September 18

Births

1939: Frankie Avalon (Pop Singer)

1949: Kerry Livgren (Guitar for Kansas)

1951: Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin) (Bass for The Ramones)

1961: James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano)

1962: Joanne Catherall (Vocals for The Human League)

1967: Ricky Bell (Singer for New Edition & Bell Biv DeVoe)

1969: Cappadonna (Darryl Hill) (Rapper in Wu-Tang Clan)

1974: Xzibit (Alvin Nathaniel Joiner ) (Rapper)

Events

1955: CBS-TV's popular variety show Toast Of The Town is renamed what many people had been calling it all along, The Ed Sullivan Show.

1956: Rock shows are banned at the US Naval Station in Newport, RI after a fight breaks out during a Fats Domino concert.

1957: The Big Record, CBS-TV's answer to American Bandstand, premieres with host Patti Page and guests Billy Ward & the Dominoes and Tony Bennett.

1960: Teen idol Frankie Avalon turns 21, making him an adult and therefore eligible to claim the over $600,000 he earned while underage.

1967: The Beatles journey to the Raymond Revue bar in London to film the notorious "striptease" scene in Magical Mystery Tour. Accompanying stripper Jan Carson is the Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band, playing a song called "Death Cab For Cutie."

1969: Tiny Tim announced on "The Tonight Show" to Johnny Carson his engagement to Miss Vicki Budinger. Carson asked the two to be married on the show. They made TV history with the wedding on December 17, 1969.

1970: Jimi Hendrix asphyxiated in his own vomit, mainly red wine which had filled his airways and he died at age 27.

1971: The ill-fated Bobby Sherman sitcom Getting Together premieres on ABC-TV.

1977: All 4 Kiss members release solo albums.

1980: The tenth anniversary of Jimi Hendrix' untimely death is marked by a multimedia event, featuring Experience members Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, held at the Paradise Club in Amsterdam.

1981: Gary Numan took off on a round the world trip in a single engine Cessna plane. The attempt ended after he was forced to land in India, where local police arrested him.

1983: For an MTV publicity stunt to promote KISS' new album, Lick It Up, the band appear in public for the first time without makeup.

1993: Garth Brooks went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'In Pieces'. The album spent 25 weeks on the chart and sold over 6m copies.

1998: Reba McEntire receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999: The governor of Tennessee, Donald K. Sundquist, declares today Carl Perkins Day in honor of its native son.

2004: Britney Spears married dancer Kevin Federline during a private ceremony in Los Angeles. Federline had two daughters from his previous relationship with actress Shar Jackson.

2006: Willie Nelson's tour bus is stopped near Lafayette, LA, and Nelson, along with four members of his band, are arrested for possession of marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.

2006: Echo And The Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch was convicted of committing a breach of the peace by shouting, swearing and threatening Gary Duncan and his girlfriend Juliet Sebley backstage at Glasgow Barrowlands in Scotland. A court was told that McCulloch had lost his temper when he discovered the two fans in a toilet cubicle inside his private dressing room.

2008: The Village People are honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of fame at 6529 Hollywood Blvd.

2009: Leonard Cohen collapsed on stage during a concert in Valencia in Spain and was taken to hospital. He was later discharged after doctors told him he had food poisoning. Cohen was in the middle of singing his song Bird On The Wire when he fainted, prompting the band to stop playing and rush to help him.