Jan 5 in Music History: Bruce Springsteen releases Greetings From Asbury Park NJ, Prince makes his live debut

1961 – The Beatles play at Litherland Town Hall in Liverpool. Two members Rory Storm & the Hurricanes are in the audience: Johnny Guitar and Ringo Starr.

1963 – Leonard Chess, co-founder of Chess records, tells Billboard magazine: “As it stands today, there’s virtually no difference between rock and roll, pop and rhythm and blues. The music has completely overlapped.”

1965 – The Supremes record “Stop! In The Name Of Love.”

1973 – Bruce Springsteen releases his debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Recorded in a single week, the album sells only ~25,000 copies within the first year. Both “Blinded By The Light” and “Spirit In The Night” are released as singles but neither make a dent on the charts.

1974 – Bruce Springsteen performs “Rosalita” for the first time at Joe’s Place in Boston. The song becomes a live favorite and The Boss often plays it as an encore.

1978 – The Sex Pistols’ US concert debut takes places in Atlanta, Georgia before an audience of about 500 people.

1979 – Jazz musician and bandleader Charles Mingus dies at age 56. His final project was Mingus, a collaboration with Joni Mitchell.

1979 – Prince makes his live debut at the Capri Theatre in Minneapolis. Warner Bros. executives attend the show but decide that The Artist needs more time to develop his music.

1998 – Sonny Bono dies in a skiing accident in Nevada, near South Lake Tahoe, California, at age 62.