Today in Rock History – 9th AUGUST:

BIRTHDAYS
1941: Viv Prince (Pretty Things)
1946: John Parry (Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band)
1946: Marinus Gerritsen (Golden Earring)
1971: Jon Toogood (Shihad)

EVENTS
1969: Actress, Sharon Tate and four others were murdered by Charles Manson’s “family” in Roman Polanski’s L.A. home. The killers said that songs on The Beatles ‘White Album’ inspired them to do it!
1980: AC/DC scored their first UK No.1 album with ‘Back in Black‘.
1986: Queen gave what would be their last ever live performance, at Knebworth Festival.

1995: Death of singer / songwriter / guitarist, Jerry Garcia, leader of The Grateful Dead [aged 53].
2005: Marc Cohn miraculously survived being shot in the head in an attempted car jacking, after a concert in Denver.
2019: Death of New Zealand radio announcer / promoter, Ian Magan [aged 80].
2020: Death of producer / sound engineer, Martin Birch [aged 71]. Martin’s brilliant work can be heard on numerous Deep Purple LPs, along with many other classic albums by Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Wishbone Ash, Iron Maiden, Blue Oyster Cult, Jeff Beck & Fleetwood Mac.
2022: Death of singer / songwriter / producer, Lamont Dozier [aged 81]. He was part of Holland–Dozier–Holland, the songwriting and production team responsible for much of the Motown sound and many hit records.
2023: Death of songwriter / singer / musician, Robbie Robertson, of The Band [aged 80]. Immortalised in the film, ‘The Last Waltz’, Robertson wrote the classic songs “The Weight”, “Up On Cripple Creek”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, “The Shape I’m In”, “It Makes No Difference” and many more. He went on to have a successful solo career after The Band split in 1976.

Can’t believe it has been 44 years since AC/DC released ‘Back in Black’ ~ what an absolute ripper album!!! It went straight to number one and has gone on to sell over 50 million copies! ‘Back in Black’ ended up being a tribute to Bon Scott and the first LP with new singer, Brian Johnson. Bon may have died, but Rock and Roll didn’t…