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Desmond Bernard O'Connor is born in Stepney, East London, England, UK, Europe. He will find huge success as popular comedian, tv entertainer and singer Des O'Connor. As a singer, he will enjoy a successful career including four Top 10 hits and over 35 albums.Under the name Jelly Jaw Short, blues singer and guitarist J.D. Short records
Snake Doctor Blues, Barefoot Blues, Let Me Mash That Thing and
Grand Daddy Blues, for Vocalion
Records in New York City, USA.
Jazz clarinettist, bandleader and recording artist Johnny Dodds, currently in residency at the 9570 Club, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, sends a postcard to his friend William Russell, explaining that he is to have his teeth removed, which will require him to take a break from performing. 
Having lost his voice, Roy Orbison is unable to speak at a press conference planned for today in London, England, UK, Europe, to promote his upcoming British tour.Jack Crystal (concert promoter and co-founder, with Milton Gabler, of Commodore Records) dies, aged 54, of a heart attack in a bowling alley in Long Beach, Long Island, New York State, USA.
Music trade magazine 
Promoter Lee Gordon, who was responsible for bringing 472 American entertainers to Australia between 1957 and 1962, is found dead from a coronary occlusion, in a hotel in Kensington, London, England, UK, Europe.
Popular country music performer Cousin Herb Henson dies aged 38, in Bakersfield, California, USA, of a heart attack.
Blues guitarist and singer-songwriter J.B. Lenoir dies in Urbana, Illinois, USA, aged 38, from a heart attack following injuries suffered in a car accident three weeks earlier. His death will inspire John Mayall to write the song The Death Of J.B.Lenoir which will appear on the album Crusade by John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers.
Clara Ward And The Ward Singers play the second of two nights of benefit shows for The Shrine Crippled Children's Hospital, at The Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Blues/r'n'b shouter Wynonie Harris dies of throat cancer in Oakland, California, USA, aged 53.
As Bob Dylan is about to leave New York City, USA, aboard the QE2, to headline the Isle Of Wight Festival in England, his son Jesse injures his head and Dylan rushes to hospital with him.
Alfred Newman, one of the most important and influential composers in the history of the movies, dies aged 69, from complications of emphysema, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. His scores include The King And I, South Pacific, How The West Was Won and many more.
Karen Carpenter, of The Carpenters, now weighing a mere 90lb, begins two months of resting, hopefully to get over her anorexia. A UK tour is cancelled.Police officer Daniel Faulkner and journalist/cab driver Mumia
Abu-Jamal are involved in an altercation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, during which both are shot. Faulkner dies at
the scene, while Abu-Jamal is hospitalised, and later found
guilty of murder. The verdict is widely disputed and will inspire
the songs The Murder Of Daniel
Faulkner by Hurtsmile, and Free
Mumia by KRS-One.
Suffering from anorexia nervosa, Karen Carpenter makes her last live appearance with The Carpenters at a gig in Sherman, California, USA. She will die less than two months later, aged 32 from heart failure caused by complications of the illness.
Elton John is undergoing six weeks of rehab treatment for bulimia and also for his drug and alcohol addictions, in the Parkside Lutheran Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Lew DeWitt, a founding member of The Statler Brothers, dies in Waynesboro, Virginia, USA, of complications of Crohn's disease, a condition which had obliged him to leave the group back in 1982.
Dizzy Gillespie's 75th Birthday Concert is held at Carnegie Hall, New York City, USA. Unfortunately Dizzy cannot take part as he is dying of pancreatic cancer. Nevertheless, Jon Faddis, Marvin "Doc" Holladay, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums play his music in his honour.Jazz guitarist and banjo player Danny Barker, who worked with Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder, Benny Carter and many others, dies of cancer aged 85, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Jim Ellison, frontman of Chicago-based 90s alternative rock band Material Issue, commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in his car in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The reasons for his suicide are not made public.
On the HIStory World Tour, Michael Jackson plays the second of three nights at the Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Holland.
Legendary Italian music promoter Franco Mamone dies in hospital in Milan, Italy, Europe, eight days after having collapsed with heart failure. As the head of promoting company Commusications, he was considered the first of the modern generation of Italian rock promoters and managers. From the seventies, he organized concerts by Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen and countless others.
