July 29th

1946
REO Speedwagon keyboardist Neal Doughty is born.

1953
Geddy Lee, bassist and vocals for Rush, was born.
Rush "Tom Sawyer"

1956
Bruce Springsteen's wife, E Street Band guitarist and vocalist Patty Scialfa celebrates a birthday.

1959
The Isley Brothers record "Shout." The song reaches No. 47. Joey Dee & the Starliters take the song to No. 6 in 1962.

1961
Dick Clark premieres his summer stage show, the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars, at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City.

1963
After a four year hiatus, the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island reopens. Those getting thumbs-up from the crowd include Joan Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Bob Dylan.

1963
Peter, Paul and Mary's "Blowin' In The Wind" is released.

1965
The Beatles film Help! debuts at London's Pavillion Theatre. Another sell-out crowd attends (including Queen Elizabeth) while critics are bemused.

1966
Bob Dylan crashes his Triumph 55 motorcycle while riding near Woodstock, New York. He is sent to Middletown Hospital with several broken neck vertebrae, a concussion, and cuts on his face and scalp. He remains in serious condition for a week suffering mild amnesia, paralysis and internal injuries for about a month. The rumor mill begins with Dylan in a coma, becoming a vegetable, never performing again, dodging the draft, passing on, or lost his mind due to drug use.

1967
The Temptations' "You're My Everything" is released.

1968
The Byrds leave on their tour of South Africa without Gram Parsons. He refuses to set foot in a country where apartheid is official policy.

1970
The Rolling Stones' contract with Decca Records has expired and they're talking about starting their own label. They inform their business manager, Allen Klein, that "neither he nor ABKCO Industries have any authority to negotiate recording contracts on their behalf."

1973
Led Zeppelin, in the middle of a very successful U.S. tour, are the victims of one of the largest cash thefts in New York City. $180,000 is taken from the band's deposit box at the Drake Hotel. The money is mostly cash receipts from the first of two night at Madison Square Garden.

1974
Mama Cass Elliot, a one-time member of the Mama's & Papa's, dies in London. A postmortem the following day shows she died as a result of choking on a sandwich and from inhaling her own vomit. It's later revealed that she suffered a heart attack. She was 32.
Mama Cass Elliot "Make Your Own Kind of Music"

1976
Eric Clapton begins his first tour of Britain in five years. He stays three weeks, starting off at Hempstead's Pavillion Theatre.

1978
Earth, Wind & Fire enter the soul chart with their version of the Beatles "Got to Get You into My Life," from the "Sgt. Pepper" soundtrack. It makes it to number one for a week in September.

1978
Kenny Loggins "Whenever I Call You Friend" is released.

1980
David Bowie makes his theatrical debut as the title role in "The Elephant Man." Bowie will leave the Denver production and take the lead role in the New York production on Broadway. The critical reaction was favorable.

1982
Duran Duran's Andy Taylor marries Tracie Wilson in Los Angeles.
Bad Company with special guest Andy Taylor at Cafe Milano, Nashville 1997

1987
Michigan's governor announces an annual "Four Tops Day" to honor the group's contribution to American music.

1998
Miramax Films co-chairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein announce that although money can’t buy you love, it can buy them all rights to the Beatles' landmark film A Hard Day’s Night. Miramax announces plans to release the 1964 classic later that year for its 35th anniversary with new footage, a fully restored negative, and digitally remastered, six-track stereo sound.

1998
The first headlining tour of matchbox 20 begins at UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.

1999
Anita Carter, singer and stand-up bass player for country act the Carter Sisters, dies at home in Nashville. She is 66.

2000
'N Sync's annual Challenge For The Children celebrity basketball game, held at St. John's University in New York, raises $550,000 for a group of charities. The event sees musicians Queen Latifah, Youngbloodz, Jordan Knight, and Pink, actors Dean Winters and Duane Martin, and MTV VJ Ananda Lewis join members of 'N Sync in a star studded game.

2003
Bobby Thompson, Ozzy Osbourne’s longtime tour manager, dies in his hotel room in Birmingham, Mich., after a long battle with throat cancer. He is 50.

July 29th Birthdays

• Johann Sebastian Bach 1750
• Booth Tarkington 1869
• Benito Mussolini 1883
• Sigmund Romberg 1887
• Clara Bow 1894
• Melvin Belli 1907
• Stephen McNally 1913
• Richard Egan 1923
• Lloyd Bochner 1924
• Robert Horton 1924
• Ted Lindsay 1925
• Don Carter 1926
• Paul Taylor 1930
• Randy Sparks (New Christy Minstrels) 1933
• Robert Fuller 1934
• Peter Jennings 1938
• David Warner 1941
• Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) 1946
• Ken Burns 1953
• Geddy Lee (Rush) 1953
• Michael Biehn 1956
• Patti Scialfa (E Street Band) 1956
• Alexandra Paul 1963
• Martina McBride 1966
• Chris Gorman (Belly) 1967
• Wil Wheaton 1972
• Stephen Dorff 1973
• Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) 1973