This Day in Rock & Roll History for January 4

Michael Stipe, vocalist with R.E.M., is born. (1960)

Fats Domino records "I'm Walkin'" in New Orleans. The single will reach #4 on the pop chart and Number One on the R&B chart in April. (1957)

Former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis appears on "The Steve Allen Show" to introduce singer Solomon Burke, who performs Louis' "You Can Run, but You Can't Hide." (1957)

Billboard gives the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" a spotlight review: "This is the hot British group that has struck gold overseas. Side A is a driving rocker with surf-on-the-Thames sound and strong vocal work from the group." (1964)

Fender Guitars is sold to CBS for $13 million. Fender guitars, along with Gibson's, are a favorite brand among rock & rollers. (1965)

The film "Performance" starring Mick Jagger debuts in London two years after it was in the can. He stars as a jaded decadent rock star and at one point shares a bathtub and a bed with actress Anita Pallenberg, the live-in girlfriend of Keith Richards and the former girlfriend of the late Brian Jones. (1971)

Rolling Stone magazine has the announcment that the Allman Brothers have named Lamar Williams as the replacement for the late Berry Oakley on bass. (1973)

Mal Evans, former roadie and bodyguard of the Beatles, is shot to death by police at his Los Angeles apartment. His girlfriend, Fran Hughes, found him upset and despondent and when friends couldn't get Evans to release the unloaded rifle he was holding, they called police. At one point, Evans supposedly pointed the gun at police officers; they opened fire. He was 40 years old. (1976)

With Beatlemania continuing throughout the world, the Star club in Hamburg, Germany, where the Beatles gained a lot of their early experience, reopens. (1979)

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