December 12th

 Musical birthdays today include Connie Francis (84), Dionne Warwick (81), former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts (78), Grand Funk Railroad guitarist Bruce Kulick (68), Sheila E. (64), a capella singer & arranger Deke Sharon (54), Hank Williams III (49), The Darkness guitarist Dan Hawkins (44), and country singer Katrina Elam (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for English composer and pianist Roy Douglas, born on this day in 1908... for Frank Sinatra, born in 1915... for jazz pianist and Schoolhouse Rock! composer Bob Dorough, born in 1923... for Grover Washington, Jr., who would have been 78 today... for former MC5 bassist Rob Tyner, who would have been 77... for swing singer Mildred Bailey, who died on this date in 1951... for Rolling Stones pianist and road manager Ian Stewart, who passed away in 1985... and for Ike Turner, who left us today in 2007. 

Also on December 12: In Vienna, the 21-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven begins lessons in composition with Franz Josef Haydn (1792)... Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley appear on the same bill at the National Guard Armory in Vicksburg, MS (1955)... Not yet divorced from his first wife Jane Mitcham, Jerry Lee Lewis secretly marries his 13-year old second cousin Myra Gale Brown (1958)... The Beatles go to № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' (1963)... Brian Jones is given 3 years probation and a £1,000 fine for drug offences. Three court-appointed psychiatrists agree that Jones is 'an extremely frightened young man with suicidal tendencies' (1967)... Smokey Robinson & the Miracles have the № 1 song in America with 'Tears of a Clown'... The Doors play what will prove to be their last live show with Jim Morrison, at the Warehouse in New Orleans (1970)... The Clash release the 3 LP set Sandinista! (1980)... Mick Jagger becomes a Sir after being knighted by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. Jagger's 92-year-old father is at the Palace to see his son receive the distinction (2003)... A copy of John Lennon's book A Spaniard in the Works containing a lock of the author's hair pressed inside it sells at Gorringes Auction House for £24,000. Lennon gave the book and the hair to Betty Glasgow, the Fab Four's hairdresser in 1965. He wrote on the title page, 'To Betty, Lots of Love and Hair, John Lennon xx'. The strands of hair and book had been expected to sell for between £2,000 and £4,000 (2007)... The Rolling Stones, The Who, Michael Stipe, Chris Martin, Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters play at Madison Square Garden and raised over $30m (£18.6m) at a benefit gig for those affected by superstorm Sandy, which had caused the deaths of 120 people when it hit the Caribbean and US in October of this year. The surviving members of Nirvana, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, also join Sir Paul McCartney on stage to perform (2012).