September 29

Births

1907: Gene Autry (America's singing cowboy)

1935: Jerry Lee Lewis (Pianist & Singer)

1942: Jean-Luc Ponty (Jazz Violinist)

1944: Mike Post (TV Theme Composer)

1948: Mark Farner (Lead Singer & Lead 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 (Lead Guita 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: Mickey Hart joins the Grateful Dead as its new drummer.

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 an 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.