Today in Rock History – 17th FEBRUARY:

BIRTHDAYS
1950: Ricky Medlocke (Lynyrd Skynyrd / Blackfoot)
1972: Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters)
1972: Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)
1981: John Hassall (The Libertines)
1991: Ed Sheeran

EVENTS
1960: Elvis Presley won his first Gold record, for the album ‘Elvis’.
1975: AC/DC released their debut album, ‘High Voltage’.
1978: Kate Bush released her debut album, ‘The Kick Inside’, aged only 19. She had written some of the songs when she was 13 years old.
1979: Blondie’s first UK No.1 album, ‘Parallel Lines’ started a 4-week run at the top spot.
1982: Death of jazz pianist / composer, Thelonious Monk [aged 64].
2014: Death of multi-instrumentalist / composer / record producer / audio engineer, Bob Casale of Devo [aged 61].
2021: Death of reggae singer / DJ, U-Roy [aged 78].

Ricky Medlocke is 74 today! He was a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd (as drummer, vocalist) back in the early 70s, then formed his own Southern Rock band, Blackfoot. In 1996, he rejoined Skynyrd and has played guitar / sung for them ever since. As this 2014 photo of him in Taupo shows, he is one Sioux Indian who lives and breathes to ROCK!