May 5th

Musical birthdays today include early rock saxophonist John 'Ace' Cannon (88), session guitarist Steve Stevens (76), 
original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward (74), Echo & the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch (63), Dream Theater lead singer James LaBrie (59), Megadeath drummer Shawn Drover (56), Gallows frontman Wade MacNeil (38), and Adele (34). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for bluesman Blind Willie McTell, born on this day in 1901... for Buena Vista Social Club singer Pío Leyva, born in 1917... for soul singer Johnnie Taylor, who would have been 88 today... for electronic musician & composer Delia Derbyshire, who would have been 85... for Tammy Wynette, who would have been 79... for the Reverend Gary Davis, who died on this date in 1972... for country singer Jerry Wallace, who passed away in 2008, and for singer & music journalist Greg Quill, who left us today in 2014.  

Also on May 5th: Carnegie Hall opens its doors for the first time, with Tchaikovsky leading the NY Philharmonic in a rendition of his own Marche solenelle. Also on the program is Beethoven's Leonore overture, under the baton of Walter Damrosch, the regular conductor of the Philharmonic (1891)... In Paris, composer Claude Debussy performs in public for the last time, playing the piano for the premiere of his own 1st Violin Sonata (1918)... Elvis scores his first US № 1 single with 'Heartbreak Hotel' (1956)... John Coltrane and bandmates finish recording the Giant Steps album, including 'Naima' (1959)... On a recommendation by George Harrison, Dick Rowe, head of A&R at Decca records (and the man who turned down The Beatles), goes to see The Rolling Stones play at the Crawdaddy Club in London. The band will be signed to the label within a week (1963)... Manfred Mann are at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pretty Flamingo'. The recording features future Cream bassist Jack Bruce, who briefly joined the band in 1965. On their Top Of The Pops appearance, singer Paul Jones performs whilst standing on one leg (1966)... Buffalo Springfield announce that they have disbanded (1968)... The Beatles' single 'Get Back' is released in the US. John will claim in 1980 that "there's some underlying thing about Yoko in there", adding that Paul looked at Yoko in the studio every time he sang the line 'Get back to where you once belonged' (1969)... Columbia records release Paul Simon's second solo album There Goes Rhymin' Simon... David Bowie has first UK № 1 album with Aladdin Sane. Across the Atlantic, Elvis' Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite is the top-selling LP (1973)... Television appear at CBGB with The Stilettoes ~ soon to change their name to Blondie ~ as their opening act (1974)... Simple Minds lead singer Jim Kerr marries Chrissie Hynde in a horse-drawn carriage in NYC's Central Park... Duran Duran have the № 1 single in the US and the UK with 'The Reflex' (1984)... 
Radiohead release 'The Drill EP', their first record in the UK. The band are still called 'On a Friday', the day when the songs on this EP were recorded; they will change their name to Radiohead the following month (1992)... Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan receives both a public apology and a donation of £7,500 to the Warchild charity from the German tabloid 'Sport' after they ran a story claiming she had performed a gig in Hamburg whilst wearing no underwear... 
Rage against the Machine have the № 1 album in the US with Evil Empire (1996)... Two disc jockeys from Denver's KRFX-FM, Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax, stop a live interview with Ted Nugent after the Detroit rocker uses racial slurs against Asians and Blacks. The station receives scores of complaints from listeners (2002)... Justin Timberlake undergoes an operation at Los Angeles' Cedars Sinai Hospital to remove nodules from his vocal chords (2005).