1999 R&B singer/pianist Charles Brown, 76, dies of congestive heart failure in Oakland, Calif. Brown scored his first hit, “Drifting Blues,” in 1946 with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers.
1998 James Brown is released from a hospital where he had been treated for an addiction to painkillers. Brown, 64, had been admitted to a Columbia, S.C., hospital Jan. 15.
1998 Music industry veteran Dick Griffey files a $6 million lawsuit against producer/artist Dr. Dre for alleged breach of contract concerning a business deal in 1991 which would have seen Griffey earning a 25% cut of Dre’s income.
1997 Music industry legend Col. Tom Parker, the master promoter who guided Elvis Presley to stardom, dies in Las Vegas from complications from a stroke. He is 87.
1997 Irwin Jesse Levin, whose song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree” became an unofficial anthem of the nation during the Iran hostage crisis, dies of kidney failure at the age of 58.
1987 Roy Orbison, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Jackie Wilson are among those inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1984 Soul star Jackie Wilson dies of a heart attack at the age of 49. He had six No. 1 songs on Billboard’s R&B singles charts, including “Lonely Teardrops,” which stays at No. 1 for seven weeks in 1958.
1982 B.B. King donates his collection of 20,000 records to the University of Mississippi.
1972 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “American Pie,” Don McLean. The song, at 8 minutes and 27 seconds, is too long to fit on one side of a single and is split into two parts for release as a 45.
1966 George Harrison marries Patti Boyd. The couple later divorces and she marries Eric Clapton.
1950 Billy Ocean (Leslie Sebastian Charles) is born in Trinidad. He has three No. 1 songs, including “Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run).”
1942 Singer/songwriter Mac Davis (“Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me”) is born in Lubbock, Texas.
1941 Richie Havens is born in Brooklyn, N.Y. The black singer/guitarist is an opening act at the 1969 Woodstock concert.
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