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- Jazz and blues musician Buddy Collette, a tenor saxophonist, flutist and clarinetist and a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet, was born in Los Angeles, California.
- American artist, film director and producer Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked as a producer and manager for The Velvet Underground and designed the cover of “The Velvet Underground & Nico” and the cover of “Sticky Fingers” by The Rolling Stones.
- Saxophonist Mike Elliott of The Foundations was born in Jamaica. He became known as a founding member of the soul group The Foundations, which had the 1967 UK No. 1 hit “Baby Now That I've Found You.”
- Columbia Records lowered the price of its 12-inch classical records to $1.
- British jazz and rock guitarist and composer Allan Holdsworth was born in Bradford, England. His work influenced, among others, Eddie Van Halen, Frank Zappa, Tom Morello and Joe Satriani.
- Singer, songwriter and musician Pat MacDonald, co-founder of Timbuk3, was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
- American guitarist Vinnie Vincent was born. He was a member of KISS from 1982 to 1984 and later formed his own band, Vinnie Vincent Invasion.
- Elvis Presley performed at River Stadium in Batesville, Arkansas, as part of the 12th annual White River Carnival. He performed songs including “That's All Right,” “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Good Rocking Tonight” and “Baby Let's Play House.”
- “A Fool for You” by Ray Charles and his group reached No. 1 on the R&B chart.
- Elvis Presley performed at the Polk Theater in Lakeland, Florida, at 3:30, 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Also appearing were Frank Connors, Phil Maraquin, Nancy Ford, The Jordanaires and The Headliners.
- Chuck Berry, LaVern Baker, Frankie Lymon and Connie Francis began work on the film “Rock, Rock, Rock!”
- Elvis Presley underwent military service at Fort Hood, Texas, where he trained in tank operations as part of the 2nd Armored Division.
- Dean Martin entered Capitol Records' studio at 1750 North Vine Street in Hollywood, where he recorded his version of “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.” The recording first entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 2018, reaching No. 8.
- Elvis Presley was serving in the military in Germany.
- American singer and songwriter Joyce Sims was born. Her biggest hit, “Come into My Life,” reached the Top 10 on both the U.S. R&B chart and the UK singles chart in 1987 and 1988.
- Chubby Checker made his first television appearance with “The Twist.” The song later reached No. 1 on the U.S. chart and sparked a major dance craze.
- Johnny Kidd and the Pirates reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Shakin’ All Over.”
- The soundtrack album to the 1958 film “South Pacific” reached No. 1 on the UK album chart.
- The Beatles went to assess drummer Pete Best at the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool. Pete Best was then playing with The Blackjacks and was the daughter of club owner Mona Best.
- Anita Wood announced that she had split from Elvis Presley, moved out of Graceland and returned to Jackson, Tennessee.
- Bob Dylan began the first recording sessions at Studio A of Columbia Recording Studios in New York with producer Tom Wilson for his third album, “The Times They Are a-Changin'.” It was his first album made up entirely of original songs. Upon its release the following February, the album reached No. 20 in the U.S. and No. 4 in the UK.
- Jamie Kensit of Eighth Wonder was born. The group had a hit with “I'm Not Scared,” written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys.
- The Beatles arrived in Jersey in the English Channel. Before their first of four evenings at Springfield Ballroom, they spent the day driving go-karts and relaxing by the pool at The Revere Hotel.
- Rod Stewart made his first television appearance as a member of The Hoochie Coochie Men on the BBC program “The Beat Room.”
- Parlophone Records released The Beatles' fifth studio album, “Help!,” which also served as the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The original UK version contained fourteen tracks, seven of which, including the title track and “Ticket to Ride,” appeared in the film and made up the first side of the vinyl album. The album reached No. 1 in Australia, Finland, the UK and the U.S. that year and also included “Yesterday.”
- Decca Records released The Small Faces' debut single “Whatcha Gonna Do About It,” which reached No. 14 in the UK and No. 28 in Canada. The song did not chart in the U.S. Ian Samwell wrote the lyrics to music created by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. Years later, the band's manager Don Arden admitted that he had spent £12,000 to influence the chart.
