1942
Heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio (of Black Sabbath, Rainbow) is born Ronald James Padavona in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
1949
Greg Kihn is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
1959
Sandy West is born Sandy Pesavento in Long Beach, California. Together with Joan Jett, she is a founding member of the teenage all-female rock band The Runaways, playing drums. After the band splits she leaves the music industry, and dies at the age of 47 from lung cancer.
1964
The Beatles return to their hometown of Liverpool for a showing of their first movie, A Hard Day’s Night. They get a warm welcome, with thousands of fans turning up to see them.
1965
The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” hits #1 in America. It stays for four weeks, becoming the biggest hit of 1965.
1968
Eric Clapton announces the breakup of the supergroup Cream, currently finishing up its last tour.
1977
Queen release their “We Are The Champions”/”We Will Rock You” single in the UK, providing stadium anthems for sporting events the world over.
1986
Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia goes into a diabetic coma, forcing the band to cancel the rest of their tour. He’s in the coma for five days, and when he comes to, he has to learn how to walk and talk again. After months of rehab, he gets his faculties back and in December, and is once again on stage with his band.
1993
Bob Seger marries his third wife, Juanita Dorricott.
2008
VH1′s Rock Honors pays tribute to The Who.
2009
Robert Plant becomes a commander of the British Empire.
2010
Roger Waters makes a surprise appearance at a benefit concert in Oxford shire, England when he joins his onetime Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour for a four-song set, marking the first time since Live 8 in 2005 that they have shared the stage. Gilmour reciprocates by joining Waters for a performance of The Wall on May 12, 2011 in London.
2012
Slash, who left Guns N’ Roses in 1996, gets his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Charlie Sheen, who is master of ceremonies at the event, comments, “It seems quite fitting that Slash is getting a star on the very street Axl Rose will one day be sleeping on.”
2016
Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry suffers a cardiac arrest while performing with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp, fellow members of the supergroup The Hollywood Vampires, in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. The 65 year old is rushed to Coney Island hospital, where’s he’s listed in stable condition.