September 2

Births

1925: Hugo Montenegro (Orchestra Leader & Composer)

1939: Sam Gooden (Singer in The Impressions)

1943: Joe Simon (R&B Singer)

1943: Rosalind Ashford (Singer in Martha and the Vandellas)

1946: Billy Preston (Singer & Keyboard player)

1951: Mik Kaminski (Violin for Electric Light Orchestra)

1957: Steve Porcaro (Keyboards for Toto)

1958: Jerry Augustyniak (Drummer for 10,000 Maniacs )

1964: Randy Bennett (DJ)

1969: Cedric Hailey (K-Ci) (Vocals for Jodeci & K-Ci & Jojo)

1987: Spencer James Smith (Drummer for Panic at the Disco)

Events

1931: CBS radio makes Bing Crosby a star overnight when it debuts his new show, accurately titled 15 Minutes With Bing Crosby.

1963: The Angels become the first white all-female group to have a No.1 record. The song was "My Boyfriend's Back."

1964: The Beatles are shocked to find their audience of 13,000 at Philadelphia's Convention Hall is completely white, management's response to the race riots the city had suffered days earlier.

1965: Mick Jagger and Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham appear on ITV's Ready Steady Go! to perform a mock-duet on Sonny and Cher's hit "I Got You Babe."

1965: The Doors recorded their first demo’s at World Pacific Jazz Studios in Los Angeles, California, where they cut six Jim Morrison songs.

1970: An unknown art-rock band named Genesis runs an ad in Britain's Melody Maker magazine looking for a drummer, an audition 19-year-old Phil Collins will pass by mentioning that he played percussion on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass.

1971: The Rolling Stones sue former manager Andrew Loog Oldham for back royalties; on the same day, the Grateful Dead have their former manager, Lenny Hart, arrested for embezzling $70,000 from the group's coffers.

1975: Sixty people are arrested when over 500 attempt to crash the Great American Music Fair in Syracuse, NY, in order to see Jefferson Starship and the Doobie Brothers for free.

1978: Teddy Pendergrass promotes his latest album, Life Is A Song Worth Singing, by staging a "Ladies Only" concert at Avery Fisher Hall in New York. The crowd, which is indeed restricted to females, receives white chocolate lollipops shaped like teddy bears; the gimmick is so successful Pendergrass repeats it often during his solo career.

1978: George Harrison married Olivia Trinidad Arias. She was a secretary at his Dark Horse record company.

1982: Rolling Stone Keith Richard's house burns down.

1989: Ozzy Osbourne was charged with threatening to kill his wife Sharon. Ozzy was released on the condition that he immediately went into detox, the case was later dropped when the couple decide to reconcile.

1989: Ric Ocasek, of the Cars, married Paulina Porizkova.

1995: After nearly a decade of inducting musicians, the actual physical Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (and museum) opens in Cleveland, OH. Performing at the opening ceremony are Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Al Green, The Allman Brothers, Booker T. and the MGs, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, The Pretenders, John Fogerty, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, George Clinton, The Kinks, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Burdon, and Boz Scaggs.

1995: Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the US singles chart with a song written by R. Kelly 'You Are Not Alone'. It holds a Guinness World Record as the first song in the 37 year history of the Billboard Hot 100 to debut at No.1.

2006: Lead singer of the Isley Brothers, Ronald Isley was sentenced to three years in a US prison for multiple counts of tax fraud. The 64-year-old, was also ordered to pay more than $3.1m to the US tax service for "pathological" evasion. The court heard he cashed royalty checks belonging to his brother O'Kelly, who died in 1996 and also spent millions of dollars made from undeclared performances on a yacht and two homes.

2010: Brooks & Dunn play their final concert at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena with proceeds earmarked for the Country Music Hall of Fame. Reba McEntire guests on "Cowgirls Don't Cry." Their last song: "Brand New Man".

