This Day in Rock & Roll History for January 31

The late Terry Kath, guitarist with Chicago, is born. (1946)

Former Genesis drummer and lead singer Phil Collins, Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music and Harry "K.C." Casey of K.C. and the Sunshine Band are born. (1951)

John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) is born. (1956)

Jimmy Jones' "Handy Man" enters the R&B chart, soon to be #3. The song is written and produced by Otis Blackwell. James Taylor will make it a #4 pop hit in 1977. (1960)

John Fred and his Playboy Band's "Judy in Disguise" and the American Breed's "Bend Me, Shape Me" are certified gold. Neither group came even close to selling that many records with any other release. (1968)

More than 40,000 mourners file past Mahalia Jackson's open coffin in Chicago's Great Salem Baptist Church. Funeral services are held the next day. Those in attendace are Coretta Scott King, Mayor Richard Daley and Sammy Davis, Jr. who reads a telegram from President Nixon. Aretha Franklin closed things by singing "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." (1972)

Joan Baez claims a gold record for her album "Any Day Now," which was made up solely of songs by Bob Dylan. The LP went gold three years after its release. (1972)

Blood Sweat & Tears saxophone player Greg Herbert dies of an accidental drug overdose in Amsterdam during the band's European tour. He was 30 years age. (1978)

The Clash begin their first U.S. tour with Bo Diddley as their opening act. (1979)

Female disco duo A Taste of Honey enter the soul chart with a disco remake of Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 hits Number One hit, "Sukiyaki." The latter peaks at Number One on the soul chart. It makes it to the pop chart in March and climbs to #3. (1981)

Barbara Cowsill, mother of the group The Cowsills, dies in Arizona. (1985)

"Down and Out in Beverly Hills", co-starring Little Richard, opens. (1986)

The "Come Together" benefit concert is held at a small New Jersey shore theatre. The show was a benefit for the family of Sgt. Patrick King, a Long Branch, NJ, police officer killed in the line of duty in the fall of 1997. The show was a 3 1/2 hour jam which featured Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, Little Steven and a host of New Jersey musicians. It was a practical E Street Band reunion, with Max Weinberg, Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons joining in. The show featured tunes such as "Tenth Avenue Freezeout," "Backstreets," "Livin' On A Prayer," "Thunder Road," "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "Born To Run." (1998)

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