24 FEBRUARY
In Music History
1975 Led Zeppelin releases Physical Graffiti.
1973 The Byrds play their final concert, in Passaic, New Jersey.
1969 Johnny Cash plays one of his many prison concerts, this one at San Quentin State Prison in California. Recorded and released as the album Johnny Cash At San Quentin, it goes to #1 for four weeks and secures Cash's outlaw cred.
1969 Jimi Hendrix's Experience play their final UK concert, at London's Royal Albert Hall.
1965 The Beatles begin shooting their second movie, Help!, in the Bahamas as director Richard Lester films them riding bicycles near the airport.
1965 The Beach Boys record "Help Me Rhonda."
1963 The Rolling Stones get their first steady gig at London's Station Hotel, performing on Sundays in the Crawdaddy room for a grand total of $67 a week.
1962 Alternative folk singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked is born Karen Michelle Johnston in Dallas, Texas. She borrows her stage name from the term "shell shocked."
1960 Carl Dobkins, Jr. performs in full military dress live from Ft. Dixon, Ohio, where he is serving in the national guard, on NBC-TV's Perry Como Show.
1958 The Silhouettes' "Get A Job" hits #1.
1957 Elvis Presley records "Loving You."
1956 Police in Cleveland shut down a Rock concert under an obscure law that prohibits people under 18 from dancing in public without a guardian.
1950 Blues rocker George Thorogood is born in Wilmington, Delaware.
1947 Rupert Holmes is born David Goldstein in Northwich, Cheshire, England.
1944 Nicky Hopkins, a renown piano player heard on albums from The Rolling Stones and The Kinks, is born in Perivale, Middlesex, England.
Elton John Gets The Royal Treatment
1998Elton John is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
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Featured Events
1993 Eric Clapton wins big at the Grammy Awards, taking three awards for "Tears In Heaven," two more for his album Unplugged, and Best Rock Song for his acoustic version of "Layla."
1992 Balloting begins to decide the design on the new Elvis stamp. The choice is between a fit '50s Elvis or a more plump '70s one. Young Elvis wins in a landslide.More
1992 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Courtney Love of Hole are married in Hawaii, with a non-denominational, female minister conducting the ceremony.
1990 At the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, The Byrds' David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman reunite for a tribute concert honoring the recently deceased Roy Orbison and raising money to support the homeless, a cause Orbison was passionate about. Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, John Fogerty and Bonnie Raitt are also on the bill; the concert is later broadcast as a Showtime special.
1976 The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) becomes the first album certified Platinum by the RIAA, a designation introduced in 1975.
1973 Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song" hits #1 for the first of five weeks, a longer run than any other song of 1973. It was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, the guys who wrote the theme songs to Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley.
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