In 1953, in New York City, Eartha Kitt recorded "C'est Si Bon (It's So Good)."
In 1953, Memphis disc jockey Rufus Thomas signed with Sun Records to release a song called "Bear Cat," an answer to Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog."
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In 1955, the Dave Brubeck Quartet appeared for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
In 1957, Buddy Holly and the Crickets record "Maybe Baby," which would be released the following year and climb to #17 in the US and #4 in the UK.
In 1958, jazz singer Billie Holiday, who had pled guilty to a narcotics-possession charge in 1956, is given a year's probation by a Philadelphia court.
In 1959, Friday the 13th proved unlucky for the Kingston Trio when they were involved in an emergency airplane landing in Indiana and nearly killed. Their song, "The Tijuana Jail" was rising up the charts, stopping at #12 a couple weeks later.
In 1959, Fabian was named "Most Promising New Talent" in an "American Bandstand" viewers' poll.
In 1959, Johnny Cash recorded "Five Feet High And Rising" and "I Got Stripes" at Owen Bradley's Quonset Hut studio in Nashville.
In 1961, in Nashville, Elvis Presley recorded "I Feel So Bad."
In 1963, the Beatles played at the Granada Cinema in Bedford. Also on the bill, Chris Montez and Tommy Roe. John Lennon, suffering from a heavy cold, was unable to perform, so The Beatles set was rearranged so that George and Paul could sing the parts that John usually sang.
In 1966, Sgt Barry Sadler started a five-week run at #1 on the US album chart with "Ballad Of The Green Berets."
In 1968, the Rolling Stones started recording their next single "Jumpin' Jack Flash" with new producer Jimmy Miller at Olympic studios in London.
In 1969, Paul McCartney married photographer Linda Eastman in a small civil ceremony at the Marylebone Registry Office, in the City of Westminster in central London. Contrary to the popular rumor of the day, she is not related to the Eastmans of Eastman-Kodak fame. Paul's brother, Mike, served as the best man, but none of the other Beatles were in attendance. Linda would die of cancer on April 17th, 1998 at the age of 56.
In 1968, the Otis Redding single “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” went gold in the US three months after the singer was killed in a plane crash.
Also in 1969, Elvis Presley began filming his 31st and final fictional movie, "Change Of Habit," co-starring Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara McNair, and Ed Asner.
In 1971, a London court granted Paul McCartney's request to appoint a non-biased receiver to handle the group's business affairs after his lawsuit dissolving the Beatles was upheld.
In 1971, in New York City, the Allman Brothers Band played the first of two nights at the Fillmore East. The shows were recorded and released as a live double album.
In 1974, John Lennon and Harry Nilsson are thrown out of the Troubador nightclub in Los Angeles for heckling the Smothers Brothers. Nilsson, a good friend of Tom Smothers, thought he was helping the act because Tom had struggled through weak material at an earlier date.
In 1977, the Sex Pistols were involved in a fight at London's Speakeasy Club with Bob Harris, presenter of BBC 2's The Old Grey Whistle Test resulting in one of the shows engineers needing 14 stitches in his head. Two days later Harris's solicitors contact Derek Green at A&M the bands record label. Harris's management also managed Peter Frampton, one of the label's top acts at A&M. Green discussed the matter with the company's two founders, Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert and the decision is made to cancel the Pistols contract and halt production of the bands first single, 'God Save The Queen'.
On this day in 1979, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor was the #1 song.
In 1983, Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler had her only UK #1 single with a song written by Meat Loaf's producer, Jim Steinman, "Total Eclipse Of The Heart." Also #1 in the US, (the only Welsh artist to score a US #1), Canada and Australia, the single sold over 5 million copies.
In 1983, U2 scored their first UK #1 album with 'War,' which spent a total of 147 weeks on the chart. The album featured the singles, “New Year’s Day” and “Two Hearts Beat as One.”
In 1988, Rick Astley started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart with "Never Gonna Give You Up," also a #1 in the UK.
In 1993, singer June Valli, who was the singing voice of Chiquita Banana in commercials, died of pancreatic cancer at age 64. Valli was a regular on NBC-TVs "Your Hit Parade" in 1952 and 1953.
In 1994, Swedish group Ace Of Base started a six week run at #1 on the US singles chart with "The Sign," a #2 hit in the UK.
In 1995, Boyz II Men were at #1 on the US album chart with 'II.'
In 1996, singer Nancy Sinatra donated her famous white go-go boots to the Hard Rock Café in Beverly Hills, California.
In 1996, the album 'Unplugged' was released by KISS.
In 2001, in a poll conducted by the Recording Industry Association of America, music fans voted Judy Garland's "Over The Rainbow" as the Song Of The Century. The Rolling Stones'"Satisfaction" came in at #16 and the Beatles'"I Want To Hold Your Hand" was #26.
In 2003, the Chinese government ordered the Rolling Stones to eliminate four songs from their upcoming performances in Shanghai and Beijing. The banned songs were "Brown Sugar,""Honky Tonk Women,""Beast of Burden," and "Let's Spend the Night Together."
In 2006, the soundtrack to The Disney Channel movie, High School Musical was at #1 on the US album chart. The album went on to break all records for a soundtrack, selling over seven million copies worldwide.
In 2007, Levon Helm, the former drummer for The Band, filed a lawsuit against a Manhattan advertising firm over the use of the group's song, "The Weight" in a television commercial for cell phones. Helm received a royalty payment for the use of the song, but didn't feel he was adequately compensated.
In 2008, seven years of trying to secure the rights to use the Lennon-McCartney catalog paid off for TV's American Idol, when over 31 million viewers tuned in to the show. The following day, the top five Google searches were also Beatle related.
In 2009, Bob Dylan mingled unnoticed among 14 other tourists at John Lennon's childhood home in Liverpool. The Folk legend strolled around the place where the late former Beatle grew up with his aunt Mimi and uncle George and later said that he was "enthralled" to see the bedroom where Lennon wrote some of his earliest songs.
In 2010, a 16-year-old was arrested and charged in connection with a break-in at singer Susan Boyle's home in West Lothian, Scotland. Boyle disturbed the intruder as she returned home from London after recording a charity single for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
In 2010, Pink Floyd won a court case against EMI, preventing the company from selling single tracks from their albums via digital download.
Also in 2010, over 130 people were arrested and eight people were hospitalized as fans tried to gatecrash a Metallica show in Colombia. 1,500 police and four tanks were brought in to manage the crowds as property was vandalized and destroyed, as thousands of ticketless fans rioted during Metallica's first Colombian concert in eleven years.
In 2011, a man was charged with burglary after security guards discovered him in Madonna's luxurious London mansion while she was in America to attend her grandmother's funeral.
In 2012, percussionist Mike Hossack, a member of the Doobie Brothers (1971-1974, 1987-2010), died of cancer at 65.
