October 31

Births

1952: Bernard Edwards (Bass for Chic)

1961: Larry Mullen (Drummer for U2)

1963: Johnny Marr (Guitarist for The Smiths, The The & Modest Mouse)

1963: Mikkey Dee (Drummer for Motorhead)

1964: Darryl Worley (Country Singer)

1964: Colm O'Ciosoig (Drummer for My Bloody Valentine)

1966: Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) (Rapper in The Beastie Boys)

1966: Annabella Lwin (Singer for Bow Wow Wow)

1967: Vanilla Ice (Robert Matthew Van Winkle) (Rapper)

1970: Rogers Stevens (Guitar for Blind Melon)

1981: Frank Iero (Rhythm Guitarist for My Chemical Romance)

2000: Willow Smith (Rapper?)

Events

1952: When his original guitarist has a stroke just before a New Year's Eve gig, popular St. Louis boogie-woogie pianist Johnnie Johnson hires for his group The Sir John's Trio a 26-year old hairdresser named Chuck Berry.

1963: The Beatles return from a tour of Sweden to find 50,000 screaming fans waiting for them at London's Heathrow Airport, the surest proof yet that Beatlemania is a national phenomenon. Waiting at the airport is American TV host Ed Sullivan, who notices the furor. "Who are those guys?" he asks a bystander, who tells him they are "England's foremost singing group." Having never heard them, Sullivan nevertheless immediately contacts manager Brian Epstein to book the band for three appearances on his CBS show early in 1964.

1964: Ray Charles is arrested at Boston's Logan Airport for possession of heroin, his third drug since 1958. The singer is ordered to rehab in order to avoid jail time.

1967: The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones is released on $1500 bail from Wormwood Scrubs prison in London after being charged with marijuana possession. Seven fans are arrested for demonstrating outside the prison gates.

1967: The Stooges make their live debut at a Detroit, MI, Halloween party.

1968: Paul McCartney's new girlfriend, Linda Eastman, moves into his London home.

1970: Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas marries actor Dennis Hopper, a marriage that is annulled seven days later.

1974: Members of Led Zeppelin launch their new artist-owned label, Swan Song, at the Chislehurst Caves in England, with the Pretty Things, Bill Wyman, and Groucho Marx -- not to mention several dozen naked models -- attending.

1976: Elvis Presley makes his last recording, singing Jim Reeves' "He'll Have To Go" over a pre-recorded backing track in the Jungle Room of his Graceland home.

1988: Singer Debbie Gibson held a seance at her Halloween party to contact the spirits of Liberace and Sid Vicious.

1989: The very first MTV unplugged show was recorded in New York, featuring UK band Squeeze, the program was aired on 26th Nov 1989.

1990: During a gig in Seattle, Washington, Billy Idol dumped 600 dead fish in Faith No More's dressing room. They responded by walking on stage, naked during Idol's set.

1993: Tupac Shakur was arrested for allegedly shooting two off-duty Atlanta policemen.

1995: James Brown is charged with assault at his home in Aiken, SC, after allegedly striking his wife Adrienne with a mirror.

1996: Slash announced he was no longer in Guns N' Roses. The guitarist said that Axl Rose and he had only been civil to each other on two occasions since 1994.

2005: The Isley Brothers' Ron Isley is sentenced to 26 years in federal prison on tax evasion charges.

2005: The white suit John Lennon wore on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road sells at a Las Vegas Amnesty International charity auction for $118,000.

October 30

Births

1939: Grace Slick (Singer for Jefferson Airplane & Starship & Solo)

1941: Otis Williams (Baritone in The Temptations)

1946: Chris Slade (Drummer for The Firm & AC/DC)

1947: Timothy B. Schmidt (Bass for Poco & The Eagles)

1960: Joey Belladonna (Current Lead Singer for Anthrax)

1960: Jerry De Borg (Guitar for Jesus Jones)

1965: Gavin Rossdale (Lead Singer & Rhythm Guitar for Bush & Solo.  Married to Gwen Stefani)

1969: Snow (Darrin O'Brien) (Rapper)

Events

1967: Rolling Stones leader Brian Jones, already deep in drug addiction, pleads guilty in a London court to possession of cannabis and not guilty to possession of cocaine and methedrine. He spends the night in Wormwood Scrubs prison and is released on bail the next day after being sentenced to nine months, a sentence which will eventually be suspended.

1970: A Miami court sentences Doors leader Jim Morrison to six months in prison and a fine of $500 for allegedly exposing himself during a concert there in March of the previous year. The case is still on appeal when Morrison dies the following July.

1970: Davy Jones guest-stars as himself in tonight's "The Teen Idol" episode of ABC-TV's Make Room For Granddaddy.

1972: Elton John becomes the first rock star since the Beatles to perform for Queen Elizabeth II at her annual Royal Command Variety Performance in London.

1973: On their first visit to the UK, The Osmonds are mobbed by 10,000 fans at London's Heathrow Airport.

1974: Upon learning that her husband, funk-rocker Sly Stone, has abducted their 14-month-old son Sylvester Bubb Ali Stewart, wife Kathy Silvia files for divorce.

1978: KISS' ill-advised live-action kiddie movie KISS Meet The Phantom Of The Park premieres on NBC-TV. Their career would never fully recover.

1979: Bianca Jagger, Mick's first wife, is granted a divorce after eight years of marriage.

1982: Australian band Men At Work went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Who Can It Be Now'' the group's first US No.1.

1982: Paul Weller announced the breakup of The Jam.

1990: Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose was released on $10,000 bail, after being arrested for allegedly hitting a neighbor over the head with a bottle. The incident happened after a complaint to the police about loud music coming from the singer’s house.

