Births
Guglielmo Marconi - April 25, 1874
Ma Rainey (Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett Rainey) - April 26, 1886
Earl Bostic - April 25, 1913
Johnny Shines - April 26, 1915
Yehudi Menuhin - April 22, 1916
Ella Fitzgerald - April 25, 1918
Charles Mingus - April 22, 1922
Albert King - April 25, 1923
Jørgen Ingmann - April 26, 1925
Jerry Leiber - April 25, 1933
Glen Campbell - April 22, 1936
Roy Orbison - April 23, 1936
Jack Nitzsche (Bernard Alfred Nitzsche) - April 22, 1937
Joe Henderson - April 24,1937
Duane Eddy - April 26,1938
Johnny Tillotson - April 20, 1939
Barbra Streisand - April 24,1942
Bobby Rydell (Robert Louis Ridarelli) - April 26,1942
Gary Wright - April 26, 1943
Doug Clifford - April 24,1945
Stu Cook - April 25, 1945
Björn Ulvaeus of Abba - April 25, 1945
Iggy Pop (James Jewel Osterberg, Jr.) - April 21, 1947
Peter Frampton - April 22, 1950
Luther Vandross - April 20, 1951
Paul Carrack - April 22, 1951
Narada Michael Walden - April 23, 1952
David J. Haskins of Love and Rockets - April 24, 1957
Robert Smith of the Cure, Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies - April 21, 1959
Steve Clark of Def Leppard - April 23, 1960
Roger Taylor of Duran Duran - April 26, 1960
Chris Mars of the Replacements - April 26, 1961
Johnny McElhone of Altered Images & Texas - April 21, 1963
Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater - April 20, 1967
Silverchair’s Daniel Johns - April 22, 1979
Kelly Clarkson - April 24, 1982
Deaths
Earl Hooker - April 21, 1970
Otis Spann - April 24, 1970
Pete Ham of Badfinger - April 24, 1975
Sandy Denny - April 21, 1978
Earl “Fatha” Hines - April 22, 1983
Esquerita (Eskew Reeder Jr.) - April 23, 1986
Steve Marriott - April 20, 1991
Johnny Thunders (John Anthony Genzale, Jr.) - April 23, 1991
Johnny Shines - April 20, 1992
Roger Troutman and Larry Troutman - April 25, 1999
Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes - April 26, 2002
Nina Simone (Eunice Kathleen Waymon) - April 21, 2003
Felice Bryant - April 22, 2003
Landmark Releases
1966 - The Troggs, “Wild Thing”
1971 - The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers
1989 - Tom Petty, Full Moon Fever
Charts
1958 - David Seville (Ross Bagdasarian) hits No. 1 with one of the decade’s biggest novelty hits, “Witch Doctor.”
1961 - Del Shannon’s “Runaway” hits the top of the charts; 25 years later, producer Michael Mann uses it as theme song for his cult TV show, Crime Story.
1964 - Peter & Gordon hit No. 1 with their version of Lennon-McCartney’s “World Without Love.” The duo’s Peter Asher is the brother of actress Jane Asher, Paul McCartney’s longtime girlfriend, and will go on to become the successful producer of Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, and many others.
1965 - The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride” tops the U.K. charts.
1967 - “Blues Theme,” Davie Allan and the Arrows’ iconic, fuzz-drenched garage-psych-punk instrumental from Roger Corman’s biker exploitation opus The Wild Angels enters the charts.
1970 - The Jackson Five’s “ABC” knocks the Beatles’ “Let it Be” from No. 1.
1972 - Norman “Hurricane” Smith’s “Oh Babe What Would You” say enters the U.K. charts, the most unusual Beatles-related spin-off hit yet―Smith was formerly engineer on the band’s early Abbey Road sessions. Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” certified gold.
1975 - The Dwight Twilley Band’s “I’m On Fire” enters the U.S. charts, a single that’s later seen as pioneering American new wave.
1979 - Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” tops the Billboard charts, spurring Andy Warhol to throw a party for the band at New York’s trendy Studio 54 nightclub.
1983 - “Come on Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners tops the American charts. It had been Britain’s top-selling single of 1982.
1984 - After months of domination, Michael Jackson’s Thriller is bumped from the top of the charts by the Footloose soundtrack.
Events
1934 - Laurens Hammond patents his pipeless organ design.
1947 - Hank Williams records “Move It On Over.”
