February 21st

Musical birthdays today include producer & impresario David Geffen (80), mezzo-soprano D'Anna Fortunato (78), Uriah Heep bassist Paul Newton (78), former Love lead guitarist Johnny Echols (76), ex-Talking Head Jerry Harrison (74), Stranglers bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel (71), DJ & producer Michael Pickering (69), Stiff Little Fingers frontman Jake Burns (65), Mary Chapin Carpenter (65), English Beat lead singer Roger 'Ranking Roger' Charlery (60), Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield (54), singer-songwriter Cathy Richardson (54), former Sublime bassist Eric Wilson (53), Morningwood lead singer Chantel Claret (41), and Charlotte Church (37). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Carl Czerny, born on this day in 1791... for organist and composer Charles-Marie Widor, born in 1844... for Andrés Segovia, born in 1893... for bluesman Frank 'Scrapper' Blackwell, born in 1903... for Nina Simone, who would have been 90 today... for Bobby Charles, who would have been 85... for Tubes and Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick, who would have been 72... for Supremes vocalist Florence Ballard, who died on this date in 1976... for DJ Murray Kaufman, AKA Murray the K and 'The Fifth Beatle', who passed away in 1982... for R&B and doo-wop singer Nolan Strong, who died in 1977... for composer Morton Gould, who died in 1996... and for bluesman Morris 'Magic Slim' Holt, who left us today in 2013. 

Also on February 21st: Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina premieres in St. Petersburg with fellow composer Rimsky-Korsakov conducting the orchestra (1874)... Billy Joel has his first rehearsal with The Echoes, a band he has recruited from among his classmates at his Hicksville, NY high school to play British invasion covers... Three classic British singles are released: The Rolling Stones 'Not Fade Away', The Hollies' 'Just One Look', and Billy J Kramer's 'Little Children' (1964)... Pink Floyd begin their first session at EMI Studios, St. John's Wood, London for their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, working on the song 'Matilda Mother'. While the Floyd are recording with former Beatles engineer Norman Smith, the Fab Four themselves are in the studio next door working on 'Fixing A Hole' for the Sgt. Pepper album (1967)... Blood, Sweat and Tears release The Child Is Father to the Man (1968)... Simon and Garfunkel have the № 1 album in both Britain and America with Bridge over Troubled Water (1970)... Led Zeppelin release 'Rock And Roll / Four Sticks' as a 7" single in the US. The song was written as a spontaneous jam session, whilst the band were trying to finish 'Four Sticks'. Drummer John Bonham played the introduction to Little Richard's 'You Keep A-Knockin' and Page added a guitar riff; with the tapes rolling, the basic song was finished fifteen minutes later (1972)... Dolly Parton has her first US № 1 single with '9 to 5' (1981)... Metallica release their third album, Master of Puppets, while Elvis Costello issues his solo effort King of America (1986)... Robbie Williams is attacked and thrown from the stage during a concert in Stuttgart, Germany after a man gets onto the stage and pushes Williams into the security pit. The attacker is subdued and taken to a secure psychiatric clinic (2001)...  Simon Cowell does his voiceover for his appearance in a new episode of The Simpsons. The TV Pop Idol judge plays a nursery boss who gets punched by Homer Simpson (2004)... Rihanna issues a statement thanking fans for their support after an alleged assault by her boyfriend Chris Brown, but the singer declines to comment on a leaked photograph which appears to show her with facial injuries. The Los Angeles Police Department has launched an internal investigation and asked for the public's help in finding the person who leaked the photograph (2009)... Pussy Riot stage a performance on the soleas of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where their actions are stopped by church security officials. By the same evening, the group have turned the performance into a music video entitled 'Punk Prayer ~ Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!' The women say that their protest is directed at the Orthodox Church Patriarch's support for the Russian president during his election