August 2

Events

 * 1961 - Beatles 1st gig as house band of Liverpool's Cavern Club
 * 1966 - Radio Vila (New Hebrides) begins transmitting

Births

 * 1835 - Elisha Gray was a U.S. scientist and innovator.Among other inventions he is known as the accidental creator of the first electronic musical instrument using his discovery of the basic single note oscillator and design of a simple loudspeaker device. (d. 1901)
 * 1896 - Lorenzo Herrera, Venezuelan singer and composer (d. 1960)
 * 1905 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d. 1963)
 * 1924 - Joe Harnell, American musician, composer and arranger (d. 2005)
 * 1935 - Hank Cochran, American country music singer and songwriter
 * 1941 - Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (d. 2000)
 * 1944 - Jim Capaldi, British musician and songwriter (Traffic) (d. 2005)
 * 1944 - Naná Vasconcelos, Brazilian jazz musician
 * 1947 - Massiel, Spanish singer
 * 1948 - Andy Fairweather Low, British guitarist
 * 1948 - Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
 * 1951 - Andrew Gold, American musician and songwriter
 * 1951 - Joe Lynn Turner, American singer (Deep Purple, Rainbow)
 * 1951 - Freddie Wadling, Swedish actor and musician (The Leather Nun, Fleshquartet)
 * 1953 - Marjo, Quebec singer
 * 1956 - Isabel Pantoja, Spanish singer
 * 1957 - Mojo Nixon, American musician and actor
 * 1959 - Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress
 * 1960 - Neal Morse, American musician (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic)
 * 1960 - David Yow, American musician (Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard)
 * 1961 - Cold 187um, American rapper (Above the Law)
 * 1969 - Jan Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer), musician (Dimmu Borgir, Winds, Mayhem)
 * 1969 - Richard Hallebeek, Dutch guitarist
 * 1972 - Jimmy Pop, American musician (The Bloodhound Gang)
 * 1972 - Justyna Steczkowska, Polish singer
 * 1988 - Brittany Hargest, American singer (Jump5)

Deaths

 * 1945 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)
 * 1972 – Brian Cole, American bass player (The Association) (b. 1942)
 * 1978 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b. 1899)


 * 1983 – James Jamerson, American bassist (b. 1936)


 * 1992 – Michel Berger, French singer and songwriter (b. 1947)


 * 1997 – Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Nigerian multi-instrumentalist (b. 1938)


 * 2001 – Ron Townson, American singer (The 5th Dimension) (b. 1933)