Rock and Metal History, a day like today April 5

1948 - English rock drummer Dave Holland best remembered for his stints with Trapeze from 1969 to 1979 and Judas Priest from 1979 to 1989. He died in a hospital in Spain 16 January 2018 aged 69.

1965 - Mike McCready, guitarist, and one of the founding members of Pearl Jam who had the 1992 UK No.15 single Jeremy, the 1993 US No.1 and UK No.2 album Vs and the 1994 US No.1 and UK No.4 album Vitalogy. McCready also has the side project bands Temple of the Dog, Mad Season and The Rockfords

1980 - R.E.M. played their first ever gig when they appeared at St Mary's Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia.

1981 - Canned Heat singer Bob "The Bear" Hite died of a heart attack aged 36. (1970 UK No.2 & US No.26 single 'Let's Work Together'). Played at both the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

1994 - Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Seattle. Cobain's body wasn't discovered until April 8, by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system, who initially believed that Cobain was asleep, until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, "I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now".

1998 - British drummer Cozy Powell (Colin Flooks) was killed when his car smashed into crash barriers on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England. Powell had worked with the Jeff Beck Group, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Brian May, Peter Green and the ELP spin-off Emerson, Lake, and Powell. Powell, known as one of the most driving drummers in rock, had also had hits as a solo artist, including Dance WithThe Devil and The Man In Black, and had fronted his own band, Cozy Powell's Hammer.

2002 - American singer Layne Staley of Alice in Chains was found dead.

2007 - Former Kiss guitarist Mark St. John died from an apparent brain haemorrhage at the age of 51. St. John was Kiss' third official guitarist, having replaced Vinnie Vincent in 1984 and appeared on the album 'Animalize'.

2011 - A statue in tribute to Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain was unveiled in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington, The unveiling marked the 17th anniversary of Cobain's death,