30 Day Song Challenge - Day 08 - A Song That You Know All The Words To

Come Together – The Beatles

Which song to pick out of the thousands that float around your head on a daily basis? Do you show the world your “Pop Tart” ways by admitting to knowing all the words to Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe” or do you go with the hipster song choice that no-one knows? I decided to go with the one song that I am proud to know the words to!

This is a fascinating piece of music, its lyrics are very open to interpretation and I really do think that people misjudge Lennon’s mish mash of words. It’s about a politician and yes that politician did get arrested for possession of marijuana.

Come Together has no chorus and is entirely constructed of verse which at the time was unheard of. It reached number 1 in the US but only #4 in the UK due to the BBC ban on the song.

It is in essence “gobbledygook” as Lennon puts it, but this “gobbledygook” was a hit that reached #202 on Rolling Stone’s The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time & #9 on the 100 Beatles Greatest Songs. The continued fascination with it has led to it being covered so many times that it is undeniable.

Yes, I am very proud! I know all the words to this “gobbledygook” but I like it and it makes me smile! What song do you know all the words to? Hey I admitted the Carly Rae Jepson thing!

THE BEATLES
"Come Together"

(Lennon/McCartney)

Here come old flattop, he come grooving up slowly
He got joo-joo eyeball, he one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker he just do what he please

He wear no shoeshine, he got toe-jam football
He got monkey finger, he shoot coca-cola
He say "I know you, you know me"
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together right now over me

He bag production, he got walrus gumboot
He got Ono sideboard, he one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease
Come together right now over me

[Right!
Come, oh, come, come, come.]

He roller-coaster, he got early warning
He got muddy water, he one mojo filter
He say "One and one and one is three"
Got to be good-looking cos he's so hard to see
Come together right now over me

Oh
Come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah come together
Yeah oh
Come together
Yeah come together

Songfacts: 

-   Timothy Leary was a psychologist who became famous for experimenting with LSD as a way to promote social interaction and raise consciousness. Leary did many experiments on volunteers and himself and felt the drug had many positive qualities if taken correctly. When the government cracked down on LSD, Leary's experiments were stopped and he was arrested on drug charges. In 1969, Leary decided to run for Governor of California, and asked John Lennon to write a song for him. "Come Together, Join The Party" was Leary's campaign slogan (a reference to the drug culture he supported) and was the original title of the song. Leary never had much of a campaign, but the slogan gave Lennon the idea for this song.

-   After Timothy Leary decided against using this song for his political campaign Lennon added some nonsense lyrics and brought it to the Abbey Road sessions. Paul McCartney recalled in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs: "I said, 'Let's slow it down with a swampy bass-and-drums vibe.' I came up with a bass line, and it all flowed from there."

-   In a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine, John Lennon said: "The thing was created in the studio. It's gobbledygook. 'Come Together' was an expression that Tim Leary had come up with for (perhaps for the governorship of California against Reagan), and he asked me to write a campaign song. I tried and I tried, but I couldn't come up with one. But I came up with this, 'Come Together,' which would've been no good to him - you couldn't have a campaign song like that, right?"

-   John Lennon was sued for stealing the guitar riff and the line "Here comes old flat-top" from Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me." The lawsuit did not come from Berry, but from Morris Levy, one of the music industry’s most infamous characters. He owned the song along with thousands of other early rock songs that he obtained from many poor, black, and unrepresented artists. Levy sued the Beatles, or more accurately, John Lennon, over the song around the time the Beatles broke up. For years, Lennon delayed the trial while he and the Beatles tried to sort out all the legal and business problems that plagued Apple Records. Finally, in an attempt to avoid the court room as much as he could (Lennon felt like he was appearing in court more often than not), he settled with Levy. In return for dropping the suit, Lennon agreed to record his Rock N Roll album, which was just a series of covers of songs Levy owned. Lennon always wanted to make a cover album and was thrilled to have the opportunity, and Levy wanted the value of his songs to increase, and when a Beatle re-records a song that is just what happens. To make a long long long story short, Lennon recorded the album over the Lost Weekend, a year-or-two period when he was separated from Yoko Ono and lived in LA. During that time he was often drunk or high, and was rather sloppy and useless. Levy was getting frustrated with the lack of progress. Phil Spector was the producer, but in a fit of madness (which was not too unusual for Spector) he ran away and stole the recording session tapes. Levy invited Lennon to his upstate NY recording studio, and that is where he finally recorded the album.

