September 30

Births

1017: Buddy Rich (Jazz Drummer)

1935: Johnny Mathis (Pop Singer)

1935: Z.Z. Hill (Blues Artist)

1942: Dewey Martin (Drummer for Buffalo Springfield & The Dillards)

1942: Frankie Lymon (R&B Singer)

1943: Marilyn McCoo (Singer in The 5th Dimension)

1947: Marc Bolan (Singer for T. Rex & Solo)

1952: John Lombardo (Guitar for 10,000 Maniacs)

1954: Patrice Rushen (R&B Singer)

1958: Marty Stuart (Country Singer)

1964: Robby Takac (Bass for Goo Goo Dolls)

1964: Trey Anastasio (Guitarist & Singer with Phish)

1985: T-Pain (Faheem Rasheed Najm) (Rapper)

Events

1933: WLS radio in Chicago's popular program The National Barn Dance, one of the first country music radio programs, goes national with a move to NBC radio.

1935: The Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess opens at Boston's Colonial Theatre. While not commercially successful, a revival in 1942 would turn it into one of the longest-running musicals in history.

1955: James Dean, icon of Fifties youth, dies in a car accident. Upon hearing the news in his Gladewater, TX, hotel room while on tour, Elvis Presley breaks down and cries.

1965: Elvis Presley is introduced to singer Tom Jones on the set of the King's latest film Paradise, Hawaiian Style. The two become fast friends.

1965: Donovan made his US television debut on Shindig! along with The Hollies, The Turtles and the Dave Clark Five.

1967: The UK radio network BBC Radio One takes the airwaves tonight with an opening spin of the Move's "Flowers In The Rain."

1969: Christine Hinton the girlfriend of David Crosby was killed in a car crash near San Francisco.

1974: Police were called to a Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blue Oyster Cult concert after a fight broke out between two sound engineers. The Skynyrd roadie claimed that the sound had been deliberately turned off during the bands set.

1977, Mary Ford died from cancer after being in a diabetic coma for 54 days. One-half of the husband-and-wife musical team, Les Paul and Mary Ford.

1987: Roy Orbison engineers his comeback with the taping of the star-studded, acclaimed HBO special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night at Los Angeles' Coconut Grove. It features Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, and J.D. Souther, and is indeed filmed in black and white!

1988: John Lennon is posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 Vine St.

1989: Bette Midler is awarded $400,000 in a landmark "intellectual property" lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. when the car giant used a soundalike version of Midler on one of their commercials.

1992: US singer Steve Earle was arrested in Nashville after he failed to report for jury service.

1993: On tonight's fifth-season episode of The Simpsons, entitled "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," David Crosby and George Harrison make guest appearances.

1993: Kate Pierson from The B-52's was charged with criminal mischief and trespassing during an anti-fur protest at 'Vogue's' New York City offices.

1995: Mariah Carey made chart history when she started an eight week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Fantasy', making her the first female act to enter the chart in pole position.

1998: Joe Walsh, Rick Neilsen, Dave Mustaine, Matthew Sweet, Slash, and Joey Ramone appear on tonight's "In Ramada Da Vida" episode of ABC-TV's Drew Carey Show.

2007: Country music singer Keith Urban crashed his motorcycle on the way to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The 39-year-old, who was not injured, said he was being followed by a photographer when the accident happened near his home in Sydney, Australia.

September 29

Births

1907: Gene Autry (America's singing cowboy)

1935: Jerry Lee Lewis (Piano & Vocals)

1942: Jean-Luc Ponty (Jazz Violinist)

1944: Mike Post (TV Theme Composer)

1948: Mark Farner (Lead Singer & Guitar for Grand Funk Railroad)

1948: Mike Pinera (Guitar for Iron Butterfly)

1957: Andrew Dice Clay (Comedian)

1958: Mick Harvey (Guitar for The Birthday Party & Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds)

1963: Les Claypool (Singer & Bassist for Primus & Solo)

1987: Josh Farro (Guitarist for Paramore)

Events

1930: Bing Crosby marries Dixie Lee.

1947: Dizzy Gillespie makes his Carnegie Hall debut.

1954: The original musical version of A Star Is Born, featuring Judy Garland, opens in Hollywood.