1960 - Pioneering rock TV mogul Dick Clark tells a congressional committee investigating the payola scandal that he had a financial interest in 27 percent of the records he played on his show over a period of two years, but has since divested himself of the record labels involved.
1961 - Bob Dylan makes his recording debut, earning $50 for playing harmonica on the recording session for Harry Belafonte’s cover of “Midnight Special.”
1963 - The Beatles and Rolling Stones meet for the first time at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, England. Soon after, the Beatles give the Stones “I Wanna Be Your Man” to record, and it becomes an early hit for the latter. Rick Nelson and Kris Harmon are married. Jan & Dean record “Surf City.”
1967 - CBS broadcasts Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution, Leonard Bernstein’s insightful look at the rapidly evolving world of rock music. One of the highlights is a solo Brian Wilson performance of “Surf’s Up,” a centerpiece of the ill-fated Smile album Wilson is struggling to complete.
1968 - Deep Purple make their concert debut in Tastrup, Denmark.
1969 - In a ceremony on the roof of London’s Apple offices, John Winston Lennon officially changes his middle name to Ono. Paul McCartney announces that widespread reports of his demise are apparently exaggerated.
1969 - The Who perform “Tommy” in its entirety for the first time at a show in Dolton, England.
1970 - Though she has an official invitation, Grace Slick and guest Abbie Hoffman are turned away from Tricia Nixon’s White House tea party by Secret Service agents who deem them a security risk. Elton John makes his solo performance debut, opening for T. Rex in London. Frank Zappa and the Mothers play the Royal Albert Hall, where their lyrics subsequently get them banned.
1975 - A despondent Pete Ham, the songwriter and vocalist of Badfinger who’d also penned the enduring worldwide hit “Without You,” hangs himself in the garage/recording studio of his London home. Despite having sold 14 million records, the band’s management leaves them broke. ABC broadcasts Alice Cooper: The Nightmare, the veteran shock rocker’s first network television special.
1976 - Responding to persistent rumors about a Beatles reunion, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels officially offers the band $3,000 to play three Beatles songs on SNL, saying “you divide it up any way you want. If you want to give Ringo less, it’s up to you. I’d rather not get involved” (see image above). Roy Orbison hits arguably the nadir of his career, playing for an audience of less than a hundred at the Van-a-Rama show in Cincinnati … on his 40th birthday.
1977 - Studio 54 opens in New York City and quickly becomes the epicenter of celebrity nightlife in the Big Apple.
1978 - Sid Vicious films his mangling of Sinatra’s signature “My Way” for the Sex Pistols’ Great Rock ’N’ Roll Swindle. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd make their debut appearance as the Blues Brothers on Saturday Night Live. Bob Marley and the Wailers perform at Jamaica’s One Love Peace Concert, Marley’s first public appearance in his homeland since being wounded by a would be assassin in 1976.
1984 - Jerry Lee Lewis marries his sixth wife, 22-year-old Kerrie McCarver.
1987 - Ozzy Osbourne releases Tribute, live concert recordings that honor former guitarist Randy Rhoads, who died five years earlier.
1990 - Roger Waters’ road crew uncovers an unexploded WWII-era bomb while constructing the massive Berlin set for his The Wall concert.
1991 - Steve Marriott, the former leader of the Faces and Humble Pie, dies in his Sussex home of smoke inhalation from a house fire, apparently after falling asleep with a lit cigarette nearby.
1992 - The surviving members of Queen stage The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness
at London’s Wembley Stadium, featuring Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, David Bowie, Def Leppard, George Michael, Spinal Tap, and many others. David Bowie weds supermodel Iman.
1997 - ABC’s rock music special U2 – A Year in Pop sets a television ratings milestone: the lowest-rated primetime program in the history of network television.
1998 - Faith No More announce they’re splitting up.
1999 - Zapp mainstays Larry and Roger Troutman die in a murder-suicide outside their Dayton studio, apparently after arguing about the family’s struggling business. Sinead O’Connor is ordained as the first female priest of the Latin Tridentine Church, a breakaway Catholic sect, and adopts the name Mother Bernadette Mary.
2002 - Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC is killed in Honduras when the rented SUV she’s driving rolls over several times, ejecting her from the vehicle.
2003 – Daredevil Evel Knievel reportedly signs over rights to produce Evel Knievel: The Rock Opera. Sinead O’Connor announces her intention to retire.