This Week In Rock History

1956--Elvis surprises his mother with a new pink Cadillac, despite the fact that she doesn't drive. The car is now on display at the Elvis Presley museum at Graceland.

1965--Fearing theft, The Who, stop at the Battersea Dog Home to purchase a guard dog for their tour van. Upon leaving the dog home, they find their van has been broken into and all their possessions stolen.

1969--James Brown announces his retirement from live music effective July 4th, 1970, saying he's tired. At the time he is fighting a paternity suit from the former president of his fan club.

1970--Jimi Hendrix performs in public for the last time at the Love and Peace Festival in Puttgarden, Germany. He would die of a drug overdose ten days later.

1972--Curtis Mayfield releases the album, Superfly, the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. It is one of the few movie soundtracks to out gross the film itself.

1976--Frank Sinatra, appearing on the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, asks to "send his friend out," he then welcomes Dean Martin to the stage. It is the first time Martin and Lewis had seen each other since dissolving their partnership twenty years earlier.

1977--Big Crosby and David Bowie record "Little Drummer Boy" for Crosby's Christmas special to air that December.

1978--Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, dies of an accidental overdose of a sedative called Heminevrin, being used to prevent seizures from alcohol withdrawal. He was 31.

1986--Michael Nesmith surprises fans by appearing on stage with the other members of The Monkees for the first since they disbanded in 1970.

1990--Former Creedence Clearwater Revival guitarist Tom Fogerty dies at the age of 48. Fogerty contracted AIDS from a tainted blood transfusion during back surgery a few years earlier. At the time of his death Tom was not on speaking terms with his brother, John Fogerty, leader of CCR.

2003--Werewolves of London singer Warren Zevon dies of lung cancer at the age of 56. Knowing he did not have long to live, Zevon had appeared on Letterman just a month before his death; Zevon was the only guest for that show and spent the entire two-hours talking to David Letterman and playing requests for the host.