-   The whispered lyric that sounds like "shoot" is actually Lennon saying "shoot me" followed by a handclap. The bass line drowns out the "me."

-   The Beatles recorded this on July 21, 1969 and it was the first session John Lennon actively participated in following his and Yoko's car accident 3 weeks earlier. John was so insistent on Yoko being in the studio with him that he had a hospital bed set up in the studio for her right after the accident, since she was more seriously injured than he was.

-   The line "Ono sideboard" refers to Yoko.

-   The British Broadcasting Company (The BBC) banned this because of the reference to Coca Cola, which they considered advertising.

-   This has one of the most commonly misheard lyrics in the history of popular music: "Hold you in his -armchair- you can feel his disease." It's actually "Hold you in his arms, yeah, you can feel his disease." All published sheet music had the "armchair" lyric, including the inner sleeve of the 1967-1970 compilation, which contained lots of other errors too, notably on "Strawberry Fields Forever." After John heard that his lyric was incorrect in the sheet music and other folios, he decided he liked "armchair" better and kept it.

-   The Beatles released this as a "double A side" single with "Something."

-   In 1969, this won a Grammy for best engineered recording.

-   When rumors were spreading that Paul McCartney was dead, some fans thought the line "One and one and one is three" meant that only George, John and Ringo were left. The line "Got to be good lookin' cuz he's so hard to see" was supposed to be Paul's spirit. A rotary phone was used to make the sound heard before each verse and after the chorus. The sound was accompanied by the bass Paul played. Kids, ask your parents or grandparents what a rotary phone was. (thanks, Patrick - Tallapoosa, GA)

-   Aerosmith recorded this song with Beatles producer George Martin for the 1978 movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which turned out to be one of the worst films ever. Aerosmith appeared in the film performing this song, agreeing to the role only because they couldn't resist the chance to record a Beatles song with George Martin. The weren't the only big names in the film - Peter Frampton and The Bee Gees were also in it.

-   The Aerosmith version of "Come Together" made #23 in the US when it was released as a single.

-   In 2001, Beck, Moby, Marc Anthony, and Nelly Furtado were scheduled to put on a tribute concert in Radio City Music Hall called "Come Together: A Night For John Lennon." Due to the terrorist attacks on America, it was postponed and dedicated to the people of New York City, with proceeds benefiting victims of the attacks.

-   Nortel used this in commercials, as did Macy's.

-   On an early demo version of "My Monkey" by Marilyn Manson (whose vocals were sped up to sound like "a demonic toddler"), Manson sang the second verse as an opener. It appeared on Demos in Lunchbox by Manson's former band, The Spooky Kids.

-   This has been covered by Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Meat Loaf, Guns N' Roses, Soundgarden, Marilyn Manson, Nazareth, and Oasis.

-   Though Ringo is best known for playing on Oyster Black Pearl Ludwig drum kit, he used for this his Ludwig "Hollywood" maple-finish equipment, with a 22" kick. Starr produced his distinctive late '60s drum muffling sound on tracks like this by wrapping tea towels (dishtowels) around his snares and toms.

-   The Arctic Monkeys performed the song during the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony. Their version reached #21 on the UK singles chart in the week after the event.

To hear this amazing song you only have to buy one of the best albums ever made:

TAKEALOT

ITUNES

January 29th: On this Day

January 29th: On this Day

1942, BBC radio aired a new program 'Desert Island Discs' presented by Roy Plomley, which went on to become the longest running UK radio show.

