Celebrating 17 December
Birthdays
1936 – Tommy Steele, early rock 'n roll star, still going
1937 – Art Neville, keyboardist, The Neville Brothers
1949 – Paul Rodgers, vocalist, Free
1951 – Wanda Hutchinson, The Emotions
1958 – Mike Mills, bassist, REM
1961 – Sara Dallin, singer, Bananarama
1964 – Ginger (born David Walls), guitarist, The Wildhearts
1969 – Mick Quinn, bassist, Supergrass
1970 – DJ Homicide, Sugar Ray
1973 – Eddie Fisher, drummer, OneRepublic
1978 – Neil Sanderson, Canadian drummer, Three Days Grace
1989 – Taylor York, guitarist, Paramore
Died on this day
1982 – Big Joe Williams, Delta bluesman (born 1903)
1999 – Grover Washington Jr, soul saxophonist (born 1943)
2006 – Denis Payton, saxophonist, Dave Clark Five (born 1943)
2010 – Captain Beefheart, musician, artist (born 1941)
And on this day in...
1963 – A Beatles record was played on US radio for the first time (I Want To Hold Your Hand on WWDC in Washington, D.C.)