1965 – American singer and pianist Nat King Cole died of lung cancer. He was best known for songs such as ‘When I Fall In Love’, ‘Unforgettable’ and ‘Let There Be Love’. He was the father of singer Natalie Cole.
1967 – Petula Clark was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Charlie Chaplin penned ‘This Is My Song’, the singer’s second and last UK No.1.
1969 – Three thousand uninvited guests showed up to see Lulu and The Bee Gee’s Maurice Gibb get married at St. James’ Church, Gerrard’s Cross, England. Brother Barry was the best man.
1977 – US singer songwriter Janis Ian received 461 Valentine’s Day cards after indicating in the lyrics of her song ‘At Seventeen’, she had never received any.
1978 – Kate Bush released her debut studio album The Kick Inside which contained her UK number one hit, ‘Wuthering Heights’, (marking the first time a female singer-songwriter topped the charts with a self-penned song). She was just 19 years old and had written some of the songs when she was only 13.
1990 –Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance on stage when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, held at the Dominion Theatre, London, England.
1991 – The Simpsons were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Do The Bartman’. The song was written by Michael Jackson and Bryan Lorenand. The Simpsons became the first cartoon characters to make No.1 since the Archies hit ‘Sugar Sugar’ in 1969. Michael was a massive fan of The Simpsons and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a number one single and do a guest spot on the show.
1996 – A Platinum American Express card once belonging to Bruce Springsteen was sold for £2,650 at a New York memorabilia sale. The singer had given the expired card to a waiter in a LA restaurant by mistake and let them keep it as a souvenir.
2004 – Johnny Cash’s family blocked an attempt by advertisers to use his hit song ‘Ring of Fire’ to promote hemorrhoid-relief products. The idea is said to have been backed by Merle Kilgore, who co-wrote the song with Cash’s wife, June Carter Cash. Cash’s daughter Rosanne said the family “would never allow the song to be demeaned like that.”
2008 –Carpenter’s fans were objecting to plans to have pop duo’s former family home in Downey, south of Los Angeles knocked down. The current owners of the house said that they objected to fans looking in the windows and leaving floral tributes. The five-bedroom house was immortalized when it featured on the cover of The Carpenter’s 1973 hit album Now & Then.
2013 – Chubby Checker launched a $500,000 lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard for including an app on its phones and tablets that was not only named after the 71-year-old musician, but measured a man’s manhood based on his shoe size.
