| 1961, Frank Sinatra launched his own record label, Reprise Records, in order to allow more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname “The Chairman of the Board.” One of the label’s founding principles under Sinatra’s leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work; including publishing rights. Reprise later became the home of many influential US acts such as Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and The Beach Boys. |
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| 1967, The Monkees announced that from now on they would be playing on their own recordings instead of session musicians. |
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1967, The Beatles released the double A sided single 'Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane' on Capitol Records in the US. The single spent 10 weeks on the chart peaking at No.1.
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1969, A launch party was held for the release of Mary Hopkin's album Postcard at the Post Office Tower in London. Guests included Jimi Hendrix, Donovan and Paul McCartney with his new girlfriend Linda Eastman.
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| 1969, Bob Dylan recorded versions of 'Lay, Lady, Lay', at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. 'Lay Lady Lay' was originally written for the soundtrack of the movie Midnight Cowboy, but wasn't submitted in time to be included in the finished film. The song has gone on to become a standard and has been covered by numerous bands and artists over the years, including The Byrds, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, The Everly Brothers, Neil Diamond, Melanie, The Isley Brothers, Duran Duran, Hoyt Axton and Isaac Hayes amongst others. More On Bob Dylan |
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| 1970, On this day, Friday the 13th, Black Sabbath released their debut self-titled studio album on Vertigo records in the UK. Peaking at #8 on the charts, the album has been recognised as the first main album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre. |
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1971, The Osmonds started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'One Bad Apple'. The group had been appearing on TV in the US from 1962, on the Andy Williams Show and then the Jerry Lewis show.
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| 1972, The Greasy Truckers concert took place at the Roundhouse in London, featuring Man, Brinsley Schwarz and Hawkwind. The eveining was recorded and released as a double vinyl album, in a limited edition of 20,000 which sold at just £1.50. The release rapidly sold out, becoming a collector's item. |
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| 1973, After becoming ill during a concert in Las Vegas Elvis Presley presented Doctor Sidney Bowers with a Lincoln Continental to show his appreciation for all his work. |
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| 1974, David Bowie turned down an offer from the Gay Liberation group to compose 'the world's first Gay National Anthem.' |
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1976, Genesis released their first album since the departure of Peter Gabriel, 'A Trick Of The Tail' featuring eight new tracks with drummer Phill Collins taking on the role of lead vocalist.
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| 1976, The 101'ers featuring Joe Strummer played at The Town Hall, Hampstead, London, and on the same night DP Costello, (Elvis Costello) played at The Half Moon, Putney, London supporting Vivian Stanshall. |
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| 1977, Julie Covington was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina', taken from the Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical Evita. Covington had been in the 1977 UK TV series based on an all female group called Rock Follies. Madonna had a hit with her version of the song in 1996. |
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1980, Police raided the home of former Sex Pistol John Lydon who greeted them waving a ceremonial sword, the only illegal item they found was a canister of tear gas, claimed to be for defence against intruders.
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| 1981, Island Records launched 'One Plus One' cassettes, one side had one of their artist's albums and the other was blank so you could record on it! |
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| 1982, The Jam became the first band since The Beatles to play two numbers on the same edition of 'Top Of The Pops', when they performed 'A Town Called Malice', and 'Precious', their latest double A sided No.1. |
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| 1982, The marble slab was stolen from the grave of Lynyrd Skynyrd's singer Ronnie Van Zant, police found it two weeks later in a dried up river bed. |
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| 1989, Michael Jackson fired his manager, Dileo, who reportedly sought a $60 million (£35.3 million) settlement to prevent him revealing Jackson's lifestyle to the press. |
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1989, This years Brit Awards was hosted by Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood in which just about everything went wrong - lines were fluffed and bands mis-cued onto the stage. Winners included Phil Collins who won British Male Solo Artist, British Female Solo Artist was Annie Lennox, Erasure won Best British Group, Best British Album went to Fairground Attraction for 'First Of A Million Kisses', British Breakthrough Act was Bros, Michael Jackson won International Male, International Female went to Tracey Chapman and U2 won Best International Group. This was the last year the show was broadcast live.
