1966, The Rolling Stones fourth album Aftermath went to number one on the UK charts. It was the group’s third chart topping album.
1966, The Young Rascals went to number one on the American singles chart with “Good Lovin.” The song had been a hit for The Olympics the year before.
1967, Pink Floyd appeared at the Plaza Teen Club in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.
1967, Jimi Hendrix and Chas Chandler are interviewed at their shared flat in London, by Ray Jones for the May edition of Beat Instrumental magazine.
1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s first UK Tour comes to a close following two final performances at Granada theatre in Tooting, London. Once again the evening includes performances by The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Californians, The Quotations, and MC Nick Jones.
1968, Pink Floyd played for a recording of the music program Moef Ga Go at Nederland 1 TV Studios in Zaandam, The Netherlands. Two concerts scheduled for later the same day had to be cancelled due to a problem with work permits.
1968, BBC TV launched The Cilla Black Show making Cilla the first British female performer to have her own TV show. The theme song, “Step Inside Love” was written by Paul McCartney.
1968, Al Kooper announces he is leaving Blood, Sweat & Tears.
1970, Twiggs Lyndon, the road manager for the Allman Brothers Band, was arrested for murder after he stabbed a club manager during an argument over a contract. At the ensuing trial, Lyndon’s lawyers argued that he had been temporarily insane at the time of the incident and that touring with the Allman Brothers would drive anyone insane. Lyndon was acquitted.
1971, Three Dog Night performed at the Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia.
1972, David Bowie played at Guildhall, Plymouth, England.
1973, King Crimson appeared at the State Fair Coliseum, Syracuse, New York.
1973, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.
1974, King Crimson played at the Civic Theatre, Akron, Ohio.
1975, Genesis headlined at Colston Hall, Bristol, England.
1976, The Who’s drummer Keith Moon paid nine cab drivers to block-off both ends of a New York street so he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window.
1976, The Rolling Stones played at Halle Münsterland, Muenster, Germany.
1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd appeared at the Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.
1977, The Grateful Dead perform at The Palladium in New York City.
1977, Glen Campbell went to number one on the US singles chart with “Southern Nights,” his second chart topper.
1977, Led Zeppelin broke a new world attendance record at a concert when they played to 76,229 people at a gig at the Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan. The Who held the previous record at the same venue with 75,962 people.
1977, Pink Floyd performed at Jeppesen Stadium, in Houston, Texas during their In The Flesh North American tour. The set list consisted of the albums Animals and Wish You Were Here, with an encore of “Money” and “Us and Them” from Dark Side of the Moon. General admission tickets cost $10 (£6.67.)
1978, Bob Seger appeared at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.
1979, Rush played at the Manchester Apollo, Manchester, England.
1980, McVicar, starring Roger Daltrey, premieres.
1982, American music journalist, author and musician Lester Bangs died of a heart attack aged 33. Bangs worked for Rolling Stone, Creem, and The Village Voice.
1983, Muddy Waters dies from a heart attack in Westmont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He was 68. Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and by age seventeen was playing the guitar at parties, emulating local blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson. He was recorded in Mississippi by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941. Two years later, he moved to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician, eventually recording, in 1946, first for Columbia Records, and then for Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by the brothers Leonard and Phil Chess.
1983, Michael Jackson started a three week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Beat It,” his fifth solo US chart topper. The third single from the singer’s Thriller album featured Eddie Van Halen on the song’s distinctive overdriven guitar solo, but Van Halen was prevented by his record label from appearing in the music video.
1990, Prince played a concert at Rupert’s Night-club, Minneapolis. The $100 a head ticket proceeds all went to the family of his former bodyguard Charles “Big Chick” Huntsberry, who had died from a heart attack.
1991, Nirvana signed a recording contract with Geffen’s DGC label for $290,000 (£193,333.)
1999, Nazareth drummer Darrell Sweet died aged 52, after suffering a fatal heart attack before a show in New Albany, Indiana. Nazareth had the 1973 UK number nine single “Broken Down Angel,” and the 1976 US top eight single “Love Hurts.”
2005, The Dave Matthews Band agreed to pay $200,000 after their tour bus dumped human waste on a boatload of tourists in Chicago in August 2004. Bus driver Stefan Wohl who was alone on board the bus at the time the sewage was dumped was fined $10,000. The band had already donated $100,000 to two groups that protect the Chicago River and its surrounding area. The Dave Matthews Band offered their “deepest apologies” to more than 100 boat passengers who were on an architectural tour.
2008, Gail Renard, who was given the hand written lyrics to “Give Peace A Chance” by John Lennon in 1969, announced plans to sell the lyric sheet at a Christie’s auction. At the time, Lennon told Renard to hang on to the piece of paper, saying “It will be worth something someday.” The piece of music history was expected to fetch around $400,000 (£266,667.) When it was actually sold in July later that year, it went for $790,000.
2015, Ben E. King, born Benjamin Earl Nelson, soul and R&B singer with The Drifters, died at the Hackensack University Medical Center at the age of 76. The Drifters had the 1960 US number one and UK number two single “Save The Last Dance For Me,” and King scored the the 1987 UK number one solo single “Stand By Me,” which was first released in 1961.
Born on April 30: Percy Heath, American bassist, Heath Brothers, Modern Jazz Quartet (1923); Johnny Horton, American singer-songwriter, guitarist (1925); Johnny Farina, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, Santo & Johnny (1941); Bobby Vee (1943); Wayne Kramer, MC5 (1948); Merrill Osmond, American singer, bass player, actor,The Osmonds (1953); Chris Henderson, guitarist, 3 Doors Down (1971); J. R. Richards, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, Dishwalla (1972)
