Drugs

Police Superintendent David Hennessey is shotgunned to death on Basin Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Hennessey's death will be related in an early blues song, The Downfall Of The Lion, written by Richard 'Rabbit' Brown, but never recorded. All that remains is a verse recalled by guitarist Lemon Nash, who played with Brown in the 1920's: "I'm gonna tell you racketeers, Something you can understand, Don't let your tongues say nothin', That your head can't stand." Hennessey's killing will also provide the basis of another song, The Hennessey Murder.

Harry Raab is born in Westchester Square, The Bronx, New York Cty, USA. He will find a measure of success and much notoriety as innovative and controversial jazz/boogie-woogie singer and songwriter Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson.

Beverley Kenney is born in Harrison, New Jersey, USA. She will become an acclaimed jazz singer but will commit suicide at the age of 28 by consuming a lethal overdose of alcohol and Seconal in her Greenwich Village apartment in New York City, USA.

Blind Boy Fuller records twelve songs including Precious Lord, Bus Rider's Blues and When You Are Gone for OKeh Records in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader Pete Brown records his final album, High In A Basement, in a subterranean soundproof studio at 272 W. 84th Street in New York City, USA. The album's title is a reference to the fact that the players at the session were partaking of drugs.

At Radio Recorders, Los Angeles, California, USA, Elvis Presley begins recording songs for the soundtrack to his next movie, Girls! Girls! Girls!

The Roy Haynes Quartet, featuring Roland Kirk, record Fly Me To The Moon, Snap Crackle and other tracks at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA.

The management company looking after The Byrds sends a letter to influential American music business magazine The Gavin Report demanding that the publication should print a 'correction' of its 'defamatory statements' which had claimed that the group's song Eight Miles High was advocating the use of illegal drugs.

Rosemary Clooney walks off stage during her show at Harold's Club, Reno, Nevada, USA. The official reason given is "acute influenza" but she has in fact suffered a nervous breakdown, and will shortly be admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles, California, USA, to be treated for "drug-induced psychosis".

The Electric Factory, a major rock venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, is ordered to be closed down as a public nuisance, largely because it is perceived by local authorities as a meeting place for drug dealers.

Peter Green, lead guitarist of Fleetwood Mac, reveals in an interview in UK music weekly the NME, that he intends to give away all of his money to help the starving people of the world.

The Horace Silver Sextet records Acid, Pot Or Pills, Big Business and other tracks for Blue Note Records at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA.

Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones is in Nice, France, to answer drug charges laid against the band by the French authorities. Today, the case is adjourned for a month, so Jagger flies back to London, UK.

After nine days in a Japanese jail, Paul McCartney returns to London, England, UK, Europe, vowing, "I'll never smoke marijuana again."

Randy Jackson, the brother of Michael Jackson, is in hospital in Los Angeles after crashing his Mercedes-Benz. Both his legs are broken and to make matters worse, a nurse mistakenly injects him with methadone in the emergency room, almost killing him.

In Memphis, Tennessee, USA, Dr. George C. Nichopoulous is indicted on fourteen charges of over-prescribing drugs to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and others.

Steve Peregrin Took, a former member of Tyrannosaurus Rex (aka T.Rex) dies aged 31 from asphyxiation after choking on a cocktail cherry at his apartment in North Kensington, London, England, UK, Europe. Although Took and his girlfriend, Valerie Billiet, had ingested morphine and hallucinogens the night before, authorities ruled that neither contributed to his death.

Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue is in bed with his lover Vanity at his home in Los Angeles, California, USA, when he hears voices and people moving around in his bathroom. He starts shouting and fires a .357 several times through the bathroom door. Vanity barricades herself into another room until Nikki finally realizes what he heard was just the radio. Sixx then shoots the rest of the gun's rounds into his JBL speakers.

A US entry visa is denied to Boy George, while immigration officials check his medical records.

Nick Cave appears at Marlborough Street Magistrates Court, London, England, UK, Europe, and admits possession of heroin. He is discharged on condition that he enters a rehabilitation clinic.

When The Rolling Stones play a second night at The Coliseum, Los Angeles, California, USA, they are joined for one song by Eric Clapton. Earlier in the evening, Axl Rose, singer of support band Guns N' Roses, announces from the stage that the band will be destroyed if certain members of the band can't stop using heroin.

Stone Roses and Happy Mondays appear on this night's edition of UK tv pop show Top Of The Pops.

Drummer Steven Adler files suit in Los Angeles, California, USA, against his former band, Guns N'Roses. He claims that band members pressured him to use heroin and then dropped him after he entered a rehabilitation program.

Ronnie Scott, jazz saxophonist, band leader and founder of prestigious London venue, Ronnie Scott's Club, dies in London, UK, aged 69 from an accidental overdose of barbiturates perscribed by his dentist.

Blood On The Dancefloor by Michael Jackson reaches No1 in the UK pop singles chart.

Songwriter West Arkeen, who had collaborated with Sly Stone, Johnny Winter, Jeff Buckley and Brother Cane, as well as being listed as an unofficial member of Guns N'Roses, dies of a drug overdose at home in Los Angeles, California, USA, aged 36.

Ol' Dirty Bastard of The Wu-Tang Clan pleads not guilty to crack cocaine and marijuana possession charges in court in New York City, USA. The court is told that when the rapper was arrested in July 99, he tried to get police to overlook the crack. "Can you make the drugs disappear?" asked the rapper, "The marijuana charge, I'll take. Make the rocks disappear - the kids look up to me. I'm a role model. Do the right thing. You're gonna know who I am."

It is announced by Columbia Records that Billy Joel has checked himself into Silver Hill substance abuse and psychiatric hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA, for ten days.

A new tv commercial campaign in which Iggy Pop promotes Swiftcover car insurance, begins in the UK.

It is announced that Amy Winehouse has dropped her appeal against Norwegian drug charges and accepted a fine. The charges stemmed from October 2007 when she was found with seven grammes of marijuana in her Bergen hotel room.

Carlos Santana makes a public plea to US President Barack Obama to legalise marijuana and use the revenues raised to fund education.

Rapper T.I. and his wife are arrested on charges related to possession of marijuana in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Singer-songwriter Tift Merritt and classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein launch their collaborative album, Night, with a live performance at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, USA.

On his Valentine's Day Brawl tour, Josh Ritter plays at The Trocadero, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

The medical examiner's office in Richmond, Virginia, USA, reports that Dave Brockie, the frontman for the heavy metal band GWAR, died of an accidental heroin overdose.

When Rick Ross plays a gig in Greenboro, North Carolina, USA, he is arrested after the show, because of an outstanding arrest warrant dating back eight months in connection with a charge of marijuana possession.

The Chicago Medical Examiner's Office publishes an autopsy report on the death in April of DJ Rashad. The report states that DJ Rashad died of heroin, cocaine and alprazolam intoxication, and his death has been ruled an accident.

Tommy Chong, of comedy duo Cheech And Chong fame, is announced as one of the celebrities participating on the 19th season of tv show Dancing With The Stars in the USA. He will be paired with professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd.

The lawyer acting on behalf of AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd enters a plea of not guilty to charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs, at Tauranga District Court, Tauranga, New Zealand.