1959: Just days before their tragic deaths, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper play a concert date in Duluth, Minnesota. A young lad by the name of Robert Zimmerman is in the audience and is so impressed that he decides that night that he wants to pursue a career in music.

Of course, we know Mr. Zimmerman today as Bob Dylan.

1969: The Day the Music Died – Take 2: The Beatles play their final live concert. It takes place on the roof of Apple Studios in London and is filmed for inclusion in the documentary film Get Back. The concert is abruptly halted by the police due to complaints about the noise from neighboring merchants. That, too, was captured by the movie crew.

1964: In the studio on this day were the Beatles. As a “thank you” to all the German fans who helped launch them as a major rock band, the Fab Four are recording German language versions of their two biggest hits to date: “Sie Leich Dich” and “Komm, Gibb Mir Diene Hand.”

1985: Over 45 recording artists and their massive egos crowd into a Los Angeles recording studio to create “We Are the World,” a record designed to raise money to combat hunger in Africa. Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Stevie Wonder and many more take part. The actual song was co-written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie.

1984: While filming a Pepsi-Cola commercial involving pyrotechnics, Michael Jackson’s hair catches fire, resulting in burns severe enough to hospitalize the pop star for several days.

1977: One of the founding members of Fleetwood Mac was committed to a mental institution on this day.

Peter Green, who had left the band a few years before, was taken into custody after he fired a gun at a delivery boy. The lad was simply trying to deliver a royalty check to Green. It seemed those checks had been arriving with greater frequency once Fleetwood Mac became a super group starting in 1976 and Green wanted no part of them.

1967: On this day, a child was born to Grace Slick and Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane. They name the girl “God,” but later think twice about that idea and rename her “China.”

1960: Bob Dylan plays his very first gig in New York at the Café Wha? At the end of his performance, he asks if anyone in the audience is willing to give him a place to sleep that night.

1956: After being turned down by several labels, the small independent, King Records decides to take a chance on the unknown R&B act, James Brown and His Famous Flames and releases their first record, “Please, Please, Please.”

1959: Sitting all alone in his New York apartment, Buddy Holly turns on a tape recorder, picks up his acoustic guitar and makes what will be his final recordings.After his death, the recordings are discovered, taken into a studio and overdubbed with other musicians. Today, we know them as the Buddy Holly songs: “Crying, Waiting, Hoping,”“That’s What They Say,”“What to Do, That Makes It Tough’ and “Peggy Sue Got Married.”