July 20th

Musical birthdays today include Kim Carnes (78), Moody Blues bassist John Lodge (78), Carlos Santana (76), original AC/DC lead singer Dave Evans (71), Twister Sister guitarist Jay Jay French [né John Segall] (70), former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook (67), ex-Simple Minds keyboardist Mick MacNeil (65) country singer Radney Foster (64), former Talk Talk drummer Lee Harris (61), Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard (57), Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor (56), rapper Kool G Rap [né Nathaniel Wilson] (55), ex-Bikini Kill drummer & vocalist Tobi Vail (54), and former Ash guitarist & vocalist Charlotte Hatherley (44). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for country singer Cindy Walker, born on this day in 1918... for jazz bassist & producer Peter Ind, born in 1928... for West End & Broadway musicals singer Sally Ann Howes, born in 1930... for early rock singer Buddy Knox, who would have been 90 today... for  Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell, who would have been 59... for rapper DJ Screw [né Robert Davis, Jr.], who would have been 51... for R&B singer Roy Hamilton, who died on this date in 1969... and for folk singer & producer Artie Traum, who left us in 2008.

Also on July 20th: Billboard publish their first comprehensive record chart. The magazine previously put out best-seller lists submitted by the individual record companies, but the new chart combines the top sellers from all major labels. Their first № 1 song is ‘I'll Never Smile Again’ by Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (1940)... Dimitri Shostakovich makes the cover of Time Magazine (1942)... Jan & Dean go to № 1 in the US with 'Surf City' (1963)... Capitol records release the Beatles' album Something New for the US market (1964)... Bob Dylan releases 'Like a Rolling Stone' (1965)... Johnny Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues', recorded live at the institution in January, goes to the top of the Billboard Country chart... Iron Butterfly's second LP, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, enters the US chart for the first time. The album, which is often considered the first heavy metal record to chart, contains the 17-minute title track that fills the second side of the LP which goes on sell over four million copies in the US alone... Jane Asher announces on the national British TV show 'Dee Time' that her engagement to Paul McCartney is off. Paul reportedly is watching at a friend's home and is surprised by the news (1968)... The Carpenters' summer replacement variety show 'Make Your Own Kind of Music' debuts on NBC-TV (1971)... Tim Buckley, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van Morrison, The Doobie Brothers and The Allman Brothers are all on the bill for a one-day festival at Knebworth Park, England (1974)... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play the opening night on their Born To Run Tour at the Palace Theater in Providence, RI. The show also marks the live debut of Steven Van Zandt, AKA Miami Steve, as a member of The E Streeters (1975)... The Buzzcocks make their live debut as the opening act for The Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. In the audience are Morrissey, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook [soon to form Joy Division], Mark E Smith [0f The Fall] and Mick Hucknall. Tickets cost £1 (1976)... Alex Cox's film 'Sid & Nancy', based on the life of Sid Vicious and with Gary Oldman in the title role, has its world premiere in London (1986)... Church groups throughout middle America claim that pictures of Britney Spears printed in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands today, encourage child pornography. The shots show a scantily-clad Britney in her bedroom (1999)... The Evergreen Ballroom in Lacey, WA is destroyed by a fire. During the ballroom's heyday from the '50s through the '70s, the site hosted gigs by Elvis, Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and Fats Domino among others. Glen Campbell had lived in the kitchen at the venue for several months before achieving stardom (2000)... Jackson Browne settles his lawsuit against US Senator John McCain and the Republican Party after his 1977 hit 'Running On Empty' was used without permission in a 2008 McCain presidential campaign ad that aired on TV and over the Internet. McCain and the Party apologize for using the song in the ad and say that the Senator himself 'had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the creation or distribution of the video' (2009).