1954 - 19 year old Elvis Presley signs with Sun Records.
1962 - The Rolling Stones play their first ever show, at London’s Marquee Club, with Dick Taylor on bass (later of The Pretty Things) and Mick Avory on drums, (later of The Kinks). Billed as The Rollin’ Stones, they were paid £20 for the gig (a little more than $500 in 2019 money).
1964 - The Beatles' legendary Ed Sullivan Show appearance from February 9th, is re-broadcast for the first time.
1979 - Singer/songwriter Minnie Ripperton dies of cancer at age 31. Aside from her solo career she'd worked at Chess Records singing backup for various artists such as Etta James, Fontella Bass, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, sang lead for the esteemed rock/soul outfit Rotary Connection, and was also a member of Wonderlove in 1973, a backup group for Stevie Wonder. In addition, she was the mother of actress/musician Maya Rudolph.
1988 - Michael Jackson arrives in the UK for his first ever-solo appearances. He performs a total of eight nights to 794,000 people.
Today’s Birthdays include...Fleetwood Mac vocalist/keyboardist Christine McVie (77); guitarist Wilko Johnson of Dr. Feelgood fame (73); singer/songwriter Walter Egan (72); drummer Simon Fox—BeBop Beluxe, Pretty Things, Trevor Rabin—(71); former Soul Asylum guitarist Dan Murphy (58); Tim Gane, guitarist for Stereolab (56); and guitarist John Petrucci, founding member of Dream Theater (53).
