1929 Hal Blaine (Harold Simon Belsk) born in Holyoke, Massachusetts. American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and the 5th Dimension. Blaine has played on 50 No.1 hits, over 150 top ten hits and has recorded, by his own admission, on over 35,000 pieces of music over four decades of work.
1933 Claude King born in Shreveport, Los Angeles. US Country Singer/Guitarist/Songwriter with one hit ‘Wolvertop Mountain’. King died suddenly at his home in Shreveport on March 7, 2013, at the age of ninety.
1935 Alex Harvey born in Glasgow, Scotland. Vocals/Guuitarist with The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, (1975 UK No.7 single ‘Delilah’). Harvey died on February 4th 1982.
1941 Barrett Strong born in West Point, Mississippi. US songwriter. Wrote many Motown hits with Norman Whitfield including, Marvin Gayes’I heard It Through The Gravpevin’ Temptations ‘Ball Of Confusion’, ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’& Edwin Starr ‘War’
1942 Corey Wells born in Buffalo, New York. Vocalist with US Band Three Dog Night, (1970 UK No.3 & US No.1 single ‘Mamma Told Me Not To Come’).
1941 Henson Cargill Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. US Country Singer who had one hit with ‘Skip A Rope’ in 1967.
1943 Chuck Winfield – US Saxophonist with the original line-up of Blood (1969 USNo.2 & UK No.35 single ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’).
1944 Al Kooper born in Brooklyn, New York. US Keyboard Player/Guitarist/Songwriter with. The Royal Teens, (1958 US No.3 single ‘Shorts Shorts’), Blood Sweat & Tears, (1969 US No.12 & UK No.35 single ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’). Played organ on Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone.’ Co-Wrote ‘This Diamond Ring’ for Gary Lewis & The Playboys.
1944 James R.Cobb born in Birmingham, Alabama. US Lead Guitarist and Songwriter with Atlanta Rhythm Section, (1979 UK No.48 single ‘Spooky’).
1948 David Denny, guitarist with the Steve Miller Band who had the 1974 US No.1 & 1990 UK No.1 single ‘The Joker’.
1948 Nigel Tufnell, guitarist with the parody heavy metal band Spinal Tap, who made the 1984 film ‘This Is Spinal Tap’.
1957 5,000 fans greeted Bill Haley when he arrived from New York on the liner Queen Elizabeth at Southampton, for his debut UK concert tour. Haley was the first American rock artist to tour the UK.
1960 Paul Jones, bassist with Catatonia who had the 1998 UK No.3 single ‘Mulder And Scully’.
1962 The Beatles played two shows, one at the Cavern Club at lunchtime and in the evening at the Kingsway Club in Southport. This was the first time Ringo Starr appeared live with the group after drummer Pete Best became ill.
1964 Duff McKagan (Michael McKagan) born in Seattle, Washington. Bass Player with Guns N’ Roses, (1998 US No.1 & 1989 UK No.6 single ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’). Velvet Revolver (2004 US No.1 album ‘Contraband’).
1964 Sally Still, bass, Furniture, (1986 UK No.21 single ‘Brilliant Mind’).
1966 Petula Clark had her second No.1 in the US singles chart with ‘My Love’, (it made No. 4 in the UK).
1967 The Beatles filmed part of the promo clip for ‘Penny Lane’ around the Royal Theatre, Stratford, London and walking up and down Angel Lane.
1968 Christopher Barron Gross born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Vocalist with The Spin Doctors, (1993 UK No.3 & US No.7 single ‘Two Princes’).
1969 Bobby Brown born in Boston, Massachusetts. US Singer with New Edition, (1983 UK No.1 & US No.46 single ‘Candy Girl’) solo, (1988 UK No.6 & 1989 US No.1 single ‘My Prerogative’). Married Whitney Houston 18th July 1992.
1969 The Move were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Blackberry Way’, the group’s only UK No.1.
1970 David Bowie recorded four songs at the BBC Paris Cinema, London, for the John Peel Sunday Concert radio show. This was guitarists Mick Ronson’s first appearance with Bowie.
