Rock and Metal History, February 4
1941: John Steel, original drummer of the Animals, was born in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, England.
1948: Alice Cooper (real name Vincent Furnier) was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1951: Phil Ehart, the original drummer of Kansas, was born in Coffeyville, Kansas.
1966: The Rolling Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown" was released in the U.K.
- The Who play their first show as headliners, at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, England. Also appearing are The Fortunes and The Merseys.
1967: The Monkees climbed to the top of the Album chart in the U.K. with their self-titled debut, which would stay #1 for seven weeks.
1968: The Beatles recorded "Across The Universe" at Abbey Road studios in London.
1977: Fleetwood Mac's album "Rumours" was released.
1980: The Eagles released the single "I Can't Tell You Why".
1984: Paul Gardiner, bassist for Gary Numan ("Cars" from 1980) died from drugs.
1997: The Offspring return with their fourth studio album, Ixnay on the Hombre - the follow-up to their 1994 breakthrough album Smash and the band's first after signing to Columbia Records in 1996.
2013: Reg Presley (lead singer The Troggs) dies of lung cancer, coupled with a series of strokes, at age 71.
2016: Maurice White, co-founder, songwriter, arranger, drummer and leader of Earth, Wind & Fire, died in his sleep in Los Angeles.
2017: Black Sabbath play the final concert of their farewell tour at the Genting Arena in their English home city of Birmingham. Their final song of the night, "Paranoid," is streamed live on Facebook so fans around the world can witness the historic moment onstage.
2022: Saxon released their 23rd album Carpe Diem. Four years shy of reaching their fiftieth anniversary, the South Yorkshire metal institution Saxon released their new album – the first of original material since 2018’s “Thunderbolt”.
