1940
Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) is born in Liverpool, England. He replaces Pete Best as the Beatles drummer in August 1962. He has two million-selling No. 1 solo singles: "Photograph" and "You’re Sixteen." He marries actress Barbara Bach in 1981 and appears in several films, including That’ll Be the Day, Cave Man, and Paul McCartney’s Give My Regards to Broad Street.

1954
Memphis D.J. Dewey Phillips of WHBQ becomes the first D.J. to play an Elvis Presley record. He premiered "That's All Right Mama" and also interviewed Elvis.

1954
Two versions of "Sh-Boom" hit the top-10. The original version by the Chords was at #9 and the cover version by The Crew Cuts was at #5.

1954
Johnny Cash makes his first appearance on "Grand Ole Opry." He later becomes a regular member of the cast.

1956
The Platters' "My Prayer" is released.

1967
The Monkees open a national tour with little-known Jimi Hendrix as the opening act.

1967
Problems for The Lovin' Spoonful. Steve Boone and Zal Yanofsky are busted for drug use. The two implicate some of San Francisco's best-connected drug suppliers.

1968
Three years after Eric Clapton departed the Yardbirds and eight months after Jeff Beck left the group, the Yardbirds disbanded. Guitarist Jimmy Page had to fulfill the concert obligations and called his group The New Yardbirds. Keith Moon said "...it'll probably go over like a lead zeppelin." So Page changed the name of his group to Led Zeppelin.

1971
Guitarist Bjorn Ulvaeus and vocalist Agnetha Faltskog of the Swedish megagroup Abba marry in Verum, Sweden.

1973
Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" is released.

1975
Keith Richards was charged with possession of an offensive weapon and reckless driving in Arkansas. Hundreds of teenage girls stormed the jail where he was being held.

1980
The original lineup of Led Zeppelin gives its final show.

1984
"Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood becomes the biggest selling single of all time in Britain.

1993
Gits lead vocalist Mia Zapata is found strangled in Seattle. She was 27.

1995
Rod Stewart's jet makes a forced emergency landing after a mid-air collision with a bird. Aviation officials call the incident "undramatic," but Stewart is visibly shaken and says, "I almost crashed."

1998
The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and his financial partner Don Barden announce intentions to build an entertainment Neverneverland in Detroit. The billiondollar Majestic Kingdom would be a family-oriented center that would include a Michael Jackson Thriller Theme Park, hotel, casino, botanical gardens, and nightclubs, among other amenities.

1999
Rapper Coolio is sentenced to 10 days in jail, 40 hours of community service, and two years' probation after he pleads guilty to a charge of illegal gun possession.

2000
Metallica vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield aggravates a chronic back injury before a show at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. The band plays its scheduled sets on the Summer Sanitorium tour in Atlanta, Sparta, Ky., and Irving, Texas, with bassist Jason Newstead handling vocal chores on several songs, and using members of several other bands on the bill to fill in on vocals and guitar. Among those who help out are Kid Rock and sidekick Joe C, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, and System of a Down’s Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian.

2001
Folk singer/songwriter Fred Neil is found dead at his home in Summerland Key, Fla., apparently of natural causes. He is 64. Neil was best known as the writer of "Everybody’s Talkin’," which became the theme of the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy.

2006
Pink Floyd co-founder Roger "Syd" Barrett dies in Cambridge, England at the age of 60, due to complications from diabetes.

July 7 Birthdays

• Gustav Mahler 1860
• Marc Chagall 1887
• Hanns Eisler 1898
• George Cukor 1899
• Satchel Paige 1906
• Gian Carlo Menotti 1911
• Pinetop Perkins 1913
• Ruth Ford 1915
• William Kunstler 1919
• Ezzard Charles 1921
• Pierre Cardin 1922
• Mary Ford 1924
• Charlie Louvin 1927
• Doc Severinsen 1927
• Vincent Edwards 1928
• David McCullough 1933
• Ringo Starr 1940 - Musician (Beatles)
• Warren Entner (The Grass Roots) 1944
• Joe Spano 1946
• Linda Williams 1947
• Shelley Duvall 1949
• David Hodo (The Village People) 1950
• Cherry Boone 1954
• Jessica Hahn 1959
• Mark White (Spin Doctors) 1962
• Ricky Kinchen (Mint Condition) 1966
• Cree Summer 1970
• Michelle Kwan 1980

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