Today in Oldies Music History: February 4

Births

1900: Jacques Prévert
1941: John Steel (The Animals)
1944: Florence LaRue (The Fifth Dimension)
1948: Alice Cooper
1952: Jerry Shirley (Humble Pie)

Deaths

1975: Louis Jordan
1982: Alex Harvey (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band)
1983: Karen Carpenter (The Carpenters)
1987: Liberace

Events

1956: Elvis Presley appears again on CBS' Dorsey Brothers Stage Show, performing "Baby, Let's Play House" and "Tutti Frutti."
1959: Following the tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper the night before, Frankie Avalon and Jimmy Clanton take over the headlining spots on the "Winter Dance Party" tour.

1961: Johnny Burnette is rushed to Hollywood's Cedars of Lebanon Hospital to undergo an emergency appendectomy. The medical crisis forces Burnette, then on the charts with "You're Sixteen," to cancel $10,000 worth of domestic engagements and postpone a European tour.
1966: The Who play their first show as headliners, at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, England. Also appearing are The Fortunes and The Merseys.
1968: US Attorney General John Mitchell receives a secret memo from Senator Strom Thurmond, in which Thurmond suggests deporting John Lennon due to his antiwar stance.
1969: In response to the other Beatles hiring Allen Klein as manager the day before, Paul McCartney hires his father-in-law's firm, Eastman & Eastman, as general legal counsel for Apple Corps.
1971: Diana Ross guest stars on ABC's Make Room For Granddaddy, a spin-off of sorts of Danny Thomas' Make Room For Daddy series.
1974: John Lennon and Yoko Ono mutually agree to a trial separation, which effectively kicks off John's notorious eighteen-month "lost weekend." During this time, Lennon would consume lots of drugs and alcohol, carouse on the town with singer-songwriter and friend Harry Nilsson, and -- at Yoko's request -- take up with Ono associate May Pang.

1977: ABC's American Bandstand rock show celebrates its 25th anniversary on the air with a primetime special. On it, Clark introduces for the first time his concept of an "All-Star Band," in which Chuck Berry, Seals and Crofts, Gregg Allman, Junior Walker, Johnny Rivers, the Pointer Sisters, Charlie Daniels, Doc Severinsen, Les McCann, Donald Byrd, Chuck Mangione and most of Booker T and the MGs jam on "Roll Over Beethoven."
1979: Save The Whales organizes a month-long rock memorabilia auction in San Francisco.
2002: On the occasion of civil-rights activist Rosa Parks' 89th birthday, Stevie Wonder sings his song "Happy Birthday" to her at the premiere of her TV-movie biography The Rosa Parks Story. The song had originally been written by Wonder to help bring about a national Martin Luther King holiday.

Releases

1966: The Rolling Stones, "19th Nervous Breakdown"
1977: Fleetwood Mac, Rumours

Recording

1937: Glen Gray and His Casa Loma Orchestra, "A Study in Brown"
1954: The Drifters: “Bells Of Saint Mary's,” “White Christmas,” “Honey Love,” “What'cha Gonna Do”
1955: James Brown, “Please, Please, Please"
1968: The Beatles, "Across The Universe"
1976: Elvis Presley: "Moody Blue," "I'll Never Fall in Love Again"