Rock N Roll History On This Day

1943 - Christine McVie

Christine McVie, keyboards, vocals, Chicken Shack, and then Fleetwood Mac, who scored the US No.1 single ‘Dreams’ taken from their worldwide No.1 album Rumours which spent 31 weeks on the US chart. Eight of her songs appeared on Fleetwood Mac’s 1988 Greatest Hits album. McVie died at 79, following a brief illness, on November 30, 2022.

1950 - Eric Carr

Eric Carr, drummer with American hard rock band Kiss. Their 1976 US No 11 album Rock and Roll Over spent 26 weeks on the chart and they had the 1987 UK No.4 single ‘Crazy Crazy Nights’. Carr died on 24th November 1991.

1952 - Philip Taylor Kramer

Philip Taylor Kramer, bass guitar, Iron Butterfly. His disappearance on February 12, 1995 caused a mystery lasting four years. On May 29, 1999, Kramer’s Ford Aerostar minivan and skeletal remains were found by photographers looking for old car wrecks to shoot at the bottom of Decker Canyon near Malibu, California. Based on forensic evidence his death was ruled as a probable suicide.

1962 - The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones made their live debut at the Marquee Jazz Club, London, with Dick Taylor on bass (later of The Pretty Things) and Mick Avory on drums, (later of The Kinks). Billed as The Rollin’ Stones, they were paid £20 for the gig, the equivalent of £330 in 2010.

1964 - George Harrison

The Beatles appeared at the Hippodrome Theatre in Brighton with The Fourmost and the Shubdubs (whose drummer, Jimmy Nicol, who had filled in for an ill Ringo Starr on The Beatles’ world tour). Also in the US The Ed Sullivan Show re-broadcast The Beatles’ first live television appearance on the Sullivan show (from February 9). On the way to tonight’s gig George Harrison was involved in a minor crash in his brand new E-Type Jaguar in Kings Road, Fulham, London. Passing pedestrians collected bits of broken glass as souvenirs.

1980 - U2

During their 23 date 11 O’clock Tick Tock U2 played at The Moonlight, West Hampstead in London, England.

2000 - John Lennon

A statue erected in the memory of John Lennon was unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square. The sculpture featured a revolver with a knotted barrel created by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reutersward.

2008 - Ronnie Wood

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood left his wife of 23 years and moved in with an 18-year-old Russian cocktail waitress. The 61 year-old dad-of-four had met the teenager while out drinking and had taken her away to his luxury pad in Ireland.

2012 - Pink Floyd

Pollstar magazine announced that former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters had grossed up $158.1 million in concert ticket sales worldwide so far this year with The Wall Live show. Bruce Springsteen came in second place with $79.9 million.

2012 - Steven Tyler

Steven Tyler announced that he would be leaving American Idol after two seasons, with a statement saying, “After some long hard thoughts I’ve decided it’s time for me to let go of my mistress ‘American Idol’ before she boils my rabbit. I strayed from my first love, Aerosmith and I’m back but instead of begging on my hands and knees, I got two fists in the air and I’m kicking the door open with my band”.

2013 - Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton displayed his exclusive one-off version of the Ferrari 458 Italia, the Ferrari SP12 EC, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, taking part in the Michelin Supercar Run. The SP12 EC reportedly cost Clapton £3 million and was made for him by Ferrari’s secretive One-Off Programme, which can make bespoke cars for special clients.