May 1
1973: Bachman Turner Overdrive release their self-titled debut lp. The band had recorded two albums under the name Brave Belt earlier in the decade. BTO took six months to hit the charts, and over a year before "Let It Ride" cracked the top 25.

2007: Rush releases their 19th studio lp, SNAKES AND ARROWS.

May 2
1989: 1989 Goldy McJohn of Steppenwolf is born.

2006: Unable to use the name "The Guess Who" due to a sticky legal situation with bassist Jim Kale, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings release THE BACHMAN CUMMINGS SONGBOOK, a greatest hits package of their material with the group. A hugely successful cross-Canada tour that summer ensues, without Kale or the rest of the band.

May 3
1969: Canadian customs officials arrest Jimi Hendrix after finding heroin in his travel bag while entering Toronto. He's released on $10,000 bail. He's acquitted in court that December.

1971: Gordon Lightfoot is the first Canadian non=classical act booked to play New York's Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center.

1972: "Old Man," by Neil Young, peaks at #31 on the pop chart. It is the third time Neil Young cracks the Top 40.

1978: Along with The Eagles, Steely Dan, Steve Miller, Billy Joel and Warren Zevon, Neil Young is among the performers on the soundtrack to the film FM, the story of the struggles of a radio station. The film debuted in Los Angeles, but more people bought the soundtrack than saw the film.

May 4
1968: Buffalo Springfield disband after one last Los Angeles concert.

1982: The Nylons make their concert debut in Toronto at Massey Hall.

1983: Lee Aaron makes her debut in the UK at London's Marquee Club.

May 5
2000: A $1.8 million civil fraud lawsuit is filed against Neil Young in Los Angeles when he allegedly blocks publication of a book about him by a former Village Voice writer.

2004: Rush open up their 30th anniversary tour with a show in Charlotte, NC. Montreal and Toronto are the only Canadian dates.

May 6
1945: Former Esquires and Jon Lee & The Checkmates singer John Finley is born in Toronto.

1997: Joni Mitchell is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the twelfth annual induction dinner. Shawn Colvin is her presenter.

1997: Rush releases RETROSPECTIVE, a two-part 'best of' collection.

May 7
2004: Rudi Maugeri of The Crew Cuts died of pancreatic cancer.

May 8
1988: Bobby Curtola is awarded the Order Of Canada.

2006: Trooper's Ra McGuire launches his new book "Here For A Good Time," at Vancouver's Roxy Nightclub.

2007: MTV's Cribs features Lee Aaron's home in an episode on MTV Canada.

May 9
1909: Don Messer, Canadian fiddle great is born in Tweedside, NB.

1914: Hank Snow is born in Liverpool, NS as Clarence Eugene Snow.

1970: The Guess Who become the first Canadian group to hit #1 on Billboard, with "American Woman"/"No Sugar Tonite," where it remains for three weeks.

1979: Rush play in Holland for the first time, appearing at the Pink Pop Music Festival in Gelleen.

1990: Alannah Myles becomes the first and only Canadian to appear on The Arsenio Hall Show.

May 13
2007: Robbie Lane of The Disciples is in a Toronto hospital where doctors operate on him to cure a brain aneurism. The procedure is a success.

May 14
1946: Dixie Lee Stone, later Dixie Lee Innes of The Original Caste is born in Moose Jaw, SK.

1953: Tom Cochrane is born in Lynn Lake, MB

1969: Lighthouse play their first gig in Toronto at the Rock Pile.

1974: Ian Thomas perform with the Hamilton Philharmonic, in the wake of his hit, "Painted Ladies."

2002: Bryan Adams releases BEST OF ME, the same day the soundtrack to Spirit - Stallion of the Cimmaron, to which he did the music, is released.

2002: Rush releases their VAPOR TRAILS CD.

May 15
1920: The Canadian Marconi Company station XWA, based in Montreal, gave the first scheduled radio broadcast in North America.

1971: Neil Young, as part of CSN&Y hits #1 on Billboard's album charts with FOUR WAY STREET, their sophomore lp.

2008: The third annual We All Need Love - A Tribute to Domenic Troiano music festival takes place at Toronto's Palais Royale Ballroom. On the schedule are Bernie LaBarge, Motherlode, Paul DeLong, and Troiano's bandmates for many years Roy Kenner and Prakash John, among many others.

May 16
1931: Ted Kowalski of The Diamonds is born in Toronto.

1970: Randy Bachman leaves The Guess Who for the first time, one week after they became the first Canadian group to have a gold record and top Billboard's Top 100. The group had played at The White House for President Nixon,Prince Charles and Princess Anne earlier that evening.

1995: Barney Bentall releases GIN PALACE.

2006: David Clayton-Thomas releases IN CONCERT – A MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY.

May 17
1966: Bob Dylan and the Hawks, later renaming themselves The Band perform at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Dylan is booed by folk purists who object to his appearing with an electric band, sacrelgious to those who actually could tolerate him to begin with. The concert becomes a bootlegger's dream, even tho it was often misidentified as having been performed at London's Royal Albert Hall. It's officially released 22 years later as 'Live 1966.'