- Elvis Presley reached No. 6 on the UK singles chart with “Love Letters.”
- Paul Revere & the Raiders performed at Sports Arena in Toledo, Ohio.
- Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs reached No. 1 on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart with “Lil’ Red Riding Hood.” The song reached No. 2 on Billboard and the following week received an RIAA Gold Record for sales exceeding one million copies.
- The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein interrupted his vacation and flew to New York for a television press conference defending John Lennon over his remark that The Beatles were “bigger than Jesus.” He said Lennon's comment had been taken out of context and that Lennon had not intended to boast about the band's fame.
- “Ain't Too Proud To Beg” by The Temptations spent its sixth week at No. 1 on the R&B chart.
- The Troggs achieved the unusual feat of having simultaneous Top 10 hits in the UK and U.S. with two different songs. “With a Girl Like You” topped the main UK charts, while “Wild Thing” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. Both songs were recorded in just two takes each because of limited studio time.
- The Who spent two days at Talentmasters Studio in New York. Al Kooper joined the group on organ while they recorded two versions of “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand.” One was released in the U.S. as the B-side of “I Can See For Miles,” while the other remained in the archives until the expanded version of “The Who Sell Out” was released in 1995. They also recorded a studio version of “Summertime Blues,” an organ overdub for “Relax,” and new vocals for “I Can See For Miles.”
- Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Steven Paul Smith, known as Elliott Smith, was born in Omaha, Nebraska.
- Elvis Presley performed evening and midnight shows at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.
- Led Zeppelin performed at Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California, during their North American tour. It was their only concert in the city.
- Sly & the Family Stone released the single “Hot Fun In The Summertime.”
- The four-day 10th National Jazz, Blues and Pop Festival was held at Plumpton Racecourse in Sussex, England. Performers included Family, Groundhogs, Cat Stevens, Deep Purple, Fat Mattress, Yes, Caravan, The Strawbs, Black Sabbath, Wild Angels, Wishbone Ash and Daddy Longlegs.
- Elvis Presley attended Nancy Sinatra's opening performance at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
- Christine McVie played her first concert with Fleetwood Mac at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. She later became the band's first female member.
- The Concert For Peace, an anti-war rock festival featuring Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Steppenwolf and Johnny Winter, was held at Shea Stadium in New York.
- Steppenwolf, Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Poco and Johnny Winter performed at the Concert For Peace at Shea Stadium in New York. The concert was held on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan.
- Pink Floyd visited Japan for the first time and played the first of three concerts at the Hakone Aphrodite ’71 festival at Seikei Gakuen Jofundai near Lake Ashi in Hakone.
- Procol Harum recorded a concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which was later released as the album “Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.”
- Elvis Presley performed an evening and midnight show at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas.
- Geri Halliwell, known as Ginger Spice of the Spice Girls, was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England.
- The Allman Brothers Band performed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California.
- Elvis Presley performed in the showroom at the Las Vegas Hilton during the opening night of his engagement.
- Stevie Wonder suffered serious injuries in a car accident when the rented car he was riding in crashed from behind into a small logging truck on I-85 near Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a log struck him in the face. He suffered a severe brain contusion, was in a coma for four days, temporarily lost his sense of smell and taste, and returned to the studio within a few weeks.
- ABBA scored their first U.S. Top 10 hit with “Waterloo,” which reached No. 6. The song also reached No. 1 in the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland.
- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young performed at Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
- The Rolling Stones performed at Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia.
- Robin Trower performed at Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee.
- The Police performed at The Red Cow on Hammersmith Road in London.
- On the UK singles chart that week, “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer was at No. 1, “Ma Baker” by Boney M at No. 2, “Angelo” by Brotherhood Of Man at No. 3, “Pretty Vacant” by The Sex Pistols at No. 4 and “Fanfare For The Common Man” by ELP at No. 5.
- Aerosmith performed at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
- Van Halen performed at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Arkansas.
- Fleetwood Mac performed at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono began recording the album “Double Fantasy.”