1963: The Rolling Stones begin their first British tour, opening for Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and the Everly Brothers at London's New Victoria Theatre.

1966: Jimi Hendrix meets the final member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, bassist Noel Redding, when Redding unsuccessfully auditions for Eric Burdon's new Animals lineup at the Birdland club in London.

1967: The Rolling Stones formally split from longtime manager Andrew Loog Oldham.

1967: Mickey Hart joins the Grateful Dead as its new drummer.

1973: Grand Funk Railroad went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'We're An American Band', the group's first of two US chart toppers.

1976: At his 41st birthday party, a drunk Jerry Lee Lewis attempts to shoot a soda bottle with his .357 Magnum and instead hits his bass player, Norman Owens, twice in the chest. Owens makes a full recovery but sued his boss.

1977: David Bowie sets up a trust fund for Rolan Bolan, son of recently deceased T. Rex leader (and close Bowie friend) Marc Bolan.

1977: James Brown's backup band walks out on him before a gig in Hallendale, FL, complaining of being underpaid. Brown responds by hiring another band.

1984: Prince's single "Let's Go Crazy" hit No. 1. He then held the No. 1 single, album and film simultaneously. Only the Beatles had accomplished the feat previously.

1989: Bruce Springsteen leaps onstage in Prescott, AZ, to jam with a local bar band called The Mile High Band, playing his own "I'm On Fire" and his favorite Sixties covers. A week later, a waitress who'd been complaining about her hospital bills receives a check from Springsteen for $100,000.

1994: The Pointer Sisters are awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6363 Hollywood Blvd.

1997: Don Henley of the Eagles is awarded a National Medal of Humanities from the Clinton White House.

1997: Bobby Sheehan (Bass for Blues Traveler) was arrested for cocaine possession in Winnipeg. He was later released on $5,000 bond.  He died in 1999 from a drug overdose.

1998: Frank Sinatra's estate sues Ross clothing stores of California for selling a unauthorized collection of the legend's songs called The Sinatra Collection.

2001: Jennifer Lopez married dancer Cris Judd in Calabasa California. The couple separated nine months later.

2004: Keith Moon's five-piece drum kit, custom-made for The Who drummer in 1968, sold for $215,772 in London to an American collector, setting a world auction record for a set of drums.

2004: Randy Travis receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2007: US rapper 50 Cent was beaten by rival rap star Kanye West in the stand-off to claim the best-selling album in the US. West's Graduation shifted 957,000 copies in its first week of sales while 50 Cent's album, Curtis, only sold 691,000. Before the albums went on sale 50 Cent vowed he would retire from making solo albums if he was outsold by West. 50 Cent axed his forthcoming European tour and a performance at London Mobo Awards the Vodafone Live Music Awards in London, as well as at an MTV show in Germany. 

September 28

Births

1902: Ed Sullivan (Television Host)

1928: Koko Taylor (Blues Singer)

1938: Ben E. King (R&B Singer)

1943: Nick St. Nicholas (Bass for Steppenwolf)

1952: Andy Ward (Drummer for Marillion & Camel)

1954: George Lynch (Guitarist for Dokken & Lynch Mob)

1966: Kenny Wilson (Ginger Fish) (Drums for Marilyn Manson)

1977: Young Jeezy (Jay Jenkins) (Rapper)

1984: Melody Thornton (Singer for The Pussycat Dolls)

1987: Hilary Duff (Singer)

Events

1953: Cpuntry singer Johnny Horton marries Billie Jean Jones Eshliman, widow of Hank Williams Sr.

1963: A full two months before "I Want To Hold Your Hand" finally breaks Beatlemania in the US, New York disc jockey Murray The K obtains a copy of the Beatles' last single, "She Loves You," and plays it on his radio show for two solid weeks, becoming the first American DJ to play a Beatles record. The response is tepid.

1968: Janis Joplin manager Albert Grossman announces that his client is leaving her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, feeling that they weren't "growing together."

1968: The Beatles started a nine week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Hey Jude'. The Paul McCartney song written about Lennon's son Julian gave the group their 16th US No.1 and the biggest selling single of 1968.

1972: David Bowie catapults into US superstardom overnight when he sells out tonight's gig at Carnegie Hall.

