January 3

• 1946: John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin is born

• 1945: Steven Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash is born

January 4

• 1960: Michael Stipe of R.E.M. is born

January 6

•   1957: Elvis Presley makes his third and final appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” but is only shown from the waist up

•   1946: Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd is born Roger Barrett

•   1924: Earl Scruggs is born

January 7

•   1958: Gibson registers patent for the Flying V Model Electric Guitar

January 8

•   1947: David Bowie is born David Robert Jones

•   1935: Elvis Presley is born

January 9

•   1950: David Johansen of The New York Dolls is born

•   1944: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin is born

January 11

•   1964: Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire becomes the first country album to top the U.S. pop album chart

January 14

•   1968: LL Cool J is born James Todd Smith

January 15

•   1967: The Rolling Stones appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and, at Sullivan’s request, change the lyrics from “Let’s spend the night together” to “Let’s spend some time together”

•   1949: Ronnie Van Zandt of Lynyrd Skynyrd is born

January 19

•   1981: Chris Wright, the chairman of the British Phonograph Industry, predicts the new cassette format will cause the death of vinyl

•   1943: Janis Lynn Joplin is born

January 20

•   1982: Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off of a live bat

•   1950: Paul Stanley of Kiss is born

January 23

•   1910: Django Reinhardt is born

January 24

•   1947: Warren Zevon is born

•   1941: Neil Diamond is born Noah Kaminski

January 26

•   1957: Eddie Van Halen is born

January 27

•   1984: Michael Jackson suffers second and third degree burns to his head and neck after his hair catches fire from sparks from pyrotechnic effects during the filming of a Pepsi commercial

January 29

•   1952: Tommy Ramone of The Ramones is born Thomas Erdelyi

January 30

•   1969: The Beatles perform together for the last time atop the roof of Apple Records’ headquarters in London