September 30

Births

1917: Buddy Rich (Jazz Drummer)

1935: Johnny Mathis (Pop Singer)

1935: Z.Z. Hill (Blues Artist)

1940: 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 (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 Guitar 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. 

September 28

Births

1901: Ed Sullivan (Television Host)

1928: Koko Taylor (Blues Singer)

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

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

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

1979: Bam Margera (Jackass)

1984: Melody Thornton (Singer for The Pussycat Dolls)

1987: Hilary Duff (Singer)

Events

1953: Country 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.

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.

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: 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. Goldstein had survived a plane crash along with Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker in September 2008.