June 2nd

Musical birthdays include pop & Motown artist Sammy Turner (91), Gladys Knight & the Pips vocalist William Guest (82), Bangles bassist Michael Steele (68), Lydia Lunch (64), former Spandau Ballet lead singer Tony Hadley (63), Misfits guitarist Bez Cadena (62), Raconteurs multi-instrumentalist Jason Falkner (55), Cypress Hill rapper Louis 'B-Real' Freese (53) Keane keyboardist Time Rice-Oxley (47), and Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti (43). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Edward Elgar, born on this day in 1857... for doo-wop & R&B singer Johnny Carter, who would have been 89 today... for soul singer Jimmy Jones, who would have been 86... for Charlie Watts, who would have been 82... for songwriter & arranger Marvin Hamlisch, who would have been 79... for Dorsey Brothers trumpeter Robert 'Bunny' Berigan, who died from the effects of alcoholism on this day in 1942 at the age of 33... for classical guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia, who died in 1987... for former Bob Marley & the Wailers vocalist Junior Braithwaite, who was murdered on this day in 1999 at the age of 50... for Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick, who took his own life today in 2006 at the age of 55... and for Bo Diddley, who left us in 2009. 

Also on June 2nd: At the Stadtstheater in Zürich, the first two acts of Alban Berg's opera Lulu are performed for the first time; the complete 3-act version of the work will not have its premiere until 1979 (1935)... Ray Charles is at № 1 in both in the US and the UK with his version of country artist Don Gibson's 'I Can't Stop Loving You' (1962)... In Hilversum, Holland, Eric Dolphy plays his final concert. The show is recorded and will be released as the album Last Date following Dolphy's death from a diabetic coma later this year... The Rolling Stones make their debut on US TV with an appearance on The Les Crane Show (1964)... Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band has its worldwide release (1967)...  Paul McCartney & Wings top both the US singles and album charts with 'My Love' and Red Rose Speedway, respectively (1973)... Columbia releases Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)... Prince plays his first UK show at the Lyceum Ballroom in London. It will be five years before he gives another concert in Britain (1981)... Wham! have their first UK № 1 with 'Wake Me up before You Go Go' (1984)... Bill Wyman marries 19-year-old Mandy Smith in an unannounced private ceremony in London, with the other four Rolling Stones present, and the bassist's 28-year-old son as best man (1988)... UK tabloids report that Paul McCartney threw his fiancée Heather Mills' engagement ring out of a hotel window during a recent row. Guards at the Turnberry Isle Resort in Miami, FL combed the grounds using metal detectors and later found the £15,000 bauble (2002)... A painting of Kylie Minogue wearing gold hot pants causes tempers to fray among drivers in Brighton. Artist Simon Etheridge put up the almost life-size picture in his own Art Asylum gallery as part of a Festival and since then motorists have been causing regular traffic hold-ups as they stop to take a second look (2003)... Franz Ferdinand frontman, Alex Kapranos is detained by Russian police after being suspected of being a spy. Kapranos was attempting to board a plane in Moscow when the altercation took place. Travelling under his actual surname of Huntley, Alex is accused of being an MI6 agent who was previously suspected of stealing information on Russian weaponry. Unluckily for Alex, the surname Huntley was in fact used by former MI6 agent Richard Tomlinson when stealing secrets in the early 90s. The singer was freed after he pointed out that the Huntley they were so concerned about was 42, 13 years older than himself (2005).