Today in rock history 29th May

Friday May 29th

1945 – Gary Brooker, leader of Procul Harum, is born in Essex,

1961 – Singer, songwriter and guitarist Melissa Etheridge is born

1972 – Paul McCartney releases his bizarre interpretation of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” as Wings.

1973 – Record executive Clive Davis is fired from Columbia for misappropriating $100,000. He later founded Arista Records and engineered Santana’s comeback with Supernatural.

1973 – Mike Oldfield releases his ambient masterpiece Tubular Bells or “That Weird Music in The Exorcist.”

1973 – Roger McGuinn performs his first solo gig at New York’s Academy of Music and confirms rumors that his band The Byrds is finished.

1984 – Bob Dylan holds a press conference in Sirmione, Italy, and hands out the set list for his current European tour.

1988 – Bob Dylan makes a guest appearance at a Levon Helm concert at New York’s Lone Star Cafe. The two perform “The Weight” and Chuck Berry’s “Nadine.”

1991 – In Ohio a truck sideswipes Steve Winwood’s tour bus. Stevie is unhurt.

1997 – Jeff Buckley drowns while swimming with a friend off Mud Island in Memphis.

1999 – The Rolling Stones launch the European leg of their Bridges to Babylon tour,

1999 – The body of Philip “Taylor” Kramer is discovered in a valley in Malibu, Calif. The Iron Butterfly bass player had been missing since 1995.

2003 – Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson’s new band Hookah Brown call it quits a mere six months after their first show.

2004 – Josey Scott of Memphis hard rockers Saliva marries Kendra at Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate.

2007 – a piano used by John Lennon on the night he died was put up for sale for $375,000 (£189,000) on The Moments in Time memorabilia website.