Today in rock history 17th April

Friday April 17th
1941 – Billy Fury is born in Liverpool, England.
1943 – Born on this day, Roy Estrada, bass, Frank Zappa band,
1955 – Pete Shelley, one of punk’s finest songwriters and lead Buzzcock, is born.
1964 – Leading the band Them, an 18-year-old Van Morrison rocks the Maritime Hotel, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the group’s debut performance.
1969 – The Band step out from behind Bob Dylan for the first time to perform solo at San Francisco’s Winterland auditorium.
1970 – Paul McCartney releases his first post-Beatles solo album, McCartney. The the versatile musician played every instrument of the wonderous lo-fi recording.
1982 – Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast hits No. 1 on the British albums charts.
1983 – Felix Pappalardi dies at age 41 after being shot by his wife in their New York apartment.
1986 – Following the American bombing of Libya, Stevie Ray Vaughan cancels his European tour in fear of reprisals.
1995 – After Bill Berry’s operation for a brain aneurysm, R.E.M. announce they will resume their worldwide Monster tour.
1995 – Courtney Love and her band Hole perform for the sixth season premiere of MTV’s Unplugged.
1998 – Linda McCartney, the rock photographer wife of Sir Paul McCartney and onetime member of the band Wings, dies of breast cancer in Santa Barbara, Calif. She is 56.
2001 – The late Ramones singer Joey Ramone is buried in New Jersey following a private funeral service in Forest Hills, Queens.
2001 – Appalachian group Hayseed Dixie releases its album “A Hillbilly Tribute To AC/DC.” AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson describes the group’s offbeat covers _ including such classics as “Highway To Hell,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” and Back In Black _ as “hilarious.”
2002 – James Al Hendrix, who introduced his son, guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, to music, dies after a long battle with congestive heart failure. He is 82.
2003 – A British fan who claims he caught the flu off of Beatle. Paul McCartney attempts to auction off the germ on eBay.
2003 – Tommy Lee is cleared of responsibility for the drowning death of a four-year-old at his son’s 2001 birthday party. The boy’s parents were alleging criminal negligence and sought $10 million in damages.
2006 – Melissa Etheridge announces her partner Tammy Lynn Michaels is expecting twins later in the spring.
2010 - Ted Nugent make his comments on President Obama known