This Day in Music: December 4th

Special thanks to ThisDayinMusic.com.

Born on this day:

1942, Chris Hillman, bass, vocals, The Byrds
1944, Dennis Wilson, drums, vocals, The Beach Boys
1951, Gary Rossington, guitar, Lynyrd Skynyrd
1969, Jay-Z, rapper

1956, the so-called “Million Dollar Quartet” jam session took place at Sun Studios in Memphis with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. (For more on this story, see the This Day in Music Spotlight.)

1965, The Byrds started a three-week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Turn! Turn! Turn!” — the group's second #1. Unlike their first chart topper, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” the entire band was allowed to play on the recording, instead of studio musicians.

1971, Led Zeppelin started a two-week run at #1 on the U.K. chart with the band’s fourth album. Featuring the 8-minute track “Stairway to Heaven,” the album stayed on the U.S. chart for one week short of five years, selling over 11 million copies.

1976, workers at EMI records went on strike, refusing to package the Sex Pistols single “Anarchy in the U.K.”

1979, U2 appeared at The Hope and Anchor, Islington, London.

1980, Prince played the first night on his 31-date Dirty Mind North American tour at Shea’s in Buffalo, New York. After being told by his managers he couldn't wear spandex pants without any underwear, Prince began performing in a long trench coat, black high-heeled boots and leggings, and bikini brief trunks.

1988, Roy Orbison played his final ever gig when he appeared in Cleveland, Ohio. Orbison died of a heart attack two days later.

1993, Multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer, Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer. Zappa recorded many albums with The Mothers of Invention and solo, including the 1969 album, Hot Rats, and 1974 album, Apostrophe. Zappa also recorded one of the first concept albums, Freak Out! He married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, in 1967. The couple had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.

2006, Yahoo! revealed that Britney Spears was the most searched for term of 2006 with more online searches done about Spears than any other topic or person. Female celebrities dominated the top 10 overall search list, with Shakira at #3, Jessica Simpson at #4 and Paris Hilton at #5.

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