April 12th

Musical birthdays today include Herbie Hancock (84), Steppenwolf frontman John Kay (80), Village People vocalist Alex 'G.I.' Briley (77), former Martha & the Vandellas vocalist Lois Reeves (76), Pat Travers (70), Vince Gill (67), Echo & the Bunnymen lead guitarist Will Sergeant (66), Dead Can Dance lead singer Lisa Gerrard (63), Everclear frontman Art Elaxakis (62), Indigo Girl Amy Ray (60), Cypress Hill rapper Ulpiano Reyes AKA Mellowman Ace (57), 311 frontman Nick Hexum (54), Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman (46), ex-Westlife vocalist Brian McFadden (44), country singer Easton Corbin (42), and Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendan Urie (37). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for New Orleans clarinetist Johnny Dodds, born on this day in 1892... for operatic soprano Lily Pons, born in 1898... for bluesman Theodore 'Hound Dog' Taylor, born in 1915... for orchestra leader & multi-instrumentalist Billy Vaughn, born in 1919... for country singer Ned Miller, born in 1925... for Herbert Khaury AKA Tiny Tim, born in 1932... for David Cassidy, who would have been 74... for violin maker Nicola Amati, who died on this date in 1684... for operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin, who died in 1937... for pianist and Miles Davis sideman Wynton Kelly, who passed away in 1971... for Lecil Martin AKA Boxcar Willie, who died in 1999.... and for operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé, who left us five years ago today. 

Also on April 12th: Bill Haley & His Comets record 'Rock around the Clock' at Pythian Temple Studios in NYC (1954)... Thelonious Monk goes into the studio to begin recording his first solo album, Thelonious Himself (1957)... Bob Dylan performs his first major solo show as headliner, at the Town Hall in NYC (1963)... Motown releases Martha and the Vandellas' Dance Party, the group's third and biggest selling album (1965)...  Jan Berry of Jan & Dean is almost killed when he crashes his car into a parked truck a short distance from Dead Man's Curve in Los Angeles. Berry is partially paralysed and suffers brain damage, but will walk again after extensive therapy (1966)... Mick Jagger is punched in the face by an airport official during a row at Le Bourget Airport outside Paris. Jagger lost his temper after The Stones were searched for drugs at such length that they missed their flight  (1967)... The 5th Dimension hit № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine in' (1969)... David Bowie announces his second career retirement, saying "I've rocked my roll. It's a boring dead end, there will be no more rock 'n' roll records from me" (1975)... After two DJs at KLOS in Los Angeles ask "What ever happened to David Cassidy?" on the air on the occasion of the one-time idol's 39th birthday, the singer calls the station up and the presenters invite him onto the show. David plays three songs live on air and is subsequently signed by a new record label... Garth Brooks releases his self-titled debut album, which will prove both a critical and a chart success (1989)... Two weeks after her death, Governor George W. Bush declares today 'Selena Day' in Texas (1995)... The Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre announces that recently identified Asteroids 4147-4150 will be named Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr (1990)... Metallica file a lawsuit against Napster for copyright infringement (2000)... The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano publishes a story praising The Beatles and saying that it forgives John Lennon for his 1966 comment that the group was "bigger than Jesus" (2010)... A study published in the journal Science states that listening to new music is rewarding for the brain. Using MRI scans, a Canadian team of scientists found that areas in the reward centre of the brain became active when people heard a song for the first time. The more the listener enjoyed what they were hearing, the stronger the connections were in the region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens (2013).