1973: The Rolling Stones appear on the premiere of Don Kirshner's Rock Concert on ABC, performing "It's Only Rock N' Roll (But I Like It)," marking their first appearance on US television in six years.

1974: Bad Company went to No.1 on the US album chart with their self-titled debut album. Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke had come out of Free, while Mick Ralphs had played guitar with Mott the Hoople and Boz Burrell was bass player for King Crimson before the group formed in 1973.

1976: George Harrison, currently ill with hepatitis, is sued by his American label, A&M, for $6 million for failing to deliver his latest album, 33 1/3, on time.

1987: The British tabloid The Sun reports erroneously that Elton John keeps several guard dogs with their larynxes removed so that he can't hear them bark, sparking a successful libel lawsuit from John that revolutionizes the way the tabloids in England deal with celebrities.

1987: Smokey Robinson and Gladys Knight are the celebrity team players on tonight's episode of Dick Clark's $100,000 Pyramid.

1989: Jimmy Buffett publishes his first book, a collection of short fiction entitled Tales From Margaritaville.

1991: Miles Davis died from the combined effects of a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure in Santa Monica, California at the age of 65.

1991: Garth Brooks went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Ropin' The Wind'. The album spent a total of eighteen weeks at the No.1 position and 70 weeks on the chart selling over 11m copies. It became the first country album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.

1991: Guns N' Roses released 2 albums 'Use Your Illusion I' and 'Use Your Illusion II' which debut at number 1 and number 2 on the album chart.

1991: On the week of their album ‘Nevermind’ being released, Nirvana made an appearance at the Tower Records store in New York City and then played a show at The Marquee Club in New York. Their single ‘Smell’s Like Teen Spirit’ had also entered the US Top 20 this week.

1994: R&B singer Bobby Brown witnessed a fatal drive-by-shooting in Roxbury, New Jersey. His sister's fiancé‚ was killed in the incident.

1995: Bobby Brown's car was riddled with bullets in Boston's Roxbury section. The gun battle killed his sister's fiancé.

1996: Bob Dylan is nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for his songwriting by Gordon Ball literature professor at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA.

2004: A Beverly Hills tribute concert in honor of Ray Charles, featuring Stevie Wonder, Michael McDonald, James Ingram, and Patti Austin, raises $15 million for Atlanta's African-American institution, Morehouse College.

2004: Producer Phil Spector was charged with the murder of actress Lana Clarkson in an unsealed indictment. Spector was in attendance at a Los Angeles court as the indictment about the slaying of 40-year-old Clarkson was read. He remained free on $1 million bail.

2009: Adam Goldstein (DJ AM.), American club DJ and musician died of an accidental drug overdose at home in New York City aged 36. Had worked with Blink 182, Crazy Town, Madonna. Goldstein had surrived a plane crash along with Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker in September 2008.

September 27

Births

1944: Randy Bachman (Guitar & Vocals for Bachman-Turner Overdrive & The Guess Who)

1947: Meat Loaf (Marvin Lee Aday)(Singer)

1952: Robbie Shakespeare (Singer in Sly & Robbie)

1953: Greg Ham (Sax for Men At Work)

1958: Shaun Cassidy (Pop Singer)

1966: Stephan Jenkins (Lead Vocals for Third Eye Blind)

1978: Brad Arnold (Singer for 3 Doors Down)

1982: Lil Wayne (Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.) (Rapper)

1984: Avril Lavigne (Singer & Guitarist)

Events

1938: Comedian Bob Hope premieres a new song, "Thanks For The Memory," on his eponymous NBC radio show.

1942: Glenn Miller plays what was to be his last concert as a civilian, performing at the Central Theatre in Passaic, NJ. In December 1944, Miller's plane would disappear over the Atlantic Ocean en route to play for fellow soldiers in liberated Paris.

1964: The Beach Boys make their national television debut on CBS' Ed Sullivan Show, performing their recent hit "I Get Around."

1966: Elvis Presley begins shooting his twenty-third film, entitled Easy Come, Easy Go.

1968: Local favorites the Jackson 5 open a Stevie Wonder / Gladys Knight concert in their hometown of Gary, IN, prompting Knight to recommend them to Motown head Berry Gordy.

1973: Rolling Stone announces that Carlos Santana has changed his name legally to add the middle name "Devadip," meaning "the Lamp of the Light Supreme" and a reflection of Santana's recent studies with Sri Chinmoy.

