Happy 80th Birthday to Bob Dylan. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941 in Duluth, he has been influential in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Early songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems for the American civil rights and anti-war movements and his six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" altered the range of popular music. Dylan has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for VH1)
1963 - Blues guitarist and singer Elmore James died of a heart attack aged 45. James wrote 'Shake Your Money Maker', which was covered by Fleetwood Mac in 1968. Known as "The King of the Slide Guitar", James influenced Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Keith Richards.
1968 - Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull were arrested on charges of marijuana possession, the same day the Rolling Stones released "Jumpin' Jack Flash".
Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone that the song arose "out of all the acid of Satanic Majesties. It's about having a hard time and getting out. Just a metaphor for getting out of all the acid things."
Richards explained to Rolling Stone in 2010: "The lyrics came from a gray dawn at Redlands. Mick and I had been up all night, it was raining outside, and there was the sound of these boots near the window, belonging to my gardener, Jack Dyer. It woke Mick up. He said, 'What's that?' I said, 'Oh, that's Jack. That's jumping Jack.'
1974 - All-time genius of jazz composing, arranging, piano, and band-leading (he led a star-studded orchestra continuously for almost 50 years), Duke Ellington died in New York City at the age of 75.
1974 - David Bowie Diamond Dogs. The cover art features Bowie as a striking half-man, half-dog grotesque painted by Belgian artist Guy Peellaert. It was controversial as the full painting clearly showed the hybrid's genitalia. Originally conceived as a concept album based on George Orwell's 1984, Diamond Dogs evolved into another one of Bowie's paranoid future nightmares.
2016 - Gord Downie, lead singer of The Tragically Hip, announced that he had terminal brain cancer. Downie, who had been diagnosed the December before and had been going through treatment, did one last tour with the band, closing with a show in his hometown of Kingston, Ontario, on August 21, 2016.
Birthdays:
Albert Bouchard, drummer for Blue Oyster Cult, is 74. More cowbell...
Rosanne Cash is 66.
Rich Robinson, guitarist for The Black Crowes, is 51.
Heavy D was born today in 1967.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.