Musician Birthdays: Rob Thomas (singer of Matchbox Twenty, famous for the hit, “Push”, born in 1972)

– In 1961: The Beatles perform at the Cassanova Club, Liverpool, and at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool where they play a special Valentine’s Day show. Paul McCartney sang Elvis Presley’s “Wooden Heart”, wearing wooden heart pinned to his coat, covered with satin and embroidered with the names “John”, “Paul”, “George”, and “Pete”. The heart was raffled off, and the winner also won a kiss from Paul.

– In 1970: The Who appeared at Leeds University, England. The show was recorded for the bands forthcoming ‘Live At Leeds’ album. The University of Leeds refectory, has now been named a national landmark in the UK, commemorated with a blue plaque.

– In 1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono started a week long run as co-hosts on ‘Mike Douglas’ US TV show

– In 1973: David Bowie collapsed on stage during a concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

– In 1977: US singer songwriter Janis Ian received 461 Valentine’s day cards after indicating in the lyrics of her song ‘At Seventeen’, she had never received any.

– In 1978: Dire Straits began recording their first album at Basing Street Studios, London. The whole project cost £12,500 ($21,250) to produce. The album which featured the group’s breakthrough single ‘Sultans of Swing’ went on to enjoy a 132 week run on the UK chart.

– In 1986: Frank Zappa appeared on an episode of the television series Miami Vice. Zappa portrayed a crime boss named ‘Mr. Frankie.’

– In 1987: Bon Jovi started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, the group’s second US No.1, a No.4 hit in the UK.

– In 1992: The film ‘Waynes World’, which featured appearances from Meat Loaf and Alice Cooper premiered in the US. The use of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in the film propelled the song to No.2 on the US singles charts nearly 20 years after its first release.

– In 1995: Rapper Tupac Shakur was sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison on a sexual abuse charge. He was later released on appeal.

– In 1998: Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ set a new recorded for the most radio plays in the US with 116 million plays in one week.

– In 1999: Elton John appeared as himself in a special episode of the animated series The Simpsons shown on US TV.

– In 2003: Stolen reel-to-reel studio recordings by The Beatles were found in Australia. Police recovered the tapes of the bands 1968 ‘White album’ and the ‘Abbey Road’ album after they were advertised for sale in a Sydney newspaper. Australian police had been tipped off by British detectives from Operation Acetone, an investigation into thefts of original Beatles music from Abbey Road studios in London in the 1960’s .

– In 2009:  Bruce Springsteen went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Working on a Dream’, his 16th studio album.