August 9th

Musical birthdays today include classical violinist Camilla Wicks (90), jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette (76), soul singer Barbara Mason [best known for her 1965 hit 'Yes I'm Ready'] (71), Kurtis Blow (59), Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino (50) Third Eye Blind bassist Arion Salazar (48), Pussy Riot vocalist Ekaterina Samutsevich (36), and The Word Alive lead singer Tyler Smith (32).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Spinners vocalist Billy Henderson, who would have been 79 today... for Whitney Houston, who would have been 55... for Italian composer Ruggiero Leoncavallo, who died on this date in 1919... for Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who died in 1975... and for Grateful Dead patriarch Jerry Garcia, who left us today in 1995. 

Also on August 9: Berlioz's opera Béatrice et Bénédict has its world premiere in Baden-Baden, Germany with the composer himself conducting the orchestra (1862)... Soprano Birgit Nilsson makes her American debut at the Hollywood Bowl (1956)... 17-year-old Cliff Richard, billed as 'Britain's answer to Elvis', signs a deal with EMI Records. He also begins a 4-week residence at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex (1958)... Ready Steady Go! makes its debut on ITV. The pioneering rock/pop music show will air until December 1966 and produce 175 episodes. At its peak, guests will include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Four Tops and many others (1963)... The Rolling Stones play the Belle Vue Ballroom in Manchester. Two policemen are knocked unconscious and one hospitalised with broken ribs when some of the 3,000 screaming fans charge the stage (1964)... The Small Faces release 'Itchycoo Park', which is one of the first pop singles to use flanging, an effect that can be heard in the bridge section after each chorus (1967)... Sessions for the White Album continue at Abbey Road. After the other Beatles go home at 2 AM, Paul McCartney stays behind in the studio and records 'Mother Nature's Son', requiring 25 takes until he is satisfied (1968)... Led Zeppelin play the Anaheim Convention Center in Los Angeles on their current US tour. Their opening act Jethro Tull have just topped the UK album charts with Stand Up, their second release (1969)... Guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell announce that they are leaving Paul McCartney and Wings (1973)... Art Pepper enters a recording studio for the first time in 15 years to lay down the tracks that will become the album 'Living Legend'. The saxophonist spent most of the previous decade either in jail on drugs charges or in and out of rehab... The No. 1 single in the USA is the Bee Gees' Jive Talkin' (1975)... Muddy waters performs at the White House at the invitation of President Jimmy Carter (1978)... Ten original drawings for Pink Floyd's album The Wall by artist Gerald Scarfe are stolen from the foyer of Earls Court, London, where they are being exhibited (1980)... Following opening acts Big Country and Status Quo, Queen give what will prove to be their final live performance, before a crowd of 120,000 at Knebworth Park, Herts. The show closes with 'We Are the Champions' and God Save the Queen. Not attending the concert are some 250 Gary Numan fans who are picketing BBC 1 on the same day to demand more airplay for their favourite pop star (1986)... His wish to die before he got old not having been granted, 59-year-old Roger Daltrey makes his US stage debut playing Professor Higgins in a production of My Fair Lady in Los Angeles (2003)... Amy Winehouse cancels a series of European dates after being admitted to hospital for what her spokesman calls 'severe exhaustion'. The 23-year-old singer is taken to University College Hospital in London and discharged after 2 days (2007)... Mayor Sheila Dixon proclaims today Frank Zappa Day in her city of Baltimore, Maryland, citing the singer's musical accomplishments as well as his defense of the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution (2007).