back to the 80s. best decade ever

1940 Peter Fonda, American actor (Easy Rider, Ulee’s Gold), born in NYC, New York (d. 2019)
1952 – American musician Brad Whitford, guitarist with Aerosmith who scored the 1989 UK No.13 single ‘Love In An Elevator’. They had the 1993 US No.1 & UK No.2 album Get A Grip and the 1998 US No. 1 & UK No. 4 single ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’, Aerosmith is the best-selling American hard rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.
1955 – Zeke Manyika, (born in Zimbabwe) drummer, vocalist and songwriter. With Orange Juice he had the 1983 UK No.8 single ‘Rip It Up’. He also worked with The Style Council (‘Speak Like a Child’ and ‘A Solid Bond in Your Heart’) and later toured with Paul Weller.
1955 – English musician, singer and songwriter Howard Jones, who had the 1983 UK No.2 single ‘What Is Love’, plus 9 other UK Top 40 singles. His 1984 album Human’s Lib spent over a year on the UK chart. He also scored the 1986 US No.4 single ‘No One Is To Blame’. Jones has also been a member of Ringo Starr’s All Star Band.
1958 – David Sylvian singer with British group Japan who had the 1982 UK 5 single ‘Ghosts’. Sylvian also works as a solo artist.
1962 – Michael Wilton, American heavy metal and hard rock guitarist and songwriter, best known for being a lead and rhythm guitarist in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, which he co-founded in 1982.
1963 – Rob Collins, keyboards with British indie group The Charlatans who had the 1990 UK No.9 single ‘The Only One I Know’. In 1992 Collins was arrested and charged with armed robbery on an off-licence near his home and was sentenced to 8 months imprisonment. Collins was killed in a car crash 23rd July 1996.
1967 – Chris Vrenna, Grammy-winning producer, engineer, worked with Tweaker, Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, U2, Weezer, David Bowie, The Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Marilyn Manson and the Japanese rock band Dir en grey.

1985 – Bruce Springsteen and a small group of friends went out for a boy’s night out in Lake Oswego, Oregon, two nights before his wedding to Julianne Phillips. Drinking in the Gemini pub Springsteen sang a number of songs, karaoke-style, to his own records in the jukebox.

1985 – UK producer and keyboard player Paul Hardcastle was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ’19’. The title referred to the average age of American soldiers in the Vietnam War and features dialogue by television narrator Peter Thomas, and a strong anti-war message.

1981 – Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley died aged 36. In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe, Marley’s health deteriorated as the cancer had spread throughout his body. Marley had the 1981 single ‘No Woman No Cry’, plus over ten other UK Top 40 singles. In 1990, the 6th February was proclaimed a national holiday in Jamaica to commemorate his birth. The compilation album, Legend, released in 1984, is the best-selling reggae album ever with sales of more than 20 million copies. Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th

1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cats” (based on poetry by T. S. Eliot) directed by Trevor Nunn first premieres in the West End, London

1985 Madonna’s “Crazy For You” single goes #1

1989 217th & final episode of TV soap “Dynasty” is aired

1987 1st heart-lung transplant take place in Baltimore

1985 Dave Concepcion becomes 4th Cincinnati Red teammate to get 2,000 hits, others include Pete Rose, Tony Perez and César Cedeño

1984 Transit of Earth as seen on Mars