October 15

Births

1920: Mario Puzo (Wrote The Godfather)

1938: Fela Kuti (Nigerian Musician)

1946: Richard Carpenter (Piano in The Carpenters)

1948: Chris DeBurgh (Pop Singer)

1953: Tito Jackson (Lead Guitar & Vocals in The Jacksons)

1966: Eric Benét (R&B Singer)

1970: Ginuwine (Elgin Lumpkin) (R&B Singer)

1981: Keyshia Cole (R&B Singer)

Events

1960: While in Hamburg, The Beatles back Wally Eymond, the guitarist for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, on his version of George Gershwin's "Summertime." As Beatles drummer Pete Best is absent from the session, the band plays with Rory Storm's drummer, Ringo Starr. This is the first known recording of the group together, though the master is lost to history; two years later, the group would hire Ringo permanently.

1964: Cole Porter died of kidney failure at the age of 73 in Santa Monica, California.

1965: Mike Love of the Beach Boys marries his second wife, Suzanne Celeste Belcher, in Las Vegas.

1965: Jimi Hendrix signs his first recording contract -- for one dollar plus one percent of his royalties.

1968: The former New Yardbirds, now known as Led Zeppelin, perform their first gig under that name at England's Surrey University.

1969: Famed blues singer Howlin' Wolf suffers his first non-fatal heart attack.

1969: Johnny Cash wins a record-setting five times during the Country Music Association awards at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. He wins Entertainer and Male Vocalist; Album, for "San Quentin"; Single, for "A Boy Named Sue"; and Vocal Group, with June Carter.

1971: Rick Nelson (formerly Ricky) is invited to perform at the Seventh Annual Rock 'n' Roll Revival Show, an oldies concert held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Debuting some of his newer, country-rock material with his Stone Canyon Band, Nelson is booed by the audience; the experience so unnerves the former teen idol that he goes home and pens a song about the experience, ironically entitled "Garden Party." Ironically, in 1972 it will become his first US Top Ten hit since 1963's "For You."

1973: The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards is found guilty in Nice, France, of possessing and intending to distribute both marijuana and heroin. He receives a one-year suspended sentence, is fined 5,000 francs, and is forbidden from entering the country for two years.

1973: Having experienced respiratory problems for the past four days, Elvis Presley is admitted to Memphis' Baptist Memorial Hospital, where Dr. George Nichopoulos, Elvis' personal physician, discovers his patient's addiction to Demerol.

1976: Ike and Tina Turner split their musical act.

1977: Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” hits #1 and stays there for 10 weeks.  It will go on to be the #1 song of 1977 and of the decade.

1980: For the first time ever, London's legendary Abbey Road Studios auctions off thousands of dollars of equipment, including some used on Beatles recordings.

1991: Creedence Clearwater Revival leader John Fogerty is the proud father of son Shane Cody, his fourth child.

1995: Paul and Linda McCartney make a memorable appearance on tonight's "Lisa The Vegetarian" episode of FOX's The Simpsons, doing their voice-overs only on condition that the Lisa character stay a vegetarian forever after.

1997: Patricia Ann Richardson filed suit against Snoop Doggy Dogg, his former manager Sharita Knight, and Death Row Records for allegedly tricking her into transporting packages of marijuana to a venue where Snoop Doggy Dogg was performing.

1998: MCA Records Inc. filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against New Edition members Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Ricardo Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronald DeVoe for alleged failure to deliver albums.

2003: Dave Clark Five lead singer Mike Smith suffers a tragic fall from a ladder at his home in Spain, leaving him without any movement in three limbs. He would remain a near-quadriplegic until his death in 2008 from pneumonia, a complication of the original injury.