January 16 has been an unlucky day for Paul McCartney. On This day in 1980, he was arrested at the Tokyo airport when customs inspectors found 8oz of marijuana. Four years later on 1/16, Paul and wife Linda were both placed under arrest in Barbados on drug charges.
Liverpool's Cavern Club, scene of many early Beatles club shows, opened on this date in 1957. Gregg Allman and Cher's marriage officially ended on this date in 1979. Mistaking it for a smuggler's airplane, Jamaican police fired on Jimmy Buffett's sea plane when Jimmy and Bono took off from Montego Bay on 1/16/1996, and the Rolling Stones played Madison Square Garden for the first time in 20 years on this night in 1998.

You may not recognize the name, but if you love Classic Rock you've certainly heard her sing. Clydie King, a backing vocalist featured on a slew of amazing songs, passed away on January 7th due to complications related to dialysis. 
Credited as 'Brown Sugar' on some recordings, King's superb voice is heard on albums by the Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street), Humble Pie (Eat It), Steely Dan (Can't Buy A Thrill, The Royal Scam, Aja), Bob Dylan (Saved, Shot Of Love, infidels), Linda Ronstadt (Heart Like A Wheel, Don't Cry Now), Joe Walsh (The Smoker You Are, The Player You Get), Joe Cocker (Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Lynyrd Skynyrd (Pronounced 'Leh-nerd-Skin-erd), Elton John (Caribou), Ray Charles, BB King, and many others. She also released four solo albums.

Ronald Wayne Van Zant was born on this day in Jacksonville, Florida in 1948. He and other classmates formed the band that would become Lynyrd Skynyrd when Ronnie was 16. Van Zant and other long-term members Gary Rossington and Allen Collins eventually chose to name the group after a gym teacher who ragged on students with long hair, Leonard Skinner.
Another musician with Van in his birth name was born on 1/15 - Don Van Vliet. Better known as Captain Beefheart, he was a regular musical cohort of Frank Zappa. Martha Davis of the Motels was born on 1/15 in 1951.
The Rolling Stones appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on this night in 1967, an appearance that almost was cancelled until Mick Jagger agreed to change "night" to "time" when the band did Let's Spend The Night Together.
Scorpions released Love Drive on this date in 1979. Jimi Hendrix was inducted into the rock Hall of Fame by Neil Young on this day in 1992. Harry Nilsson died of a heart attack in 1994.

Who planning new album and symphony backed tour. Pete Townshend tells Rolling Stone that him agreeing to a 2019 Who tour hinged on the band recording a new album.Promising that the concerts will be "as fresh and powerful as ever", the guitarist also indirectly acknowledged he's aware that the overwhelming majority of fans will buy tickets to hear the classics, saying his ultimatum to agreeing to tour on that condition is, "...about my pride, my sense of self-worth and self-dignity as a writer."
Plans call fro almost 30 North American dates, a dozen in the east in the spring, the remainder in the mid and western cities in the fall. All dates are expected to feature the band backed by local symphony orchestras. The band has ruled out an appearance at a Woodstock reunion concert.

MORE WHO INSIGHTS

Rush opened their 80's on this date with the release of the Canadian trio's 7th studio album, which featured Spirit of Radio, Freewill, Jacob's Ladder, Entre Nous, Different Strings and the 9+ minute, three part Natural Science. David Bowie put out his Low album on 1/14/1977, and Springsteen's High Hopes album got released on thsi day in 2014.
Musicians of note born on this day include Allen Toussaint (1938), T-Bone Burnett (1947), Geoff Tate of Queensryche (1959), guitar great Zakk Wylde (1967) and Nirvana, Foo Fighters veteran Dave Grohl.
In the getting together and falling apart department, John Mellencamp filed for divorce from his wife of 20 years, Elaine, on this day in 2011. The following year on this day, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters got married for the 4th time.

Expect an up-tic in Canadian/US border crossings closest to Cleveland on Saturday, January 19. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will spend that day attending a series of events at the Rock hall Of Fame. At noon, Lee will discuss his bass collection with Lifeson on the main stage at the Hall and follow it with a book signing of copies of his book, Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book Of Bass. The 2013 induction or Rush into the Hall will also be screened during the day, and fans will get to examine an assortment of Geddy's favorite instruments up close. It ain't cheap to attend. Rock Hall members will get to participate for about $130. Non member admission runs around $150 - but copies of Lee's book, which is quite large and beautiful and retails for $75 are included and will be signed by the Rush member that day.

MORE RUSH INSIGHTS

Led Zeppelin's debut album was released on this day in 1969, leading to January 13 of that year being a very big day for the sale of replacement speaker systems.

Plenty of deserving Rockers were inducted into the Rock Hall Of fame over the years on January 12. The include the Doors, Cream, Van Morrison and Sly & The Family Stone in 1992, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, the Allman Brothers Band, Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa in 1995 and Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and Santana in 1998.

Clarence Clemons, The Big Man of the E Street Band, was born on this day in 1942 in what is now Chesapeake, Maryland. Were it not for being in a car accident the day before a scheduled tryout, Clemons might have ended up a lineman in the NFL. 
In September, 1971 legend has it, Clemons, was playing sax in a band named the Joyful Noyze at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, During a between sets break, Clarence walked to a nearby club where Bruce Springsteen was booked, introduced himself and proposed doing a song with Bruce and his band. They started with an early version of Spirit In The Night on stage at The Student Prince. By the time the song was done, each of them was convinced Clemons belonged in Bruce's band.
Keyboard player Tony Kaye, who had stints in Yes and Badfinger, was born 1/11/1946. On this day in 1985, the first Rock In Rio festival opened. Over its 10 days, AC/DC, Queen, Yes, Rod Stewart, George Benson and James Taylor would headline nights. Ted Nugent got arrested for shooting a flaming arrow during his 1993 concert in Cincinnati. And the Rolling Stones concert scheduled for Montreal was cancelled when an ice storm tore open the roof of Olympic Stadium on this day in 1998.

