Musician Birthdays: Marilyn Manson (real name: Brian Warner, metal singer famous for “Sweet Dreams” Eurythmics cover, also famous for hit “The Beautiful People”, born in 1969)

– In 1966: The Who appeared on a new UK television program ‘The Whole Scene Going.’

– In 1967: During The Beatles Sgt Pepper sessions at Abbey Road in London, Paul McCartney recorded his vocal track on ‘Penny Lane.’

– In 1968: Jimi Hendrix was jailed for one day in Stockholm, Sweden on drink charges after going berserk and destroying everything in his room at the Goteberg Hotel.

– In 1973: Bruce Springsteen released his debut album ‘Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ.’ Recorded in a single week the album only sold about 25,000 copies in the first year of its release. Both ‘Blinded By The Light’ and ‘Spirit In The Night’ were released as singles but neither made a dent in the charts. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band later released a version of ‘Blinded By The Light’ on their album ‘The Roaring Silence,’ which reached #1 on the US charts in 1977.

–  In 1978: The Sex Pistols started a US tour in Atlanta, Georgia before an estimated audience of 500 people.

– In 1979: Prince made his live debut at the Capri Theatre, Minneapolis.

– In 1980: Donna Summer scored her third US No.1 album with ‘On The Radio- Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & II.’

– In 1980: KC and the Sunshine Band had their 5th US No.1 single and scored the first No.1 of the 80’s when ‘Please Don’t Go’ went to No.1 in the UK.

– In 1991: Iron Maiden went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter.’ It became the lowest selling No.1 since 1960, with just over 42,000 copies sold in its first week.

– In 1991: Madonna went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Justify My Love’, a song co-written with Lenny Kravitz and No.2 hit in the UK.

– In 1997: Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident at a resort near Lake Tahoe, aged 62. Bono who was one half on Sonny and Cher scored the 1965 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Got You Babe’ and had become a US Congressman.

– In 1997: No Doubt went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Tragic Kingdom.’

– In 2003: Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong was arrested on suspicion of drink driving after being stopped in California speeding in a black BMW convertible. He failed a breath test and was taken to Berkeley county jail and was later released on $1,053 (£657) bail.

– In 2004: Kinks singer Ray Davies was shot in the leg while on holiday in New Orleans. The 59-year-old singer-songwriter was shot when running after two men who stole his girlfriend’s purse at gunpoint. Davies was admitted to the Medical Centre of Louisiana but his injuries were not considered serious. New Orleans police said one person had been arrested, and police were still searching for the second.

Musician Birthdays: (Michael Stipe, singer of R.E.M., born in 1960)

– In 1954: Elvis Presley made his second visit to the Memphis recording service and cut two songs onto a 10 acetate, ‘Casual Love Affair ‘and ‘I’ll Never Stand In Your Way’. Studio boss Sam Phillips asked Presley to leave his phone number.

– In 1965: The Fender guitar company was bought by CBS for $13 million (£7.6 million).

– In 1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of what would be over 240 gigs in this year when they appeared at the Bromel Club, Bromley. (Many of the concerts were two shows per night).

– In 1967: The Doors released their self-titled debut album The Doors. Unique packaging of the album included each band member’s bio.

– In 1968: The University of California, Los Angeles announced that students taking music degrees would have to study the music of The Rolling Stones saying they had made such an important contribution to modern music.

– In 1970: Chauffeur Neil Boland was accidentally killed when The Who’s drummer Keith Moon ran over him. Moon was trying to escape from a Gang of skinheads after a fight broke out at a pub in Hatfield, England. Moon had never passed his driving test.

– In 1970: The Beatles (without John Lennon) re-record vocals and a new guitar solo on the Paul McCartney song ‘Let It Be’ at Studio Two, EMI Studios, London. This session will be the final studio appearance for The Beatles, as a group. (The final date that all four of The Beatles were in the studio together is August 20, 1969).

– In 1975:  Elton John started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of The Beatles ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’. His third US No.1, the song featured John Lennon on guitar.

– In 1977: The Sex Pistols shocked passengers and airline staff at Heathrow Airport when they spat and vomited boarding a plane to Amsterdam.

– In 1986: Irish singer, songwriter and bassist Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy died of heart failure and pneumonia after being in a coma for eight days following a drug overdose. Had the 1973 hit ‘Whiskey in the Jar’, (their version of the traditional Irish song), 1978 album ‘Live and Dangerous’ spent 62 weeks on the UK chart. A life-size bronze statue of Phil Lynott was unveiled on Harry Street in Dublin in 2005.

– In 2001: Courtney Love filed a lawsuit against her alleged stalker claiming that Lesley Barber, the ex-wife of her current boyfriend Jim Barber, drove over her foot. This had forced her to forfeit her role in a forthcoming film and lost her the £200,000, ($340,000) fee that went with it.

– In 2005: The owner of a recording studio where Eminem recorded his ‘Slim Shady’ LP was found shot dead. AJ Abdallah, who was 36, was discovered by a business colleague at the Detroit studio, it was thought he had been dead for at least two days. Police suggested that a robbery may also have taken place. Mr Abdallah had lived in a apartment above the studio on Eight Mile Road, the Detroit street which inspired the title of Eminem’s 2002 film ‘8 Mile.’

– In 2006: The house where Johnny Cash lived for 35 years was bought by Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb. The rustic house near Nashville, Tennessee went on the market in June 2005 with an asking price of $2.9m (£1.7m). Gibb said he planned to preserve the house to honour the Cash memory. Unfortunately Gibb’s ownership of the house was short-lived. In April 2007, the house burned to the ground. Gibb was having the house renovated when a flammable spray sealer caused fire to break out during construction.

– In 2008: Britney Spears was carried out of her home on a stretcher and taken into custody after police were called in a dispute involving her children. Police were called to Spears’ home over a family custodial dispute that they tried to resolve, after nearly three hours, Spears handed over her children, two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James, to her ex-husband Kevin Federline.

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’.