1964: Chuck Berry began his first ever UK tour at The Astoria Theatre, London, supported by The Animals, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Karl Denver and the Nashville Teens.
1964: Louis Armstrong went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Hello Dolly' making him the oldest artist to hit No.1 at the age of 62. In 2011, 85 year-old Tony Bennett broke this record when his Duets album topped the US album chart.
1965: During a UK tour Bob Dylan played the first of two sold out nights at London's Royal Albert Hall. All four members of The Beatles were in the audience.
1966: The Doors played at the Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, California auditioning for the position of the venue's house band.
1974: Bachman-Turner Overdrive received their first Gold record for Bachman-Turner Overdrive II which contained the hit singles “Let It Ride” & “Takin’ Care of Business”.
1970: The Guess Who become the first Canadian rock group to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “American Woman”. The song would stay on top for three weeks.
1958: Alan Freed was indicted for inciting unlawful destruction of property in Boston. Freed is commonly referred to as the "father of rock 'n' roll" due to his promotion of the style of music, and his introduction of the phrase "rock and roll", in reference to the musical genre. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry in the early 1960s.
1962: Brian Epstein met with EMI producer George Martin. Martin signed the Beatles to record demos on June 4, 1962. It was their first recording contract.
1969: Beatles guitarist George Harrison's experimental album Electronic Sounds was released on Zapple records.
1970: Guess Who started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'American Woman', it was the group's sixth Top 30 hit and only chart topper. The song was born by accident when guitarist Randy Bachman was playing a heavy riff on stage after he had broken a string, the other members joined in on the jam. A fan in the audience who had recorded the gig on tape presented it to the group after the show and they developed it into a full song.
1973: Mick Jagger added $150,000 of his own money to the $350,000 by The Rolling Stones January benefit concert for victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.
1974: Bonnie Raitt played two shows at Harvard Square Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts; opening act was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Rolling Stone critic John Landau saw Springsteen and wrote 'I have seen rock & roll's future and his name is Bruce Springsteen'.
1978: Fee Waybill of The Tubes, broke a leg after falling from the stage at the Hammersmith Odeon, London whilst wielding a chainsaw during the bands set.
1980: 'I Don't Like Mondays' by The Boomtown Rats won the best pop song and outstanding British lyric categories at the 25th Ivor Novello Awards. And Supertramp's 'The Logical Song' won Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldoff was inspired to write the song after reading about the tragic shooting spree when 16-year-old Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine others when she fired from her house across the street onto the entrance of San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School.
1987: Starship started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with a song co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.' At 48, it made lead singer Grace Slick the oldest female to reach No.1 on the UK chart, (later broken by Cher's 'Believe' in 1999).
They Say It's Your Birthday, Happy Birthday To You
1935: American musician Nokie Edwards, from The Ventures, who had the 1960 UK No.4 single 'Perfidia', and the 1960 US No.2 'Walk Don't Run'.
1937: American Southern soul and rhythm & blues singer Dave Prater, from Sam & Dave who had the 1967 US No.2 and UK No 24 & 1967 US No.2 single 'Soul Man'. Prater was killed on 9th April 1988 when his car left the road and hit a tree in Syracuse, Georgia.
1937: Sonny Curtis, from American rock and roll band The Crickets, who had the 1957 US No.1 single 'That'll Be The Day', the 1959 UK No.1 single 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles. He wrote 'Walk Right Back', which was a 1960 hit for the Everly Brothers.
1941: Danny Rapp, American musician and the frontman from doo-wop and rock and roll vocal group Danny and the Juniors famous for their 1958 US No.1 & UK No.3 single 'At The Hop'. Rapp shot himself dead in a hotel in Arizona on 5th April 1983 a few weeks short of his 42nd birthday.
1941: Pete Birrell, from the 1960s pop band Freddie and the Dreamers. They scored the 1963 UK No.3 single 'You Were made For Me', and the 1965 US No.1 single 'I'm Telling You Now'.
1943: American pop singer, songwriter Tommy Roe, singer, who scored the 1962 hit 'Sheila' and the 1969 UK & US No.1 single 'Dizzy' as well as 10 other US Top 40 hits.
1944: American singer, songwriter Richie Furay who with Buffalo Springfield had the 1967 US No.17 single 'For What It's Worth', with Poco the 1979 US No. 17 single 'Crazy Love', and with The Souther, Hillman, Furay Band the 1974 US No.27 single 'Fallin' In Love'.
1944: Don Dannemann, from American rock and roll band Cyrkle who had the 1966 US No.2 single 'Red Rubber Ball'. They were signed by Brian Epstein and supported The Beatles on their 1966 US tour.
1945: Steve Katz, guitarist from jazz-rock American music group Blood Sweat & Tears. They scored the 1969 US No.2 single 'Spinning Wheel', and the 1969 US No.12 single 'You've Made Me So Very Happy'. They had a US No.1 with their second album Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1968.
1949: American singer-songwriter Billy Joel who had the 1980 US No.1 single 'It's Still Rock And Roll To Me', the 1983 UK No.1 single 'Uptown Girl', plus over 20 other US & UK Top 40 singles and 4 US No.1 albums.
1950: Tom Petersson, bassist from American rock band, Cheap Trick, who had the 1979 hit single 'I Want You To Want Me', and the 1988 US No.1 single 'The Flame'.
1953: John Edwards, bassist with Status Quo. The group have had over 60 chart hits in the UK, more than any other rock band, including 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' in 1967, 'Whatever You Want' in 1979 and 'In the Army Now' in 2010. Twenty-two of these reached the Top 10 in the UK. In July 1985 the band opened Live Aid at Wembley Stadium with 'Rockin' All Over the World'.
1965: Charley Drayton American multi-instrumentalist known primarily as a drummer. Artists he has worked with include Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Johnny Cash, Chaka Khan, Mariah Carey, Seal, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Janet Jackson and Courtney Love. Drayton played with Australian rock band Divinyls from 1991–2008. He married Divinyls front woman Chrissy Amphlett who died on April 21, 2013 after a long battle with breast cancer.
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