Rock and Metal history, a day like today August 3

1951: John Graham, guitarist with Earth, Wind & Fire, who had the 1975 US No.1 single 'Shining Star', and the 1981 UK No.3 single 'Let's Groove'. The band has received 20 Grammy nominations and were the first African-American act to sell out Madison Square Garden.

1961: American double bass player Lee Rocker with The Stray Cats who spearheaded the neo-rockabilly movement of the early 1980s. They scored the 1980 UK No.9 single 'Runaway Boys', and the 1983 US No.3 single 'Stray Cat Strut'. The Stray Cats sold nearly 10 million albums.

1963: James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter best known for being the co-founder, lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionally performs lead guitar duties and solos, both live and in the studio. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering an advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler. Metallica has won nine Grammy Awards and released ten studio albums, three live albums, four extended plays and 24 singles.

1968:  Steppenwolf, Sonny & Cher, Alice Cooper, Canned Heat, the Chambers Brothers, Country Joe and the Fish, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band were in Costa Mesa for the premiere of the two-day Newport Pop Festival.

The Doors made one of the biggest leaps to #1 in the Rock Era (9-1) with "Hello, I Love You". 

1969: Creedence Clearwater Revival released their third studio album and first US No.1 Green River. It was the second of three albums they released in this year, the first one being Bayou Country and the third Willy and the Poor Boys. The album featured the title track and 'Bad Moon Rising' both of which were major hits in the US.

• Three Dog Night, the Moody Blues, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, Canned Heat, Little Richard, the Sir Douglas Quintet, Dr. John, and Mothers of Invention performed on the final day of the Atlantic City Pop Festival at Atlantic City Race Track in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

1987: Def Leppard released their album "Hysteria."It is the fourth studio album by English hard rock band Def Leppard, released on 3 August 1987 through Mercury Records and reissued on 1 January 2000. It is Def Leppard's best-selling album to date, selling over 120 million copies worldwide, including 12 million in the US, and spawning seven hit singles. The album charted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart.

1973: Stephen Carpenter, from American alternative metal band Deftones, who had the 2003 US No.2 & UK No.7 album Deftones.

Fear of Music

1979: Fear of Music is the third studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, ( Sire Records). It was recorded at locations in New York City during April and May 1979 and was produced by the quartet and Brian Eno. The album reached number 21 on the Billboard 200 and number 33 on the UK Albums Chart, and spawned the singles "Life During Wartime", "I Zimbra", and "Cities".

2003:  Robbie Williams joined former Take That member Mark Owen to sing the group's hit "Back For Good" in Knebworth, England.

2007: Queen guitarist Brian May handed in his astronomy PhD thesis - 36 years after abandoning it to join the band. May had recently carried out observational work in Tenerife, where he studied the formation of "zodiacal dust clouds".