton. The pub rock band featured singer, guitarist Joe Strummer who would later join The Clash.

1975 : The Guess Who perform their final concert (before the inevitable reunion), in Montreal.

1976 : Abba were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Dancing Queen’, the group’s fourth UK No.1 single and their only US No.1 chart topper. The song was a No.1 hit in over a dozen countries and stayed at the top of the Swedish charts for 14 weeks.

1978 : Keith Moon, drummer with The Who, died of a overdose of heminevrin prescribed to combat alcoholism. A post-mortem confirmed there were 32 tablets in his system, 26 of which were undissolved. Moon had attended a party the night before organised by Paul McCartney for the launch of the ‘The Buddy Holly Story’ movie. He played on all The Who albums from their debut, 1965’s My Generation, to 1978’s Who Are You, which was released two weeks before his death.

1985 : David Bowie and Mick Jagger were at No.1 on the UK singes chart with their version of the Martha Reeves and The Vandellas 1964 hit ‘Dancing In The Street.’ The song had been recorded as part of the Live Aid charity appeal. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at the JFK Stadium, until it was realised that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible.

1985 : John Parr started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘St Elmo’s Fire’, taken from the film of the same name a No.6 hit in the UK.

1986 : Mike Nesmith joins the other three Monkees onstage during their reunion tour concert in Los Angeles.

1988 : Barry Sadler is shot while riding in a Guatemala City taxi (he will die from his injuries 14 months later.)

1996 : Tupac is shot 5 times in a drive-by following a boxing match in Las Vegas. He would die 6 days later.

1996 : Michael Jackson played the first date on the HIStory World Tour, his third solo world concert tour, at Letna Park, Prague in the Czech Republic. The tour consisted of 82 concerts and was attended by approximately 4.5 million fans, beating his previous Bad Tour with 4.4 million and grossing a total of over $163.5 million.

1997 : Fleetwood Mac went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Dance’. The album went on sell over 5 million copies in the US alone.

2000 : Rage Against The Machine bass player Tim Commerford interrupts the MTV Video Music Awards when he climbs up the scaffolding on stage, baffling the crew as well as Limp Bizkit, who were accepting the Best Rock Video award. Commerford was eventually coaxed down and subsequently arrested.

2001 : Michael Jackson was reunited onstage with the Jackson Five at his 30th Anniversary Celebration in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. It ended Jackson’s 11-year hiatus from performing in the U.S. Jackson was joined by Eminem, Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his singing career.

2001 : Ryan Adams shoots the video for his song New York, New York with the World Trade Center in the background. Four days later, the buildings were destroyed in the terrorist attacks, and when Adams released the video, it was dedicated to the victims of the attacks.

2002 : The Frankie Miller tribute concert was held at Barrowlands in Glasgow, Scotland with all profits going to the Drake Music Project. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Nazareth, Gallagher & Lyle, Hamish Stuart, former Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson, ex-Genesis singer Ray Wilson and Joe Walsh all appeared. Miller attended the show, but was still recovering from a 1994 brain hemorrhage, and so was unable to join in.

2003 : US singer, songwriter, Warren Zevon died. He had worked as a session musician, was the piano player and band leader for the Everly Brothers. His 1969 song ‘She Quit Me’ was included in the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy. Jackson Browne, The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt all appeared on his albums. He recorded over 15 solo albums, had the 1978 US No.21 single ‘Werewolves Of London’.

2003 : Black Eyed Peas started a six-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Where Is The Love.’ The best selling single of 2003. (with an un-credited Justin Timberlake on the recording).

2007 : A report showed that two-thirds of young people who regularly used MP3 players faced premature hearing damage. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People said its findings were alarming with research showing that 72 out of 110 MP3 users tested in the UK were listening to volumes above 85 decibels. Some MP3 players at full volume registered at 105 decibels, an aircraft taking off measured at 110 decibels.

2007 : A new study revealed that rock stars were twice as likely to die early as the rest of us. Researchers said that the problem was so bad the industry should be labeled a ‘high risk’ profession.

2008 : Noel Gallagher gets pushed to the ground by a concert goer who rushed the stage during an Oasis performance at Toronto’s Virgin Festival. Gallagher suffers a fractured rib and ligament damage from the attack, which forces the cancellation of several Oasis concerts.

2010 : Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was voted the greatest ‘lighter in the air song of all time’ by lighter company Zippo. Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’, was voted in at No. 2 and Meat Loaf’s ‘I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ was at No. 3 in the survey.