Rob Heaton, drummer of British punk band New Model Army, dies of pancreatic cancer in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK.
Marc Cohn, best-known for
his hit Walking In Memphis, is shot in the head by a car-jacking suspect fleeing from the police in Denver, Colorado, USA. Fortunately, the injury is minor and Cohn is detained only briefly in hospital. Cohn is in Denver for a concert with Suzanne Vega but the rest of his apperances on her tour have to be cancelled.
Billie Calvin, a founder member of psychedelic soul group The Undisputed Truth, dies of heart disease aged 58 in Mureitta, California, USA.Mort Garson, composer, arranger, songwriter, and pioneer of electronic music, dies aged 83 of renal failure in San Francisco, California, USA.
Four men are hospitalised in Brookdale Hospital, New York City, following knifing incidents at an afterparty for the film premiere of the Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious at the Brooklyn nightclub Djumbala.
Innovative mutliple Oscar-winning filmscore composer Maurice Jarre, whose music graced such classic movies as Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage To India, dies in Los Angeles, aged 84.
Aerosmith officially cancel the remaining dates in their tour of the USA following an accident in which Steven Tyler broke his shoulder in a fall from the stage fall a week earlier. Z.Z.Top, special guests on the tour, decide to continue on tour without the headline band.
Jazz drummer Edgar Bateman Jr, who played with Herbie Hancock, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin and others, dies aged 81 following a heart attack, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Ali-Ollie Woodson, who had sung with The Temptations since 1984, and had been a member of The Drifters in the 1970s, dies of leukemia, aged 58, in Los Angeles, California, USA.Harvey James, guitarist with the Australian bands Mississippi, Ariel, Sherbet and The Party Boys, dies of lung cancer aged 58 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
On his Valentine's Day Brawl tour, Josh Ritter plays at The Trocadero, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Jet Harris, best-remembered as bassist with The Shadows, dies at his partner's home in Winchester, England, UK, Europe, two years after being diagnosed with cancer.
The Stooges' drummer, Scott Asheton, falls ill immediately after the band plays at Hellfest, Clisson, France, Europe. Asheton becomes ill on the plane to the UK, and is rushed straight to hospital on landing.Keyboardist and harmonica player Ray Deville, dies in Russells Hall Hospital, Stourbridge, UK, after suffering a stroke. In the 1960s, Deville toured as organ and harmonica player with Jamaican teenager Millie Small of My Boy Lollipop fame. As part of her backing group, The Five Embers, he shared stages with The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies and Lulu.
Elton John begins recuperating at his mansion in Nice, France, Europe, after having had his appendix removed in an operation at Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco, Europe. He was recently forced to cancel several concerts because of appendicitis.
Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, the boxer who inspired the Bob Dylan song Hurricane, dies aged 76 in his sleep at home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, having recently suffered from prostate cancer.
Ed Gagliardi, the original bassist for Foreigner from 1976 to 1979, dies aged 62 in New York State after eight years of battling cancer.
Lemmy, founder, singer, songwriter and bassist of Motorhead, dies of prostate cancer, aged 70, at his home in Los Angeles, California, USA, just days after having his condition diagnosed.
Lonnie Mack dies aged 74 of natural causes at a country hospital near his log-cabin home, seventy miles east of Nashville, Tennessee, USA.Philly soul star Billy Paul dies as a result of pancreatic cancer, aged 81, in Blackwood, New Jersey, USA.
Singer-songwriter 
It is reported that Aretha Franklin is gravely ill at her home near Detroit, Michigan, USA. It is stated that she is surrounded by friends and family and "under hospice care". Stevie Wonder and Jesse Jackson, among others, have lately visited her.
Gerry Marsden, leader of 60s hitmakers Gerry And The Pacemakers, is admitted to Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside, England, UK, Europe, after being diagnosed with a blood infection in his heart.
Rosa Lee Hawkins, the youngest member of the musical trio the Dixie Cups, whose hit single Chapel of Love reached No. 1 on the Billboard 100 in 1964, dies aged 76 of internal bleeding resulting from complications during surgery at Tampa General Hospital, in Tampa, Florida, USA.
Toots Hibbert, founder of Toots And The Maytals, dies aged 77 at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, due to complications of COVID-19.
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