January 4 Born –
Don Arden (aka Harry Levy, 1926) – British music manager for Small
Faces and ELO.
Jimmy Arnold (1932) – The Four Lads.
Ray Starling (1933) – British jazz trumpeter.
John Gorman (1936) – The Scaffold (“Lily The Pink”).
John McLaughlin (1942) – Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Volker Hombach (1944) – Tangerine Dream.
Arthur Conley (1946) – R&B singer ("Sweet Soul Music").
Clive Gregson (1955) – British singer/songwriter.
Bernard Sumner (1956) – guitarist for Joy Division.
Nels Cline (1956) – songwriter/guitarist for Wilco.
Patty Loveless (1957)
Marcel King (1958) – Sweet Sensation.
Michael Stipe (1960) – R.E.M.
Martin McAloon (1962) – bassist for Prefab Sprout.
Peter Steele (1962) – bassist for Type O Negative.
Robin Guthrie (1962) – The Cocteau Twins.
Till Lindemann (1963) – vocalist for Rammstein.
Beth Gibbons (1965) – singer for Portishead.
Cait O’Riordan (1965) – bassist for The Pogues.
Son of Dave (aka Benjamin Darvill, 1967) – Crash Test Dummies.January 4 R.I.P. – Phil Lynott (1986) – pneumonia and multiple organ failure due to sepsis. Age 36. Thin Lizzy. John Gary (1998) – cancer. Age 65. Singer. Les Brown (2001) – lung cancer. Age 88. Les Brown and The Band of Renown. Bill “Little Bo” Savich (2002) – cancer. Age 62. Drummer for Johnny and The Hurricanes. Gerry Rafferty (2011) – liver failure. Age 63. January 4 album releases – The Doors – The Doors (1967) Grace Slick – Manhole (1974) The Romantics – The Romantics (1980) The Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (1983) UK Judas Priest – Defenders Of The Faith (1984) Marillion – B’Sides Themselves (1988) L.A. Guns – L.A. Guns (1988) L.A. Guns – Lack Of Charisma (1993) January 4 events – 1932 – NBC Red begins airing the music program, The Carnation Contented Hour. 1950 – Two years after Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record, RCA announces its intention to follow suit. 1953 – The funeral for Hank Williams takes place at the City Auditorium in Montgomery, Alabama. 1954 – Elvis Presley makes his second visit to the Memphis Recording Service. For the price of $4, Presley cuts two songs onto a 10 inch acetate, "Casual Love Affair" and "I'll Never Stand In Your Way." Studio boss, Sam Phillips, asks Presley to leave his phone number. 1955 – Perry Como records “Ko-Ko-Mo (I Love You So)” at Webster Hall in New York City. 1957 – Solomon Burke is introduced by boxer Joe Louis and makes his television debut on The Steve Allen Show. 1957 – Elvis Presley releases his single, “Too Much” b/w “Playing For Keeps.” As his new record hits the shelves, Elvis reports to the Kennedy Veterans Hospital for his pre-Army induction physical. 1957 – Louis Jordan records “Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out.” 1960 – Bobby Rydell records “Wild One” for Cameo Records. 1962 – The Beatles top a popularity poll by Mersey Beat, and are featured heavily in the issue for the first time. 1962 – Gene McDaniels records "Point Of No Return." 1963 – Roy Orbison records “In Dreams,” “Falling,” “Shahdaroba” and “Distant Drums” in Nashville. 1965 – Leo Fender sells his Fender Guitar Company to CBS for $13 million. 1965 – Tony Bennett records “If I Ruled The World.” 1967 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience appears at the Bromel Club inside the Bromley Court Hotel in Kent. 1969 – UK music weekly Disc and Music Echo reports that The Beatles are to release five new albums. One will be their first ever live album, plus four separate LPs. 1969 – Country artists George Jones and Dolly Parton join the Grand Ole Opry. 1970 – Keith Moon accidently runs over and kills his driver/bodyguard, Neil Boland, when Boland exits the car to move some unruly fans. With Boland outside the car, Moon panics and gets behind the wheel and steps on the gas, running over Boland. 1970 – Oliver performs “Jean” and “Good Morning Starshine” on The Ed Sullivan Show. Also on the show are Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. 1971 – The Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg film, Performance, premieres in London. 1972 – Yes releases their single, “Roundabout” b/w “Long Distance Runaround.” 1973 – The Allman Brothers Band announces that Lamar Williams will be replacing the recently deceased Berry Oakley on bass. 1974 – Bruce Springsteen plays the first of three nights at Joe’s Place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with opening act Peter Johnson & The Manic Depressives. 1977 – The Sex Pistols shock passengers and airline staff at Heathrow Airport when they spit and vomit boarding a plane to Amsterdam. This proves to be the last straw for their EMI record label. 1978 – Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green marries Jane Samuel in Los Angeles. 1979 – The Star Club re-opens in Hamburg, Germany. 2001 – Courtney Love files a lawsuit against the ex-wife of her current boyfriend Jim Barber, accusing Lesley Barber of stalking her and driving over her foot and forcing her to forfeit a role in a forthcoming film. 2001 – Rapper Vanilla Ice (aka Bob Van Winkle) is arrested and jailed in Broward County in Fort Lauderdale after ripping out some of his wife's hair, telling police he pulled out some of her hair to prevent her from jumping out of their truck's window. Ice is released the following morning on $3,500 bail. 2004 – The Kinks’ Ray Davies is shot in the leg while chasing two muggers who stole a ladies purse in New Orleans. 2004 – Britney Spears marries childhood friend Jason Alexander at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. The marriage will be annulled less than 55 hours later, with Spears’ lawyers saying she “lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to the marriage.” 2005 – A.J. Abdallah, the owner of the Detroit recording studio where Eminem recorded his Slim Shady album, is found shot dead by a business colleague. It is thought that he’s been dead for at least two days, and police suggest that a robbery may also have taken place. 2006 – Bee Gee Barry Gibb buys Johnny Cash’s longtime Hendersonville, Tennessee home for $2.9 million. 2007 – Nikki Bacharach, the only child of songwriter Burt Bacharach and actress Angie Dickinson, commits suicide by suffocation using a plastic bag and helium at 40-years old. 2008 – Beyonce wins a long-running copyright dispute against her over her hit song “Baby Boy” when an appeals court in Houston, Texas upholds a 2006 decision which dismissed musician Jennifer Armour's claims that the song’s lyrics were based on her work. 2008 – Britney Spears is carried out of her home on a stretcher and taken into custody after police are called in a custodial dispute involving her children. After nearly three hours, Spears eventually hands over her children to her ex-husband Kevin Federline, and is then taken away. 2012 – Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, 66, marries his second wife, 29-year old Amanda Sheppard.
