On This Day

May 21st

1963 - The Beatles

The Beatles recorded two BBC radio programs at the Playhouse Theatre in London. They recorded five songs for Saturday Club and six songs for Steppin' Out. 

1965 - Four Tops

The Four Tops appeared on UK TV show 'Ready Steady Goes Live!'

1966 - Bruce Springsteen

The Castiles (with Bruce Springsteen on vocals) appeared at Freehold Regional High School in New Jersey. They were performing at their own high school for the very first time. All five members of the band were Juniors at Freehold High School.

1967 - Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix signed with Reprise Records on the US Warner Brothers label. They released the guitarist's albums Are You Experienced? Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland.

1968 - Brian Jones

Rolling Stone Brian Jones appeared at Great Marlborough Street Magistrates court, London on a charge of possession of marijuana, Jones was released on £200 bail.

1970 - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released the protest single Ohio, written and composed by Neil Young in reaction to the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, when unarmed college students were shot by the Ohio National Guard. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

1971 - Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye released his eleventh studio album What's Going On. The concept album consisting of nine songs tells the story from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to the country he had been fighting for, and seeing only hatred, suffering, and injustice. What's Going On is regarded as one of the landmark recordings in pop music history, and one of the greatest albums of the 20th century.

1972 - 2nd British Rock Meeting

The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Faces, Family, Curved Air, Atomic Rooster, The Kinks, Rory Gallagher, Uriah Heep, Country Joe McDonald, Buddy Miles, Status Quo, Brinsley Schwarz, Spencer Davis, The Strawbs and Humble Pie all appeared at the 2nd British Rock Meeting, Insel Grun, Germersheim, West Germany. The festival was due to take place in Mannheim, West Germany, but after protests from the locals, the concert actually took place in nearby Germersheim.

1974 - Elton John

Two would-be concert promoters were arrested by police in America on fraud charges in connection with selling mail order tickets for a forthcoming Elten John show. (Elten with an E and not an O). Police took away over $12,000 in cheques.

1977 - Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the double A sided single 'I Don't Want To Talk About It / First Cut Is The Deepest.' The Danny Whitten song 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' was also a UK No.3 hit for Everything But The Girl in 1988.

1977 - Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with his tribute to Duke Ellington, 'Sir Duke', his sixth US No.1, it made No.2 in the UK.

1979 - Elton John

Elton John started a tour of Russia, when he played the first of eight concerts making him the first Western star ever to do so.

1980 - Jimi Hendrix

A thief brook into Electric Lady Studios in New York City, the recording studio built by Jimi Hendrix and stole five Hendrix gold records for the albums ‘Are You Experienced’’, ‘Axis: Bold as Love’, ‘Cry of Love’, ‘Rainbow Bridge’ and Live at Monterey. 

1980 - Joe Strummer

Joe Strummer of The Clash was arrested at a much-troubled gig in Hamburg, Germany, after smashing his guitar over the head of a member of the audience; he was released after an alcohol test proved negative.

1982 - Madonna

The Hacienda Club was opened in Manchester, England. Madonna made her UK TV debut at the club when C4 music show The Tube was broadcast live. Home to many Manchester acts including Oasis, Happy Mondays, U2, The Smiths, Charlatans, James, M People who all played at the club. (The club closed in 1997).

1983 - David Bowie

David Bowie went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Let's Dance', featuring blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was Bowie's first single to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic. The music video was made by David Mallet on location in Australia including a bar in Carinda in New South Wales, featured Bowie playing with his band while impassively watching an Aboriginal couple’s struggles against metaphors of Western cultural imperialism.

1988 - Prince

Prince scored his first UK No.1 album with 'Lovesexy.' The cover (based on a photo by Jean Baptiste Mondino) caused some controversy upon release as it depicts Prince in the nude. Some record stores refused to stock it or wrapped the album in black.

1988 - Billy Bragg

Wet Wet Wet and Billy Bragg were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'With A Little Help From My Friends' and 'She's Leaving Home.' The two Beatles songs had been recorded for the childLine charity, sales of the single, which spent four weeks at No.1 on the UK chart, were over £600,000, all of which was donated to ChildLine .

