October 2

Births

1945: Don McLean (Singer / Songwriter)

1948: Chris LeDoux (Country Artist)

1950: Mike Rutherford (Bass for Genesis & Mike & The Mechanics)

1951: Sting (Gordon Sumner) (Singer / Songwriter & Bass for The Police & Solo)

1955: Phil Oakey (Vocals for The Human League)

1956: Freddie Jackson (R&B Singer)

1958: Robbie Nevil (Singer)

1962: Sigtryggur Baldursson (Drums for The Sugarcubes)

1969: Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) (Singer / Songwriter)

1971: Tiffany (Tiffany Renee Darwish) (Singer)

Events

1928: The first professional recordings in Nashville take place as DeFord Bailey lays down eight tracks in Victor Records (later RCA) Studios.

1945: Elvis Presley, then just ten years old, makes his first public appearance at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show singing "Old Shep" in a talent contest. He comes in second.

1954: Elvis Presley bombs at the Grand Ole Opry, which does not approve of his take on traditional country music. The Opry's talent director, Jim Denny, famously tells Presley he should go back to driving a truck. Elvis swears never to return.

1959: 'Stay' by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs entered the US chart on its way to No.1. At just 1:37, it becomes the shortest US chart topper in Rock and Roll history.

1965: The Who made their debut on U.S. TV on the show "Shindig!"

1967: The entire Grateful Dead are arrested for marijuana possession in San Francisco.

1968: Motown sues their most prolific songwriting team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, for their refusal to write more songs until their royalty rate is increased. The trio are eventually released from the label and go on to start their own Invictus and Hot Wax labels.

1971: The syndicated half-hour dance show Soul Train, sort of an American Bandstand of R&B, premieres, with special guests Gladys Knight and the Pips, Eddie Kendricks, and the Honey Cone.

1971: Rod Stewart started a five week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Maggie May / Reason To Believe', his first solo No.1. Stewarts album 'Every Picture Tells A Story' also started a four-week run on this day at No.1 on the chart.

1976: In response to John Belushi's popular caricature of himself on Saturday Night Live, Joe Cocker appears on the show, singing a dual-Cocker duet with Belushi on "Feelin' Alright."

1977: After a plot is uncovered to steal it, Elvis Presley's body is moved from its Memphis mausoleum to its final resting place in the Meditation Garden at Graceland.

1980: Leaveil Degree from the soul group The Whispers started a two-year prison sentence in Boron California for his part in diamond robbery.

1981: Terry Hall, Neville Staples and Lynval Golding all left The Specials to form Fun Boy Three.

1982: John Cougar started a four week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Jack and Diane', his first US No.1.

1982: Musical Youth were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pass The Dutchie'. The group were made up of Birmingham school boys, aged 11-16. The song was a cover of The Mighty Diamonds song called 'Pass The Kutchie', a slang term for a cannabis smoking pipe, but the word was changed to avoid the song being banned for it's drug reference.

1983: Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler was at No.1 on the US singles chart with the Jim Steinman written and produced track 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart'. It made her the only Welsh artist to score a US No.1.

1983: ABBA's Agnetha Faltskog is involved in a car crash in Skane, Sweden, and suffers a concussion, but soon recovers.

1986: The Everly Brothers are awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd.

1999: Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas married model Marisol Maldonado. Marisol appeared in the Santana video ‘Smooth’ with Thomas.

2000: Paul Anka files papers to end his 37-year marriage to former fashion model Anne de Zogheb.

2002: Adam Ant escaped a prison sentence after a judge ruled that an incident in which he threatened drinkers with a replica pistol in a London pub was a result of mental illness. The 1980's pop star had been voluntarily having psychiatric treatment since the incident.

2003: Police were called to a suspected burglary at the Los Angeles house of Courtney Love's former boyfriend and ex-manager Jim Barber in the early hours. Ms Love was picked up in the street outside and detained - with officers noting "Miss Love's behaviour was consistent with being under the influence of a controlled substance". Shortly after her arrest, Ms Love was taken to hospital with a suspected drug overdose.

2004: 55-year-old Billy Joel causes a stir by marrying his third wife, the 22-year-old cooking student Katie Lee, at his Long Island home.

2007: Britney Spears was ordered to hand over her two young children to her former husband Kevin Federline by a judge in Los Angeles. The court ruled that Federline would be given custody of Sean Preston, two, and one-year-old Jayden James, until further notice. Last month Judge Scott Gordon had said Ms Spears showed "a habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol." The singer was ordered to undergo random drug and alcohol tests twice a week as part of her child custody dispute with Mr Federline.