THIS DAY IN MUSIC

May 5th: On this Day

1956, Elvis Presley scored his first US No.1 single and album when 'Heartbreak Hotel'went to the top of the charts. 'Heartbreak Hotel' became his first million-seller, and was the best-selling single of 1956. The lyrics were based on a newspaper article about the suicide of a lonely man who jumped from a hotel window.

1962, The soundtrack to West Side Story went to No.1 on the US album chart. It went on to spend a total of 54 weeks at the No.1 position.

1963, On a recommendation by George Harrison  Dick Rowe Head of A&R at Decca records, (and the man who turned down The Beatles) went to see The Rolling Stonesplay at Crawdaddy Club, London. The band were signed to the label within a week.

1966, Manfred Mann were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pretty Flamingo'. The recording features future Cream bassist Jack Bruce, who briefly joined the band in 1965. On their Top Of The Pops appearance, singer Paul Jones performed whilst standing on one leg.

1967, The Kinks released Waterloo Sunset as a single which went on to peak at No.2 on the UK chart. Songwriter and Kinks singer Ray Davies later stated that the song was originally entitled 'Liverpool Sunset', after his love for Liverpool and Merseybeat.

1968, Buffalo Springfield split up. Richie Furay formed Poco and Stephen Stills teamed up with David Crosby and Graham Nash in Crosby Stills & Nash.

1969, The Beatles single 'Get Back' was released in the US. John Lennon claimed in 1980 that "there's some underlying thing about Yoko in there", claiming that Paul McCartney looked at Yoko Ono in the studio every time he sang "Get back to where you once belonged."

1972, Blind blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis died of a heart attack aged 76. His unique finger-picking style influenced many other artists.

1972, The first day of the three day Bickershaw Festival, Wigan, England, with The Grateful Dead, Dr John, Donovan, The Kinks, Captain Beefheart, Hawkwind, America, Family, Country Joe MacDonald, Wishbone Ash, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, Brinsley Schwarz and the Flamin Groovies.

1973, David Bowie scored his first UK No.1 album when 'Aladdin Sane' started a five-week run at the top, featuring the single 'Drive In Saturday'. The follow-up to his breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the name of the album is a pun on "A Lad Insane".

1974, Television appeared at CBGB's in New York City, supported by the Stillettoes (later to become Blondie who were playing their first show at CBGB).

1979, Peaches and Herb started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Reunited', it made No.4 in the UK.

1983, The Stranglers 'Golden Brown' was named most performed work of 1982 at the 28th Ivor Novello Awards. The single had become a UK hit after the comparatively conservative BBC Radio Two made it 'single of the week', a surprising step considering the band were almost as notorious as Sex Pistols only a few short years before.

1984, Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr married Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde in a horse drawn carriage in Central Park, New York City.

1984, Duran Duran were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Reflex', the group's second and last No.1. The song which was taken from their third album Seven and the Ragged Tiger was also a US No.1.

1990, The John Lennon tribute concert was held at the Pier Head Arena in Merseyside, featuring Lenny Kravitz, Al Green, Joe Cocker, The Christians, Kylie Minogue, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Deacon Blue, Lou Reed, Joe Walsh and Wet Wet Wet.

1992, Radiohead released 'The Drill EP', their first record in the UK. The band were still called "On a Friday" when the songs for this EP were recorded; they changed their name to Radiohead the following month.

1995, Former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler was arrested on a felony count of possession of heroin, as well as two misdemeanour drug charges.

1996, Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan received both a public apology and a donation of £7,500 ($12,750) to the Warchild charity from The Sport newspaper after they ran a story claiming she had performed a gig in Hamburg without wearing any underwear.

1996, Rage Against The Machine went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Evil Empire'. The album's title is taken from the phrase "evil empire", which was used by former US President Ronald Reagan and many conservatives in describing the former Soviet Union. The album won the 1996 Grammy award for Best Metal Performance.

2000, Rod Stewart had a one-hour throat operation at Cedar Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles to remove a growth on his thyroid. The growth turns out to be benign.

2002, Two disc jockeys from Denver's KRFX-FM, Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax, stopped a live radio interview with Detroit rocker Ted Nugent after he used derogatory racial terms for Asians and Blacks. The station received dozens of complaints.

