Births
Jerome Kern – January 27, 1885
Elmore James (Elmore Brooks) – January 27, 1918
David Seville (Ross Bagdasarian) – January 27, 1919
Ruth Brown – January 30, 1928
Bobby “Blue” Bland – January 27, 1930
Don Everly (Isaac Donald Everly) – February 1, 1937
Marty Balin (Martyn Jerel Buchwald) – January 30, 1942
Graham Nash – February 1, 1942
Nick Mason – January 27, 1944
Steve Marriott – January 30, 1947
Phil Collins – January 30, 1951
Rick James – February 1, 1952
Mike Campbell – February 1, 1954
Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) – January 31, 1956
Exene (Christine) Cervenka – February 1, 1956
Sarah McLachlan – January 28, 1968
Lisa Marie Presley – February 1, 1968
Deaths
Slim Harpo (James Moore) – January 31, 1970
Mahalia Jackson – January 27, 1972
Sid Vicious (John Simon Ritchie) – February 2, 1979
Professor Longhair (Henry Roeland Byrd) – January 30, 1980
Lightnin’ (Sam) Hopkins – January 30, 1982
Billy Fury (Ronald William Wycherley) – January 27, 1983
Willie Dixon – January 29, 1992
Gene Kelly – February 2, 1996
(Ramón) Mongo Santamaria – February 1, 2003
Landmark Releases
1956 – Elvis Presley, “Heartbreak Hotel”
1968 – Otis Redding, “Dock of the Bay”
1971 – Janis Joplin, “Me and Bobby McGee”
Charts
1964 – The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” tops the U.S. charts. It eventually sells 15 million copies worldwide, making it one of the all-time most successful British singles.
1965 – The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” becomes their first No. 1 hit.
1970 – The Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back” goes to No. 1.
1975 – Neil Sedaka completes his unlikely comeback as “Laughter in the Rain” tops the charts.
1974 – Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” becomes the nation’s top-selling single.
1984 – “Karma Chameleon” becomes Culture Club’s only U.S. chart topper,
1985 – After eight years as a ubiquitous fixture on rock radio, Foreigner scores their first No. 1 single, “I Want to Know What Love Is.”
1992 – Nirvana’s Nevermind tops the U.S. charts for the second time.
Events
1949 – Spurred by Columbia Records’ new 33-1/3 rpm LP format, rival RCA-Victor introduces the 7” 45 rpm single and a compact new machine to play it on—the death knell of the 78 record. The vinyl single will dominate records and radio until the advent of the CD in the ’80s.
1954 – After losing an acrimonious patent fight with employer RCA, Edwin Howard Armstrong, inventor of FM radio, leaps from his 13th floor New York City apartment. His widow Marian—former secretary to RCA chief David Sarnoff—renews the FM patent battle with RCA, eventually prevailing in 1967. The hi-fi stereo signal of Armstrong’s broadcast format quickly revolutionizes rock radio.
1956 – Elvis Presley makes his national TV debut on CBS’ Dorsey Brothers Stage Show, playing “Blue Suede Shoes” and his newest single, “Heartbreak Hotel.”
1958 – After a brush with death on an ill-fated plane ride, Little Richard renounces rock and roll to study for a divinity degree at the Seventh Day Adventist-run Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama.
1964 – Indiana governor Matthew Welsh declares the lyrics of the Kingsmen’s hit “Louie Louie” to be pornographic, then pressures the Indiana Broadcasters Association to refrain from airing it. Music publisher Max Firetag responds, offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who can prove the song has obscene lyrics. The fracas eventually involves the FBI, who opine that the record’s vocals are so garbled as to be unintelligible.
1965 – The Who make their first U.K. TV appearance on BBC’s popular Ready Steady Go!, helping push their “I Can’t Explain” single into the English Top Ten.
1967 – The Beatles begin recording the title track for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. John Lennon visits a Kent antique shop, purchases a vintage circus poster whose text provides most of the lyrics for the album’s “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.”
1969 – Joni Mitchell plays New York City’s Carnegie Hall for the first time.
1969 – The Beatles perform in public for the last time, an impromptu, traffic-stopping lunchtime concert on the roof of Apple’s Saville Row offices in London that’s filmed for Let It Be.
1971 – David Bowie makes his first visit to America. The singer doesn’t perform any concerts, but nonetheless causes a public stir when he wears dresses in Texas and Louisiana.
1973 – Elvis Presley meets with Muhammad Ali in Las Vegas, with the pair exchanging inscribed gifts. The Greatest later says of Presley: “I felt sorry for him because he didn’t enjoy life the way he should. He stayed indoors all the time. I told him he should go out and see people.”
1973 – KISS make their stage debut, performing at the Coventry Club in Queens, New York.
1984 – Michael Jackson and more than 40 other music stars converge on A&M studios in Hollywood to record the song “We Are the World.” The charity effort, dubbed USA for Africa, donates the single’s profits to alleviate worldwide hunger.
1990 – France’s Ministry of Culture names Bob Dylan a commander in the Order of Arts and Letters, an honor previously bestowed on comedian Jerry Lewis.
1995 – After checking out of London’s Embassy hotel early in the morning, guitarist/co-lyricist Richey Edwards of Manic Street Preachers vanishes, becoming modern rock’s most famous missing person.
1998 – Elton John receives his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in London.