2001 - Tommy Eyre

Producer, arranger and keyboardist Tommy Eyre died of cancer aged 51. Worked with George Harrison, Wham! Dusty Springfield, and B.B. King. Played and arranged Joe Cocker's hit 'With A Little Help From My Friends' and Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street'.

2003 - Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey hit back at Eminem's threats to sample the slushy voicemail messages she left on his mobile. Carey described the rapper as "a little girl" saying it's "like dealing with a girlfriend in 7th grade, and he shouldn't do it because it'll get him in a bit of trouble with her lawyers."

2005 - Brian Harvey

Former East 17 singer Brian Harvey was rushed to hospital following his second suicide bid in a month. The singer battled with police outside his house after taking an overdose of sleeping pills.

2006 - Madonna

Madonna played the first of three sold out nights at The Los Angeles Forum in California, the first dates on her Confessions Tour. The 60-date tour grossed over $260 million, becoming the highest grossing tour ever for a female artist.

2007 - Scott Stapp

Former singer with Creed, Scott Stapp was arrested at his Florida home and charged with assault. The 33-year-old was held without bail following the charges, which related to a domestic assault.

2008 - Lou Pearlman

Lou Pearlman, the music mogul who created the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison over a decades-long scam that swindled thousands of investors out of their life savings. Many victims were Pearlman's relatives, friends and retirees in their 70s or 80s who lost everything.

2010 - U2

U2's lead singer Bono had emergency spinal surgery after suffering an injury while preparing for tour dates. The 50-year-old singer was treated at a specialist neurosurgery clinic in Munich and was expected to stay there for a number of days.

2011 - Adele

Adele went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Rolling In The Deep', taken from her second studio album, 21. The video to the song was nominated for seven MTV Video Music Awards nominations, 'Rolling in the Deep' was also the Billboard Year End Hot 100 Number One Single of 2011. And on 12 February 2012, 'Rolling in the Deep' received three Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Short Form Music Video.

2011 - Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan came out on top as both the most inspirational individual for poets and the dream collaborative partner, in a survey carried out by The Foyle Poetry Society. The extensive survey questioned poets asking which musician and which genre of music most inspired their writing. The young people, aged between 11 and 17, from countries throughout the world also voted for artists such as Regina Spektor, David Bowie, Florence and the Machine, Leonard Cohen, Morrissey and Pete Doherty.

2013 - Trevor Bolder

Trevor Bolder, the bassist in David Bowie's legendary 1970s backing band Spiders From Mars, died from cancer at the age of 62. Bolder appeared on the studio albums Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), Aladdin Sane (1973), and Pin Ups (1973). He joined Uriah Heep in 1976, replacing John Wetton.

2013 - Chris Brown

Chris Brown was charged with a misdemeanour hit-and-run and driving without a valid license following an accident in the San Fernando Valley, California. If convicted, the singer could face up to one year in jail with other recent incidents including an outburst at a valet, a parking lot brawl with Frank Ocean and a fight with Drake in a New York nightclub.

2015 - Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath received a lifetime achievement prize at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards. Guitarist Tony Iommi picked up the trophy, confirming the heavy metal band would embark on their "final tour" next year. Ed Sheeran was named songwriter of the year, and Annie Lennox was awarded the fellowship of the British Society of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca) - the society's highest honour.

2015 - Louis Johnson

American bass guitarist Louis Johnson died aged 60. He was a member of Brothers Johnson, (1980 US No.4 & UK No.6 single 'Stomp'). Johnson played on the Michael Jackson albums Off the Wall, Thriller and Dangerous, and hit songs 'Billie Jean' and 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough'.

2016 - Nick Menza

Nick Menza, a former drummer in heavy metal band Megadeth, died after suffering a "massive heart attack" on stage, while performing with his band, OHM, in Los Angeles.

Born On This Day

May 21st

1904 - Fats Waller

Fats Waller, American jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer and comedic entertainer. His best-known compositions, 'Ain't Misbehavin'' and 'Honeysuckle Rose', were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999. In 1926 Waller was kidnapped at gunpoint in Chicago and driven to a club owned by gangster Al Capone. Inside the club he was ordered to perform at what turned out to be a surprise birthday party for the gangster. Waller died 15 December 1943.