1961, Bob Dylan achieved his dream of meeting his idol Woody Guthrie when Guthrie was on weekend release from hospital where he was being treated for Huntington's Chorea. Dylan told him; ‘I was a Woody Guthrie jukebox’. Guthrie gave Dylan a card which said: ‘I ain't dead yet’.

1964, The Beatles spent the day at Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, The Beatles' only studio recording session for EMI held outside the UK. They recorded new vocals for ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, after EMI's West German branch persuaded Brian Epstein that they would be unable to sell large quantities of records in Germany unless they were recorded in the German language. A translator coached John, Paul, and George, although their familiarity with the German language from their Hamburg days made things much easier.

1967, Jimi Hendrix and The Who appeared at The Saville Theatre, London, England. 20 year-old future Queen guitarist Brian May was in the audience.

1968, During a tour of Australia and New Zealand, The Who, The Small Faces and Paul Jones appeared at the Town Hall, Wellington in New Zealand.

1968, The Doors appeared at The Pussy Cat A Go Go, Las Vegas. 
After the show singer Jim Morrison taunts a security guard in the parking lot by pretending to smoke a joint, resulting in a fight. The police arrive who arrest Morrison and charge him with vagrancy, public drunkenness, and failure to possess sufficient identification.

1969, Fleetwood Mac had their only UK No.1 single with the instrumental 'Albatross.'

1972, The triple album 'The Concert For Bangladesh' went to No.1 on the UK album chart. Organised by George Harrison to raise funds for the people caught up in the war and famine from the area. The set featured; Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and members from Badfinger.

1977, Gwen Dickey former backing band for The Temptations, went to No.1 on the US singles chart as Rose Royce with 'Car Wash', a No.9 hit in the UK.

1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine others when she fired from her house across the street onto the entrance of San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School. Spencer fired the shot's from a .22-caliber rifle her father had given her for Christmas. When asked why she did it, she answered 'I don't like Mondays.' The Boomtown Rats went on to write and recorded a song based on the event.

1982, Shakin' Stevens was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Oh Julie', the Welsh singers third UK No.1. Barry Manilow covered the song in the US.

1982, Flying Back from Cannes, France, Gary Numan made a forced landing after running low on fuel at an RAF base outside Southampton, the press ran stories that he had in fact crash landed on the A3057.

1983, Australian group Men At Work went to No.1 on the British and American singles and album charts simultaneously with 'Down Under' and 'Business As Usual'. The last artist to achieve this was Rod Stewart in 1971.

1989, Marc Almond started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart' with guest vocals from Gene Pitney, (who had a hit with the song in 1967.

1992, American blues singer and guitarist Willie Dixon died of heart failure. Wrote the classic songs: ‘You Shook Me’, I Can’t Quit You Baby’, ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’, ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’, ‘Little Red Rooster.’ Dixon was a major influence on The Rolling Stones, Cream, Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.

1994, The Supremes' Mary Wilson was injured when her jeep crashed on a freeway and turned over just outside of Los Angeles, California. Wilson's 14-year old son was killed in the accident.

1996, George Michael had the UK No.1 single with 'Jesus To A Child', the singers sixth UK No.1 as a solo artist and the first single from his come-back album 'Older', (after lengthy litigation with his record company).

2001, A New York based data company issued a chart listing sales of posthumous albums. The idea came about after radio stations wanted to distinguish between proper recordings when the artists were alive and CD's released after they died. Mike Shalett founder of SoundScan said there was only one problem. What to call the chart. The Top 5 chart had The Doors at No.5, Eva Cassidy at 4, Jimi Hendrix at 3, Bob Marley at 2 and 2Pac at No.1.

2005, Ciara feat Petey Pablo Goodies went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with her debut single. The eighteen year old R&B singer from Atlanta, Georgia, was just the eighteen years old.

