TODAY IN HISTORY – APRIL 1ST
1946 - Born this day, ['Plonk'] Ronnie Lane, rock bassist, vocals, The Small Faces, 1967 UK No.3 and US No.16 single Itchycoo Park, 1968 UK No.1 album Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, The Faces, 1972 UK No.6 and US No17 single Stay With Me, with Slim Chance, 1974 UK No.5 single How Come. Died on 4 June 1997 aged 51 after a 20 year battle with multiple sclerosis.
1948 - Born this day, Jimmy Cliff, reggae singer, Jamaican singer, songwriter, 1969 UK No.6 and US No.25 single Wonderful World Beautiful People, 1970 UK No.8 cover of Cat Stevens' Wild World.
1954 - Born this day, Jeff Porcaro, musician, drummer, percussionist, Toto, 1983 US No.1 and UK No.3 single Africa. Died 5 August 1992.
1964 - John Lennon was reunited with his father Freddie after 17 years.
1966 - Pye Records released David Bowie's first solo single, Do Anything You Say. Bowie had previously recorded as David Jones and the Lower Third.
1970 - John and Yoko released the hoax that they were having dual sex change operations.
1973 - John Lennon and Yoko formed a new country with no laws or boundaries, called Nutopia, its national anthem was silence.
1976 - Helter Skelter, an explosive made-for TV dramatisation of the best-selling novel about the Charles Manson 'family' and the trial of the Tate/LaBianca murderers, aired its Part I on CBS on this date. It was one of the biggest made-for-TV productions of its time, with 115 speaking parts. It ended up being one of the highest-rated television films during the two nights it took to unfold.
1977 - Elvis Presley was admitted to a Memphis hospital suffering from fatigue and intestinal flu (he stayed there for six days).
1984 - Died this day, Marvin Gaye, US soul singer, shot by his father Marvin Gaye Snr. during a violent argument at his parents home in Los Angeles. Gaye's father was sentenced to 5 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, in November 1984.
1985 - Tom Bailey singer with The Thompson Twins collapsed from exhaustion while staying at The Holiday Inn, Chelsea. He was flown to Paris to see his private doctor.
1985 - David Lee Roth quit Van Halen to go solo.
1989 - Madonna scored her 3rd UK No.1 album with Like A Prayer.
1990 - Willie Nelson's tour bus crashed into a car in Riverdale, Canada, killing the car driver.
1995 - More than 1,500 mourners attended a vigil for Latin singer Selena in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she had been shot to death the day before.
1946 - Born this day, ['Plonk'] Ronnie Lane, rock bassist, vocals, The Small Faces, 1967 UK No.3 and US No.16 single Itchycoo Park, 1968 UK No.1 album Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, The Faces, 1972 UK No.6 and US No17 single Stay With Me, with Slim Chance, 1974 UK No.5 single How Come. Died on 4 June 1997 aged 51 after a 20 year battle with multiple sclerosis.
1948 - Born this day, Jimmy Cliff, reggae singer, Jamaican singer, songwriter, 1969 UK No.6 and US No.25 single Wonderful World Beautiful People, 1970 UK No.8 cover of Cat Stevens' Wild World.
1954 - Born this day, Jeff Porcaro, musician, drummer, percussionist, Toto, 1983 US No.1 and UK No.3 single Africa. Died 5 August 1992.
1964 - John Lennon was reunited with his father Freddie after 17 years.
1966 - Pye Records released David Bowie's first solo single, Do Anything You Say. Bowie had previously recorded as David Jones and the Lower Third.
1970 - John and Yoko released the hoax that they were having dual sex change operations.
1973 - John Lennon and Yoko formed a new country with no laws or boundaries, called Nutopia, its national anthem was silence.
1976 - Helter Skelter, an explosive made-for TV dramatisation of the best-selling novel about the Charles Manson 'family' and the trial of the Tate/LaBianca murderers, aired its Part I on CBS on this date. It was one of the biggest made-for-TV productions of its time, with 115 speaking parts. It ended up being one of the highest-rated television films during the two nights it took to unfold.
1977 - Elvis Presley was admitted to a Memphis hospital suffering from fatigue and intestinal flu (he stayed there for six days).
1984 - Died this day, Marvin Gaye, US soul singer, shot by his father Marvin Gaye Snr. during a violent argument at his parents home in Los Angeles. Gaye's father was sentenced to 5 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, in November 1984.
1985 - Tom Bailey singer with The Thompson Twins collapsed from exhaustion while staying at The Holiday Inn, Chelsea. He was flown to Paris to see his private doctor.
1985 - David Lee Roth quit Van Halen to go solo.
1989 - Madonna scored her 3rd UK No.1 album with Like A Prayer.
1990 - Willie Nelson's tour bus crashed into a car in Riverdale, Canada, killing the car driver.
1995 - More than 1,500 mourners attended a vigil for Latin singer Selena in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she had been shot to death the day before.