A great day for rock & roll birthdays!

1940: John Lennon

1944: John Entwistle

1948: Jackson Browne

1962: Traveling to England for what he’s told is a gospel music tour, Little Richard finds himself part of a rock & roll revue headlined by Sam Cooke. Richard likes what he hears and ends his self-imposed exile from “the devil’s music.” Little Richard rocks again!

1952: On local Philadelphia TV station WFIL-TV, a new musical program simply called Bandstand debuts. Its hosted at first by Bob Horn. In a few years, he will be replaced by Dick Clark. The show will add “American” to its title and move to ABC-TV.

2002: Mick Jagger donates 100,000 pounds to the grammar school in Dartford, England he attended as a lad. The money is to be used for musical instruments and a band director. The school responds by naming its music center after Mick.

1962: Radio Luxembourg becomes the first radio station anywhere to play the debut single by a new band from Britain just released that day.

“Love Me Do” b/w “P.S. I Love You” will go on to rack up decent airplay and sales for that new band, four guys from Liverpool named The Beatles.

1970: In a room at Los Angeles’ Landmark Motor Hotel, the life of Janis Joplin came to an end due to a heroin overdose.

Her producer, Paul Rothchild became concerned when she failed to show up for a scheduled recording session that morning. He dispatched her road manager to the motel where her body was discovered.

Happy Rockin’ Birthday to:

1938: Eddie Cochran

1941: Chubby Checker

1949: Lindsey Buckingham

1954: Elvis Presley makes his first appearance at the legendary country music venue, The Grand Ole Opry. He bombs. Badly.

On Presley’s way out, the Opry’s talent director, Jim Denny tells Elvis to go back to truck driving.

1956: During a recording session Little Anthony and the Imperials record a Neil Sedaka song called “The Diary.”

Sedaka is so disappointed in the recording that he decides to record the song himself. That recording goes on to become Sedaka’s first chart hit as a singer.

1987: One of the all-time greatest rock shows takes place at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles. Roy Orbison completes his comeback with a triumphant concert that features an unrivaled all-star band including Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, k. d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, J. D. Souther, Tom Waits, and an entire string section wearing Orbison-style shades.

The event, “Black and White Night,” is filmed (in black and white, of course) for broadcast on HBO. It has also been released to home video and as a live album.