1944
Johnny Jai Johnson, drummer for the Allman Brothers Band is born.

1956
No. 1 Hit: "(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock," Bill Haley & His Comets. The song is the opening theme for the film The Blackboard Jungle, starring Glenn Ford and inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.

1961
No. 1 Hit: "Tossin' and Turnin'," Bobby Lewis.

1969
In what authorities ruled attempted suicide, singer Marianne Faithfull takes an overdose of barbituates on the set of the Australian movie, Ned Kelly. Her boyfriend, Mick Jagger, is scheduled to be her co-star, but she is dropped from the production. Two days later, she enters a hospital for heroin addiction.

1970
The Everly Brothers are now the hosts of their variety show on ABC-TV. It runs through September 16th.

1971
A mini-riot breaks out during a concert by Mott The Hoople at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The hall's management temporarily ban rock performances at the venue after that.

1974
Bob Dylan and the Band's Before the Flood goes gold.

1976
No. 1 Hit: "Afternoon Delight," Starland Vocal Band. The song's title is taken from a menu at a Washington, D.C., restaurant. Yeah, suuure it is. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Oh yeah, the photo: hey guy, Willie Tanner from Alf called. He wants his glasses back. He said you can drop off John Travolta's outfit and Horshack's hair with him too.

1978
Following in the disco footsteps of his older Bee Gee brothers, Andy Gibb gets into the act with Shadow Dancing. The album peaks at #18, while the title track reaches number one.

1978
Exile's "Kiss You All Over" is released.

1985
Both Playboy and Penthouse magazines went on sale with nude pictures of Madonna.

1986
No. 1 Hit: "Holding Back the Years," Simply Red.

1988
Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico dies.

1997
Marty Stuart and Grand Ole Opry star Connie Smith are married in Pine Ridge, S.D., a tour stop for Stuart. The marriage is the second for Stuart, 38, and the fourth for Smith, 55.

1998
Nancy Sinatra makes the announcement at a press conference in the capital that the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., have worked out an agreement to be the repository of the late Frank Sinatra’s music and movie archives. I hope Frank remembered to erase those tapes of us drinking and making fart noises. Those were good times, but not really suitable for the Library of Congress, I don't think they allow fun there.

1998
The estate of Roy Orbison files a $12 million royalty suit against Sony Music Entertainment Inc. The suit alleges that Sony, in selling licenses from the artist’s Monument Records master recordings, consistently underpaid Orbison in domestic and international royalties.

1998
Two armed men break into the home of rapper Foxy Brown. Though she and her mother both are in the apartment, neither suffers any injuries.

2000
Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers falls headfirst off the stage during a solo in the first encore of a show in Germany. He suffers sever bruising over much of his body and stitches on his forehead. The band cancels shows in Germany, Bulgaria, and Greece.

July 8 Birthdays

• Jean La Fontaine 1621
• Ferdinand von Zeppelin 1838
• John D. Rockefeller 1839
• Louis Jordan 1908
• Billy Eckstine 1914
• Faye Emerson 1917
• Pamela Brown 1918
• Craig Stevens 1918
• Harrison Dillard 1923
• Shirley Ann Grau 1929
• Roone Arledge 1931
• Jerry Vale 1932
• Marty Feldman 1933
• Steve Lawrence 1935
• Barbara Loden 1937
• Faye Wattleton 1943
• Jeffrey Tambor 1944
• Johnny Jai Johnson (Allman Brothers Band) 1944
• Cynthia Gregory 1946
• Kim Darby 1948
• Raffi Cavoukian 1948
• Wolfgang Puck 1949
• Anjelica Huston 1951
• Margaret Stowe 1952
• Marianne Williamson 1952
• Kevin Bacon 1958
• Toby Keith 1961
• Graham Jones (Haircut 100) 1961
• Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) 1961
• Rob Burnett 1962
• Joan Osborne 1962
• Corey Parker 1965
• Billy Crudup 1968
• Beck 1970
• Drew Womack (Sons of the Desert) 1970
• Kathleen Robertson 1973
• Tavis Werts (Reel Big Fish) 1977

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