Eagle Classic Hitstory December 3 on birminghamseagle.com

On This Day in Eagle Classic Hitstory...

December 3

1940
John Cale of Velvet Underground is born in Garnat, Wales.

1948
Ozzy Osbourne is born in Birmingham, England. His biggest pop hit is "Close My Eyes Forever," a million-selling No. 8 duet with Lita Ford.
Happy Birthday Ozzy!

1949
Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship is born.

1954
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Steve Forbert is born.

1966
Paul Revere & the Raiders enter the Hot 100 with their seventh hit, "Good Thing," which will reach #4 in its fourteen weeks on the chart. This matched the chart performance of thier biggest hit to date, "Kicks," the anti-drug song. They will go on to have sixteen more chart entries.

1966
Ray Charles is convicted of possessing heroin and marijuana, given a five-year suspended sentence and fined $10,000.

1968
Elvis Presley's NBC-TV special Elvis, sponsored by the Singer Sewing Machine Company, is aired. The special also contains tape of a live performance given earlier at NBC's Burbank Studios, his first appearance before a live audience since 1961. Elvis constitutes the King's first big step toward his successful comeback.

1968
Three singles strike gold: the O'Kaysions' "Girl Watcher," the Grass Roots' "Midnight Confession" and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown's "Fire." Among the gold albums awarded this day are Aretha Franklin's Aretha Now, Iron Butterfly's In-a-Gadda-da-Vida and Cream's 1967 debut, Fresh Cream.

1971
The Montreaux Casino burns to the ground during a show by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. The incident is immortalized by Deep Purple in their song "Smoke on the Water," which will become a major U.S. hit (#4) in 1973.

1973
Ringo Starr releases what will be his second straight Number One single, "You're Sixteen." Both "You're Sixteen" and his previous hit, "Photograph," are off Starr's Ringo LP.

1976
A 40-foot long inflatable pig being photographed for the cover Pink Floyd's Animals breaks loose from the guide wires and takes off from the Battersea Power Station outside of London. It heads east and attains a height of 18,000 feet before coming down in Kent.

1976
Seven gunmen spray bullets into Bob Marley's house in Kingston, Jamaica where he and the Wailers are rehearsing. The shots hit Marley, his wife Rita, a friend, and Wailer manager Don Taylor. None are severely hurt. The shooters are never caught, the show goes on and Marley and the band perform two nights later.

1976
The Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the U.K. is released.

1977
"Mull of Kintyre" by Wings, led by Paul McCartney, becomes McCartney's first post-Beatles No. 1 single in Britain. The bagpipe-accompanied song becomes Britain's best selling single, eclipsing The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

1979
Eleven Who fans are trampled to death in the rush to gain admittance for general or unreserved seats to the band's concert at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum. The eleven died when the doors were open and the mob waiting outside stampeded for the doors. Results: The mayor of Providence, Rhode Island cancels the Who's concert scheduled there in two days. Multiple suits are filed by families of the deceased and festival seating itself is universally blamed for the tragedy. (Except Walter Cronkite, who on tonight's "CBS Evening News" blames it on "a drug-crazed mob of kids").

1986
A lawsuit is filed against the group Judas Priest and CBS Records, alleging two fans shot themselves after listening to the band’s music for six hours.

1991
Gilby Clarke replaces Izzy Stradlin as Guns and Roses' rhythm guitarist.

1995
Madonna takes home the award for most fashionable artist at music channel VH1's inaugural Fashion & Music Awards. She also grabs VH1's Viewers' Choice award for displaying "consistently outstanding" style.

1997
Janet Jackson wins an injunction against Eric Leon Christian, who she claims had been harassing her.

1997
The newest album by Pearl Jam, Yield is prematurely leaked in full by a broadcast from Syracuse, N.Y. radio station WKRL.

1998
Bobby Brown turns himself in on an arrest warrant issued after a report that he was drunk when he surrendered earlier in the year to serve time for drunken driving. An upset judge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., releases Brown on $2,500 bail, but says he is losing patience.

1998
Spice Girls fans receive an early present when Virgin Records posts the video to the group's newest single, "Goodbye," on the internet at www.virginrecords.com/spicevideo. Visitors are able to see the clip in its entirety, as well as access backstage interviews and snippets from the Girls' Live At Wembley longform video.

1998
Superstar Tejano group La Mafia announces its retirement after a 20-year career and two Grammys. The Houston sextet, signed to Sony Discos, also announces plans for a farewell album and a yearlong tour in 1999.

2003
Chris Martin of Coldplay is about to become a dad. It’s announced that his girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow is pregnant.

2003
Australian Nirvana wannabes The Vines ("Get Free") make their live return in Sydney, playing the Annandale Hotel under the name of Foregone Conclusion.

2005
Not-very-shocking-anymore shock rocker Marilyn Manson causes a mild ripple of outrage when he marries longtime squeeze Dita Von Teese at Castle Gurteen in Ireland.

December 3