4 JULY
In Music History
1963 Matt Malley (former bass guitarist for Counting Crows) is born in Oakland, California.
1959 Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong found Island Records in Jamaica, taking the label's name from Harry Belafonte's "Island in the Sun."
1959 The Brothers Four release "Greenfields."
1958 INXS guitarist Kirk Pengilly is born in Kew, Victoria, Australia.
1955 Gene Vincent's leg is crushed when his motorcycle is struck by a car in Franklin, Virginia.
1952 John Waite (lead vocalist, bass guitarist of The Babys and lead vocalist of Bad English) is born in Lancaster, Lancashire, England.
1951 Ralph Johnson (drummer for Earth, Wind & Fire) is born in Los Angeles, California.
1948 Jeremy Spencer (guitarist, pianist for Fleetwood Mac) is born in Hartlepool, County Durham, England.
1943 Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (guitarist, harmonica player for Canned Heat) is born in Arlington, Massachusetts.
1940 Dave Rowberry (keyboardist for The Animals) is born in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire, England.
1938 Bill Withers is born in Slab Fork, West Virginia.
1911 Mitch Miller, an influential A&R executive at Columbia Records throughout the '50s and '60s, is born in Rochester, New York. Signed Aretha Franklin to her first record deal.
1828 "Hail to the Chief" is performed by the United States Marine Band for President John Quincy Adams during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
Abba Reunite for Mamma Mia! Film Premiere
2008The movie Mamma Mia!, featuring the music of ABBA and based on the musical, opens in Sweden where the group attends the screening, briefly reuniting Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Agnetha Faltskog.
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Featured Events
1999 Victoria Adams, better known as Posh Spice of The Spice Girls, marries the soccer star David Beckham. The photogenic couple draw lots of press coverage and become known as "Posh and Becks."
1992 The king of all booty songs, Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back," hits #1 in America.More
1987 John Fogerty headlines a Vietnam veterans' benefit concert at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland broadcast by HBO. Performers include Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder and Kris Kristofferson.More
1982 Ozzy Osbourne and his manager, Sharon Arden, get married. She is the daughter of music mogul Don Arden, and a keen businesswoman. The union results in an MTV reality show, Ozzfest, and three children: Aimee, Kelly and Jack.
1982 Neil Diamond sees the movie E.T. along with the songwriters Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. That night, they write the song "Heartlight" based on the film.
1970 Casey Kasem debuts the radio show American Top 40, where he counts down the Billboard hits (the #1 song: "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" by Three Dog Night). He hosts the show until 2004, when Ryan Seacrest takes over.More
1964 The Beach Boys score their first #1 hit as "I Get Around" tops the Hot 100, where it stays for two weeks.
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