Musician Birthdays: Michael Bruce (guitarist of Alice Coooper. Born in 1948), Nancy Wilson (singer of Heart, born in 1954)

– In 1964: The Beatles set a new record for advance sales in the U.S. with 2,100,000 copies of their latest single ‘Can’t Buy Me Love.’

– In 1965: The Rolling Stones were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Last Time’, the bands third UK No.1 and first No.1 for songwriters Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

– In 1968: The posthumously released Otis Redding single ‘Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay’, started a five week run at No.1 on the US chart, (a No.3 hit the UK). Otis was killed in a plane crash on 10th December 1967 three days after recording the song. ‘Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay’, became the first posthumous No.1 single in US chart history and sold over four million copies worldwide.

– In 1971: Winners at this years Grammy Awards included, Simon and Garfunkel who won Record of the year, Song of the year and Album of the year for ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, The Carpenters won Best new act and Best vocal performance.

– In 1972: John Lennon lodged an appeal with the US immigration office in New York, after he was served with deportation orders arising from his 1968 cannabis possession conviction.

– In 1974: Barbra Streisand started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Way We Were’, the singers second US No.1.

– In 1974: During a US tour Elvis Presley played the first of four nights at the Midsouth Coliseum in Memphis Tennessee. This was the first time Elvis had played in Memphis since 1961.

– In 1977: After being with the label for just six days The Sex Pistols were fired from A&M due to pressure from other label artists and its Los Angeles head office. 25,000 copies of ‘God Save The Queen’ were pressed and the band made £75,000 ($127,500) from the deal.

– In 1977: Pink Floyd played the second of five sold-out nights at Empire Pool, Wembley, London, England. The set list included: Sheep, Pigs on the Wing 1, Dogs, Pigs on the Wing 2, Pigs (Three Different Ones), Wish You Were Here, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Welcome to the Machine, Have a Cigar, Money and Us and Them.

– In 1991: Seven members of Country singer Reba McEntire’s band and her road manager were among 10 people who were killed when their private jet crashed in California just north of the Mexican border. McEntire, who had given a private concert in San Diego for IBM employees the night before, was not on the plane.

– In 1992: During a Metallica gig at Orlando Arena fans dangled an usher by his ankles from the balcony as trouble broke out at the concert. The band were charged $38,000 (£22,353) for repairs and cleaning after the audience trashed the building.

– In 1996: The Ramones performed what they claimed would be their last ever date in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

– In 2005: Billy Joel checked into a rehabilitation centre for alcohol abuse. A statement from the 55-year-old singer’s spokesperson put his latest problems down to “a recent bout of severe gastrointestinal distress.”

– In 2010: Abba were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Genesis and The Hollies. Abba’s Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad accepted their trophies, in New York.

– In 2010: A rare Led Zeppelin recording from the group’s 1971 gig at St Matthew’s Baths Hall in Ipswich, England was unearthed at a car boot sale. The bootleg copy of the audio from the group’s gig on November 16th 1971 was picked up for just “two or three pounds” by music fan Vic Kemp. “I was going through a stand of CDs at the car boot at Portman Road and the guy who was selling them said, ‘You might be interested in this,'” Vic Kemp told the Evening Star. “It must have been recorded by someone standing at the front with a microphone. You can hear Robert Plant talking to the audience quite clearly.”

Musician Birthdays: Phil Lesh (former bassist of the Grateful Dead.  Born in 1940), Sly Stone (singer/guitarist of Sly & the Family Stone, famous for hit, “Everyday People”. Born in 1944), Dee Snider (longtime singer of Twisted Sister, famous for hits “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, “I Wanna Rock”, etc. Born in 1955), Mark McGrath (Singer of Sugar Ray, famous for hit, “Every Morning”. Born in 1968), Will.I.Am. (singer/rapper of Black Eyed Peas. Born in 1977)

– In 1955: Elvis Presley signed a management contract with Colonel Tom Parker. Parker had previously managed the ‘Great Parker Pony Circus’ with one of the acts being a troupe of dancing chickens.

– In 1967: The first session recording George Harrison’s new song ‘Within You Without You’ took place at Abbey Road studios, London. George was the only Beatle to perform on this song, which was still called ‘Untitled’. Harrison played the swordmandel and tamboura, Natver Soni played tabla, Amrat Gajjar played dilruba, PD Joshi played swordmandel, and an undocumented musician played a droning tamboura.

– In 1969: Janis Joplin was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for 35 Cents, (2/6).

– In 1969: Tyrannosaurus Rex singer Marc Bolan’s first book of poetry ‘The Warlock Of Love’ was published, priced at 12 and 6.

– In 1969: During a Scandinavian tour Led Zeppelin played at the Brondby Pop Club in Norregard. Also on the bill, The Keef Hartley Band, Ham and Swedish band Made In Sweden.

– In 1973: Roberta Flack was at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ and Elton John had the No.1 album with ‘Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player’.

– In 1975: Led Zeppelin went to No.1 on the UK chart with the double album ‘Physical Graffiti’, the first on their own ‘Swan Song’ label, the album spent six weeks at No.1 on the US chart.

– In 1975: The Doobie Brothers went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Black Water’, the group’s first of two US No.1’s.

– In 1977: Pink Floyd played the first of six sold-out nights at Empire Pool, Wembley, London, England.

– In 1986: The Bangles were at No.2 on the UK singles chart with ‘Manic Monday’, a song written by Prince under the pseudonym Christopher, it also made No.2 in the US, held of No.1 by Prince with ‘Kiss’.

– In 1989: The Rolling Stones signed a $70 million (£40 million) contract to play 50 North American dates. It was the largest contract in rock history.

– In 1999: Bruce Springsteen was inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame by U2’s Bono.

– In 2000: Sir Paul McCartney confirmed that him and former model Heather Mills had become ‘an item’. The couple had met after working on the same charity project.

– In 2002: Yoko Ono unveiled a seven foot bronze statue of John Lennon overlooking the check- in hall of Liverpool John Lennon airport. The re-branding of the airport featured a sketch of Lennon’s face with the words ‘Above Us Only Skies.’

– In 2004: George Harrison, Prince, Bob Seger, The Dells, Traffic and ZZ Top were all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York City.

– In 2008: Six people were charged with conspiracy to defraud the Isle of Wight Festival by trying to sell fake tickets and wristbands. A police investigation was launched after alleged counterfeit tickets were discovered at last year’s event, which was headlined by the Rolling Stones.

– In 2010: Sony Music announced the biggest recording deal in history with the estate of Michael Jackson worth more than $200m (£133m). The deal involved 10 album projects over seven years including one of previously unreleased material. Sony had sold about 31 million copies of Jackson’s albums worldwide since his death on 25 June, 2009.

– In 2011: Disney Studios scrapped plans for a 3D remake of The Beatles’ 1968 film Yellow Submarine. The new film which was being developed by Forrest Gump Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis was going to incorporate the 16 Beatles songs and recordings from the original animated film. Budget issues and a cancelled meeting with surviving Beatles’ members were cited as reasons for the film’s demise.