1971 Black Sabbath started recording what would be their third album, ‘Master Of Reality’ at Island Studios in London, England. Released in July of this year, it is sometimes noted as the first stoner rock album. Guitarist Tony Iommi, decided to down tune his guitar down three semi-tones, Geezer Butler also down tuned his bass guitar to match Iommi. The result was a noticeably ‘darker’ sound that almost two decades later would prove hugely influential on at least three of the biggest grunge acts, namely Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, and Nirvana.
1972 T Rex were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Telegram Sam’, the group’s third UK No.1 and taken from their album The Slider.
1972 Paul Simon released his first solo single with Mother & Child Renunion.
1976 Mary MacGregor started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Torn Between Two Lovers’, it made No.4 in the UK.
1976 American saxophonist Rudy Pompilli died of lung cancer aged 52. Although not a smoker himself, it is believed he contracted the disease through second hand smoke. With Bill Haley and his Comets, he had the 1955 UK & US No.1 single with ‘Rock Around The Clock’, Pompilli released one solo album, Rudy’s Rock: The Sax That Changed the World.
1983 Def Leppard’s album ‘Pyromania’, started a 92 week run on the US charts, it never reached No.1 but sold over 6 million copies in the US alone.
1983 Toto went to No.1 on the US singles with ‘Africa’; a No.3 hit in the UK.
1986 Starship went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘We Built This City’. Staying at the top spot for 1wk.
1991 Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty of KLF were arrested in Battersea, London after painting a logo on a Sunday Times billboard ad.
1992 Touring Australia and New Zealand for the first and only time Nirvana appeared at the ANU Bar in Canberra, Australia.
1996 La Bouche went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Be My Lover’. Staying at the top spot for 3wks.
2001 Juliet Peters appeared in a London court accused of making death threats to singer Billie Piper. Peter’s had made threatening telephone calls to the singer threatening to decapitate her and burn her body. The court listened to tapes of the 13 calls she has made to the singers record company.
2003 Courtney Love blamed her bad language for the alleged air rage incident that led to her arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport. As she left Heathrow’s police station the singer said: “I cussed at a lady-my daughter always said I had a potty mouth.” When asked what it had been like inside the police station, the singer said: “It was fine. They were wonderful in there. It was like being on Prime Suspect.”
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.
2004 Janet Jackson’s right breast became the most searched-for image in net history, Jackson’s breast was seen by millions on TV after Justin Timberlake pulled at her bodice during a duet. Search engines reported a big jump in searches for Janet Jackson and Super Bowl, as people turned to the web for images of the event.
2006 The Rolling Stones played three songs during the half-time show of The Super Bowl in Detroit. After the event, the Stones expressed their displeasure over having Mick Jagger’s microphone turned down during the song “Start Me Up”. The line “you make a dead man come” was cut short and a barnyard reference to “cocks” in the new song “Rough Justice” also disappeared.
2007 Producer Phil Spector won $900,000 (£459,000) after settling an embezzlement claim. Spector said former assistant Michelle Blaine removed $425,000 (£216,000) from his pension and did not repay a $635,000 (£324,000) loan. Ms Blaine claimed the loan was a gift, and the pension funds were for a film aimed at improving Spector’s image. As part of the settlement, she dropped a counter-claim of sexual harassment.
2008 Amy Winehouse was questioned by police in connection with a video apparently showing her smoking a crack-cocaine pipe. The singer, who was not arrested, was interviewed under caution after the video was posted online by the Sun newspaper.
2015 INXS guitarist Tim Farriss said he may never play the guitar properly again after severing his finger in a boating accident. Farriss caught his left hand while operating a winch on his boat in Sydney, severing his ring finger. He had undergone surgery twice to try to reattach the finger but had been left with permanent hand damage.
2016 A new species of black tarantula that lives near Folsom Prison, California, was named after Johnny Cash. Aphonopelma johnnycashi was among 14 new tarantula species from the southern US which were described by biologists in the journal ZooKeys.