January 14th

Musical birthdays today include T-Bone Burnett (71), French rocker Étienne Daho (63), former Queensrÿche lead singer Geoff Tate (60), White Lion frontman Mike Tramp (58), singer-songwriter Ellis Paul (54), LL Cool J (53), Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde (52), Dave Grohl (50), and The Saturdays vocalist Frankie Sanford (30). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz trumpeter & bandleader Billy Butterfield, born on this day in 1917... for harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková, born in 1926... for jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, who would have been 89 today... for producer Allen Toussaint, who would have been 81...  for former Be-Bop Deluxe bassist Charlie Tumahai, and former Allman Brothers Band bassist Lamar Williams, both of whom would have been 70... for film musical actress Jeanette MacDonald, who passed away in 1965... and for New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan, who left us today in 1992. 

Also on January 14th: Mozart completes his String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, commonly known as the 'Dissonance Quartet' because of its unusually slow introductory movement (1785)... Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome (1900)... Alban Berg's atonal opera Wozzeck premieres in Berlin (1925)... Charlie Watts makes his live debut with The Rolling Stones at the Flamingo Club in Soho, London (1963)... The Beatles make their French debut, arriving in Paris to begin an 18-night stand at the Olympia (1964)... Bob Dylan continues work on what will become the Bringing It All Back Home album; among other songs, he finally records 'Mr Tambourine Man', which he has been performing live since the Newport Festival of the previous July (1965)... David Jones legally changes his name to David Bowie in order to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees, just in time for the release of his single 'Can't Help Thinking about Me'. He would later say that he chose the name because he liked "That big American bear-killin' knife" (1966)... Over 25,000 people attend 'The Human Be-In: A Gathering Of The Tribes' at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The event is a harbinger of the Summer of Love, as well as of major outdoor rock concerts to come, and features The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother And The Holding Company (1967)... At the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, Diana Ross makes her final appearance with The Supremes. During the show, Diana introduces her replacement, Jean Terrell, who will lead the group to seven more Top 40 hits, including the Top 10 entries 'Up The Ladder To The Roof' and 'Stoned Love' later in the year (1970)... Paul Simon releases his self-titled debut solo album (1972)... Elvis Presley's concert 'Aloha from Hawaii' is transmitted live via satellite, and sets a record for the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history (1973)... David Bowie releases Low, the first of the Berlin Trilogy albums (1977)... The Sex Pistols play their last live gig, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco (1978)... Paul McCartney is at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pipes Of Peace.' With this release, Macca makes chart history by becoming the first artist to have a № 1 as a solo artist, in a duo [with Stevie Wonder], in a trio [with Wings], and in a quartet [with The Beatles] (1984)... Bob Dylan gives the first public performance of his new song 'Wiggle Wiggle' to a bemused audience in State College, PA (1990)... Garth Brooks appears on Sesame Street, performing 'Together We Make Music' with a chorus of Muppets (1999)... A $100,000 statue honouring the late Johnny Ramone is unveiled by his widow Linda at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Johnny died from prostate cancer in September 2004 at the age of 55. Hundreds turn out for the ceremony, including Tommy Ramone, the only surviving band member. Dee Dee died of a drugs overdose in 2002, and Joey succumbed in 2001 to lymphatic cancer (2005).