1966, Nancy Sinatra was at number one on the singles chart with “These Boots Are Made For Walking,” her first chart topper.
1967, The Beatles started recording a new John Lennon song “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite” at Abbey Road studio’s, London. John’s lyrics for the song came almost entirely from an antique poster advertising a circus performance scheduled to take place in Rochdale, Lancashire, in February 1843. John had purchased the poster in Sevenoaks on January 31st while The Beatles were on location for the filming of the “Strawberry Fields Forever” promotional film.
1967, The Electric Prunes, The Left Banke, and The Beach Boys performed at Robertson Memorial Fieldhouseon the campus of Bradley University, in Peoria, Illinois.
1968, Diana Ross And The Supremes’ Greatest Hits started a three-week run at number one on the album chart.
1968, Following their first New York performance at the Anderson Theatre, Big Brother & the Holding Company are signed by Columbia Records.
1968, Canned Heat appeared at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.
1969, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash recorded “Girl From The North Country” together in Nashville at CBS Studios. The track appeared on Dylan’s Nashville Skyline album.
1970, Joni Mitchell announced she was retiring from live performances during a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Joni was on stage again by the end of the year.
1970, Led Zeppelin performed at Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1971, James Taylor made his TV debut on The Johnny Cash Show. Other guests included Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt and Tony Joe White.
1972, The (Perth) West Australian wrote about the previous night’s concert by Led Zeppelin, “Perth has probably never seen a concert quite like it. Certainly, a Festival of Perth attraction has never been so “heavy”. That Led Zeppelin rock group’s only concert at Subiaco Oval last night at the beginning of an Australian Tour was unique. The pelting rhythm and distinctive brackets of the group – consisting of electric guitarist Jimmy Page, organist John Paul Jones, drummer John Bonham and lead vocalist Robert Plant – were different from any rock group that has appeared in Perth. And the 80000 people who went enjoyed every minute of the two and a half hour performance.”
1972, At the end of a 14 date UK tour, Pink Floyd started a four night run at London’s Rainbow Theatre.
1972, Los Angeles radio station KDAY played two new Rolling Stones tracks non-stop for a day after obtaining stolen tapes from a producer’s home.
1973, War started a two-week run at number one on the album chart with The World Is A Ghetto.
1973, The Grateful Dead played at St. Paul Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota.
1974, KISS appeared at the Long Beach Civic Arena, Long Beach, California.
1975, John Lennon’s Rock ‘n’ Roll album was released in the US.
1975, AC/DC released their debut album High Voltage. The album featured a cover of “Baby, Please Don’t Go” a blues song first recorded by Big Joe Williams and “She’s Got Balls” which was written about singer Bon Scott’s ex-wife Irene – the first AC/DC song for which he wrote lyrics.
1976, David Bowie performed at McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado.
1977, Pink Floyd played the first of three nights at the Sportpaleis Ahoy, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The set list for each show was: Sheep / Pigs on the Wing, Part 1/ Dogs / Pigs On the Wing Part 2 / Pigs (Three Different Ones) // second set: Shine On You Crazy Diamond , Parts 1-5 / Welcome to the Machine / Have A Cigar / Wish You Were Here / Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 6-9 / encore: Money.
1978, Rush appeared at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland.
1979, Blondie scored their first number one album when Parallel Lines started a four-week run at the top of the charts, featuring the singles “Heart Of Glass,” “Hanging On The Telephone” and “Sunday Girl.”
1979, The Clash opened the US leg of their ‘Pearl Harbour ’79’, North American tour at New York’s Palladium.
1989, R.E.M., Hoodoo Gurus, and The Go-Betweens all appeared at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia.
2000, John Lennon’s Steinway piano, on which he composed “Imagine,” went on display at the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool, England. The piano was set to be auctioned on the Internet later in the year and was expected to fetch more than £1 million ($1.7 million).
2005, A 1965 Fender Stratocaster guitar belonging to Jimi Hendrix sold for £100,000 ($150,000) at an auction in London. Other Hendrix items sold included a poem written two weeks after his appearance at the Monterrey Pop Festival which went for £10,000 ($15,000,) and the first Jimi Hendrix Experience’s single “Hey Joe,” signed by all the band sold for £2,000 ($3000.)
Born on February 17: Orville “Hoppy” Jones, The Ink Spots (1905); Tommy Edwards, singer (1922); Gene Pitney (1941); Karl Jenkins, Soft Machine (1944); Rickey Medlocke, Blackfoot, Lynryd Skynyrd (1950); Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters; Billy Joe Armstrong, Green Day (1972); Ed Sheeran, British singer, songwriter (1991)
