May 19th

Musical birthdays today include Pete Townshend (73), Irish singer-songwriter Paul Brady (71), Grace Jones (70), ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill (69), AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd (64), producer & former Human League keyboardist Martin Ware (62), ex-Ace of Base lead singer Jenny Berggren (46), rapper Mario 'Yo Gotti' Mims (37), and Franco-Malian pop singer Inna Modja (34). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for operatic soprano Nellie Melba, born in this day in 1861... for saxophonist & bandleader Georgie Auld, born in 1919... for West End musicals composer Sandy Wilson, born in 1924... for British traditional pop singer Alma Cogan, who would have been 84 today... for country singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury, who would have been 78... for former T Rex bassist Steve Currie, who would have been 71... for Joey Ramone, who would have been 67... for composer Charles Ives, who died on this date in 1954... for Coleman Hawkins, who passed away in 1969... for jazz singer Susannah McCorkle, who took her own life today in 2001 at the age of 55... and for former Freddie and the Dreamers frontman Freddie Garrity, who left us today in 2006. 

Also on May 19th: Bach's Mass in B Minor is performed in America for the first time, at the May Festival in Cincinnati, OH (1886)... A Denver Opera Company production of Friedrich von Flotow's Martha is the first opera to be broadcast on radio in its entirety, on local station 9ZAF (1921)... Alan Freed is indicted along with seven other DJs for accepting $30,650 in payola from six record companies (1960)... The Beatles hold a launch party at manager Brian Epstein's house in London for the Sgt Pepper album. Linda Eastman is present as the official press photographer (1967)... Paul Simon releases the single 'Kodachrome', named after the Kodak 35mm film. It will become a № 2 hit in the US, but is not released as a single in Britain because the BBC refuses to play a song with a trademarked name (1973)... Keith Richards crashes his car near Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire after falling asleep at the wheel; marijuana and cocaine are found in the vehicle by the police, resulting in another court date for the guitarist (1976)... Dire Straits release 'Sultans of Swing' for the first time on the Vertigo label in Britain. The single fails to chart, but will be re-released several months later to considerably greater success (1978)... Eric Clapton holds a party at his Surrey house celebrating his recent marriage to Patti Boyd. Clapton has set up a small stage in the garden, and as the evening progresses, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr ended up jamming together along with Clapton, Ginger Baker and Mick Jagger. The all-star band runs through a selection of Little Richard and Eddie Cochran songs (1979)... Ringo Starr and his future wife Barbara Bach are involved in a car crash less than half a mile from where Marc Bolan was killed; the car is a write-off but neither Starr nor Bach is seriously injured (1980)... Sire Records release The Ramones' album Animal Boy (1986)... James Brown is arrested for the fifth time in 12 months. Following a car chase with police near his home, he is charged with assault, resisting arrest and possession of illegal weapons. He will eventually receive a 6 year jail sentence (1988)... A guitar played by both John Lennon and George Harrison sells for $408,000 at auction. The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by VOX, was bought by an unidentified US buyer in New York. Harrison played 'I Am The Walrus' on the guitar in a scene from Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. Lennon used it in the video for 'Hello, Goodbye' later that year. After playing the guitar, Lennon gave it as a 25th birthday present to Alexis 'Magic Alex' Mardas, a member of The Beatles' inner circle in the late '60s (2013).