Musician Birthdays: George Martin (famous as the Beatles producer, known as the 5th Beatle, born in 1926), Stephen Stills (singer/guitarist for CSNY, Buffalo Springfield, born in 1945), John Paul Jones (bassist for Led Zeppelin, Them Crooked Vultures, born in 1946)

– In 1955: Elvis Presley appeared in Boonesville, Virginia. The 20 year-old singer was still a regional star, but by the end of 56′ he had become a national sensation, recording two albums, (which included ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes’), appeared on national television 11 times, played over 100 concerts and signed a seven year contract with Paramount Pictures.

– In 1963: The Beatles began their first headlining tour with four nights in Scotland appearing at the Two Red Shoes Ballroom, Elgin. Two of the dates were cancelled due to bad weather.

– In 1964: The Beatles were seen for the first time on US TV when a clip from the BBC’s ‘The Mersey Sound’ showing the group playing ‘She Loves You’ was shown on The Jack Paar Show.

– In 1969: Appearing live on The Lulu show on UK TV, Jimi Hendrix was booked to perform two songs, Voodoo Child, (which is performed in full), then he stopped performing his new single ‘Hey Joe’ after a verse and chorus and instead launched into a version of the Cream song ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ as a tribute to the band who had split a few days earlier. Hendrix then proceeded to continuing jamming, running over their allocated time slot on the live show, preventing the show’s host Lulu from closing the show properly.

– In 1972: Two weeks of rehearsals for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon tour began at the Bermondsey in London, England, (the venue was owned by The Rolling Stones).

– In 1974: Bob Dylan and The Band started a 39-date US tour, Dylan’s first live appearance for over 7 years. There were more than 5 million applications for the 660,000 tickets.

– In 1976: Bob Dylan’s song, ‘Hurricane’, peaked at No.33 on the Billboard singles chart, helping to cause enough publicity to eventually get former boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter released from jail. The song promoted Carter’s innocence and a movie about Carter’s life, starring Denzel Washington, was released in 2000.

– In 1981: David Bowie made his final appearance as the Elephant Man in the Broadway show in New York City.

– In 1987: Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

– In 2002: Liam and Noel Gallagher topped a poll of celebrities you would least like to live next to, getting 40% of the vote. Readers of Your Home magazine voted the brothers from Oasis as ‘Neighbours From Hell’.