September 1

Births

1925: Art Pepper (Alto Saxophonist)

1931: Boxcar Willie (Country Singer)

1933: Conway Twitty (Country Singer)

1944: Archie Bell (Singer for Archie Bell and the Drells)

1946: Barry Gibb (Singer & Guitar for The Bee Gees)

1946: Greg Errico (Drums for Sly and the Family Stone)

1955: Bruce Foxton (Bass & Vocals for The Jam & Stiff Little Fingers)

1957: Gloria Estefan (Singer)

1973: J.D. Fortune (Singer for INXS)

1984: Joseph Mark Trohman (Guitarist for Fall Out Boy)

Events

1887: Emile Berliner files the first patent for the gramophone, beating Thomas Edison to the punch.

1952: Ray Charles signs to Atlantic after leaving Swingtime Records; the label will take him in a harder R&B direction than the crooner-style pop and West Coast Blues he had been recording.

1953: Buddy and Bob, a country duo from Lubbock, TX, audition at local radio station KDAV, earning themselves a weekly Sunday afternoon show and officially kicking off the career of rock legend Buddy Holly.

1955: Legendary DJ Alan Freed holds his "First Anniversary Rock 'n Roll Party" at Brooklyn's Paramount Theater, featuring Chuck Berry, and for some reason, Tony Bennett.

1956: Elvis Presley shared his success with his family by purchasing his mother a pink Cadillac.

1956: Jerry Lee Lewis, then all of nineteen years old, travels to Memphis to audition for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. However, Phillips is vacationing in Florida, so Jerry Lee records a few songs for him to hear when he returns.

1957: A young Jimi Hendrix catches Elvis Presley's performance at Seattle's Sicks Stadium.

1965: James Brown introduces America to "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," his latest single, on tonight's episode of ABC-TV's Shindig!

1967: A young guitarist named Boz Scaggs joins the blues band led by his childhood friend, Steve Miller.

1971: After their successful summer-replacement series, Sonny and Cher begin their fall TV variety series on CBS-TV.

1977: Blondie, featuring former Playboy Bunny Debra Harry, signed their first major record company contract with Chrysalis Records.

1979: U2 released their very first record, an EP titled 'U2-3.'

1979: INXS made their live debut in Sydney, Australia.

1983: Mick Jones, lead guitarist with The Clash was fired by the other three members who claimed he'd 'drifted apart' from the original idea of the group.

1984: After a 25-year career, Tina Turner had her first solo No.1 single in the US with 'What's Love Got To Do With It'.

1986: Madness announced they were splitting up. They re-formed in 1992 and again in 1999.

1989: A judge in Dublin, Ireland, decided not to convict U2's Adam Clayton of marijuana possession, even though he had admitted to the crime. Clayton agreed to contribute money to a women's center in Dublin.

1995: Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum was opened with a seven-hour concert with dozens of stars.

1998: Ian Gillan (Deep Purple) was charged with assault and battery for allegedly hitting a security guard in the head with a microphone during a concert in August.

2000: The last remaining original member of the Platters, Herb Reed, is awarded a court injunction against a group using the same name but containing no actual original members.

2005: Barry Cowsill, bass guitarist for The Cowsills, died from injuries caused by Hurricane Katrina. His body was not recovered until December 28th, 2005, from the Chartres Street Wharf, New Orleans. He was 51.

2006: While still fighting his first murder trial for the death of actress Lana Clarkson, Phil Spector marries his fourth wife, Rachelle.

2006: Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers is sentenced to 37 months in jail for federal income tax evasion. He is scheduled for release in April 2010.

2006: Taylor Swift performs "Tim McGraw" in her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.

2009: Jake Brockman, former keyboard player with Echo and the Bunnymen was killed when his motorbike was in collision with a converted ambulance on the Isle of Man. In 1989 the band's first drummer Pete De Freitas died in a similar crash.