- Stevie Nicks released her first solo album, “Bella Donna,” which contained four U.S. Top 40 hits: “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Tom Petty, “Leather and Lace” with Don Henley, “Edge of Seventeen” and “After the Glitter Fades.”
- Travis “Travie” McCoy, singer of Gym Class Heroes, was born in Geneva, New York.
- The film “Pink Floyd The Wall,” starring Bob Geldof, premiered in theaters in New York. Roger Waters wrote it as a companion project to Pink Floyd's self-titled double album.
- Avant-garde German singer and musician and former David Bowie backing vocalist Klaus Nomi died in New York at the age of 39 from complications related to AIDS.
- The Beach Boys reached No. 1 on the UK album chart with the compilation album “The Very Best of the Beach Boys.”
- Eric Roberts, bassist for Gym Class Heroes, was born in Edmeston, New York.
- The film “Who's That Girl,” starring Madonna, premiered in New York.
- The Beastie Boys sued the city of Jacksonville, Florida, over the use of the “mature audience” designation on concert tickets and in advertisements.
- Nike placed a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times in response to the controversy surrounding the use of The Beatles' song “Revolution” in a commercial.
- Guns N' Roses reached No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with their debut album “Appetite for Destruction” after 57 weeks on the chart. At the time it reached the top, more than 5 million copies had been sold, and the singles “Sweet Child O' Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City” all reached the U.S. Top 10. Worldwide sales of the album later exceeded 28 million copies.
- Thanks to its inclusion on the soundtrack of “Dirty Dancing,” The Contours' 1962 hit “Do You Love Me” returned to the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 11. When originally released, the song reached No. 3 on the pop chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart.
- Yazz and the Plastic Population began a five-week run at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “The Only Way Is Up.” The song also reached No. 1 in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden, and was originally released as the title track of an album by soul singer Otis Clay in 1982.
- Adam Clayton of U2 was arrested in a pub car park in Dublin for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute it. His conviction was overturned after he paid £25,000 to Dublin Woman's Aid Centre.
- Detroit police stopped N.W.A's performance before the group could play “F--k tha Police” and escorted the members back to their hotel. No charges were filed against them.
- Sheryl Crow released her debut album “Tuesday Night Music Club,” which began gaining significant attention about a year later and eventually sold more than 7 million copies.
- Italian singer and actor Domenico Modugno, whose recording “Volare” topped the North American charts in 1958, died of a heart attack near his home on the island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, at the age of 66. During his career, he also appeared in 44 films.
- Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories began a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Stay (I Missed You).” The song also reached No. 1 in Canada, No. 6 in the UK and appeared in the film “Reality Bites.” It gained prominence after actor Ethan Hawke asked her for a song for the film.
- Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards entered a private clinic for treatment for nervous exhaustion.
- Neil Young released the album “Sleeps with Angels,” which served as his emotional tribute to Kurt Cobain.
- Ramones played their final concert at The Palace in Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was their 2,263rd performance, and the setlist contained 32 songs. The final song was “Anyway You Want It” by The Dave Clark Five, performed with Eddie Vedder. Other guests during the concert included Dee Dee Ramone, Lemmy Kilmister, Chris Cornell, Ben Shepherd, Lars Frederiksen and Tim Armstrong. The entire concert was recorded and released in 1997 as the live album “We're Outta Here!”
- Tom Petty released the album “She's the One,” which also served as the soundtrack to the film of the same name, written and directed by Edward Burns.
- Vince Neil attempted to perform a concert at a club in Indiana. The show began more than four hours late and ended after three songs.
- U2 performed in Oslo, where the giant lemon they were supposed to emerge from onstage failed to open.
- Jazz musician Nat Gonella, founder of the big band The Georgians, died in Gosport, Hampshire, England, at the age of 90.
- English jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader Nathaniel Gonella, founder of the big band The Georgians, died at the age of 90.
- The final new episode of the talk show “The Magic Hour” was broadcast. Musical guests were Boys II Men, Simply Red, Mary J. Blige and Hanson.
- Dick Latvala died at the age of 56 after falling into a coma caused by a heart attack. From the early 1980s, he managed The Grateful Dead's archive of live recordings, which later became the “Dick's Picks” album series.