Roderick David Stewart was born on this day in 1945. Rod recently released his 30th solo album and while Classic Rock fans most appreciate him for then he was belting out great tunes on his early albums and while a member of the Faces and Jeff Beck Group, he still has one of the most distinctive voices of his generation.

Other births of note on 1/10 include Ronnie Hawkins (1935), drummer Aynsley Dunbar of Journey & Whitesnake (1946, Jim Croce (1947), Steely Dan's Donald Fagen (1948) and Pat Benatar (1952).

The Stones recorded Not Fade Away on this day in 1964. Blues legend Howlin' Wolf died on 1/10/1976, and David Bowie passed away three years ago today.

James Patrick Page was born on this day in 1944 in west London. The future Led Zeppelin guitarist was inspired by recordings he heard out of Memphis,Chicago and other US cities steeped in R&B and Blues.
Another whose name is linked to guitar greatness was born on 1/9 was Les Paul (1919). Dave Matthew arrived on this date in 1967. Van Halen greeted the New Year with the album named for it - 1984, and
Rush released A Show Of Hands on 1/9/1989.

Original Woodstock organizer Michael Lang will go into direct competition with Live Nation's concert on the original site marking the 50th anniversary of the original festival. Lang told Rolling Stone Magazine that his event will also be on the Weekend on August 16,17 and 18, but will take place at Watkins Glen, the site near Ithaca New York that hosted a 1973 concert with The Band, The Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead that drew an even bigger crowd than the 1969 Woodstock did. 
We guessed Lang's lineup would be geared to like minded music tastes, while Live Nation would serve up a less homogeneous roster of artists, but Lang says the one he is heading will "...be an eclectic bill. It's be hip-hop and rock and some pop and some of the legacy bands from the original festival." 
It'll be interesting to see which lineup convinces the most people to show up, and whether those that do experience 3 days of peace, love and music or, price gouging, pilfering and chaos.

David Robert Jones was born on this day in 1947 in South London. Attending a broadly based technical school where he was able to study art, design and music, the future David Bowie was a student of Owen Frampton, an instructor whose son Peter also attended Bromley Technical High School. With Owen's encouragement, the two focused increasingly on music.

David formed his first band at 15. The short-lived Konrads got wedding and youth social gigs that required limiting their set list to familiar pop material David had little interest in. Brief stints in groups billed as the King Bees, the Mannish Boys and the Buzz followed, with none attaining much success.

Meanwhile, The Monkees had become enough of a sensation that Jones knew continuing his career under his own name would cause confusion with Davy Jones of that group. A knife designed for an American pioneering legend named Jim Bowie was also in vogue at the time, so David Jones opted to adopt Bowie as his last name.

He became involved in avant garde theater and dance pieces and developed a strong sense of the importance imagination and image could have in his development as a musical performer. Some of his songs were used in productions, but none translated into successful releases.

That all changed when he wrote, recorded and released the Song Space Oddity just days before the launch of Apollo 11, the space mission that landed Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon. The single rocketed to the top 5 on British singles chart and David Bowie was on his way.

Others born on January 8th include concert promoter and operator of the Fillmore East, Fillmore West and Winterland,Bill Graham (1931), Elvis Presley (1935) and Robbie Krieger of the Doors (1946). KISS signed their first record contract on this date in 1974. The following year, Led Zeppelin sold out four Madison Square Garden concerts in 4 hours. The New York City dates replaced ones planned for Boston after rioting broke out among people in cue for tickets. On this day in 1991, Def Leppard's Steve Clark died as a result of a combination of alcohol and pain medication. Nirvana's last US concert was at Center Arena in Seattle on 1/8/1994.

The older of the Youngs in AC/DC was born on this day in 1953 in Glasgow, Scotland. Other Rockers arriving on 1/6 included Pink Floyd's Crazy Diamond, Syd Barrett (1946) and Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds (1951). Gibson patented the Flying V guitar on this date in 1958. In 1975, fans waiting for tickets to a Led Zeppelin concert scheduled for Boston rioted. The group rescheduled the concert in New York City. And Bill Wyman announced he was leaving the Rolling Stones on this day in 1993.

Carlos Santana will release new music on January 25 in the form of an EP on the Concord Records label titled In Search of Mona Lisa. The guitar legend also has a full album in the works for this summer. The 10 time Grammy winner has also indicated he will welcome the chance to play at a festival marking the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. Santana played the original festival a couple of weeks before the group's debut album was released.

A couple of important debuts hit record stores on this day in 1973 - Aerosmith's self-titled debut and Brce Springsteen's Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey. Elvis Costello released his 3rd album, Armed Forces on 5/5/1979.
Sam Phillips, the pioneering producer behind Sun Studios and Sun Records in Memphis was born on this day in 1923. He produced material for Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and countless others. He was also largely responsible for Presley's rise to prominence and stood against segregation factions within the recording industry.
Prince made his live performing debut on this night in 1979 at The Capri Club in Minneapolis.