August 31

Births

1918: Alan Jay Lerner (Lyricist & Composer)

1938: Jerry Allison (Drummer for The Crickets)

1945: Van Morrison (Singer / Songwriter)

1945: Itzhak Perlman (Violinist)

1948: Rudolf Schenker (Guitar for The Scorpions)

1949: Rick Roberts (Singer for Firefall)

1955: Anthony Thistlethwaite (Multi-Instrumentalist for The Waterboys)

1957: Gina Schock (Drums for The Go-Go's)

1957: Glenn Tilbrook (Guitar & Vocals for Squeeze)

1960: Tony DeFranco (Singer for The DeFranco Family)

1961: David Chastain (Heavy Metal Guitarist)

1963: Reb Beach (Guitar for Winger & Whitesnake)

1967: Gerard Love (Bass for Teenage Fanclub)

1970: Debbie Gibson (Singer)

1977: Craig Nicholls (Singer / Songwriter & Guitarist for The Vines)

1977: Del Marquis (Derek Gruen) (Guitar for Scissor Sisters)

Events

1955: London resident Sidney Turner is brought before the court and fined three pounds for attempting to drive his neighbors "mad" (his words) by playing Bill Haley's version of "Shake, Rattle And Roll" all night long.

1956: Rock and roll's dominance of the UK is complete: for the first time, all of the Top Ten singles are those of American artists (although not quite all are rock).

1958: Ricky Nelson takes the stage for the first time as a solo rock star, performing at Atlantic City's famous Steel Pier for two dates and selling a record 44,000 tickets.

1961: Bob Wooler's piece about the Beatles in today's edition of Mersey Beat is the first ink given to the still-unknown group.

1968: The Beatles' new single, "Hey Jude," debuts at #10, a record for Billboard at the time.

1969: After spending three years supposedly recuperating from a motorcycle accident that happily derailed his stardom, Bob Dylan reappears on stage for the first time since 1966, playing the Isle of Wight festival in England with backing by a group known simply as The Band.

1971: A security guard was stabbed to death at a Who concert in Forest Hills, NY.

1974: The final episode of The Partridge Family airs on ABC-TV.

1974: During his deportation battle, John Lennon testifies in court that President Nixon had started the proceedings in order to silence the ex-Beatle for his anti-Vietnam War stance.

1976: Though no one ever claims George Harrison stole the song intentionally, the ex-Beatle is nonetheless found guilty of "subconsciously" lifting several key melodic elements from the Chiffons' 1963 smash "He's So Fine" for his 1970 smash "My Sweet Lord." Harrison, who always maintained he was really trying to write something like the Edwin Hawkins Singers' hit "Oh Happy Day," would appeal for five years but eventually be ordered to pay the publisher $587,000. The Chiffons, who never saw royalties from their original hit, head back into the studio to cut a version of... "My Sweet Lord."

1980: In Beverly Hills, Karen Carpenter marries her first and only husband, real estate developer Thomas Burris.

1985: 'Brothers In Arms' by Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album charts. The album also topped the charts in 25 other countries and went on to sell over 20 million worldwide.

1986: After living together for 10 years Bob Geldof married TV presenter Paula Yates in Las Vegas with Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon as the best man. Yates died of a drug overdose on 17th September 2000.

1987: The largest pre-order of albums in the history of CBS Records occurred as 2.25 million copies of Michael Jackson's ‘Bad’ album were shipped to record stores in the US. The LP followed the Jackson album, ‘Thriller’, the biggest Jackson-seller of all time (over 35 million copies sold). ‘Bad’ went on to sell over 13 million copies.

1990: Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Wonder sang ‘Amazing Grace’ at a memorial service held for guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan who had been killed in a helicopter crash 4 days earlier.

1991: Metallica started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with, 'Metallica'. The album featured ‘Enter Sandman’ ‘Sad But True’, ‘The Unforgiven’ and ‘Nothing Else Matters’ went on to sell over 10 million copies in the US alone.

1998: Noreaga, Vincent Santiago, of the musical group Capone-N-Noreaga was charged with assault of an unhappy fan in Harrisburg, PA.

2002: NASA announced that Lance Bass, singer with *NSYNC, was to become the first celebrity astronaut. His $23.8 million, place on a Russian Soyuz module would make him the youngest person at 23 years of age to go into orbit. Bass ended up not taking part in the flight after failing to pay for his $20 million ticket on the craft.