- It was announced that Ice-T would play a detective in the television series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
- Whitney Houston signed a new contract with Arista Records reportedly worth more than $100 million.
- Rick James, known as “The King of Punk-Funk,” was found dead at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 56. His album “Street Songs” reached No. 3 on the U.S. chart and the single “Super Freak part 1” reached No. 16. During his career, he placed thirteen albums on the Billboard 200 and 29 singles on the R&B chart. He also worked as a songwriter and producer for Motown.
- Carlo Little, The Rolling Stones' original drummer from 1962 to 1963, died in Cleadon, Tyne and Wear, England, at the age of 66 from lung cancer.
- The nineteenth U.S. installment of the “Now That's What I Call Music!” series reached No. 1 on the U.S. chart. The compilation featured songs by artists including Gwen Stefani, Eminem, Shakira, Coldplay, Destiny's Child and Gorillaz.
- Marilyn Manson was sued by former band member Stephen Bier, known as Madonna Wayne Gacy, who claimed that Manson owed him $20 million in profit shares. Bier also claimed that he had not been properly paid for nearly two decades with the band.
- Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fell from the stage into the crowd during a concert at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota after improvising for waiting fans on the front stage during a sound outage. He suffered a fractured left shoulder, a deep head laceration requiring 20 stitches and minor neck injuries. He was airlifted to Rapid City Regional Hospital, and the remainder of Aerosmith's 2009 North American summer tour was canceled.
- Willy DeVille, frontman of New York's Mink DeVille, died at the age of 58 after battling pancreatic cancer. In the 1970s, the band regularly performed at CBGB in New York and had the hit “Spanish Stroll.”
- Two weeks after Amy Winehouse's death, her second and final studio album, “Back to Black,” reached No. 1 on the UK album chart and began a three-week run at the top.
- JLS reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “She Makes Me Wanna.” It was their fifth UK No. 1 hit.
- Forbes named Beyoncé and Jay-Z the highest-paid celebrity couple, with combined earnings of $78 million, including $40 million for Beyoncé and $38 million for Jay-Z.
- Florida Georgia Line released the single “Cruise.”
- Composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch died in Los Angeles at the age of 68. He wrote the music for the film “The Way We Were” and was one of only a few people to receive Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards.
- Elvis Presley's recording sessions at Stax Records in Memphis were released together for the first time as “Elvis at Stax: Deluxe Edition.” The three-disc box set also contained alternate recordings and rare photographs from the July and December 1973 sessions and reached No. 70 on the UK album chart.
- The musical “Hamilton,” a hip-hop-inspired work about the life of Alexander Hamilton, premiered on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre six months after its sold-out Off-Broadway debut.
- The Chemical Brothers reached No. 1 on the UK album chart with their eighth studio album, “Born in the Echoes.”
- Spotify reported that “The Girl From Ipanema” had been streamed more than 40,000 times after it was played during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
- In a long-running copyright dispute over the opening riff of “Stairway to Heaven,” a new legal filing was submitted in support of Led Zeppelin. Signatories included members of Korn, Tool, Judas Priest and Linkin Park, and a total of 123 musicians joined the amicus curiae filing.
- British music producer and audio engineer Martin Birch died at the age of 71. He was known for producing and engineering albums by British rock bands including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.
- Taylor Swift reached No. 1 on the UK album chart with her eighth studio album, “Folklore.” The album reached No. 1 in 16 countries.
- English rock and pop singer Wayne Fontana, born Glyn Geoffrey Ellis, died at the age of 74 from cancer. With The Mindbenders, he reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “The Game of Love” in 1965.
- Beyoncé reached No. 1 on the UK chart with her seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” which was also her first solo studio album since 2016's “Lemonade” and the first installment of a planned trilogy. The album debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, becoming her seventh consecutive album to top the chart.
- Pitbull became the first artist to acquire naming rights to a stadium when he signed a 10-year, $12 million agreement with Florida International University to rename its stadium Pitbull Stadium. The deal also included the opportunity to host concerts and festivals there.