Musician Birthdays: Lemmy Kilmister (singer, bassist for Motorhead, born in 1945)

– In 1954: Johnny Ace shot himself dead backstage at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas. The R&B singer was playing with a revolver during a break between sets, someone in the room said ‘Be careful with that thing…’ and he said ‘It’s OK the gun’s not loaded…see?’ and pointed it at himself with a smile on his face.

– In 1965: The Beatles had the number one album in the US for the third Christmas in a row. ‘Rubber Soul’ sat atop the LP chart in ’65, following ‘Beatles For Sale’ in 1964 and ‘With The Beatles’ in 1963. The Fab Four would repeat this feat again in 1968 with ‘The Beatles’ (The White Album) and again in 1969, with ‘Abbey Road’.

– In 1972: David Bowie appeared at the Rainbow Theatre, London, England giving a special Christmas Eve concert.

– In 1976: ‘Hotel California’, The Eagles’ sixth album, spent the first of eight non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard chart. The band’s first LP with Joe Walsh and last with bassist Randy Meisner which has now sold over 16 million copies.

– In 1977: The Bee Gees started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, the group’s 4th US No.1. It stayed in the top 10 for 17 weeks giving it the longest chart run in history, a No.3 in the UK.

– In 1977: The Sex Pistols played their last ever UK gig, (until 1996), before splitting, at Ivanhoes in Huddersfield. It was a charity performance before an audience of mainly children.

– In 1988: Poison started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn.’

– In 1988: Nirvana started recording their first album ‘Bleach’ using a $600 loan from an old school friend.

– In 1994: Pearl Jam went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Vitalogy’.

– In 2003: Jack White of The White Stripes turned himself in to Detroit police to face aggravated assault charges stemming from a bar room altercation in which he allegedly attacked Jason Stollsteimer of The Von Bondies. White was also fingerprinted and formally booked on the charges before he was released on bail.