Musician Birthdays: Meg White (drummer for the White Stripes, born in 1974)

– In 1949: Fats Domino recorded his first tracks for Imperial Records. One of those songs was called ‘The Fat Man’, which later became his nickname.

– In 1959: The four male members of The Platters were acquitted of charges of aiding and abetting prostitution, lewdness and assignation after an incident on August 10th in Cincinnati. Despite the outcome of the trial, the scandal would severely damage the group’s career.

– In 1961: The Beatles appeared at Hambleton Hall, Huyton in Liverpool after returning to Liverpool from their first live performances in south England and London. The Beatles arrived so late for their appearance in Huyton that they only had time to play for 15 minutes. The promoters, having to pay The Beatles their full £15 were very unhappy.

– In 1966: The Beach Boys went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Good Vibrations’, the group’s third US No.1. Also No.1 in the UK.

– In 1967: American soul singer, songwriter Otis Redding was killed in a plane crash, aged 26. Redding and his band had made an appearance in Cleveland, Ohio on the local ‘Upbeat’ television show the previous day. The plane carrying Otis Redding and his band crashed at 3.28.pm into icy waters of Lake Monoma near Madison. Redding was killed in the crash along with members from the The Bar-Kays, Jimmy King, Ron Caldwell, Phalin Jones and Carl Cunningham. Trumpet player Ben Cauley was the only person to survive the crash.

– In 1967: The Byrds played the first of an 8 night run at the Whisky-a-go-go, Hollywood, California.

– In 1973: The CBGB Club opened in the lower eastside of New York City; it became the home of new bands such as Blondie, Television, Patti Smith and The Ramones.

– In 1976: Billy Idol’s new band Generation X made their live debut at The Central College Of Art, London.

– In 1983: Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards married 27-year old Patti Hansen on his 40th birthday.

– In 1998: Bruce Springsteen won a £2 million court battle to ban an album of his early songs. The case revolved around a dispute over copyright ownership between Bruce and a former manager.

– In 2000: Eminem went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Stan’. The rappers second No.1, the female singing on the track was by Dido.

– In 2003: Coldplay singer Chris Martin married actress Gwyneth Paltrow in Santa Barbara, California. The couple also announced that Paltrow was pregnant and the baby was due next summer.

– In 2005: Queen overtook The Beatles to become the third most successful act of all time. Sales in 2005 showed that Queen had now overtaken The Beatles to make it into third place, spending 1,755 weeks on the British singles and album charts. The Beatles slipped to fourth place, with 1,749 weeks. Elvis had spent 2,574 weeks on the singles and album charts, making him number one in the Top 100 most successful acts of all time. Sir Cliff Richard remained in second place, clinching 1,982 weeks.

– In 2007: Led Zeppelin played their first concert in 19 years, at London’s 02 arena. Original band members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones were joined on stage by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham. More than one million people had taken part in a ballot for the 20,000 tickets available for the show.

– In 2010: The original hand-written lyrics to Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ sold at a New York auction for $422,500 (£267,400). Adam Sender, a hedge fund manager and art collector, outbid five others, placing telephone bids. The song, one of Dylan’s most politically charged, was the title track of his 1964 album.