What Happened Today In Music

July 13th

1963 - The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones played their first ever gig outside London when they appeared at The Alcove Club, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire supporting The Hollies.

1964 - The Animals

The Animals went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The House Of The Rising Sun.' Recorded in one take, this was the first UK No.1 to have a playing time of more than four minutes.

1965 - Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney was presented with five Ivor Novello Awards at a lunch party at The Savoy, London. John Lennon refused to attend; Paul was 40 minutes late after he had forgotten about the engagement.

1967 - Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd made their second appearance on BBC Top Of The Popsto promote their new single 'See Emily Play' which was hosted by Pete Murray. The single went on to peak at No.6 on the UK chart.

1968 - Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath played their first gig at a small backstreet Blues club in Birmingham, England.

1969 - The Beatles

Over 100 US radio stations banned The Beatles new single 'The Ballad Of John and Yoko' due to the line 'Christ, you know it ain't easy', calling it offensive.

1972 - The Rolling Stones

During a North American tour The Rolling Stones played the first of two nights at the Cobo Hall, Detroit, Michigan. The Doors, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Bruce Springsteen and Kiss have all appeared here.

1974 - Elton John

Elton John started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with his eighth studio release, Caribou, and his third No.1 album. The album contained the singles, 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me', and 'The Bitch Is Back'.

1974 - George McCrae

George McCrae started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Rock Your Baby', his only US No.1, also No.1 in the UK. Regarded by some as the first Disco No.1. It was a New York City club hit first.

1974 - Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the first of a three night, six show residency at the newly-opened Bottom Line in New York City. The shows received rave reviews and created a buzz in the music industry.

1978 - Sex Pistols

The BBC announced a ban on The Sex Pistols latest single ‘No One Is Innocent’, which featured vocals by Ronnie Biggs, the British criminal notorious for his part in the Great Train Robbery of 1963. At the time of the recording, Biggs was living in Brazil, and was still wanted by the British authorities, but immune from extradition.

1985 - Bob Geldof

At 12.01 Status Quo started the Live Aid extravaganza, held between Wembley Stadium, London and The JFK Stadium, Philadelphia. The cream of the world's biggest rock stars took part in the worldwide event, raising over £40million. TV pictures beamed to over 1.5bn people in 160 countries made it the biggest live broadcast ever known. Artists who appeared included Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, The Who, U2, David Bowie and Mick Jagger, Queen, Tina Turner, The Cars, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams, Hall and Oates, Lionel Richie and Led Zeppelin.

1985 - Duran Duran

Duran Duran became the first artists to have a No.1 on the US singles chart with a James Bond theme when 'A View To A Kill', went to the top of the charts.

1985 - Elton John

Elton John re-signed with MCA Records in America, his five-album deal being worth $8 million, the biggest advance in history at the time.

1987 - Michael Jackson

Representatives of fifty of America's largest record retailers were guests at Michael Jackson's home in Encino, California to preview his new album, ‘Bad’. The LP would go on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide.

1990 - Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield was badly injured after a strong gust of wind blew a lighting rig on him during an outside concert in Brooklyn, New York.

1991 - Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Everything I Do I Do It For You' which featured on the soundtrack for the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It stayed at No.1 for a record-breaking 16 weeks, (breaking a record held since 1955), also a No.1 in the US (for 7 weeks) and a hit in 16 other countries. Won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture in 1992.

1996 - Chet Atkins

Over 2,000 guitar players, including Chet Atkins and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, set a new world record for the largest jam session ever when they played 'Heartbreak Hotel' for 75 minutes at Nashville's Riverfront Park. The previous record was set in Vancouver, Canada on May 7th, 1994, when Randy Bachman led 1,322 amateur guitarists in a performance that lasted 68 minutes.

1997 - Anthony Kiedis

Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis underwent five hours of hospital surgery after being involved in a motorbike accident in Los Angeles.

1997 - Prodigy

The Prodigy started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with their third album The Fat Of The Land. The album has now sold over 10 million copies worldwide. 

1997 - John Denver

A trial against John Denver for drunken driving ended in a hung jury, deadlocked 3-3. Denver's defence attorney argued that the singer suffered from a thyroid condition that had distorted blood alcohol tests.

1999 - Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney displayed 73 paintings at the Kunstforum Lyz gallery in the German town of Siegen. McCartney had been painting for the past 16 years (since he turned 40).

1999 - Gregg Alexander

The New Radicals called it a day after just one album and a world-wide hit single. Front man, songwriter and driving force Gregg Alexander said he would concentrate on producing and writing.