2006: The Times ran a story on the demands of rock stars when on tour. Ozzy Osbourne insists on an eye, ear, nose and throat doctor at each venue. The Beach Boys require a licensed masseur, Meat Loaf a mask and one small tank of oxygen. David Bowie requests that the dressing room temperature is between 14c and 18c and Paul McCartney must have a large arrangement of white Casablanca lilies in his dressing room. Mick Jagger must have an onstage autocue with the lyrics to all the songs, it would also tell him the name of the city in which they were performing.

2007: Hilly Kristal, founder of the New York punk club CBGB died from complications arising from lung cancer at the age of 75. Kristal was credited with discovering Patti Smith and The Ramones and his club became a breeding ground for punk rock. The New York City venue, whose full title CBGB OMFUG stood for 'country, bluegrass, blues and other music for uplifting gourmandisers', was originally launched to showcase country music.

2009: Patti Labelle is ordered by the IRS to pay $330,000 in back taxes.

August 30

Births

1919: Kitty Wells (Ellen Muriel Deason ) (Country Singer)

1939: John Peel (DJ & Producer)

1935: "Papa" John Phillips (Guitar & Singer / Songwriter for The Mamas and the Papas)

1941: John McNally (Guitar & Vocals for The Searchers)

1950: Micky Moody (Guitar for Whitesnake)

1954: Ronald Beitle (Drums for Wild Cherry)

1958: Martin Jackson (Drums for Magazine & Swing Out Sister)

1963: Paul Oakenfold (Producer, remixer & DJ)

1964: Robert Clivilles  (Producer and DJ with C&C Music Factory)

1974: Rich Cronin (Singer in LFO)

1986: George Ryan Ross III (Lead Guitarist & Singer for Panic at the Disco)

Events

1959: Brill Building songwriter Carole King, already two months pregnant, marries her writing partner Gerry Goffin in New York City. The marriage lasts nine years.

1963: Jerry Lee Lewis welcomes his second child with wife (and cousin) Myra Gale Brown, a daughter named Phoebe, who would later become the Killer's manager.

1963: The Beatles are filmed for a English documentary on the "Mersey Beat" scene; some of this footage ends up being broadcast on NBC-TV's Jack Parr Show, which represents America's first broadcast of the group performing.

1963: ABC-TV's American Bandstand airs its final weekday show, becoming a weekly, rather than daily, show and moving to Saturdays for the rest of its run.

1969: The second annual Isle of Wight Festival takes place in England just two weeks after the triumphant Woodstock concert, featuring Bob Dylan, The Who, The Band, Joe Cocker, Free, Richie Havens, The Moody Blues, The Nice, Tom Paxton, Pentangle and The Pretty Things.

1972: The "One on One" benefit concert for mentally disabled children, instituted by John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the behest of friend Geraldo Rivera, takes place in New York City's Madison Square Garden, featuring performances by Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Sha Na Na, and the duo themselves, who played many of their new "protest" songs at the event (later issued on the LP Live In New York City). The show raises somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter million dollars for Willowbrook Handicapped Children's Home.

1973: After two years and two unsuccessful albums without deceased former frontman Jim Morrison, the Doors officially break up.

1975: Free's guitarist, Paul Kossoff, goes into a drug-induced coma and is legally dead for over 35 minutes, supposedly revived only after stirring at the morgue. (Kossoff died on 19th March 1976 of heart failure after a history of drug abuse).

1975, KC and the Sunshine Band went to No.1 on the singles chart with, 'Get Down Tonight', the group's first of five No.1's.

1988: Brenda Lee sues MCA for back royalties totaling over $20 million, but the suit is eventually settled out of court for an unknown amount.

1988: Papa Dee Allen from War died after suffering a massive heart attack while performing on stage at a gig in Solano County, California.

1988: After tabloids publish photos of Bruce Springsteen, already married to actress Julianne Phillips, frolicking with back up singer Patti Scialfa, Phillips files for divorce. (Springsteen married Scialfa two years later.)

1989: Billy Joel fires Frank Weber as his manager after discovering an alleged $90 million Weber had embezzled from his savings. Weber was the brother of Joel's ex-wife and former business manager Elizabeth Weber Small.

