1956 - Elvis Presley's breakout hit "Heartbreak Hotel" goes to #1 in America. A couple of sources of inspiration or the song: A newspaper story about a man who killed himself and left behind a note saying only, "I walk a lonely street." And, the writings Alvin Krolik, made news when he turned himself in to police in 1953 following a crime spree. A passage from his unpublished memoir was mentioned in some stories:
This is the story of a person who walked a lonely street. I hope this will help someone in the future.
1961 - The Beatles debuted at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.
1969 - Mick Jagger sends a letter to Andy Warhol, who has agreed to design the artwork for the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. Jagger writes: "In my short sweet experience, the more complicated the format of the album... the more f--ked up the reproduction and agonizing delays." Warhol eventually delivers a design with a working zipper, which becomes one of the most memorable album covers ever made, but is very difficult to mass produce.
1978 - Sandy Denny, best known as the lead singer of British folk-rock band Fairport Convention, died. Music publications Uncut, Mojo and the Sunday Express have all called Denny Britain's finest female singer-songwriter. Her composition, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" has been recorded by artists as diverse as Judy Collins, Nina Simone, 10,000 Maniacs and Cat Power. Denny sang on the Led Zeppelin track 'Battle Of Evermore' on the bands fourth album, (the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin album).
2001 - Peter Buck, guitarist for R.E.M., was arrested for being drunk on an aircraft and for accosting British Airways personnel following a flight from Seattle to Heathrow Airport in London. He is accused of drinking 15 glasses of wine, overturning a service cart and engaging in other bad behavior. Buck claimed that ingesting both a sleeping pill and wine caused him to lose it. He would be acquitted nearly a year later.
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. Prince, a multi-talented musician who came out of the Minneapolis scene and changed the world of music forever. Prince bridged rock and R&B to fuse a 'Minneapolis Sound' that helped define the music of the 1980s. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
2016 - American rock, blues and country singer-guitarist Lonnie Mack died of natural causes in hospital near his log-cabin home, seventy miles east of Nashville, Tennessee. In the early 1960s, he was a "pioneer" in virtuoso rock guitar soloing whose recordings were pivotal to the emergence of the electric guitar as a lead voice in rock music. For this, it has been said that he launched the era of "modern rock guitar". He scored the hit single instrumentals, 'Memphis' and 'Wham!'
Birthdays:
Singer/songwriter Paul Davis ("I Go Crazy"; "'65 Love Affair") was born on this day in 1948. He died of a heart attack in 2008, one day after his 60th birthday.
Iggy Pop of The Stooges is 74.
Robert Smith, the lead singer of The Cure, is 62.
Michael Franti is 55.
On This Day In Music History is sourced gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.