1999: Producer Bruce Fairbairn (Loverboy, Bon Jovi, KISS, Aerosmith, etc) dies of natural causes at his home in Vancouver at age 49.

2004: Terri Clark takes home top female vocalist at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Shania Twain and Billy Currington are nominated for top vocal event of the year with "Party For Two," but lose.

May 18
1965: The Guess Who's “Shakin' All Over” peaks at 13 on Billboard. The song was originally released on a 45 without crediting the band, only saying “Guess Who?”

1971: The Band begin their first European tour in Rotterdam, Holland.

1973: Chantal Kreviazuk is born in Winnipeg, MB as Jennifer Chantal Kreviazuk.

1997: Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings performed together for the first time in fourteen years in front of over 40,000 at The Forks in Winnipeg for a Red River flood relief benefit concert organized by Tom Jackson. A number of other Canadian performers took the stage, including Chantal Kreviazuk.

May 19
1991: Odia Coates, who sang "You're Having My Baby" with Paul Anka, dies of cancer at age 49.

1992: Bootsauce releases BULL in the US.

2000: The Guess Who perform in their home town of Winnipeg, leading to a reunion tour. Along with Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings are Jim Kale, Donnie McDougall and Garry Peterson. Kale would be replaced by another former member, Bill Wallace, before the first show.

2005: Gordon Lightfoot made a triumphant return to the stage at Massey Hall in Toronto. It was the first show in over two years, following his near fatal bout with an abdominal aneurysm. Greeted by a standing ovation, he quipped, "Sorry I'm late."

May 20
1920: XWA Montreal (later CFCF and now CIQC) makes the first scheduled broadcast in North America.

1959: Glenn Gould makes his British debut with the London Symphony.

1981: Loverboy is honoured with a party on 52 St in NY by Columbia Records in recognition of their debut lp selling over half a million copies in the US.

1989: Promoters in Montreal announced the cancellation of a July 5th reunion concert by the Who because of poor ticket sales. There was heavy demand for tickets for the other 25 dates on the tour.

May 21
2006: "As part of their blitz of Canadian policymakers, Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page and his colleagues Andrew Cash and Brendan Canning (of Broken Social Scene) stopped in for a meeting with the editorial board of the Ottawa Citizen. These discussions often involve politicians and diplomats, and matters of copyright, WIPO, their reception and responses from responsible ministers.

May 23
1996: Lee Aaron's 1987 self-titled album is re-released on CD.

May 24
1938: Tommy Chong, guitarist for Little Daddy and the Bachelors, later renamed Four Niggers and a Chink and then Bobby Taylor and the Vanouvers is born in Vancouver, BC. He's best known as half of Cheech and Chong.

1994: Lee Aaron releases the BODYROCK lp.

1997: Rush records their Dallas, TX show for the DIFFERENT STAGES album.

2005: Triumph releases the anthology LIVIN' FOR THE WEEKEND in the UK through Castle Music.

May 25
2004: Zappacosta releases START AGAIN through Marquis Records.

May 26
1940: Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist for The Band, is born in Marvell, Arkansas

1995: Neil Young's MIRROR BALL, an album recorded in Seattle with Pearl Jam, is released to rave reviews.

2004: Celine Dion returns to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas for the first time since a neck injury led her to cancel two weeks' worth of gigs. No one cares, but it's rumoured the neck injury came as a result of a swelled head.

2005: Domenic Troiano of Mandala, The James Gang, Bush, Black Market and The Guess Who dies of prostate cancer.

May 27
1945: Bruce Cockburn is born in Pembroke, Ontario. 1970: Only five months after his debut album, Neil Young releases EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE, the first of many albums featuring his on-again, off again backup band Crazy Horse.

1996: BROKEN ARROW, which reunites Neil Young with Crazy Horse, is released.

2006: Prism plays in Cold Lake. Alan Harlow, former bassist, is now singer and guitarist. There are now no original members left in the group.

May 28
2002: David Foster, Ronnie Hawkins, Guy Lombardo and The Tragically Hip are the musical inductees in Canada's Walk of Fame in a ceremony in Toronto.

2004: Paramount Pictures announce plans to turn Avril Lavigne's teeny bopper anthem "Sk8er Boi" into a motion picture. Life as we know it has ended.

May 29
1988: Bob Dylan makes a guest appearance at a Levon Helm concert at New York's Lone Star Cafe. The two perform "The Weight" and Chuck Berry's "Nadine."

2006: Saga releases The Very Best of Saga today.

2007: The second annual 'Tribute To Domenic Troiano - We All Need Love' cancer fundraiser is held in Toronto, featuring a who's who of the past, present and future of Canadian music, including many artists Troiano worked with during his 30 year career before succumbing to cancer in 2005. Money raised was donated to the Toronto East General Hospital.

May 30
1997: Neil Young cancels his European tour after cutting his finger open while slicing a ham sandwich.

2004: Avril Lavigne's second album UNDER MY SKIN enters the UK album charts at No. 1.

May 31
1962: Corey Hart is born in Montreal.

1986: At the Cow Palace in San Francisco, Bryan Adams opens Amnesty International's "A Conspiracy of Hope Tour," along with U2, Sting, Peter Gabriel and Lou Reed.