2002 - Fatboy Slim

Fatboy Slim brought the Brighton area to a standstill when he threw a free beach party. Organisers had expected 60,000 fans to attend but over 250,000 turned up causing chaos on the roads with traffic jams over ten miles long. Fatboy Slim spent £100,000 of his own money supporting the event after a sponsor pulled out.

2004 - Arthur Kane

Arthur ‘Killer’ Kane, bass player with The New York Dolls, died aged 55 after checking himself in to a Los Angeles emergency room, complaining of fatigue. He was quickly diagnosed with leukaemia, and died within two hours. The influential American band formed in 1972 and made just two albums, the 1973 'New York Dolls' and 1974 'Too Much Too Soon'. His estranged wife wanted to honour her late husband's wishes and bury him next to former Dolls stars Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan in Mount St Mary's cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, but officials at the morgue refused to release his body for burial because his remains were so decomposed. (His body had laid in a morgue for over a month).

2007 - Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart collected his CBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. The singer who was honoured for his services to music wore a skull and crossbones tie, white trousers and a stripy shirt instead of the conventional morning suit.

2007 - Wilco

The first day of the three day Latitude Festival took place at Henham Park Estate in Suffolk, England featuring: Damien Rice, The Good, The Bad And The Queen, Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Magic Numbers, Wilco, The Rapture and Jarvis Cocker.

2012 - Roger Waters

Roger Waters' tour The Wall Live, topped worldwide concert ticket sales for the first half of 2012. The show based Pink Floyd's hit 1970s album, took $158.1m (£102.3m) beating Bruce Springsteen and Madonna. Waters sold 1.4 million tickets according to Pollstar magazine, which tracks the live concert business.

2013 - T in the Park

Five people were arrested and ejected from the T in the Park music festival in Scotland, for possessing or using pyrotechnic flares. There was also another 53 arrests, mainly for petty crimes and minor drugs offences.

2015 - 50 Cent

Rapper 50 Cent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. A report in the Wall Street Journal said the businessman and actor had assets and debts in the range of $10m to $50m (£6.5m- £32m). The news came out just days after a jury ruled that he must pay $5m to a woman suing over a sex tape case.

2019 - George Michael

George Michael's family and lawyers stepped up their battle to force Fadi Fawaz to leave the singers former home after he broke a number of windows. The jobless squatter admitted smashing windows at George Michael’s old house but bizarrely claimed he was doing home improvements. Fadi was seen smoking a joint on the balcony next to some of the smashed windows.

Born Today In Music

July 13th

1941 - Steve Gibbons

English singer-songwriter, Steve Gibbons. He was a member of The Ugly's, in 1969 Gibbons teamed up with guitarist Trevor Burton from The Move and formed a new group called Balls, he then joined The Idle Race for three months in 1971 and this band evolved into the Steve Gibbons Band who scored the hit 'Tulane'.

1942 - Roger McGuinn

Roger McGuinn, guitar, vocals, The Byrds, (1965 US & UK No.1 single 'Mr Tambourine Man'). He was the only member of The Byrds to play on the hit, the others being session players. He toured with Bob Dylan in 1975 and 1976 as part of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, and later worked with fellow ex-Byrds Gene Clark and Chris Hillman to form McGuinn, Clark and Hillman.

1942 - Stephen Bladd

Stephen Bladd, drummer with American rock band The J Geils Band, who had the 1982 US No.1 & UK No.3 single 'Centerfold' which was taken from their US No.1 1981 album Freeze Frame.

1955 - Mark "The Animal" Mendoza

Mark "The Animal" Mendoza, bassist Twisted Sister, (1983 UK No.18 single 'I Am, I'm Me', 1984 album 'Stay Hungry'). The Dictators.

1961 - Lawrence Donegan

Lawrence Donegan, bassist from British pop band Lloyd Cole And The Commotions who had the 1985 UK hit single 'Brand New Friend'. Between 1984 and 1989, the band scored four Top 20 albums and five Top 40 singles in the UK.

1966 - Gerald Levert

Gerald Levert, R&B trio LeVert, who scored a UK top 10 single with Casanova in 1987. Died of a heart attack 11th Nov 2006 aged 40. The singer who was the son of O'Jays vocalist Eddie Levert.

1969 - Mark Greenway

Born on his day, Mark Greenway, singer, Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror and Benediction.

1974 - Deborah Cox

Deborah Cox, Canadian R&B singer-songwriter and actress. Her 1998 song ‘Nobody's Supposed to Be Here’ held the record for longest-running number one single on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart (14 weeks).

1988 - Tulisa Contostavlos

Tula Paulinea "Tulisa" Contostavlos, English singer-songwriter. She is best known for being a member of hip hop group N-Dubz, during 2011 to 2012, she participated as a judge on the The X Factor.