April 13th

Musical birthdays today include Chambers Brothers vocalist Lester Chambers (84), former Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady (80), Rev. Al Green (78), Peabo Bryson (73), E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg (73), Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri (70), Brothers Johnson bassist Louis Johnson (69), original Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto (63), ex-Black Crowes lead guitarist Marc Ford (58), and Staind frontman Aaron Lewis (52). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for saxophonist & band leader Bud Freeman, born on this day in 1906... for director & choreographer Stanley Donen, born in 1924... for Little Feat founder & former frontman Lowell George, who would have been 79 today... for original Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak, who would have been 62... and for pianist & longtime Chuck Berry sideman Johnnie Johnson, who left us today in 2005. 

Also on April 13th: In Dublin's Fishamble Street Music Hall, Handel's Messiah is performed for the first time. The charity event raises £400 for debtor relief (1742)... American pianist Van Cliburn wins the inaugural Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow (1958)... The Beatles record 'Help!' during an evening session at Abbey Road (1965)... Nancy and Frank Sinatra are at № 1 in both the US and the UK with 'Something Stupid', making them the only father-daughter duo ever to top the charts in either country (1967)... The Rolling Stones release their first record on their own label, the single 'Brown Sugar.' The 45 RPM's packaging introduces the famous lips-and-tongue logo (1971)... David Bowie's Aladdin Sane is released (1973)... Elton John has a US № 1 with 'Bennie and the Jets', though the single will barely crack the Top 40 at home in Britain... Paul McCartney has the top album stateside with Band on the Run (1974)...David Crosby is arrested backstage at  a CSN concert in Dallas after police catch him in the act of freebasing cocaine (1982)... IRS Records release R.E.M.'s debut album Murmur (1983)... Madonna kicks off her 57-date Blonde Ambition world tour with the  first of three shows at Tokyo's Chiba Marine Stadium (1990)... Aerosmith Day is observed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the first time (1993)... Rage Against the Machine appear on Saturday Night Live. The band's second scheduled song is cancelled after they play  their opening number with inverted American flags hanging from their amplifiers (1996)... Madonna strikes back at web sites offering illegal downloads of her new album, 'American Life' by flooding P2P networks with decoy files. Users who open them are greeted by the voice of Madonna asking, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The latest Madonna album has been kept under tight wraps to avoid piracy, with promotional copies being held back from journalists until just before the official release (2003)... 

Julian Lennon sells a 'significant' stake of his share in his father's songs to US music publishing company Primary Wave. The firm will now receive payments when any Lennon compositions are sold on CD, performed live or played on the radio. The company, who are about to market Julian Lennon's new music project, decline to reveal precisely how much the deal is worth (2007)... Phil Spector is convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson after a five-month retrial. He had pleaded not guilty to the second degree murder of the 40-year-old Ms Clarkson, who was shot in the head at Spector's home in Los Angeles. During the five-month retrial, five female acquaintances testified that Spector threatened them at gunpoint in incidents dating back to the 1970s. An earlier trial was abandoned in 2007 after a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision. Spector  is remanded to custody until sentencing next month (2009).