This Day in Rock & Roll History for January 14

Disc jockey Alan Freed begins his first New York area Rock & Roll Ball, a two night affair which is held at the Saint Nicholas Arena in Harlem. Both shows at the 6,000 seat arena are sold out in advance, bringing in $24,000. Those appearing on stage include Big Joe Turner, the Clovers, Fats Domino, the Moonglows, Drifters and the Harptones. (1955)

Elvis Presley is promoted to Sgt. in the U.S. Army. (1960)

Britain's Parlophone Records releases the single "Can't Help Thinking About Me" backed with "And I Say to Myself" by David Bowie and the Lower Third. Bowie had only recently changed his name from Jones to avoid confusion between himself and young theatre star Davy Jones, later of the Monkees. (1966)

David Jones changes his last name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from the Monkees. (1966)

The first "Human Be-In" is held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Among the performers are The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane. (1967)

Rapper LL Cool J is born. (1968)

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana is born. (1969)

Diana Ross performs for the last time with the Supremes during a show in Las Vegas. (1970)

Elvis Presley draws the largest worldwide TV audience ever with a live concert, "Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii," telecast from the Honolulu International Center. The event is later released as a two record set and is one of the singer's best selling LPs of the '70s, hitting Number One this year. (1973)

Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh is busted on drugs in California. (1973)

Pop vocal trio Three Dog Night earn its 12th and last gold record for the album "Joy to the World-- Their Greatest Hits." Also on this day, Joe Walsh earns a gold record for his third solo album, "So What." He will go on to join the Eagles next year. (1975)

The Sex Pistols play their last concert before breaking up in San Francisco. They would reunite (without Sid Vicious) in 1996 for a very unsuccessful tour. (1978)

Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" becomes Britain's biggest selling single ever with sales approaching three million only weeks after its release. (1985)

Paul McCartney releases his album "Back In The U.S.S.R." exclusively in Russia. Bootleg copies sold for as much as $1,000 in the United States. (1989)

The January 14th issue of Rolling Stone magazine reveals that the two children of rocker Melissa Etheridge and her partner Julie Cypher were fathered by David Crosby. (2000)

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