1953:

Born on this day- Cyndi Lauper. Happy Birthday! 

1987:

Aerosmith appeared at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, the first night on their 147 date world tour. 147 days, guys.

1995:

Alanis Morissette released Jagged Little Pill. The album went on to sell over 30 million copies world-wide making Morissette the first female Canadian to score a US No.1 album.

2006:

Prince received a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his visionary use of the Internet. Prince was the first major artist to release an entire album, 1997’s Crystal Ball, exclusively on the internet.

1949:

Hank Williams made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and received an unprecedented total of six encores.

2004:

US singer, songwriter Ray Charles died aged 73. Glaucoma rendered Charles blind at the age of six. He had the 1962 UK & US No.1 single “I Can’t Stop Loving You” plus over 30 US Top 40 singles and the 2005 US No.1 album Genius Loves Company. He also appeared in the 1980 hit movie, The Blues Brothers. Charles was married twice and fathered twelve children by nine different women. He was awarded 17 Grammys.

2002:

It was announced that Rolling Stone Mick Jagger was to be given a knighthood for his services to music.

1954:

US record labels started to supply radio stations with 45rpm discs for the first time, replacing the 78 records.

1917:

Born on this day, Dean Martin. He died December 25th 1995.

2002:

The world lost The Ramone’s bass guitarist and primary songwriter Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Glenn Colvin) at his Hollywood, California apartment due to a heroin overdose. He was 49.

1956:

Elvis Presley appeared on ABC-TV’s Milton Berle Show. While singing ‘“Hound Dog,” Elvis performed his infamous and suggestive “gyrating” movements for the first time on television. It was the uproarious response to this performance that caused Presley to be filmed from the waist up for his future TV appearances.

1942:

Glenn Wallichs launched Capitol Records in the US. The label became home to such artists as Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Glen Campbell, Steve Miller, Dr. Hook, Bob Seger, Tina Turner, Heart and countless others. Wallichs was the man who invented the art of record promotion by sending copies of new releases to disc jockeys.

1994:

Pearl Jam rocker Eddie Vedder marries Beth Liebling.
The marriage ended 6 years later.

2005:

Franz Ferdinand’s frontman, Alex Kapranos was detained by Russian police after being suspected of being a spy. Kapranos was attempting to board a plane in Moscow when the altercation took place. Travelling under his actual surname, Huntley, Alex was accused of being an MI6 agent who was previously suspected of stealing information on Russian weaponry. Unlucky for Alex that the surname Huntley was also used by actual former MI6 agent Richard Tomlinson who did steal secrets in the early 90s. The singer was freed after he pointed out that the Huntley they were so concerned about was 42, 13 years older than him.