January 23rd

Musical birthdays today include operatic soprano Teresa Żylis-Gara (84), pop singer Joe Dowell (79), Anita Pointer (71), original Box Tops bassist Bill Cunningham (69), former Henry Cow bassist John Greaves (69), Cheap Trick lead singer Robin Zander (66), KC and the Sunshine Band producer & bassist Richard Finch (65), Legendary Pink Dots lead singer Edward Ka-Spel (65), UB40 bassist Earl Falconer (62), and R&B singer and Boyz II Men founder member Marc Nelson (48). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Django Reinhardt, born on this day in 1910... for country singer-songwriter Johnny Russell, who would have been 79 today... For E Street Band organist Danny Federici, who would have been 69... for pianist and composer John Field, considered the originator of the nocturne, who died on this date in 1837... for composer Edward McDowell, who died in 1908... for jazz trombonist Kid Ory, who passed away in 1973... for original Chicago guitarist Terry Kath, who fatally shot himself while cleaning a handgun that he thought was unloaded today in 1978 at the age of 32... for Lynyrd Skynyrd founding member Allen Collins, who died on this day in 1990 at the age of 32 from complications resulting from a car crash four years earlier... for gospel singer-songwriter Thomas A. Dorsey, who died in 1993... for doo-wop singer and songwriter ['Louie Louie'] Richard Berry, who passed away on this day in 1997... and for South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who left us one year ago today. 

Also on January 23rd: Duke Ellington plays Carnegie Hall for the first time (1943)... Rock 'n' Roll fans in Cleveland under the age of 18 are banned from dancing in public (unless accompanied by an adult), after local police enforce a law dating from 1931 (1956)... Tony Bennett records 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' (1962)... 'Downtown' makes Petula Clark the first British female singer to have a US № 1 since Vera Lynn in 1952 (1965)... Pink Floyd spend the first of three days recording the Syd Barrett songs 'Arnold Layne' and 'Candy and a Current Bun' at Sound Techniques Studios, Chelsea, London. According to Roger Waters, Arnold Layne was based on a real person ~ a transvestite whose primary pastime was stealing women's clothes and undergarments from washing lines in Cambridge (1967)... Working at Apple Studios, The Beatles record 'Get Back' with Billy Preston on keyboards (1969)... George Harrison becomes the first solo Beatle to have a № 1 single when 'My Sweet Lord' goes to the top of the UK chart, where it will stay for 5 weeks... In the US, Tony Orlando & Dawn are at № 1 with 'Knock Three Times' (1971)... The Sex Pistols play their first gig of the year at Watford College, north of London (1976)... Patti Smith breaks two lower vertebrae when she falls off the stage during a show in Tampa, FL... Pink Floyd's Animals is released (1977)... The first induction ceremony for the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame is held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NYC. The living inductees are Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers and Little Richard, while Elvis, Sam Cooke and Buddy Holly are honoured posthumously (1986)... Nirvana record a 10-song demo with Seattle producer Jack Endino. Sub Pop records boss Jonathan Poneman hears the tape and offers to put out a Nirvana single (1988)... David Bowie announces his forthcoming world tour, 'Sound And Vision 1990', which he says will be his last. The singer says that he will invite each local audience to decide on a 'greatest hits' running order, organised through local radio stations (1990)... John Sebastian, owner and general manager of KLSK FM in Albuquerque, NM, plays Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven' continually for twenty-four hours to inaugurate a format change to Classic Rock. Police show up at the station twice: once after a listener calls in to report that the DJ has apparently suffered a heart attack, and later with guns drawn because of suspicion that, eight days after the beginning of the Gulf War, the radio station has been taken over by terrorists dispatched by Saddam Hussein, known to be a rabid Zeppelin fan (1991)... Rage Against The Machine headline the Rock For Choice benefit at The Palladium in Hollywood. Also appearing are Screaming Trees, Eddie Vedder, Mary's Danish, 7 Year Bitch and Green Apple Quick Step (1994)... An English coroner criticises the rap singer Eminem's lyrics as 'depressing in the extreme' during an inquest into the death of a schoolboy who threw himself in front of a train. The 17-year old boy had printed out the lyrics to Eminem's track 'Rock Bottom' before his death (2001)... One of the biggest charity concerts since Live Aid raises £1.25 million ($2 million) for victims of the tsunami disaster in Asia. The concert held at The Millennium Stadium, Cardiff features Eric Clapton, Manic Street Preachers, Keane, Charlotte Church, Snow Patrol, Embrace, Feeder, Craig David and Liberty X, who appear before 60,000 fans at the sold-out concert (2005).