1971

Mountain play at The Fillmore East, New York City, USA.

Three Dog Night file a suit seeking more than $600,000 in back royalties against Dunhill Records in Los Angeles, California, USA.

After six weeks in the Top Ten of the NME's UK albums chart, Bob Dylan's album New Morning takes a tumble to No15.

Black Sabbath release the album Paranoid in the USA.

Bob Dylan has his second telephone conversation with A.J.Weberman , the obsessive fan who has been rummaging through the garbage cans outside his home in New York City, USA.

Ozzy Osbourne’s first daughter, Jessica Starshine, is born.

Eclection play at the Van Dike Club, Plymouth, UK.

Thunderclap Newman play at the Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Jackson 5, including Michael Jackson, play at the Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio, USA.

Fleetwood Mac, Tom Rush and Clover play the second of four nights at the Fillmore West, San Francisco, California, USA.

Sammi Smith reaches No1 in the Billboard Country Singles Chart in the USA with her version of the Kris Kristofferson composition Help Me Make It Through The Night.

Arlester Christian, vocalist and leader of influential funk band Dyke And The Blazers, is shot dead at the age of 27 on a street in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. It is widely-believed that that drug-dealing played a part in the killing, but the coroner's report showed no alcohol or narcotics in Christian's system. The case against his alleged killer, Clarence Daniels, will be dismissed because of "evidence indicating self-defense."

Bob Dylan spends the second of four days recording tracks, including When I Paint My Masterpiece, at Blue Rock Studio, New York City, USA. Leon Russell and Bob Johnston are acting as co-producers.

Ernest Carl "Wimpy" Jones, a former member of Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys, dies.

Chicago play the first night of a week at Carnegie Hall, New York City, USA. The entire week of shows is recorded and will be released as a 4-LP set entitled Chicago At Carnegie Hall. It will become the best-selling box set by a rock act, until 1986 when Bruce Springsteen releases the Live/1975-85 5 LP live box.

Stevie Wonder releases a new LP, Where I'm Coming From, on Motown Records in the USA. It will debut on the Billboard Pop Albums at No62, and on the Billboard R'n'B Albums Chart at No10.

Black Sabbath begin a Scandinavian tour in Copenhagen, Denmark, Europe.

Deep Purple play in Brussels, Belgium, Europe.

The Edgar Broughton Band play at McIlroy's Ballroom, Swindon.

The Archie Shepp Group records Dr King - The Peaceful Warrior [inspired by Martin Luther King] and Money Blues Parts 1 - 3 for Impulse Records at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA.

Pete Cetera of rock band Chicago undergoes five hours of emergency surgery after losing four teeth in a fight at a Chicago Cubs - Dodgers baseball game during which four rednecks decided they didn't like the length of his hair.

Pink Floyd play at Philips Veranstal Tungshalle, Dusseldorf, West Germany, Europe.

Pink Floyd play at The Sportpalast, West Berlin, West Germany, Europe.

Maybe Tomorrow by The Jackson 5, including Michael Jackson, enters the Billboard Black Singles chart, where it will peak at No3 during an eight-week run.

The Jackson 5, including Michael Jackson, play at the Olympia Stadium, Detroit, Michigan.

Gene Harris And The Three Sounds record Put On Train and You Got To Play The Game for Blue Note Records at United Artists Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA. The rhythm track of Put On Train will 'inspire' the rhythm track of What Comes Around (1989) by The Beastie Boys.

Jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson plus Japanese jazz stars Terumasa Hino, Kousuke Mine and Masabumi Kikuchi play in the Toshi Center Hall, Tokyo, Japan.

Black Sabbath play in Cincinnati Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, supported by Alice Cooper and Edgar Winter’s White Trash.

Black Sabbath play in Ungano’s Ritz, Staten Island, New York State, USA, supported by Sweathog.

Black Sabbath play in the Place Des Nations, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd records The Little Rasti, in A And M Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA, for Blue Note Records.

Chuck Berry, Silver Hawk, Sunday Funnies, Springwell Rumor, The Mike Quatro Jam Band and others play at Sherwood Forest, Davison, Michigan, USA.

Led Zeppelin play in Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Led Zeppelin play the first of two nights at Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, California.

Chris Criswell, who played steel guitar with Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys, dies in Tampa, Florida, USA.

The Jackson 5, including Michael Jackson appear on the cover of prestigious US magazine Life.

Berkeley-based band Country Joe and The Fish play at Curtis Hixon Hall, Tampa, Florida, with The James Gang.

Black Sabbath play in The Memorial Hall, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

Weather Report play at The Beacon Theatre, New York City, USA.

Burundi Black by Burundi-Steiphenson-Black enters the UK singles chart where it will peak at No31 during a fourteen-week run on the chart. Burundi-Steiphenson-Black is, however, a psuedonym for French musical arranger and filmscore composer Michel Bernholc, who has simply grafted a rock arrangement over the top of a field recording of Burundi Drummers of the Ingoma tribe made in 1967 in East Africa. Bernholc's moment of inspiration will, in its turn, inspire many other rock musicians to explore the same source. Burundi drum rhythms will subsequently be sampled for tracks by Joni Mitchell, Adam And The Ants, Bow Wow Wow, The Beastie Boys, Def Leppard and others.

Yes release their fourth album, Fragile, in the UK.

Former Swindon resident Gilbert O'Sullivan enters the UK pop singles chart with No Matter How I Try, which will peak at No5.

Pink Floyd spend the last of eight days in Studio Europasinor, Paris, France, Europe, working on their concert film Live At Pompeii.

The fund-raising triple-album, Concert For Bangladesh is released in the USA on Apple Records, featuring live performances from George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and others.