2006, Arctic Monkeys went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not'. The Sheffield-based bands album became the fastest-selling debut in chart history after shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week of release.

2009, Singer-songwriter John Martyn died in hospital in Ireland at the age of 60. The folk, blues and funk artist was widely regarded as one of the most soulful and innovative singer-songwriters of his generation and had been cited as an influence by artists as varied as U2, Portishead and Eric Clapton.

2009, Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson made the largest ever leap to number one in US chart history, rising 96 places. Her single, My Life Would Suck Without You, rose from 97 to the top of the Billboard chart after selling 280,000 downloads in its first week of release. A clip from the video for the single was premiered in the commercial break of that week's episode of American Idol.

2010, Sly Stone filed a $50m (£30.9m) legal claim against his former manager, alleging fraud and 20 years of stolen royalties. The 66-year-old funk musician of the 1970s group Sly and the Family Stone, claimed in the Los Angeles Superior Court that Jerry Goldstein diverted millions in royalties to fund a lavish lifestyle.

January 29th: Born on this Day

1929, Born on this day, Bernard Stanley Bilk, (Acker Bilk), bandleader who had the 1962 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Stranger On The Shore'.

1933, Born on this day, French singer and guitarist Sacha Distel who had the 1970 UK No.10 single 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.' Distel died after a long battle with deteriorating health on 22nd July 2004.

1938, Born on this day, James Jamerson, bassist played with The Funk Brothers on many Motown hits by The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Martha And The Vandellas and others. Jamerson died of a heart attack on 2nd August 1983 aged 45.

1943, Born on this day, 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.

1944, Born on this day, Andrew Loog Oldham, producer, manager and the first Rolling Stones manager. Oldham launched the Immediate label in 1965 which enjoyed 24 UK Top 50 hits. Also worked with Small Faces, John Mayall, Rod Stewart, The Nice, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and the Amen Corner.

1947, Born on this day, David Byron, singer, with Uriah Heep who had the 1975 UK No.7 album 'Return To Fantasy'. Byron died on 28th February 1985.

1952, Born on this day, Thomas Erdelyi, (Tommy Ramone), Hungarian drummer with the Ramones, who had the 1977 UK No.22 single 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker'. Erdelyi also worked as a record producer and was an assistant engineer for the production of the Jimi Hendrix album Band of Gypsys.

1953, Born on this day, Louie Perez, American songwriter, percussionist and guitarist with Los Lobos who had the 1987 UK & US No.1 single 'La Bamba'.

1954, Born on this day, Rob Manzoli singer from Right Said Fred who had the 1991 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'I'm Too Sexy', 1993 UK No.1 album 'Up'.

1961, Born on this day, Dave Baynton-Power, drummer withs James who had the 1991 UK No.2 single 'Sit Down'. Also worked with The Alarm.

1961, Born on this day, Eddie Jackson bassist with American progressive heavy metal band Queensryche. Their 1994 album 'Promised Land' went top 3 in the US,

1961, Born on this day, Pauline Henry, singer. who had the 1993 UK solo No.12 single with the Bad Company song 'Feel Like Making Love', and the 1990 UK No.6 single with The Chimes, 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'.

1962, Born on this day, Marcus Verne from British group Living In A Box, who had the 1987 UK No.5 single 'Living In A Box'.

1964, Born on this day, Roddy Frame, guitarist, singer, songwriter with British group Aztec Camera, who had the 1988 UK No.3 single 'Somewhere In My Heart'.

January 28th: On this Day

January 28th: On this Day

1956, Elvis Presley (with Scotty Moore and Bill Black), made his first National Television appearance on the Dorsey brother's "Stage Show". It was the first of six appearances on the show and the first of eight performances recorded and broadcast from CBS TV in New York City. After the success of their first appearance they were signed to five more in early 1956.

1963, Touring the UK The Beatles played at the Majestic Ballroom in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland.

