November 11

Births

1929: LaVern Baker (R&B Singer)

1945: Vince Martell (Lead Guitar for Vanilla Fudge)

1945: Chris Dreja (Rhythm Guitar & Bass for The Yardbirds)

1950: Jim Peterik (Lead Vocals & Guitar for Survivor)

1953: Andy Partridge (Singer / Songwriter & Guitarist for XTC)

1953: Marshall Crenshaw (Singer / Songwriter)

Events

1938: Kate Smith sings a twenty-year-old, unknown Irving Berlin tune called "God Bless America" for the first time on her radio program.

1944: Frank Sinatra, of the Harry James big band, signs with Columbia as a solo recording artist.

1954: Bill Haley scored his first US Top ten single with 'Shake Rattle And Roll'. He had dropped his cowboy image about a year and a half earlier, while renaming The Saddlemen to Bill Haley and His Comets.

1963: After a gig in Birmingham, England, the Beatles find themselves attempting to escape a throng of fanatically devoted fans for the first time, escaping through the crowd by dressing up as policemen.

1965: Journalist Al Aronowitz gets the garage band The Velvet Underground their first gig -- at the Summit High School dance in Summit, NJ.

1967: Van Morrison makes his only appearance on ABC-TV's American Bandstand, lip-synching his big hit, "Brown Eyed Girl."

1968: American record buyers are scandalized when John Lennon and Yoko Ono release their new album Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins with a cover depicting the two of them standing unashamedly in full-frontal nudity. Record stores eventually carry the experimental album in a brown paper wrapper.

1969: Jim Morrison of the Doors is arrested by the FBI for drunk and disorderly behavior and interfering with the flight of an aircraft in Phoenix, AZ, after a flight attendant on his trip from Los Angeles accuses him of attacking and sexually harassing her. Morrison and his flight companion, American actor Tom Baker, spend the night in local jail but are released the next day on $2,500 bail. The charges are later dropped.

1970: Ringo Starr and his first wife, Maureen, become the proud parents of their first child, daughter Lee Parkin, at Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital in Hammersmith, London.

1970: Bob Dylan publishes his first novel, a poorly-received stream-of-consciousness work called Tarantula.

1972: Berry Oakley (Bass for Allman Brothers) was involved in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia, just three blocks from where Duane Allman had his fatal motorcycle accident the year before.  He refused medical treatment and got a ride home.  Three hours later, he was rushed to the hospital, delirious and in pain, and died of cerebral swelling caused by a fractured skull.  He was 24 years old.

1975: Reba McEntire signs her first recording contract, with Mercury Records.

1986: Pink Floyd announce their intention to record a new album and tour under their band name, a name which recently departed leader Roger Waters considers his alone.

1990: A 21 year-old AC/DC fan died after being attacked outside the Brendan Byrne Arena in New Jersey where the band were playing a gig that night.

1994: Christie's auction house in New York City holds their first-ever auction of rock memorabilia, including the Beach Boys' guitars, a stage outfit worn by Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon's famous Army fatigues.

1994: The Monkees' Micky Dolenz guest stars, along with Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick and Billy Vera, on tonight's "" episode of ABC-TV's Boy Meets World.

1999: Singer Brandy was admitted into a hospital in Southern California due to dehydration from overwork.

2000: The original Meters reunite for one and only one gig in San Francisco, their first since 1977.

2003: A London High Court orders Van Morrison to pay $67,000 in lost revenue to Gary Marlow, owner of the Crown Hotel in Wiltshire, England, after canceling a planned gig there.

2004: M'hammed Soumayah, bodyguard for Liza Minelli, sues the singer for $100 million for allegedly forcing him to have sex with her or be fired.

2004: Coldplay fan Sarah Sainsbury wrote to the band asking for their autographs so she could sell them to raise funds at her school charity. Coldplay sent her a triple platinum disc worth over $7,500.