February 6th

Musical birthdays today include Fabian (76), folk singer Bill Staines (72), Gong multi-instrumentalist Tim Blake (67), session drummer Simon Phillips (62), Axl Rose (57), Tragically Hip lead singer Gordon Downie (55), Rick Astley (53), and country singer Anita Cochran (52). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for classical pianist Claudio Arrau, born on this day in 1903... for former Marvelettes vocalist Georgeanna Tillman, who would have been 75 today... for New Orleans funk musician and producer Willie Tee, who would have been 75... for Bob Marley, who would have been 74... for former Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward and Kate McGarrigle, both of whom would have been 73... for Natalie Cole, who would have been 69... for former Hawkwind guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton, who would have been 68... for film score composer Hugo Montenegro, who died on this date in 1981... for Hans Hölzel, AKA Falco, who was killed in a road accident today in 1998 at the age of 40... for Beach Boy Carl Wilson, who passed away on the same day... for Frankie Laine, who died in 2007... and for blues rock guitarist and Thin Lizzy member Gary Moore, who left us in 2011. 

Also on February 6th: The first minstrel show in the United States, the Virginia Minstrels Review, opens at the Bowery Amphitheatre in NYC (1843)... Frank Sinatra makes his network radio debut, performing on the CBS program 'Your Hit Parade' (1943)... George Harrison joins The Quarrymen (1958)... The Rolling Stones' second album Rolling Stones No. 2 starts a three-week run at № 1 on the UK charts. The album follows its predecessor's tendency to feature primarily R&B covers. It does, however, contain three compositions from the still-developing Mick Jagger/Keith Richards songwriting team (1965)... The Byrds release their fourth studio album, Younger Than Yesterday... Pink Floyd are photographed for the weekly British girls magazine Jackie. The magazine was the best-selling teen publication in Britain for ten years. The best-ever selling issue was the 1972 special edition to coincide with the UK tour of David Cassidy (1967)... Led Zeppelin announce a small UK club tour which will see the group playing universities and small venues, with ticket prices at 12 shillings (60p). Zeppelin manager Peter Grant would later say “We decided to do the clubs and forget about the bread and the big concert halls” (1971)... The J Geils Band score their only № 1 US hit with 'Centerfold' (1982)... The mother and sister of Undertones lead singer Feargal Sharkey are kidnapped at gunpoint by Protestant militiamen in Londonderry, N. Ireland, and held for several hours before being released (1986)... Tiffany goes to № 1 on the US singles chart 'Could've Been' (1988)... Billy Idol is seriously injured when he runs a stop sign on his Harley-Davidson and crashes into a car (1990)... Ex-Jam members Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler reach an out of court settlement a high court with Paul Weller after suing him for more than £100,000, claiming they were owed royalties and group assets (1996)... Don Felder is fired from The Eagles (2001)... 50 Cent releases his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003)... An exhibition of Kylie Minogue's stage costumes, awards and accessories is launched in central London. The display at the Victoria and Albert Museum shows her changing image from 1987 onwards, including the dungarees she wore as Charlene in the Australian soap Neighbours and the gold hot pants she wore in her Spinning Around video (2007).