January 11, 1985 – The first Rock in Rio festival kicks off in Rio de Janeiro. The 10-day festival features Queen, AC/DC, Yes, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, The Scorpions and Whitesnake. About 1.4 million people attend the shows.
January 11, 2004 – Ted Nugent needs 40 stitches in his leg after a chainsaw accident occurs while filming his reality TV show, Surviving Nugent: The Ted Commandments, in Waco, TX. Nugent was cutting down a tree to create a stump when the tree fell in an unexpected direction. He shoved the collapsing branches away from a contestant to prevent her from being struck and in the process let go of his chainsaw, which grazed his leg.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:
January 11, 1942 – Clarence “The Big Man” Clemons, (Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band) (d. 2011)
January 11, 1945 – Tony Kaye (born Anthony John Selvidge), keyboards (Yes)
January 11, 1958 – Vicki Peterson, guitar, vocals (The Bangles)
January 11, 1895 – Laurens Hammond, inventor of the Hammond organ (d. 1973)
HEADBANGERS HEAVEN:
January 11, 2005 – Spencer Dryden dies from colon cancer in Petaluma, CA. He was 66. Dryden was the drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage. Dryden, nephew of Charlie Chaplin, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of Jefferson Airplane in 1996, playing with the band for the first time since 1970.
January 11, 2005 – James Griffin dies at his home in Franklin, TN of cancer. He was 61. Griffin was the former guitarist of Bread and an Academy Award-winning songwriter in 1970 for the song “For All We Know” from the movie Lovers and Other Strangers.
January 11, 2003 – Mickey Finn, percussionist and occasional bassist for T. Rex, dies in Surrey, England. He had been suffering from liver and kidney problems. He was 55.