1963 - The Beatles appeared on London's U.K. Royal Variety Show. The show was attended by the Queen Mother. This was the famous show where John Lennon thanked the audience for the applause and made the quip about those in the front row just "rattling your jewelry."
1967 - Pink Floyd made their US live debut when they appeared at the Winterland Auditorium, San Francisco, California. Floyd shared the bill with local group Big Brother & The Holding Company, featuring singer Janis Joplin and singer / songwriter Richie Havens.
1968 - Rock's first supergroup, Cream (featuring Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker) played their final gig on U.S. soil on Long Island.
1972 - With reggae starting to catch on in America, "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash hits #,1 becoming the first reggae tune to top the chart. Born in Houston Texas, Nash had legitimate reggae credentials: Bob Marley (before he became crazy famous) was an assistant producer and session player on the album, and also wrote three of the songs, including "Stir It Up," which became Nash's next - and final - hit. Nash died on October 6, 2020 at 80. Jimmy Cliff covered the song for the Cool Runnings soundtrack.
1980 - Bob Marley was baptized at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Kingston, converting to a Christian Rastafarian and taking on the new name Berhane Selassie.
1983 - Paul Simon releases Hearts and Bones, his sixth solo album. The title track is about his new bride, the actress Carrie Fisher.
1991 - Bobby "Blue" Bland, Booker T. & The M.G.s, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, The Isley Brothers, Sam & Dave and The Yardbirds were all elected to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
1993 - Depeche Mode's Martin Gore was arrested at the Denver Westin Hotel after refusing to turn down his music. "The night before I got arrested, I had a party in my room and there were about 50 people and it was really loud," Depche Mode leader Martin Gore recalled to the magazine Pavement in 1997. "The night of the arrest, it was me and a friend and the music was really quiet. They rang me and asked me to turn it down, so I turned it off. Next thing I know there's complete silence and the police knocked on the door. I stupidly opened it. They burst in, threw me on the bed and handcuffed me. There was no music whatsoever playing. I think they were out to get me for the night before." (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Press Here)
Birthdays:
Singer-songwriter Delbert McClinton is 80.
Chris Difford of Squeeze is 66.
James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist for The Pretenders, was born today in 1956.
Sean Combs is 51.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.