1991: Country singer Clint Black (34) weds actress & singer Lisa Hartman (29).

1995: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces its upcoming induction of David Bowie, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Pink Floyd, The Shirelles, Jefferson Airplane, Little Willie John, and the Velvet Underground.

1998: All four original members of Black Sabbath reunited momentarily to play ‘Paranoid’ on US TV’s David Letterman Show.

1998: KISS, both with their signature makeup and without, appear on tonight's "...Thirteen Years Later" episode of Fox-TV's Millennium.

2002: Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC was murdered by an assassin's single bullet at his recording studio in Queens, New York.

2003: Paul McCartney becomes the proud parent of his first child with second wife Heather Mills, a daughter named Beatrice Milly.

2003: Lionel Richie divorces his second wife, Diane Alexander.

2004: An arrest warrant was issued for Motley Crue singer Vince Neil after he allegedly knocked a soundman unconscious during a concert. Neil was said to have punched Michael Talbert in the face at Gilley's nightclub in Dallas after he asked the soundman for more volume on his guitar but attacked Talbert as he adjusted it, leaving him unconscious for 45 seconds.

2007: After losing the top spot to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain the year before, Elvis Presley once again tops Forbes Magazine's list of highest-earning dead celebrities. John Lennon is second on the list; fellow ex-Beatle George Harrison is fourth.

October 29

Births

1944: Denny Laine (Guitar for The Moody Blues & Wings)

1946: Peter Green (Original Guitarist for Fleetwood Mac)

1949: James Williamson (Guitar for Iggy Pop & The Stooges)

1955: Kevin DuBrow (Singer for Quiet Rio)

1955: Roger O'Donnell (Keyboards for The Cure)

1961: Randy Jackson (Singer in Jackson 5)

Events

1971: Guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on a Macon, Georgia street while trying to swerve to avoid a tractor-trailer. He was three weeks shy of his 25th birthday.

1987: Rolling Stones guitarist and sometime painter Ron Wood gets his first public presentation, Decades, in London, featuring mostly portraits of Wood's famous friends over the past two decades.

1990: The inductees for the sixth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are announced, a list which includes Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner, The Byrds, The Impressions, LaVern Baker, Jimmy Reed, and John Lee Hooker.

1991: Memphis City Council named interstate 55 through Jackson, The B.B. King Freeway.

1991: Three members of Pink Floyd were injured in an auto race in Mexico.

1995: Paul Anka guest stars on tonight's "Treehouse of Horror VI" episode of Fox-TV's The Simpsons.

1996: Manchester band The Stone Roses split up. Singer Ian Brown said 'having spent the last ten years in the filthiest business in the universe, it's a pleasure to announce the end of The Stone Roses.'

1996: In Pasadena, California, a judge drops drug possession charges against Scott Weiland, the singer for the Stone Temple Pilots. The judge concluded that Weiland had made significant progress in rehab.

1998: Guns ‘N’ Roses Drummer Steven Adler surrendered to authorities to begin serving a sentence of 150 days for two counts of battery and violation of probation.  

2002: Palm Springs, CA, dedicates a portion of its airport as the Sonny Bono Memorial Concourse, in honor of the famous singer who also served as the town's mayor in the late Eighties.

2003: A study by the Neilsen ratings people finds that a full third the sales of Beatles 1 were to new fans between the ages of 19 and 24, skewing the fan base even younger than it had been previously.

2005: The wax figures of the younger Beatles used in the cover of the band's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album are auctioned off for $160,000 in London after being discovered languishing in the backroom of Madame Tussauds' famous wax museum.

October 28

Births

1936: Charlie Daniels (Country Singer & Fiddle player)

1956: Dave Wyndorf (Lead Singer & Guitar for Monster Magnet)

1957: Stephen Morris (Drums for Joy Division & New Order)

1958: William Reid (Guitar for The Jesus and Mary Chain)

1969: Ben Harper (Singer / Songwriter)

1972: Brad Paisley (Country Artist)

Events

1939: Bill Monroe makes his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, performing "Foggy Mountain Top" and "Mule Skinner Blues" at Nashville's War Memorial Auditorium.

1948: In St. Louis, MO, Chuck Berry marries his first and only wife, Themetta "Toddy" Suggs.

1955: As part of the duo Buddy and Bob, Buddy Holly opens for Marty Robbins at a concert in Lubbock, TX.

1956: Elvis Presley makes his second appearance on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show, and unlike the first appearance, Sullivan himself is hosting. Elvis sings "Don’t Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," "Hound Dog," and "Love Me," and Ed presents Presley with a gold record for "Love Me Tender."

1958: Buddy Holly makes what would be his last major television appearance, lip-synching "It's So Easy" and "Heartbeat" on ABC's American Bandstand.

1968: Cynthia Lennon is granted a divorce from her husband John.

1972: Diana Ross becomes the proud parent of her second daughter, Tracee, her first from husband Robert Ellis Silberstein.

1982: The Jam announced they were splitting up at the end of their current UK tour.

1989: Janet Jackson started a four week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814'. Only one of three albums to produce seven Top-ten US singles, (the other two being Thriller by Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA).

1997: R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry announced that he was leaving the group after 17 years, becoming a farmer.

1999: During a Kenny Rogers show in Dallas, TX, a fan is injured by a frisbee Kenny throws randomly into the audience. According to the fan's subsequent two-million-dollar lawsuit, the "accident" has left him impotent.

2003: David Bowie and his wife, the supermodel Iman, sign up as the new spokesmodels for Tommy Hilfiger.

2007: Country musician Porter Wagoner died in Nashville aged 80 from lung cancer.