1965 – Two female Beatle’s fans hired a helicopter to fly over the house The Beatles were renting in Beverly Hills, California and the girls jumped from the helicopter into the swimming pool.
1968 –Tammy Wynette recorded ‘Stand By Your Man’ at Epic studios after an idea that came from producer, Billy Sherrill. Tammy and Billy completed the song in 15 minutes and is one of the most covered songs in the history of country music.
1970 – Elton John made his US live debut when he kicked off a 17 date tour at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. In the audience that night were Don Henley, Quincy Jones and Leon Russell.
1975 – Queen started recording ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ at Rockfield studios in Monmouth, Wales. Freddie Mercury had mentally prepared the song beforehand and directed the band throughout the sessions. Brian May, Freddie Mercury, and Roger Taylor sang their vocal parts continually for ten to twelve hours a day, resulting in 180 separate overdubs.
1987 – Sonny Bono, who once said that he never voted until he was 53, announced that he was running for Mayor of Palm Springs, California. He won the election in 1988 and went on to win a seat in Congress in 1996.
1998 – Geri Halliwell announced that she was selling off her Spice Girl’s clothes in a charity auction. The PVC cat suit she used to wear was up for £5000, knee high boots for £1200 and the Union Jack dress she wore to the Brit Awards for £8000.
1990 – ‘Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ by Bombalurina was the UK No.1 single. Bombalurina was children’s TV presenter Timmy Mallett with a remake of Brian Hyland’s 1960 hit.
1992 – Sting and Trudie Styler held their wedding reception; they had gotten married 2 days earlier. After The Troggs had played a set, all three members of The Police got on stage and played a couple of numbers.
1996 – Oasis singer Liam Gallagher failed to turn up for the recording of the band’s MTV unplugged session at London’s Royal Festival Hall in front of 400 fans. He later sat in the audience and watched the show with his brother Noel taking over on vocals.
2001 – American singer and actress Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas aged 22. The small Cessna plane crashed a few minutes after takeoff killing everyone on board with exception to four passengers who were pulled from the wreckage but later died. Aaliyah had been filming a video for her latest release ‘Rock The Boat’ on the island.
2003 – Kjell Henning Bjoernestad a Norwegian Elvis Presley impersonator set a world record by singing the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend’s hits nonstop for over 26 hours. The previous record was set by British Elvis fan Gary Jay who sang for 25 hours 33 minutes and 30 seconds.
2014 – John Lennon’s killer, 59 year old Mark David Chapman, was denied parole by New York State officials for the 8th time. In handing down their decision, the parole board said, “Your release would be incompatible with the welfare of society and would so deprecate the serious nature of the crime as to undermine respect for the law.”