1965, The Moody Blues were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Go Now!' the group's only UK No.1.

1965, The Who made their first appearance on UK TV show Ready Steady Go! To project the desired image, the hand-picked audience consisted only of teens dressed in the current Mod fashion.

1967, The Four Tops appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London. Also on the bill, The Dakotas, Madeline Bell, The Remo Four and Johnny Watson.

1968, Jim Morrison of The Doors was arrested and charged with public drunkenness after harassing a security guard at a Las Vegas adult movie theatre.

1977, Pink Floyd's tenth studio album 'Animals' entered the UK charts at #2. The sleeve concept was that of Roger Waters, who lived at the time near Clapham Common, and regularly drove past Battersea Power Station. A view of the imposing but disused former power station building was chosen for the cover image, complete with massive inflatable pig suspended between two of the towers.

1978, The Fleetwood Mac album 'Rumours' went to No.1 on the UK album chart, also a No.1 in the US. The album went on to sell over 15 million copies world- wide and spent over 440 weeks on the UK chart.

1983, British Rock & Roll singer Billy Fury died of heart failure. 1961 UK No.3 single 'Halfway To Paradise', plus 25 other Top 40 UK singles. His 'We Want Billy' (released 1963, with The Tornados) was one of the first live albums in British rock history. Played rock 'n' roller "Stormy Tempest" in the film That'll Be The Day along side David Essex and Ringo Starr.

1984, Frankie Goes To Hollywood started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Relax!' BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read expressed on air his distaste for both the record's suggestive sleeve and its lyrics, he announced his refusal to play the record, not knowing that the BBC had decided that the song was not to be played on the BBC anyway. Produced by Trevor Horn the song remained on the chart for 48 weeks.

1984, Backstage after a Motley Crue show in Buffalo, New York, Tommy Lee found out that his girlfriend has posed for the current issue of Penthouse magazine without his knowledge, after a fan passes comment on the pictures. Tommy punched the fan unconscious with one hit, Motleys manager Doug Thaler convinced the fan not to press any charges.

1985, The recording took place for 'We Are The World' the US equivalent of Band Aid. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie the all star cast included Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Daryl Hall, John Oates, Cyndi Lauper, Steve Perry and Bob Geldof.

1988, Eleven years after it was released, The Sex Pistols album 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols' went Gold in the US with sales over 500,000.

1990, Paul Abdul started a 10-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Forever Your Girl'. Abdul spent sixty-four consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 before hitting number one, making it the longest time for an album to reach the number one spot.

1994, Paul and Linda McCartney attended the premiere of Wayne's World II in London. The couple then went on to Hard Rock Cafe, where the film star Mike Myers presented them with a cheque for LIPA (the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) for £25,000 ($42,500) from the sale of Linda's vegetarian burgers.

1995, TLC started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Creep' the group's first US No.1, it made No.6 in the UK the following year.

1998, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher played a 20-minute solo gig at the King Head, an English pub in Santa Monica in front of 250 fans.

2000, Saxophonist and bandleader Thomas 'Beans' Bowles died of prostate cancer aged 73. Played on many Motown sessions including Marvin Gaye's, 'What's Going On', Martha and the Vandellas' 'Heat Wave' and The Supremes 'Baby Love' and wrote the melody on Stevie Wonder's 'Fingertips Pt. 2.'

2001, Limp Bizkit started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Chocolate Starfish'.

2001, Shaggy feat Ricardo Rikrot started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'It Wasn't Me'. Also a No.1 in the UK.

2003, H-Town singer Keven Conner was killed in a car crash in Houston aged 28. Conner died when an SUV ran a red light and crashed into the car he was a passenger in, which had just picked him up from the recording studio.

2004, Elvis Presley fans expressed their anger at plans to cut up a rare tape of the singer's early songs and sell the snippets at auction. The tape, which featured a recording made by Presley during the early 1950s, was now too fragile to play. US firm Master Tape Collection said the tape would be cut into two-inch snippets and sold for £270 ($460) each.

