Musician Birthdays: Dave Clark (singer of the Dave Clark Five, born in 1942), Don Johnson (actor/singer, born in 1949), Tim Reynolds (guitarist, most famous for playing with Dave Matthews acoustic solo shows, born in 1957)

– In 1956: Elvis Presley gave his final performance on Louisiana Hayride, a live radio program that was broadcast on KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana. Presley made 50 appearances on the show. At the end of the show, Horace Logan first made the now legendary phrase ‘Elvis has left the building’.

– In 1962: The Beatles played two separate shows at the same venue, the Majestic Ballroom in Birkenhead, Merseyside. First they played a standard Majestic booking then at midnight, the first-ever “Mersey Beat” poll awards show took place. As poll winners, The Beatles closed the show (at 4:00 am).

– In 1969: John Lennon played what would be his final ever gig in the UK when he appeared at The Lyceum Ballroom, London, with the Plastic Ono Band in a UNICEF ‘Peace For Christmas’ benefit. George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney and Bonnie, Billy Preston and The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon also took part.

– In 1977: The Sex Pistols were refused entry into the USA two days before a scheduled NBC TV appearance. Johnny Rotten because of a drugs conviction, Paul Cook & Sid Vicious because of ‘moral turpitude’ and Steve Jones because of his criminal record.

– In 1988: Soul singer James Brown was sentenced to six years in prison for various offences including possession of weapons and resisting arrest.

– In 1997: ‘Spice World The Movie’, featuring The Spice Girls premiered at The Empire, Leicester Sq, London. The following year it was nominated for the ‘worst film’ at the Golden Raspberry Awards.

– In 1999: Posh Spice Victoria Beckham knocked a crazed fan to the ground after he tried to grab her baby son Brooklyn as she left Harrods in London.

– In 2003: Courtney Love was sentenced to 18 months in drug rehabilitation after she admitted being under the influence of cocaine and opiates. She was banned from taking non-prescription drugs, drinking alcohol or being in places that serve alcohol.

– In 2006: The co-founder of Atlantic Records Ahmet Ertegun died, aged 83. Ertegun who founded Atlantic Records with Herb Abramson in 1947 helped make Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin stars and signed the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin in the early 70s. He suffered a head injury when he fell at a Rolling Stones concert at New York’s Beacon Theatre in October, and died after slipping into a coma.

– In 2010: Various Pink Floyd items were sold at an Entertainment Memorabilia auction by Bonhams in Knightsbridge London. A demo pressing of the single ‘Point Me To The Sky’/’Careful With That Axe Eugene’ sold for £720. Pink Floyd signatures, in various blue marker pens on four separate pieces of paper mounted and framed together with a copy of ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ sold for £624.00 and a demo pressing of the single by Syd Barrett, ‘Octopus’ / ‘Golden Hair’ from 1969, misspelt ‘Barratt’ corrected in ink on A-side, sold for £300.

Musician Birthdays: Vanessa Hudgens (actress/singer, famous for “High School The Musical”, born in 1980)

– In 1962: Bill Wyman made his live debut with The Rollin’ Stones at the Ricky Tick Club, Star and Garter Hotel in Windsor, England. The group were know as The Rollin’ Stones during this period.

– In 1963: The Beatles played a show for their Southern Area Fan Club at Wimbledon Palais, London. To prevent damage to the stage from fans the management of the Palais constructed a platform for The Beatles to perform on, surrounded by a steel cage.

– In 1967: Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones was rushed to St Georges hospital in London after collapsing. A doctor reported Jones was tired and suffering from over strain and was also recovering from having some teeth out.

– In 1968: Marvin Gaye scored his first US No.1 single when ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ started a five-week run at the top. It was Marvin’s 15th solo hit and also his first UK No.1 single in March 69.

– In 1969: The Jackson Five made their first network television appearance in the US when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.

– In 1972: ‘Born To Boogie’ the Ringo Starr directed movie featuring T Rex premiered in London.

– In 1980: Yoko Ono called on fans to observe ten minutes of silence in memory of John Lennon. 30,000 gathered outside St George’s Hall in Liverpool, while nearly 100,000 attend a memorial in New York’s Central Park.

– In 1985: Whitney Houston scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘Saving All My Love For You’. The song had been a minor hit for Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. in 1978 and was also a US No.1 for Houston.

– In 1991: Michael Jackson started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Dangerous’.

– In 1997: Garth Brooks was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Sevens’ his fourth US No.1 album.

– In 1998: Billy Preston pleaded guilty to insurance fraud in a Los Angeles court and agreed to testify against six other defendants who allegedly participated in starting fires, staging thefts and rigging car crashes for which a total of 18 fraudulent insurance claims were filed. Preston received five years of probation and one year in jail to run concurrently with a sentence he was already serving for violating probation on a prior conviction for cocaine possession.

– In 2000: Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher recorded a cover version of Slade’s 1973 number one ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ for the Christmas Day edition of the BBC1 comedy show The Royle Family.

– In 2003: Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Changes’ a remake of a track first sung by Ozzy on the Black Sabbath album Volume IV in 1972. It was the first father and daughter chart topper since Frank & Nancy Sinatra in 1967.

– In 2003: Alicia Keys was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Diary Of Alicia Keys’ the singers second US No.1.

– In 2004: The funeral took place in Arlington, Texas for Damageplan and Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, Eddie Van Halen, placed Darrell’s original black and yellow stripes guitar into the Kiss Kasket he was buried in. Several thousand fans and friends gathered at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, to mourn the guitarist’s death. Darrell was shot five times in the back of the head during a gig at the Alrosa Villa Club in Columbus on 8th Dec 04 by a mentally ill former US Marine. Damageplan’s drum technician, John Brooks, and tour manager, Chris Paluska, were both injured in the incident.