1976: Dolly Parton's short-lived television variety show, entitled simply Dolly!, premieres on ABC.

1979: While onstage at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA, Elton John collapses from "exhaustion." The song he'd been performing, ominously, was entitled "Better Off Dead."

1986: Bob Dylan performs "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" for Pope John Paul II at Bologna, Italy's World Eucharistic Congress.

1986: Metallica bass player Cliff Burton was crushed to death after the bands tour bus crashed between Stockholm and Copenhagen. During a European tour members from the band drew cards for the most comfortable bunk on the tour bus, Burton had won the game with an Ace of Spades and was asleep when the tour bus ran over a patch of black ice and skidded off of the road. He was thrown through the window of the bus, which fell on top of him.  He was 24 years old.

1986: The Beatles' 'Twist and Shout' re-entered the US singles chart over twenty-five years after it first appeared, after the song was featured in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

1990: Marvin Gaye is posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street.

1990: Dee Dee Ramone of the Ramones was arrested for possessing marijuana during a drug bust in New York's Greenwich Village.

2000: U2 played a show from the rooftop of The Clarence Hotel in Dublin, (which they own). Over 4,000 fans gathered on the streets below.

2003: Carly Simon sues the owners of New York's famous Dakota apartment complex, claiming they kept her $59,000 down payment after rejecting her rental application.

2003: Dierks Bentley registers his first #1 single in Billboard with "What Was I Thinkin'".

2004: Legendary rock producer Phil Spector, best known for creating the "Wall Of Sound" on hits like the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," is indicted for the February 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson at his estate in Alhambra, CA.

September 26

Births

1898: George Gershwin (Composer & Pianist)

1925: Marty Robbins (Country Artist)

1926: Julie London (Torchsong Singer)

1941: David Frizzell (Country Artist)

1945: Bryan Ferry (Singer for Roxy Music & Solo)

1947: Lynn Anderson (Country Singer)

1948: Olivia Newton-John (Pop Singer)

1951: Stuart Tosh (Drummer for Alan Parsons Project)

1954: Craig Chaquico (Guitar for Jefferson Starship)

1955: Carlene Carter (Country Artist)

1960: Doug Supernaw (Country Artist)

1961: Cindy Herron (Vocals for En Vogue)

1962: Tracey Thorn (Vocals for Everything But The Girl)

1964: John Tempesta (Drummer for Exodus, White Zombie & Testament)

1972: Shawn Stockman (Vocals for Boyz II Men)

1981: Christina Milian (Singer)

Events

1908: The first stereo advertisement, for an Edison Phonograph, appears in the Saturday Evening Post.

1937: Bessie Smith died at age 43 after being critically injured in a car accident outside of Memphis Tenn.

1955: Debbie Reynolds marries Eddie Fisher in New York City, a marriage that will last just four tumultuous years before Fisher leaves America's Sweetheart for Elizabeth Taylor.

1956: The mayor of Tupelo, MS declares today Elvis Presley Day in honor of its favorite son; among others, a young Tammy Wynette is in the audience at the concert Elvis gives later.

1957: The musical West Side Story, a retelling of Romeo and Juliet with New York City gang members, debuts on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre. It would run for 732 performances.

1961: Folksinger Bob Dylan lands his first major gig, opening for the Greenbriar Boys for two weeks at Gerde's Folk City in New York. Critic Robert Shelton of the New York Times says of today's performance: "Bob Dylan is one of the most distinctive stylists to play in a Manhattan cabaret in months... there is no doubt that he is bursting at the seams with talent... Mr. Dylan's voice is anything but pretty... a searing intensity pervades his songs. Mr. Dylan's highly personalized approach toward folk song is still evolving." This review essentially launches Dylan's career.

1964 : The Kinks released the single "You Really Got Me” in the US.

1965: At the end of a European tour Roger Daltry knocked out Keith Moon and was fired from The Who. The band were playing two shows in one night in Denmark, when an argument broke out between all four band members. Daltry was reinstated the following day.

1965: Queen Elizabeth II presents the Beatles with the Order of the British Empire, recommended by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who said later: "I saw the Beatles as having a transforming effect on the minds of youth, mostly for the good. It kept a lot of kids off the streets." The Beatles, who reportedly get high in a bathroom before the event, are said to be delighted, though many older and more conservative honorees return their honors in protest.

