Musician Birthdays: Yoko Ono (singer, poet, author, also most famous as the wife of John Lennon, born in 1933), John Travolta (actor, singer, and dancer, he was made famous in the music industry with “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever”, born in 1954), Dr. Dre (one of the former members of rap group, N.W.A., and most famous for his best selling album “The Chronic”, which included hits, “Let Me Ride” and “Nothing But a G Thang”, born in 1965)

– In 1959: Ray Charles recorded ‘What’d I Say’, in New York City. The song had evolved in concert as a call-and-response between Charles and his female back-up singers. It became Charles’ biggest hit to date, reaching No.1 on the R&B and No.6 on the pop charts.

– In 1965: Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded two new songs: John Lennon’s ‘You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away’ and a new Paul McCartney song ‘Tell Me What You See’.

– In 1966: Beach Boy Brian Wilson recorded the future classic song ‘Good Vibrations’, which went on to become the band’s third U.S. number-one hit. As a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations” Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.

– In 1971: Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band made their New York debut at Unganos.

– In 1972: On their first Australian tour, Led Zeppelin rescheduled to the following night their concert at the Memorial Drive, Adelaide, after heavy rain left the stage and equipment unsafe. Zeppelin had brought to Adelaide the largest PA system seen in Australia to produce what was expected to be the loudest rock show ever heard.

– In 1987: Bon Jovi were at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, it made No.4 in the UK.

– In 2000: An American court ordered the release of FBI files relating to John Lennon’s interests and activities including his support for the Irish Republican cause and the Workers Revolutionary Party. The British Government told the US that it wanted the files to remain secret. MI5 also had files on Lennon, which they had passed on the FBI during the 70’s.

– In 2004: A court case accusing Marilyn Manson of sexual assault was dismissed after the two sides reached a settlement. Security guard Joshua Keasler had sued Manson after the star allegedly put his legs around Keasler’s neck and gyrated against him on stage at a gig in Detroit, Michigan in 2001. Manson was ordered to pay $4,000 (£2,091) in fines and costs in the criminal proceedings.

– In 2005: Britney Spears attacked a US magazine after it published photographs of her honeymoon without permission. Weekly publication Us printed five pages of pictures of Spears and husband Kevin Federline on holiday in Fiji. A statement from US said: “Britney should start her own magazine if she’d like to dictate her own coverage.”

Musician Birthdays: Billy Joe Armstrong (guitarist, singer of Green Day, born in 1972), Paris Hilton (business woman, heiress, socialite, singer, actress, etc. She made it in the music business with her hit, “The Stars Are Blind”, born in 1981)

– In 1960: Elvis Presley won his first Gold record for the album ‘Elvis’.

– In 1967: The Beatles started recording a new John Lennon song ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite’ at Abbey Road studios, London. John’s lyrics for the song came almost entirely from an antique poster advertising a circus performance scheduled to take place in Rochdale, Lancashire, in February 1843. John had purchased the poster in Sevenoaks on January 31 while The Beatles were on location for the filming of the ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ promotional film.

– In 1969: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash recorded ‘Girl From The North Country’ together in Nashville at CBS Studios. The track appeared on Dylan’s ‘Nashville Skyline’ album.

– In 1970: Joni Mitchell announced she was retiring from live performances during a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Joni was on stage again by the end of the year.

– In 1971: James Taylor made his TV debut on The Johnny Cash Show. Other guests included Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt and Tony Joe White.

– In 1972: Los Angeles radio station KDAY played two new Rolling Stones tracks non-stop for a day after obtaining stolen tapes from a producer’s home.

– In 1975: AC/DC released their debut album ‘High Voltage’. The album featured a cover of ‘Baby, Please Don’t Go’ a blues song first recorded by Big Joe Williams and ‘She’s Got Balls’ which was written about singer Bon Scott’s ex-wife Irene – the first AC/DC song for which he wrote lyrics.

– In 1979: The Clash opened the US leg of their ‘Pearl Harbour ’79’, North American tour at New York’s Palladium.

– In 1996: A Platinum American Express card once belonging to Bruce Springsteen was sold for $4,500 (£2,650) at a New York memorabilia sale. The singer had given the expired card to a waiter in a LA restaurant by mistake and let them keep it as a souvenir.

– In 2000: John Lennon’s Steinway piano, on which he composed ‘Imagine’, went on display at the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool, England. The piano was set to be auctioned on the Internet later in the year and was expected to fetch more than £1 million ($1.7 million).

– In 2004: Prosecutors in the murder case of producer Phil Spector demanded that a fingernail overlooked by police investigating Lana Clarkson’s shooting should be put forward as evidence. They claimed the fingernail, blackened with gunpowder, could indicate that the 40-year old actress killed herself at Spector’s Los Angeles mansion. Spector, had denied murdering Clarkson.

– In 2005: A 1965 Fender Stratocaster guitar belonging to Jimi Hendrix sold for £100,000 at an auction in London. Other Hendrix items sold included a poem written two weeks after his appearance at the Monterey Festival which went for £10,000 and the first Jimi Hendrix Experience’s single ‘Hey Joe’, signed by all the band sold for £2,000.