2015 - The Beatles
A new statue of The Beatles was unveiled in Liverpool - 50 years after their last show in Merseyside. The bronze sculpture, by Andy Edwards which weighed 1.2 tonnes, had been given to the city by The Cavern Club the venue synonymous with the Fab Four in the 1960s.
1993 - Frank Zappa
Multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer, Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer. Zappa recorded many albums with The Mothers Of Invention as well a solo recordings including the 1969 album 'Hot Rats' and 1974 album 'Apostrophe'. Zappa recorded one of the first concept albums, 'Freak Out' released in 1966, it was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music (although Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde preceded it by a week). He married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, in 1967, they had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.
1988 - Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison played his final ever gig when he appeared in Cleveland, Ohio. Orbison died of a heart attack two days later.
1980 - Prince
Prince played the first night on his 31 date Dirty Mind North American tour at Shea’s in Buffalo, New York. After being told by his managers he couldn't wear spandex pants without any underwear, Prince began performing in a long trench coat, black high heeled boots and leggings, and bikini brief trunks.
1980 - Led Zeppelin
Two months after the tragic death of drummer John Bonham Led Zeppelin made decision to break up. The surviving members decided that it was not right to tamper with their legacy by bringing someone else in to play drums. In a statement, the band explained their decision: "We wish it to be known, that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."
1979 - U2
U2 appeared at The Hope and Anchor, Islington, London. Misnamed ‘The U2s’, they played to only nine people and the show ended abruptly after The Edge broke a guitar string.
1976 - Tommy Bolin
1971 - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK chart with the Four Symbols album, otherwise known as Led Zeppelin IV. Featuring the 8-minute track 'Stairway To Heaven', the album stayed on the US chart for one week short of five years, selling over 23 million copies in the US alone.
1971 - Frank Zappa
The Montreux Casino in Switzerland burnt to the ground during a gig by Frank Zappa. The incident is immortalized by Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water'. In 1967 the Casino became the venue for the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was the brainchild of music promoter Claude Nobs. On the night of the blaze, Nobs saved several young people who, thinking they would be sheltered from the flames, had hidden in the casino from the blaze. A recording of the outbreak and fire announcement can be found on a Frank Zappa Bootleg album titled Swiss Cheese / Fire.
1967 - Pink Floyd & Jimi Hendrix
This was the penultimate night of a 16-date UK package tour, on which Pink Floyd joined The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Move, The Nice, The Eire Apparent, The Outer Limits and Amen Corner to play at the City Hall, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Jimi Hendrix was having equipment problems and in his frustration rammed his Gibson Flying V into his speaker cabinets. Like an enormous arrow, the guitar became stuck in the amplifier, which the audience greeted as all was part of the act.
1965 - The Byrds
The Byrds started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' the group's second No.1. A No.26 hit in the UK. Unlike their first chart topper, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, the entire band was allowed to play on the recording, instead of studio musicians.
1964 - The Beatles
The Beatles released their fourth album 'Beatles For Sale'. The album featured: ‘No Reply’, ‘I'm a Loser’, ‘Baby's in Black’, ‘Rock and Roll Music’, ‘I'll Follow the Sun’, ‘Mr. Moonlight’, ‘Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey’, ‘Eight Days a Week’, ‘Words of Love’, ‘Honey Don't’, ‘Every Little Thing’, ‘I Don't Want to Spoil the Party’, ‘What You're Doing’, and ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’. It spent 11 weeks as the UK No.1 album.
1962 - The Beatles
The Beatles made their London-area debut on television when they appeared in a live broadcast from Wembley on Tuesday Rendezvous, on ITV station Rediffusion. The Beatles performed live, doing lip-sync performances of 'Love Me Do' and 45 seconds of ‘P.S. I Love You.’
1960 - The Crickets
The Crickets released the single 'I Fought the Law' on Coral Records. Written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets, a remake by the Bobby Fuller Four became a top-ten hit for the band in 1966 and was also recorded by The Clash in 1979 after Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones heard the song on a jukebox in San Francisco.
1956 - Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins
The so-called 'Million Dollar Quartet' impromptu jam session took place at Sun Studios in Memphis with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.