January 29th: Born on this day

1968 Richard Battersby, drums, The Wildhearts, (1996 UK No.14 single 'Sick Of Drugs').

1964, Roddy Frame, guitarist, singer, songwriter, Aztec Camera, (1988 UK No.3 single 'Somewhere In My Heart').

1962, Marcus Verne, Living In A Box, (1987 UK No.5 single 'Living In A Box').

1961, Dave Baynton-Power, drums, James, (1991 UK No.2 single 'Sit Down').

1961, Eddie Jackson, Queensryche, (1992 UK No.18 single 'Silent Lucidity').

1961, Pauline Henry, singer. (1993 UK solo No.12 single with Bad Company song 'Feel Like Making Love', 1990 UK No.6 single with The Chimes, 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For').

1954, Rob Manzoli, Right Said Fred, (1991 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘I’m Too Sexy’, 1993 UK No.1 album ‘Up’).

1953, Louie Perez, Los Lobos, (1987 UK & US No.1 single 'La Bamba').

1952, Thomas Erdelyi, (Tommy Ramone), drums, The Ramones, (1977 UK No.22 single 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker').

1947, David Byron, vocals, Uriah Heep, died 28/2/85, (1975 UK No.7 album 'Return To Fantasy').

1944, Andrew Loog Oldham, the first Rolling Stones manager.

1943, Tony Blackburn, DJ on Radio Caroline and the first D.J. on BBC Radio One. (The first song played was 'Flowers In The Rain by The Move'). Blackburn was crowned 'King of the jungle' in 2003 after winning on the UK TV show 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here' set in the Australian outback.

1943, Mark Wynter, UK singer, (1962 UK No.4 single 'Venus In Blue Jeans').

1938, James Jamerson, bass played, The Funk Brothers, died of a heart attack 2/8/83 aged 45. Played on many Motown hits by The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Martha And The Vandellas.

1933, French singer and guitarist Sacha Distel. 1970 UK No.10 single 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.' Died after a long battle with deteriorating health on 22/7/04.

1929, Bernard Stanley Bilk, (Acker Bilk), bandleader, (1962 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Stranger On The Shore').

1889, Leadbelly, (Hurrdi William Ledbetter), Blues musician, died 6/12/49. Wrote 'Goodnight Irene', 'The Rock Island Line', 'The Midnight Special,' once jailed for shooting a man dead during an argument over a woman.

January 29th:

1992, Willie Dixon, blues singer and guitarist died. Wrote classic songs: ‘You Shook Me’, I Can’t Quit You Baby’, ‘Little Red Rooster.’ Major influence on The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.