1999 Dusty Springfield, the blue-eyed soul singer whose husky voice ignited such tracks as “Son Of A Preacher Man” and “Wishin’ and Hopin’,” passes away at her home in Henley-on-Thames, England. The cause of death is breast cancer, which the singer had been battling for five years. She is 59.
1999 Neil Young launches a solo tour in Vancouver, B.C. It is his first completely solo outing in more than 25 years.
1999 Tony McCarroll, the drummer fired by British rock band Oasis, settles his legal action against the group – but for far less than the millions legal experts had predicted. Tony McCarroll, 27, accepts an award of 550,000 pounds ($880,000).
1974 Neil Diamond wins a Grammy for “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” Best Film Soundtrack.
1974 Gladys Knight & the Pips wins Grammys for “Neither One of Us” (Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group or Chorus) and “Midnight Train to Georgia.” (best R&B vocal performance by a group).
1967 The Mamas & the Papas wins a Grammy for “Monday Monday,” Best Contemporary Group Performance.
1967 Herb Alpert wins a Grammy for “What Now My Love,” Best Non-Jazz Instrumental.
1964 The Beatles start work on their first film, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
1962 Jon Bon Jovi (John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.), lead singer of the group Bon Jovi, is born in Perth Amboy New Jersey. He scores a solo No. 1 hit in 1990 with the million-selling “Blaze of Glory,” the theme song of the film “Young Guns II.”
1949 Eddie Money (Edward Mahoney) is born in Brooklyn, N.Y. His biggest hit is the No. 4 song “Take Me Home Tonight.”
1942 Lou Reed (Louis Firbank) is born in Freeport, N.Y. He is the lead singer of the New York rock band the Velvet Underground. His biggest solo single is the 1973 top 20 hit “Walk on the Wild Side.” Rap group Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch “sample” the song in their 1991-92 top 10 hit “Wildside.”