1967 – Pink Floyd and Marmalade played at The Marquee Club, London, England. Marmalade went on to score a No.1 UK hit with their version of The Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da in 1968.
1968 – One Hit Wonders John Fred and the Playboy Band started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Judy In Disguise, (With Glasses)’, it made No.3 in the UK. The song was inspired by The Beatles ‘Lucy In The Sky’.
1980 – The Pretenders scored their first UK No.1 hit with their third single ‘Brass In Pocket’. The bands self-titled debut album started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK chart also on this day. Singer Chrissie Hynde got the idea for the song’s title when, during an after-show dinner, she overheard someone enquiring if anyone had, “Picked up dry cleaning? Any brass in pocket?”
1982 – During an Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the audience threw a bat onto the stage. Stunned by the light, the bat lay motionless, and thinking it was a rubber fake, the singer picked it up and attempted to bite its head off.
As he did this, the bat started to flap its wings and Ozzy soon realized it wasn’t fake but in fact a living thing. After the show Ozzy was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital for rabies shots.
1989 – Six weeks after his death Roy Orbison started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Legendary Roy Orbison ‘ collection.
1993 – Elton John resigned his directorship of Watford Football Club. Having supported Watford Football Club since growing up locally, Elton John became the club’s chairman and director in 1976, investing large sums of money as the club rose three divisions into the English First Division and in the same year Fleetwood Mac reformed to perform at Bill Clinton’s inauguration. The band’s “Don’t Stop” was used as the theme for his campaign.
1994 – American actor and singer Telly Savalas died of prostate cancer aged 72. He scored the 1975 UK No.1 single ‘If’. He played Lt. Theo Kojak a bald New York City detective in the television series Kojak, with a fondness for lollipops and whose trademark line was “Who loves ya, baby?”
1996 –David Bowie, Tom Donahue, The Jefferson Airplane, Gladys Knight And The Pips, Little Willie John, Pink Floyd, Pete Seeger, The Shirelles and The Velvet Underground were all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1997 – Songwriter and producer Keith Diamond died of a heart attack. He wrote, ‘Caribbean Queen’ and ‘Suddenly’ for Billy Ocean, and also wrote hits for Donna Summer, James Ingram, Mick Jagger, Sheena Easton and Michael Bolton.
1998 – All Saints scored their first UK No.1 single with ‘Never Ever’. The track spent a total of twenty-four weeks on the UK chart and was the first of five No.1 singles for the London based girl group.