1967: Pink Floyd played the first of three nights at the Fillmore in San Francisco, the groups first ever live dates in the US.

1969: Legendary promoter Bill Graham opens the Fillmore West, a West Coast version of his popular New York "rock ballroom," in San Francisco.

1970: Motown announces that its newest singing sensation, the Jackson 5, have sold ten million records worldwide in just nine months.

1975: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and a young unknown singer who goes only by the name of Meat Loaf, opens in Westwood, CA. A film version of the popular off-Broadway musical hit, it is an instant flop nationwide, and is miraculously resuscitated some time later when audiences at the midnight showings in New York City begin to talk back to the screen, creating a cult phenomenon that lasts to this day.

1979: The Clash released their first U.S. single. It was their remake of Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought The Law."

1981: Bruce Dickinson joined UK rock band Iron Maiden, (Dickinson had been the vocalist with Samson).

1984: Paul Anka is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6840 Hollywood Blvd.

1988: "Talk Is Cheap" was released by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. It was his first solo album.

2002: Country artist Doug Supernaw is arrested outside a bar in Brenham, Texas, after fighting with five police officers. He's charged with public intoxication, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.

2003: Robert Palmer, a heavy smoker, died in Paris, France, from a heart attack at the age of 54.

September 25

Births

1943: Gary Alexander (Guitar & Vocals for The Association)

1943: John Locke (Keyboards for Spirit & Nazareth)

1946: Bryan MacLean (Guitar & Vocals for Love)

1946: Jerry Penrod (Bass for Iron Butterfly)

1955: Steve Severin (Bass for Siouxsie and the Banshees)

1961: Heather Locklear

1968: Will Smith (Rapper- DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince)

1974: Richie Edwards (Bass for The Darkness)

1980: T.I. (Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.) (Rapper)

Events

1964: The Temptations begin recording ’My Girl’ which went on to be their first US number one and the first of fifteen US Top Ten hits.

1965: The Beatles cartoon series premiered on ABC TV in the US. The first story was titled 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' and had the group exploring the ocean floor in a diving bell where they met a lovesick octopus.

1970: The Partridge Family's self-titled TV show debuts on ABC.

1975: While performing "Lonely Teardrops" onstage at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, NJ during a Dick Clark oldies revue, Jackie Wilson collapses from a heart attack, bashing his head on the stage and lapsing into a come from which he will remain until his death in 1983.

1980: John Bonham, drummer with Led Zeppelin, died aged 32 after a heavy drinking session. ‘Bonzo’ was found dead at guitarists Jimmy Page's house of what was described as asphyxiation, after inhaling his own vomit after excessive vodka consumption, (40 shots in 4 hours).

1981: An infamous Rolling Stones concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, PA, is recorded for use in the upcoming flop concert pic Let's Spend The Night Together.

1990: The mayor of Macon, GA, renames Mercer University Drive "Little Richard Penniman Boulevard" in honor of its native son.

1990: Drummer Dave Grohl auditioned for Nirvana and was instantly given the job. Grohl’s last band Scream had recently split-up.

1992: Two fans were stabbed and 20 arrests were made after trouble broke out at a Ozzy Osbourne gig in Oklahoma City. The sale of alcohol at the concert was blamed for the incident.

1993: A Patsy Cline commemorative stamp is issued by the United States Postal Service.

1993 Country singer Sara Evans marries Craig Schelske in Boonesboro, Missouri.

1995: Courtney Love was given a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, fined $1000 and ordered to attend a anger management course after being found guilty of assaulting Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna.

1995: Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" became only the second single to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The first artist to accomplish this feat was Michael Jackson with "You Are Not Alone."

1998: Johnny Cash suffers a relapse of pneumonia and is admitted to a Nashville, TN hospital, just one year after nearly dying from the disease.

2000: Ozzy Osbourne formally requested that Black Sabbath be removed from the nomination list for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Calling the inclusion "meaningless", Osbourne went on to say "Let's face it. Black Sabbath have never been media darlings. We're a people's band and that suits us just fine."

2001: The first worldwide broadcast of a satellite radio station takes place as XM Radio takes the air.