Musician Birthdays: Marianne Faithful (UK singer/songwriter, one time girlfriend of Mick Jagger, also famous as the special guest vocalist for the Metallica song, “The Memory Remains”, born in 1946)

– In 1956: Elvis Presley made chart history by having 10 songs on Billboards Top 100 for week ending Dec 19th.

– In 1966: Working at Abbey Road studios, London, Paul McCartney began work on his new song ‘Penny Lane’, recording six takes of keyboard tracks and various percussion effects.

– In 1968: Led Zeppelin appeared at the Civic Auditorium, Portland on their first North American tour opening for Vanilla Fudge.

– In 1973: Jim Croce scored his second No.1 US single of the year when ‘Time In A Bottle’ went to the top of the charts. Croce was killed in a plane crash on the way to a concert on September 20th 1973.

– In 1980: American singer, songwriter Tim Hardin died of a heroin overdose. Hardin wrote the songs ‘If I Were A Carpenter’ (covered by Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Four Tops, Leon Russell, Small Faces, Robert Plant and Bob Seger,) and ‘Reason To Believe’, (covered by Rod Stewart). Hardin appeared at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

– In 2001: Aretha Franklin was suing a US newspaper which alleged that the star had alcohol problems. The singer’s lawyers filed a federal lawsuit against the Florida-based Star claiming she was defamed by an article in the paper in December 2000 and were seeking $50m (£35m) in damages.

– In 2006: The wife of rock singer Marilyn Manson, Burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese filed for divorce after just a year of marriage. The couple married in December 2005 in a ceremony held at a castle in Ireland.