2003, UK Holiday camp operator Butlins introduced a new system of rhyming slang at bingo halls in an attempt to bring the game up-to-date. Pop stars Jennifer Lopez and Gareth Gates became new catchphrases for the callers, 'Gareth Gates' (8) and 'J-Lo's bum' (71). Other additions include 'stroppy teen' (15) and 'feng shui' (53).

2005, Justin Timberlake underwent an operation at Los Angeles' Cedars Sinai Hospital to remove nodules from his throat.

2013, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant obtained a temporary restraining order against an overzealous female fan he alleged was a threat to his safety. Plant said that the woman had been harassing him for over three years and believed that they were in a relationship, even though Plant insisted the pair has never met.

2015, American rock bassist Craig Gruber died of prostate cancer in Florida aged 63. He is best known as the original bassist in Rainbow and also played in Elf with vocalist Ronnie James Dio and worked with guitarist Gary Moore.

May 5th: Born on this day

1937, Born on this day, Johnnie Taylor, US soul singer, (1976 US No.1 UK No.25 single 'Disco Lady'). Died of a heart attack in a Texas hospital, on 31st May 2000, shortly after his 62nd birthday.

1942, Born on this day, Tammy Wynette, US Country singer, 1968 US No.19 and 1975 UK No.1 single 'Stand By Your Man'. Known as the first lady of country music. Had the 1991 hit with The KLF ‘Justified and Ancient’ which became a No. 1 hit in eighteen countries. She died from cardiac arrhythmia aged 55, on 6th April 1998.

1942, Born on this day, Jim King, Family, (1971 UK No.4 single 'In My Own Time').

1948, Born on this day, Bill Ward, drums, Black Sabbath, (1970 UK No.4 single 'Paranoid'). The band's self-titled album was voted as the best British rock albums ever by Kerrang! in 2005.

1950, Born on this day, Eddy Amoo, The Real Thing, (1976 UK No.1 single 'You To Me Are Everything').

1951, Born on this day, Rex Goh, guitar, Air Supply, (1980 UK No.11 single 'All Out Of Love', 1981 US No.1 single 'The One That You Love').

1954, Born on this day, Pete Erskine, percussion, Weather Report, (1976 hit 'Birdland').

1955, Born on this day, Roddy Radiation, who played lead guitar for The Specials, as well as many rockabilly bands such as the Bonediggers and the Tearjerkers. Byers joined The Specials when the band was called The Coventry Automatics.

1957, Born on this day, Thereza Bazar, singer, Dollar, (1981 UK No.4 single 'Mirror Mirror').

1959, Born on this day, Ian McCulloch, Echo And The Bunnymen, (1983 UK No.8 single 'The Cutter').

1961, Born on this day, Sean McLuskey, Jo Boxers, (1983 UK No.3 single 'Boxer Beat').

1962, Born on this day, Gary Daly, vocals, China Crisis, (1984 UK No.9 single 'Wishful Thinking').

1962, Born on this day, Kevin Paul Mooney, bass, Adam And The Ants, (1981 UK No.1 single 'Stand And Deliver' plus 15 other UK Top 40 singles).

1964, Born on this day, Kevin Saunderson, Inner City, (1989 UK No.4 single 'Good Life').

1981, Born on this day, Craig David, UK singer, (2000 UK No.1 single, 'Fill Me In', 2000 UK No.1 album 'Born To Do It' spent 50 weeks on the chart.

1981, Born on this day, Jesse Colburn, guitarist. Closet Monster and Avril Lavigne's band from 2002 to 2003.

1988, Born on this day, Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, (Adele), English soul and jazz singer, (2008 UK No.1 album ‘19’, 2008 UK No.2 single ‘Chasing Pavements’). In 2011 Adele became the first artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in both the singles chart and the albums chart simultaneously since The Beatles in 1964. She is the first artist to sell more than 3 million copies of an album in a year in the UK, and Adele is the first female in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three singles in the top 10 at the same time.

1989, Born on this day, Chris Brown, US singer, had the 2005 US No.1 with his debut release 'Run It'.