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| 1993, Founder member of Musical Youth, Patrick Waite died aged 24, of natural causes (hereditary heart condition), whilst awaiting a court appearance on drug charges. Scored the 1982 UK No.1 and Grammy-nominated single 'Pass the Dutchie.' |
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1993, Dutch dance group 2 Unlimited started a five-week run at the UK No.1 with the single 'No Limit.' One of the most successful Euro dance acts of the 90s, they scored 11 successive Top 20 hits.
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| 1996, Take That split up, the biggest band of the 90s announced their demise in front of the world's press at The Hilton in Manchester, the band had achieved 7 No.1 singles & 2 No.1 albums. They released one more single and a Greatest Hits album. (Take That reformed in 1996 and have now scored another 5 No.1 albums in the UK ). |
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| 1997, Michael Menson of Rebel MC died from burns sustained in a racial attack aged 30. Lost on a street in North London, Menson was attacked twice. His tormentors were determined to burn him alive, throwing fuel at him, setting his back on fire. He suffered terrible burns and died 16 days later. Rebel MC had the 1989 UK No.3 single 'Street Tuff'. |
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1998, Police at Manchester Airport arrested former Stone Roses singer, Ian Brown after an incident during a flight from Paris. Brown was found guilty in August the same year and jailed for four months; British Airways also banned him from flying with the airline.
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2000, Oasis scored their fifth UK No.1 single with 'Go Let It Out'. The first release on the bands 'Big Brother' label and the first single from their fourth studio album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.
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2002, American country singer, songwriter Waylon Jennings died in his sleep after a lengthy fight with diabetes. Was bassist for Buddy Holly following the break-up of The Crickets. Released a series of duet albums with Willie Nelson in the late 1970s. Scored the 1980 US No.21 single 'Theme From The Dukes Of Hazzard', he was also the narrator on the television series. Member of The Highwaymen with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson.
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| 2004, Led Zeppelin were awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Grammys. Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham all attended. Robert Plant did not, since he was working on a new album and tour. |
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2005, Readers of UK newspaper The Sun voted George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ as the greatest British pop single of the past 25 years. Oasis came second with ‘Wonderwall’ and Kate Bush third with ‘Wuthering Heights’. The rest of the Top 10: No.4, Robbie Williams, ‘Angels’, No.5, The Jam, ‘Going Underground’, in equal 6th, The Sex Pistols, ‘God Save The Queen’ and Joy Division, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, 7th was Queen, ‘We Are The Champions’, 9th, The Stone Roses, ‘Fool’s Gold’ and 10th The Undertones ‘Teenage Kicks’.
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| 2007, Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty was fined £300 and disqualified from driving for two months after admitting to two charges of driving without insurance or a licence at Thames Magistrates Court in London. |
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| 2007, Robbie Williams checked into rehab on his birthday to deal with an addiction to prescription drugs. The singer, who was 33 today, was admitted into an unnamed clinic in the US. |
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| 2007, Rod Stewart was paid $1million when he performed at a billionaire's birthday bash. Stewart was booked to play a one-hour gig to help Steve Schwarzman celebrate his 60th birthday held at New York's Park Avenue Armory. |
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| 2008, Former Blue singer Lee Ryan was charged with an attack on a taxi driver in Surrey. The 24-year-old was accused of assaulting the man following a minor traffic accident in Oxted on New Year's Eve |
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2008, A fan paid $3,000 (£1,500) for a jewelled bra, which Shakira wore on her Oral Fixation world tour in 2007, in an auction for the pop star's children's charity. More than $60,000 (£30,700) had been raised so far, with one fan paying $14,100 (£7,200) to meet Shakira. The charity was currently building a school for poor children in the singer's home country, Colombia. Other items in the auction included a purple wig and Gibson guitar used in the video for Las De La Intuicion, which sold for $3,301 (£1,700), a shiny lavender skirt with turquoise and coral beading that Shakira wore while singing Hips Don't Lie on tour, fetched more than $1,076 (£550).
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| 2012, Adele won all six categories she was nominated for at this years Grammy Awards. The British singer won song of the year for ‘Rolling In the Deep’, and also received Grammys for best pop solo performance for ‘Someone Like You’, best pop vocal album and album of the year for 21, and record of the year and best short form music video for ‘Rolling In the Deep’. |
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2013, Lady Gaga was forced to postponed her world tour after sustaining an injury which left her unable to walk. The singer had severe inflammation of the joints, known as synovitis.
