April 14th

Musical birthdays today include Loretta Lynn (89), Ritchie Blackmore (76), cellist Julian Lloyd Webber (70), session bassist Kenny Aaronson (69), Crowbar lead guitarist Kirk Windstein (56), former Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin (54), ex-Porno for Pyros bassist Martyn LeNoble (56), and Arcade Fire lead singer Win Butler (41). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz trumpeter Milton 'Shorty' Rogers, born on this day in 1924... for saxophonist Gene Ammons, born in 1925... for gospel singer Inez Andrews, born in 1929... for Adán Sánchez, who would have been 37... for composer Georg Frideric Handel, who died on this date in 1759... for original Pretenders bassist Pete Farndon, who died on this day in 1983 from a drug overdose at the age of 30... for Burl Ives, who passed away in 1995... for Don Ho, who died in 2007... for Type O Negative lead singer Peter Steele, who died in 2010... and for Percy Sledge, who left us five years ago today.

Also on April 14th: In the first radio concert broadcast from an airplane, Metropolitan Opera Company soprano Jeanette Vreeland sings selections from Verdi and Meyerbeer as she flies over the city of New York (1922)... Still in search of a record deal, The Rolling Stones begin a Sunday afternoon residency at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, London. All four Beatles are in the audience (1963)... David Bowie's novelty single 'The Laughing Gnome' is released in the UK... At the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, police battle 2,000 rampaging fans with tear gas when a riot breaks out at the Stones' first concert behind the Iron Curtain (1967)... Phil Spector marries Ronettes singer Veronica Bennett (1968)... Paul McCartney and John Lennon record 'The Ballad of John and Yoko' by themselves. Paul plays bass, drums and piano, with John on guitars and lead vocals. The song will be banned from many radio stations as being blasphemous. On some stations, the word 'Christ' was edited in backwards to avoid the ban (1969)... Creedence Clearwater Revival make their live UK debut, playing the first of two nights at the Royal Albert Hall (1970)... Led Zeppelin are at № 1 on both the US and UK album charts with Houses Of The Holy. The young girl featured on the cover of the LP climbing naked up Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland is Samantha Gates, who was 6 years old at the time of the photo shoot (1973)... Art Garfunkel goes to № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Bright Eyes' the theme from the film 'Watership Down' (1975)... Motown Records announce that they have renewed Stevie Wonder's contract for a record $13 million (1976)... Kurt Cobain is cremated at the Bleitz Funeral Home, in Seattle, WA. The death certificate lists Cobain's occupation as 'Poet/Musician' and his type of business as 'Punk rock' (1994)... Sean 'Puffy' Combs, AKA P. Diddy, is arrested in Miami for riding a Vespa near South Beach on a suspended driver's license. He is released 20 minutes later after signing a promise to appear in court (2001)... George Harrison is honoured with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Sir Paul McCartney attends the unveiling outside the landmark Capitol Records building, joining Harrison's widow Olivia and son Dhani. Eric Idle, Tom Hanks and Tom Petty are also present for the ceremony (2009)... In Amsterdam for a stop on his current European tour, Justin Bieber sparks outrage after writing a message in a guestbook at the Anne Frank Museum which states he hopes the Holocaust victim would have been a fan. The 19-year-old writes: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber" (2013).