22nd December

Viola Wells dies in Belleville, New Jersey, USA, aged 82. Often referred to as Miss Rhapsody, she was one of America's most successful jazz and gospel vocalists of the 30s and 40s.

Popular jazz and blues singer Viola Wells, nicknamed "The Ebony Stick Of Dynamite" and "Miss Rhapsody", dies aged 82 in New York City, USA.

Legendary reggae producer and artist Lee 'Scratch' Perry and The Upsetters play at Dingwalls, Camden Town, London, England, UK, Europe.

Bernhard Hugo Goetz shoots four alleged teenage muggers on a No. 2 subway train in Manhattan, New York City, USA. He will be arrested and convicted - but only for illegal possession of a firearm, and will come to symbolize New Yorkers' frustrations with the high crime rates of the early 1980s. The incident will spark a nationwide debate on race and crime in major cities, and will also inspire numerous songs. In 1986, British prog-rock band Pallas will release the song The Executioner [Bernie Goetz A Gun] on their album The Wedge. He will also be listed in the Billy Joel song We Didn't Start the Fire, in Hold On by Lou Reed, Stop That Train by the Beastie Boys, Subway Vigilante by Ronny And The Urban Watchdogs, The Saga of Bernhard Goetz by Otto von Wernherr, and Shoot His Load by Agnostic Front.