[Gravdigr]

On this day:

1963 - The first Monterey Folk Festival took place over three days in Monterey, California. The festival featured Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Peter Paul and Mary. The 1967 Monterey Rock festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by Jimi Hendrix and The Who as well as the first major public performances of Janis Joplin. It was also the first major performance by Otis Redding in front of a predominantly white audience.

1964 - Bob Dylan made his first major concert UK appearance when he played at the Royal Festival Hall in London with an afternoon show listed as a ‘Folksong Concert’. Dylan's 18-song set included the live debut of Mr. Tambourine Man and took place on a Sunday afternoon. In the interval, Dylan received a telegram from John Lennon seeking a meeting which never materialized.

1966 - During a UK tour, Bob Dylan appeared at The Free Trade Hall in Manchester. This was the concert where a member of the audience shouted out ‘Judas’ at Dylan unhappy with the singer's move from acoustic to electric. Dylan replied with "You’re a liar", the entire concert was eventually officially released in The Bootleg Series by Sony Music in 1999.

1971 - [Tony Orlando &] Dawn were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Knock Three Times', the group's first of two UK No.1's. Singer Tony Orlando had retired from singing when he was persuaded to front Dawn for studio recordings.

1975 - Elton John was awarded a Platinum Record for sales of a million copies of the LP 'Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy', the first album ever to be certified Platinum on the day of its release.

1987 - A fire destroyed Tom Petty's house in Los Angeles, the cost was estimated at $800,000.

1996 - US blues guitarist Johnny Guitar Watson died of a heart attack while on tour in Yokohama, Japan. According to eyewitness reports, he collapsed mid guitar solo. His last words were "ain't that a bitch."

2006 - Paul McCartney and his wife Heather Mills admitted that they had given up the fight to save their marriage, saying that after four years together, they were going their separate ways.

2012 - Donna Summer, the 1970s pop singer known as the Queen of Disco, died of lung cancer, an illness she believed she contracted from inhaling toxic particles released after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

2013, Bob Dylan was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Dylan, who was unable to attend the New York ceremony, said he felt "extremely honoured" and "lucky" to be admitted.