| 1943, American jazz musician, singer and composer, Fats Waller died of pneumonia on a train trip near Kansas City, Missouri. Wrote many songs including 'Ain't Misbehavin', 'Your Feet's Too Big' and 'The Reefer Song'. In 1926 Waller was kidnapped at gunpoint in Chicago and driven to a club owned by gangster Al Capone. Inside the club he was ordered to perform at what turned out to be a surprise birthday party for the gangster. |
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| 1944, Hank Williams married Audrey Sheppard, with the ceremony taking place at a filling station Their son, Randall Hank Williams, would achieve fame in his own right as Hank Williams, Jr., who was born on May 26, 1949. The marriage ended in divorce on May 29, 1952. |
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| 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’. |
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| 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). |
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| 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. |
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| 1973, Jermaine Jackson from The Jackson Five married the daughter of the boss of Motown Records, Hazel Gordy. |
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| 1973, Charlie Rich started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with the country & western ballad 'The Most Beautiful Girl', the singers only No.1 single, was also a No.2 hit in the UK. |
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| 1973, David Cassidy went to No.1 on the UK album chart with his third solo album 'Dreams Are Nothin More Than Wishes.' |
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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.
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1979, U2 appeared at the Windsor Castle Pub, Harrow Road, London, admission was free.
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1979, Pink Floyd started a five week run at #1 on the UK singles chart with 'Another Brick In The Wall, (Part 2),' their only UK chart topper. The song, which was also the final #1 single of the 1970s, received a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group, but Floyd lost to Bob Seger's Against the Wind.
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1984, 'Do They Know It's Christmas' by Band Aid entered the UK chart at No.1 and stayed at the top for five weeks. It became the biggest selling UK single of all time with sales over 3 and a half million. Band Aid was masterminded by former Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof, who had been moved by a TV news story of famine in Ethiopia. Geldof had the idea of raising funds with a one-off charity single featuring the cream of the current pop world. Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Paul Young, Culture Club, George Michael, Sting, Bono, Phil Collins, Paul Weller, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo and Bananarama all appeared on the recording.
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| 1988, Soul singer James Brown was sentenced to six years in prison for various offences including possession of weapons and resisting arrest. |
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| 1990, Rod Stewart married New Zealand model Rachel Hunter in Beverly Hills. Stewart was quoted as saying 'I Found the Girl that I Want, I won't be putting my banana in anybody's fruit bowl from now on'. They split in 1999. |
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| 1990, Abba singer Agnetha Faltskog married Swedish surgeon Tomas Sonnenfeld. |
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| 1994, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora married actress Heather Locklear. The couple divorced in 2006. |
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| 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. |
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1998, Backstreet Boys roadie Michael Barrett filed a $3 million lawsuit against the group claiming damages after a 50-pound cannon fell on his head during a show.
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| 1999, Boy George was knocked unconscious when a mirror ball fell on his head during a show in Dorset, England. |
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1999, Former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren announced that he was running for the Mayor of London. He said he would be campaigning for brothels, pot shops and boozing in libraries. "I changed London with the Sex Pistols, I can change London as Mayor."
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| 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. |
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| 2001, American funk and soul singer Rufus Thomas died of heart failure aged 84. Recorded on Sun Records in the 1950s and on Stax Records in the 1960s and 1970s. Scored the 1963 US No.10 single 'Walking The Dog' and the 1970 UK No.18 & US No.28 single 'Do The Funky Chicken'. A street is named in his honor, just off Beale Street in Memphis. |
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| 2001, Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh was given an honorary Doctorate of Music from Kent State University in Ohio. |
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| 2002, Blue featuring Elton John went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.' Previously a No.11 hit for Elton in 1976. It gave Elton only his 5th No 1 after over 30 years of hits! |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 2008, Madonna paid former husband Guy Ritchie around £50m as part of their divorce settlement. The singers US spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg told The Associated Press the figure included the value of the couple's Ashcombe home in England, and the financial part of the settlement had been worked out but custody of the couple's children had yet to be finalised. |
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| 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. |
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| December 15th: Born on this day |
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1919, Born on this day, Max Yasgur, owner of the Woodstock farm where the 1969 festival was held. Yasgur died of a heart attack on 8th February 1973 aged 53.
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1922, Born on this day, Alan Freed, American DJ. The man who gave 'Rock 'n' Roll' its name. Died 20th January 1965.
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| 1938, Born on this day, Jerry Wallace, US singer, (1959 US No.8 single 'Primrose Lane'). |
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| 1939, Born on this day, Cindy Birdsong, The Supremes, (joined in 1967, 1969 UK No.3 single 'I'm Gonna make You Love Me'). Labelle, (1975 US No.1 & UK No.17, single 'Lady Marmalade'). |
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| 1942, Born on this day, Dave Clark, Dave Clark Five, (1964 UK No.1 single 'Glad All Over', 1965 US No.1 single 'Over And Over', plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles). |
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| 1946, Born on this day, Harry Ray, Moments, (1970 US No.3 single 'Love On A Two-Way Street', 1975 UK No.3 single 'Girls'). |
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| 1946, Born on this day, Carmine Appice, drummer, Vanilla Fudge, (1968 US No.6 single 'You Keep Me Hangin' On'). Also a member of Beck, Bogart and Appice and the Rod Stewart band. |
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| 1949, Born on this day, Don Johnson, actor, singer, (Miami Vice), (1986 US No.5 & UK No.46 single, 'Heartbeat'). |
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| 1955, Born on this day, Paul Simonon, bass, The Clash, (1979 UK No. 11 single 'London Calling', 1982 US No. 8 single 'Rock The Casbah', 1991 UK No.1 single 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go', first released 1982, plus 15 other UK Top 40 singles). |
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| 1957, Born on this day, Tim Reynolds, American multi-instrumentalist, Dave Matthews Band. 2009 US No.1 album with Dave Matthews Band, ‘Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King’. |
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| 1961, Born on this day, Nick Beggs, bass, Kajagoogoo, (1983 UK No.1 single 'Too Shy'), also a member of the Howard Jones band. |
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| 1979, Born on this day, Edele Lynch and Keavy Lynch, singers, B*Witched, (1998 UK No.1 single 'C'est La Vie'). |
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| 1980, Born on this day, Sergio Pizzorno, guitar, vocals, Kasabian, (2005 UK No.8 single 'Cutt Off', 2006 UK No.1 album ‘Empire’). |
