October 21

Births

1917: Dizzy Gillespie (Jazz Trumpeter)

1940: Manfred Mann (Keyboardist)

1941: Steve Cropper (Guitar for Booker T. and the MGs)

1946: Lux Interior (Erick Lee Purkhiser) (Singer for The Cramps)

1952: Brent Mydland (Keyboards for Grateful Dead)

1953: Charlotte Caffey (Guitar for The Go- Go's)

1957: Steve Lukather (Guitar & Vocals for Toto)

Events

1908: The first two-sided vinyl record was offered for sale by the Columbia label in an ad running in this week's Saturday Evening Post.

1956: Elvis Presley visits his favorite local movie theater, the Memphian, and is attacked by an adoring crowd who scratch his new Cadillac. This begins Elvis' new habit of renting the entire theater whenever he wants to watch a movie.

1958: Buddy Holly recorded his last studio session including “True Love ways”.

1961: Bob Dylan recorded "Bob Dylan," his first album. He was 20 years old when he did the recording for Columbia Records. The cost to produce the session was $400.

1965: Bill Black, Elvis Presley's bass player, (1954-57), died four months after receiving surgery to remove a brain tumour, aged 39.

1971: In Paris, Mick Jagger and girlfriend Bianca become the proud parents of Mick's first child, Jade.

1975: The city of Los Angeles declares this "Elton John Week" and awards the musician his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6915 Hollywood Blvd.

1976: Keith Moon played his last show with The Who at the end of a North American tour at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto. On September 7, 1978, Moon died of an overdose of a sedative Heminevrin, that had been prescribed to prevent seizures induced by alcohol withdrawal.

1992: Elvis' first grandson, Benjamin Storm, is born to Lisa Marie Presley and Danny Keough.

1992: Elton John sues the syndicated US television show Hard Copy for alleging that the singer moved to the Atlanta suburbs to be near an AIDS treatment facility.

1994: Neil Diamond publicly announces his divorce from his second wife, Marcia Murphey, whom he has been with since 1969.

1995: Green Day singer Billie Joe was arrested and fined $141 after mooning at the audience during a gig in Milwaukee.

1995: Shannon Hoon, (Singer for Blind Melon), dies of a cocaine overdose at 28.

2003: Elton John signs the deal for the first of his famous "Red Piano" concerts at Las Vegas' Ceasar's Palace.

2004: Bo Diddley postpones a concert in California to have a toe amputated due to complications from diabetes.

2006: Sandy West (Drummer for The Runaways) was diagnosed with lung cancer, which later spread to her brain.  She died on this day at age 47.

2007: Kid Rock and five members of his entourage were arrested after an argument with a man escalated into a fight in a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. Kid Rock’s tour bus was pulled over by police after it left the scene; Rock was released after posting $1,000 bail.