Today in rock history 27th April

1947 – Badfinger’s Pete Ham is born in Swansea, Wales.

1948 – Kate Pierson of The B-52s is born in Weehawken, N.J.

1951 – Guitarist Ace Frehley (Paul Frehley) of Kiss is born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

1956 – Gene Vincent gets the call from Capitol Records, which tells the “Be-Bop-a-Lula” singer it wants to market him as its equivalent of RCA’s Elvis Presley.

1964 – John Lennon’s book In His Own Write is published in the U.S. Newsweek declares that the Beatles singer/guitarist is “an unlikely heir to the English tradition of literary nonsense.”

1966 – The Beatles finished recording the new John Lennon song ‘I’m Only Sleeping’ at Abbey Road studios London, England.

1969 - Joe Cocker makes his debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1969 – A court finds John Lennon’s erotic lithographs “unlikely to deprave or corrupt,” and his exhibition in London is reopened.

1975 – Pink Floyd played the last of a four night run at Los Angeles’ Sports Arena. A total of 511 fans were arrested over the four nights for possession of marijuana.

1976 – Customs officers on a train at the Russian/Polish Border detained David Bowie, after Nazi books and mementoes were found in his luggage. Bowie claimed that the material was being used for research on a movie project about Nazi propaganda leader Joseph Paul Goebbels.

1981 – Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr marries actress Barbara Bach.

1982 – Frank Zappa releases “Valley Girl.” Featuring the rantings of his daughter Moon Unit Zappa, the song would go on to become his biggest pop hit, reaching No. 32.

1990 – David Bowie claims he will play his old material for the last time on his current Sound + Vision tour, the American leg of which begins today.

1994 – The historic Fillmore club reopens in San Francisco. The opening acts include Smashing Pumpkins, Ry Cooder & David Lindley and American Music Club.

2003 – Iggy Pop reunites with the Stooges for the first time in decades on the closing night of California’s Coachella Festival.

2004 – Radiohead is forced to cancel its show in Melbourne after lead singer Thom Yorke develops severe problems with his voice.

2006 – Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards suffers a brain hemorrhage after falling out of a palm tree on the island of Fiji. The Richards family were on vacation. Doctors say the rock warhorse will need an operation to drain his skull.

2010 – Billy Corgan has launched a Twitter tirade against Courtney Love, who’s now known as Courtney Michelle.

2010 – A movie based on the life of Ozzy Osbourne is to go into production imminently.

2017 - Guitarist Craig Chaquico filed a lawsuit to prevent some of his former bandmates from using the name Jefferson Starship. Chaquico said the band's members agreed to retire the name after founding member Paul Kantner left the group in 1985.