1969 – Johnny Cash releases the single, “A Boy Named Sue”, a song written by Shel Silverstein.
1970 – Jimi Hendrix plays in his hometown of Seattle for the last time.
1975 – Van McCoy reaches #1 with “The Hustle”, his only chart hit in the US.
1977 – Led Zeppelin cut short their 11th North American tour after Robert Plant's five-year-old son Karac dies unexpectedly of a virus at their home in England.
1980 – The Rolling Stones start a seven week run at #1 with Emotional Rescue, their eighth album to hit #1 in the US. Emotional Rescue was the first Rolling Stones album recorded following Keith Richards' exoneration from a Toronto drugs charge that could have landed him in jail for years.
1986 – Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” goes to #1. It eventually becomes the most played music video in the history of MTV.
1990 – Grateful Dead keyboardist and vocalist Brent Mydland is found dead on the floor of his home at the age of 38 from a drug overdose. His eleven-year tenure was longer than that of any other keyboardist in the band.
1992 – Mary Wells, referred to as The First Lady of Motown, dies of cancer at the age of 49. Wells was forced to give up her career and with no health insurance, was forced to sell her home.
2006 – The final edition of Top Of The Pops is recorded at the BBC Television Centre in London.
2013 – Singer-songwriter JJ Cale dies of a heart attack at the age of 74. He was best known for the songs “After Midnight” and “Cocaine” which Eric Clapton covered and popularized.
2017 – A jury awards Quincy Jones $9.4 million in royalties for the use of Michael Jackson songs he produced in two Cirque du Soleil shows and the This Is It documentary. Jones filed suit in 2013, asking for $30 million.
Today’s Birthdays include…Bobby Hebb of “Sunny” fame and the great Darlene Love (both 79); Sir Michael Phillip Jagger (77); Queen drummer Roger Taylor (71); former Extreme and Van Halen singer Gary Cherone and Swing Out Sister’s Andy Connell (59); former Sum 41 guitarist Dave Baksh (40).
