Musician Birthdays: Wayne Coyne (singer/guitarist of the Flaming Lips, famous for hit, “She Don’t Use Jelly”, born in 1961), Zach De La Rocha (singer/rapper for Rage Against the Machine, 1970)
– In 1962: Chubby Checker went back to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Twist’. The song first went to No.1 in Sept 1960 and became the only record in American chart history to top the charts on two separate occasions.
– In 1963: The Beatles recorded a TV appearance on the ABC Television program “Thank Your Lucky Stars” in Birmingham playing their new single, ‘Please Please Me.’ The show was broadcast on January 19.
– In 1965: The first day of recording sessions for Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home album were held at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. Dylan recorded ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, and ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.’
– In 1968: Johnny Cash played a show, which was recorded, for his forthcoming live album at Folsom Prison, near Sacramento, California in-front of 2,000 inmates.
– In 1969: Elvis Presley began a ten day recording session that would produce his final US number one record, ‘Suspicious Minds’. The tracks were laid down at American Sound Studios in Memphis and marked the first time Presley had recorded in his hometown since his Sun Records days in 1956.
– In 1970: Steel Mill, (featuring Bruce Springsteen) played at The Matrix in San Francisco, California. Boz Scaggs was the scheduled headliner but he cancelled at that last minute due to illness. Rock critic Philip Elwood, who turned up intending to review Scaggs ended up writing a highly favorable review of Steel Mill for The San Francisco Examiner.
– In 1973: Eric Clapton made his stage comeback at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with Pete Townsend, Ronnie Wood, Stevie Winwood, Rebop, Jim Capaldi and support from The Average White Band. The night’s two shows were recorded for the ‘Rainbow Concert’ album. The Who’s Pete Townshend had organised the concert to help Clapton kick his heroin addiction.
– In 1978: The Police started recording their first album at Surrey Sound Studios, Surrey, England with producer Nigel Gray.
– In 1979: Soul singer Donny Hathaway committed suicide falling from a 15th floor New York hotel window. (1972 UK No.29 single with Roberta Flack ‘Where Is The Love’, 1978 US No.2 single ‘The Closer I Get.’
– In 1986: Sex Pistol members John Lydon, Steve Jones and Paul Cook, as well as the mother of Sid Vicious, sued former manager Malcom McClaren for £1 million ($1.7 million). They settled out of court.
– In 2000: Christina Aguilera had the US No.1 single with ‘What A Girl Wants’.
– In 2003: Diana Ross appeared in a US court charged with driving while twice over the drink driving limit. Police in Tucson reported that Miss Ross could not walk in a straight line, touch her nose or count to 30 after she had been stopped for swerving across the road.
– In 2003: Who guitarist Pete Townshend was arrested on suspicion of child porn offences. Police officers impounded seven computers from his £15 million ($25.5 million) home in Richmond, Surrey.
– In 2005: a report showed that more songs had been written about Elvis Presley than any other artist. It listed over 220 songs including: ‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon, ‘A Room At The Heartbreakhotel’ by U2, ‘Calling Elvis’, Dire Straits, ‘Happy Birthday Elvis’, Loudon Wainwright III, ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’, Kirsty MacColl, ‘I Saw Elvis in a UFO’, Ray Stevens. ‘Elvis Has Left the Building’ by Frank Zappa and ‘My Dog Thinks I’m Elvis’ by Ray Herndon.
– In 2010: A plaque of the Beatles’ iconic yellow submarine, which was stolen six months ago from Liverpool’s Albert Dock, was set to be replaced by a new creation. The 5ft (1.5m) design featured the faces of the John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison peering through its portholes. The new submarine would hang outside the museum dedicated to the band, The Beatles Story. The former plaque has never been found and the thieves had never been caught.