Today in Rock History – 29th JUNE:

BIRTHDAYS
1943: Roger Spear (Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band)
1945: Little Eva
1948: Ian Paice (Deep Purple)
1953: Don Dokken
1953: Colin Hay (Men at Work)

EVENTS
1964: Death of saxophonist / flautist, Eric Dolphy [aged 36].
1967: Rolling Stones Keith Richards & Mick Jagger were fined and sentenced to jail on drug charges.
1968: A free concert was held in London’s Hyde Park, featuring Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Roy Harper.
1968: The Small Faces began a 6 week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake’.
1973: Deep Purple‘s concert in Osaka, Japan was the last show for the Mk II line-up. Ian Gillan quit the group and Roger Glover was fired soon after.
1975: Death of singer / songwriter, Tim Buckley [aged 28].
1979: John McLaughlin & The One Truth Band played a concert at Regent Theatre, Dunedin ~ I was there!
1979: Death of singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist, Lowell George of Little Feat [aged 34].
1980: Brian Johnson made his debut live performance as new singer with AC/DC, at Palais des Expositions, Namur, Belgium. Included in the set list were six songs from the yet-to-be-released ‘Back in Black’ album.
1985: Marillion scored their only UK No.1 album with ‘Misplaced Childhood’.
1996: Record producer George Martin received a Knighthood, music promoter Harvey Goldsmith became an MBE and Van Morrison an OBE.
2016: Death of bassist, Rob Wasserman [aged 64]. He has played on albums by many artists, including Lou Reed, Rickie Lee Jones, Van Morrison, Aaron Neville, Lou Reed, Bob Weir, Brian Wilson, Chris Whitley, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Laurie Anderson, Bruce Cockburn, Elvis Costello, Ani di Franco, Jerry Garcia & more!
2019: Death of Gary Duncan, guitarist / vocalist of Quicksilver Messenger Service [aged 72].
2020: Death of singer / songwriter, Benny Mardones [aged 73].
2021: Death of singer / songwriter, John Lawton of Lucifer’s Friend & Uriah Heep [aged 74].

Ian Paice, good on the drums ~ yes! Happy Birthday to Ian, who is 76 today! He is the only original member left in Deep Purple, who are still touring solidly and releasing great albums. But, here’s Ian Paice in action, back in 1972…