This Day in Rock & Roll History for February 2

Graham Nash is born. (1943)

Petula Clark's first major hit "Majorca," debuts on the U.K. chart. Although the single is the first of a string of Top Twenty hits in the U.K. and Europe, it will be ten years before Clark gets a hit in the U.S. (1955)

Atlantic Records signs the Coasters, and rushes to release their first record, "Down in Mexico," written by new Atlantic writers Leiber and Stoller. (1956)

Fats Domino sings "Blueberry Hill" and "Blue Monday" on Perry Como's television show. (1957)

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper make their last onstage appearances during the GAC Winter Show tour, at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. (1959)

Frankie Avalon's "Venus" is released on Chancellor Records. It will become the teen idol's greatest hit. (1959)

Look Magazine uses the opening line of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life"--"I read the news today oh boy"--to headline its look back at the Sixties. (1970)

NBC-TV debuts its entry into the rock TV shows sweepstakes, "Midnight Special." The program is more middle-of-the-road than ABC's "In Concert" and is hosted by Helen Reddy. (1973)

Keith Emerson injures his hands when a rigged piano prematurely explodes during a concert in San Francisco. He suffers various cuts and a broken fingernail. (1974)

Van Halen signs with Warner Brothers Records. (1978)

Ex-Sex Pistol bass player Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose in the New York City apartment of his present girlfriend, Michelle Robinson. The death is ruled an accident. He was 21 years old. (1979)

In honor of the first anniversary of the death of ex-Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, 1,000 punks march from London's Chelsea section to Hyde Park. Vicious' mother, Ann Beverly, was to have been at the head of the march, however, the night before she was sent to the hospital for a drug overdose. (1980)

REO Speedwagon, the journeyman band that almost found itself out of deal by the mid-70's, have the biggest album of the year with "Hi-Infidelity," as it goes platinum on this date. It reaches Number One and is there for a total of 14 weeks. (1981)

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