1934 - Sonny Forriest

American guitarist Sonny Forriest who was a member of The Coasters. The American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group scored the 1958 US No.1 single 'Yakety Yak', the 1959 US No.2 and UK No.6 single 'Charlie Brown', as well as 'Young Blood' and 'Poison Ivy'. Forriest died on Jan 10th 1999.

1940 - Tony Sheridan

English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist Tony Sheridan. He was best known as an early collaborator of The Beatles and the only non-Beatle to appear as lead singer on a Beatles recording ('My Bonnie') which charted as a single. Sheridan died on 16 February 2013.

1941 - Ronald Isley

Ronald Isley, from American group The Isley Brothers who first came to prominence in 1959 with their fourth single, 'Shout', and then the 1962 hit 'Twist and Shout. The Isley Brothers also scored the hits 'This Old Heart Of Mine', 'Summer Breeze' and 'Harvest for the World'. Sixteen of their albums charted in the Top 40.

1943 - Hilton Valentine

Hilton Valentine, English musician, who was the original guitarist in the Animals who had the 1964 UK & US No.1 single 'House Of The Rising Sun'.

1943 - John Dalton

John Dalton, bass guitar player, best known as a member of The Kinks from 1966 & 1969 to 1976 and played on the 1967 UK No.2 single 'Waterloo Sunset'.

1943 - Vincent Crane

Vincent Crane, English keyboardist who was best known as the organist for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster. The Crazy world of Arthur Brown scored the 1968 UK No.1 and US No.12 single 'Fire', and Atomic Rooster, the 1971 UK No.4 single 'The Devil's Answer'. He died on 14th February 1989 from a deliberate overdose of Anadin tablets in at age 45.

1947 - Bill Champlin

American singer, guitarist, keyboard player and songwriter Bill Champlin who joined Chicago in 1981. He sang (with Peter Cetera) on the bands 1984 hit single 'Hard Habit to Break'.

1948 - Leo Sayer

British born singer-songwriter Leo Sayer who had the 1977 UK & US No.1 single 'When I Need You', the Chrysalis record label their first UK No.1. Sayer also co-wrote 'Giving It All Away', which gave Roger Daltrey of The Who his first solo hit in 1973.

1955 - Stan Lynch

Stan Lynch, American musician, songwriter and record producer who was the original drummer for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, (1977 single 'American Girl', 1989 UK No.28 single 'I Won't Back Down', 1991 UK No.3 album 'Into The Great Wide Open'). He partnered with longtime friend Don Henley to help put together Eagles' reunion album Hell Freezes Over and as a producer and writer, Lynch has worked with a diverse array of acts, such as The Band, Eagles, Don Henley, Jackopierce, Joe 90, Scotty Moore, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Jeff Healey Band, Tim McGraw and Ringo Starr.

1963 - Tim Lever

Tim Lever, from English pop band, Dead Or Alive, who scored the 1985 UK No.1 single 'You Spin Me Round, Like A Record'.

1964 - Martin Blunt

Martin Blunt, bassist with English indie rock band The Charlatans who had the 1990 UK No.9 single 'The Only One I Know'. In the UK, all of the band's thirteen studio albums have charted in the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart, three of them being No.1s.

1972 - Notorious B.I.G.

American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie Smalls, aka Christopher G. Wallace). He scored the 1997 US No.1 single 'Hypnotize'. He was gunned down on the streets of Los Angeles on 9th March 1997 aged 24. Three more albums have been released since his death and he has sold over 17 million records in the United States.

1975 - Lee Gaze

Lee Gaze, guitarist, from Welsh rock band Lostprophets, who scored the 2006 UK No.1 album Liberation Transmission.

1978 - Adam Wade Gontier

Adam Wade Gontier, lead singer and guitarist from Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. The band has a string of No.1 songs on the Billboard Alternative Songs Chart.

1980 - Gotye

Belgian born, Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Wouter De Backer, known professionally as Gotye. His 2012 single ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ topped charts in the US, UK, Australia, as well as 23 other national charts.

1985 - Mutya Buena

Mutya Buena, singer with British girl group Sugababes who had the 2002 UK No.1 single, 'Round Round'. In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums named the Sugababes as the most successful female act of the 21st century with six UK No.1 singles and eighteen UK top ten hits.