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| February 13th: Born on this day |
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| 1919, Born on this day, Tennessee Ernie Ford, singer and TV presenter, who had a 1955 US No.1 & 1956 UK No.1 single with ‘Sixteen Tons’. It was Capitol Records’ first No.1 of the rock era. Ford died on October 17th 1991 |
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| 1920, Born on this day, Boudleaux Bryant, songwriter with his wife Felice. They wrote The Everly Brothers hits, ‘Bye Bye Love’, ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ and ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ as well as ‘Raining In My Heart’, which was a hit for Buddy Holly. Bryant died on June 25th 1987. |
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| 1943, Born on this day, Bill Szymczyk, US producer, worked with The Eagles, The Who, B.B. King, Joe Walsh, Wishbone Ash, The J. Geils Band and The James Gang. |
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| 1944, Born on this day, Peter Tork, vocals, keyboards and bass with American group The Monkees who had the 1967 UK & US No.1 single 'I'm A Believer' plus 10 US & 8 UK Top 40 singles'. |
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| 1945, Born on this day, Roy Dyke, Ashton Gardner & Dyke, who had the 1971 UK No.3 single 'The Resurrection Shuffle'. |
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1950, Born on this day, Peter Gabriel, singer, songwriter with Genesis, who had the 1974 UK No.21 single 'I Know What I Like In Your Wardrobe'. Gabriel left Genesis in 1975 to launch his solo career and had the 1986 US No.1 & UK No.4 single 'Sledgehammer' from the 1986 UK No.1 & US No.2 album 'So'.
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| 1950, Born on this day, Roger Christian, vocals, with The Christians who had the 1988 UK No.8 single 'Harvest For The World'. |
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| 1951, Born on this day, Rod Dees, singer with Showaddywaddy, who had the 1976 UK No.1 single 'Under The Moon Of Love' plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles. |
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| 1952, Born on this day, Ed Gagliardi, bassist with Foreigner who had the 1985 UK & US No.1 single 'I Want To Know What Love Is'. |
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1956, Born on this day, Peter Hook, bass, vocals, with Joy Division, who had the 1980 UK No.13 single 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. Formed New Order, who had the 1983 UK No.9 single 'Blue Monday'. And with Revenge and Monaco, had the 1997 UK No.11 single 'What Do You Want From Me'.
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| 1958, Born on this day, Mark Fox, percussion, with English group Haircut 100 who had the 1982 UK No.3 single 'Love Plus One'. |
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| 1961, Born on this day, Henry Rollins, singer and actor who was a member of Black Flag and fronted the Rollins Band who had the 1994 UK No.27 single 'Liar/Disconnected'. |
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| 1966, Born on this day, Freedom Williams, singer with C & C Music Factory, who had the 1991 UK No.4 single 'Things That Make You Go Hmmm..., and the 1991 US No.1 single 'Gonna Make You Sweat'. |
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| 1971, Born on this day, Sonia, (Sonia Evans), who had the UK No.1 single in 1989 with 'You'll Never Stop Me Loving You.' |
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| 1972, Born on this day, Robert Harrell, bassist, with 3 Doors Down, who had the 2003 US No.4 single 'When I'm Gone, 2005 US No.1 album 'Seventeen Days'. |
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1974, Born on this day, Robbie Williams, vocalist with Take That, who had the 1995 UK No.1 single with 'Back For Good' and seven other UK No.1 singles. He left to pursue a solo career and since then has had a 1998 UK No.1 single with 'Millennium' and six other UK No.1 singles. His 1997 UK No.1 album 'Life Thru A Lens' spent 123 weeks on the UK chart. Re joined Take That in 2010.
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1976, Born on this day, Leslie Feist, Canadian singer-songwriter, who worked with Peaches and Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist had the 2007 UK No.4 single ‘1 2 3 4’ which was was used in the iPod nano advertisements. ‘Mushaboom’ from her 'Let It Die' album was featured in advertisements for Lacoste perfume, (McDonald's had offered $1m for the rights to use the song in their commercials which Feist refused). HSBC Direct used ‘Gatekeeper’ and ‘My Moon My Man’ was used by Verizon Wireless and LG.
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| 1988, Born on this day, Aston Merrygold, singer with JLS, who were the runners-up of the fifth series of The X Factor in the UK. |
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