2004, R&B singer Faith Evans appeared before an Atlanta judge after being arrested on drug possession charges. Evans and her husband-manager, Todd Russaw, were charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine.

2005, English drummer and singer songwriter Jim Capaldi died of stomach cancer aged 60. Member of Traffic, (1967 UK No.2 single 'Hole In My Shoe') and solo, (1975 UK No.4 single 'Love Hurts'). Also worked with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and George Harrison.

2007, Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture was at No.1 on the US album chart. The musical based on the history of Diana Ross and the Supremes featured Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson.

2008, Madonna topped the list for the richest female musician, according to the Forbes.com. Its first-ever list focusing on women in the music industry estimated the 49-year-old banked $72m (£36m) between June 2006 and June 2007. Madonna earned much of that from her Confessions tour - the highest-grossing tour for a female artist - earning $260m (£130m) worldwide. Barbra Streisand came second, with $60 million (£30 million) followed by Celine Dion with $45 million (£23.6), mainly from her recent concerts at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas

2009, Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell died at the age of 56 of a suspected heart attack in Florida. Powell called police saying he was having trouble breathing and emergency services tried to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead an hour later. Powell had missed a doctor's appointment on the day before his death; the appointment was for a checkup on his heart. He played piano on Kid Rock's 'All Summer Long' (which sampled the Lynyrd Skynyrd song 'Sweet Home Alabama').

January 28th: Born on this Day

1927, Born on this day, Ronnie Scott, jazz musician. Formed his own nine-piece group in 1953 and opened the first Ronnie Scott's night club in London in 1959 where he presented the cream of the world's jazz musicians at the club. He died on December 23rd 1996.

1941, Born on this day, King Tubby, reggae producer who has worked with Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar and Carlton Barrett. He was killed on 6th February 1989 after being shot in the street outside his home.

1943, Born on this day, Dick Taylor, guitarist and singer with The Pretty Things who had the 1964 UK No.10 single 'Don't Bring Me Down'.

1945, Born on this day, Robert Wyatt multi instrumentalist who was a member of Soft Machine. As a solo artist Wyatt scored the 1983 UK No.35 single 'Shipbuilding'. During an alcohol-fuelled party in London in 1983, an inebriated Wyatt fell from a fourth floor window. He was paralysed from the waist down and consequently uses a wheelchair.

1946, Born on this day, Rick Allen, bassist with The Box Tops who had the 1967 US No.1 & UK No.5 single 'The Letter'.

1951, Born on this day, William Nelson from Funkadelic who had the 1978 US No.16 album 'One Nation Under A Groove'.

1959, Born on this day, Dave Sharpe, guitarist and singer with The Alarm who had the 1983 UK No.17 single '68 Guns'.

1968, Born on this day, Lawrence Muggerud, DJ Muggs with Cypress Hill who had the 1993 UK No.15 single 'I Ain't Goin' Out Like That', and the 1993 US No.1 album 'Black Sunday'.

1968, Born on this day, Canadian musician singer songwriter, Sarah McLachlan, who had the 1997 US No.2 album 'Surfacing'. McLachlan who has sold over 40 million albums worldwide is the organiser of the Lilith Fair US tour.

1975, Born on this day, Lee Latchford-Evans, singer with English pop group Steps who had the 1998 UK No.1 single 'Heartbeat / Tragedy'.

1977, Born on this day, Joseph Fatone, singer with American boy band *NSYNC. Scored the 2000 US No.1 single 'It's Gonna Be Me', and the 1999 UK No.5 single 'I Want You Back'.

1980, Born on this day, Nicolas Carter singer with American boy band Backstreet Boys who had the 1997 US No.2 single 'Quit Playing Games With My Heart', and the 1999 UK No.1 single 'I Want It That Way'.