1955 – Perez Prado was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White’. Known as the ‘King of the Mambo’ the instrumental was the theme from the film ‘Underwater’ where Jane Russell can be seen dancing to ‘Cherry Pink’.
1957 –Elvis Presley had his custom built ‘Music Gates’ installed at Graceland.
1959 – Buddy Holly was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Paul Anka song ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.’ A No.1 hit six weeks after his death.
1968 – Louis Armstrong was at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘What A Wonderful World / Cabaret.’ At 69 years of age, it made him the oldest act ever at the time to score a UK No.1.
1975 – Four Bay City Rollers fans were taken to hospital and 35 others required on site treatment after they attempted to swim across a lake to meet their heroes. The group were making an appearance at a BBC Radio 1 fun day at Mallory Park.
1978 – Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious filmed his version of Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ for the Sex Pistols film ‘The Great Rock n Roll Swindle.’
1988 – Roy Orbison celebrated his 52nd birthday at a Bruce Springsteen concert, during which the audience sang happy birthday to him.
1992 – George Michael announced he was donating $500,000 royalties from the sale of ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’, to various British and American charities.
1997 – Club boss Paul Donavan was fined over £2,000 after being found guilty of tricking fans that he had Peter Andre appearing at his Club in the West Midlands. He had in fact an act called Peter Andrex a puppet who threw toilet rolls.
2003 – The oldest working musician in Britain, Conrad Leonard died aged 104. Composer and pianist Leonard had worked with Cole Porter, Petula Clark and at the BBC during his career. Until the age of 103 years, he played the piano every Thursday at lunchtime in the Plantation Cafe at Squire’s Garden Centre in Twickenham.
2016 – Prince was found dead at his home in Minnesota at the age of 57, after Police were summoned to his Paisley Park estate and found his body in a lift.
2018 – Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer, Avicii died aged 28. His biggest single was 2013’s ‘Wake Me Up’.
2020 – Michael Ball and Captain Tom Moore went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. The charity single made Moore – six days short of his one hundredth birthday – the oldest person to achieve a No.1 (he was at the top of the charts on his 100th birthday), beating the previous record holder Tom Jones.
2021 – American composer, lyricist, record producer, Jim Steinman died from kidney failure age 73. He was best known for waking on Meat Loaf’s ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ and producing albums for Bonnie Tyler. His most successful chart singles include Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and Air Supply’s ‘Making Love Out of Nothing at All’.