1989: Izzy Stradlin from Guns N' Roses was arrested for making a public disturbance on a US air flight. Stradlin had urinated on the floor, verbally abused a stewardess and smoked in the non-smoking section of the aircraft.

1990: Canadian-born singer Paul Anka finally becomes a US citizen in Las Vegas, but finds his car has been towed away during the naturalization service.

1991: Jan Berry of Jan and Dean marries his second wife, Gertie Filip, onstage during a concert at Las Vegas' Stardust Hotel.

1991: In a rush to make her performance at the Grand Ole Opry, country legend Dottie West is critically injured in a car crash near the Opry itself and dies five days later.

1993: Billy Joel appears as the first musical guest on David Letterman's new talk show, CBS-TV's Late Show With David Letterman.

1994: Usher's first studio album, "Usher", was released.

1994: Oasis' first studio album, "Definitely Maybe", was released.

1995: Sterling Morrison (Guitar for The Velvet Underground) died from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, two days after his 53rd birthday.

1995: James Taylor and ex-wife Carly Simon reunite onstage for the first time in 16 years for a benefit concert in Martha's Vineyard, MA.

1997: Members from The Wu-Tang Clan were arrested after the alleged assault on a record promotions manager after a show in Chicago.

1997: Kenny Chesney picks up his first #1 single in Billboard: "She's Got It All".

2002: Bjork's west London flat was burglarized while she slept. Valuable recording equipment had been stolen.

2007: Rap star Lil Wayne was sued by a woman for $1m who claimed she was crushed at one of his concerts after a large amount of cash was thrown into the audience. Tyrique Layne, then 17, said she lost consciousness after being trampled by the crowd at a gig in Maryland in October 2006, and had suffered memory loss and severe headaches.

August 29

Births

1920: Charlie "Bird" Parker (Jazz Sax Player)

1924: Dinah Washington (Blues & Jazz Singer)

1943: Dick Halligan (Trombone & Piano for Blood, Sweat and Tears)

1945: Chris Copping (Bass for Procol Harum)

1953: Rick Downey (Drummer & Vocalist for Blue Oyster Cult)

1955: Diamanda Galas (Performance Artist)

1958: Michael Jackson (Singer)

1958: Elizabeth Fraser (Vocals for Cocteau Twins)

1961: Tony MacAlpine (Guitarist)

1975: Kyle Cook (Guitarist for Matchbox 20)

1986: Lea Michele (Glee Singer)

Events

1959: When the Les Stewart Quartet breaks up just before its opening-night gig at the new Liverpool hotspot the Casbah, Quartet guitarist George Harrison recommends local skiffle group the Quarrymen, on the verge of breaking up and down to two members: John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Harrison joins the group, which still has no drummer, that night.

1962: Elvis' tenth movie, Kid Galahad, opens in US theaters, featuring the King as an amateur boxer. Charles Bronson also stars.

1964: In a clear case of rock and roll being saved by the British Invasion, Billboard magazine notes that guitar sales are the highest they've been since the advent of Elvis Presley.

1966: The last episode of ABC-TV's musical variety show Hullabaloo airs, featuring guest stars Lesley Gore, Paul Anka, Peter and Gordon, and The Cyrkle.

1966: The Beatles play the last live gig for a paying audience, winding up their last world tour at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The show, which ends with a cover of Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally," is filmed by Beatles press officer Tony Barrow. Afterwardsm George Harrison is heard half-joking, "Well, that's it. I'm not a Beatle anymore."

1969: Bob Seger divorces his first wife after only ten months of marriage.

1976: Jimmy Reed died in San Francisco following an epileptic seizure just before his 51st birthday. Reed was a major influence on The Rolling Stones, he had the 1957 hit ‘Honest I Do’ in 1957 and ‘Baby What You Want Me To Do’ in 1960.

1977: Three men are arrested in Memphis after attempting to steal Elvis Presley's recently-deceased body from a Memphis mausoleum, causing the Presley family to move his body to its present location in the "meditation garden" at Graceland.

1986: The American Bandstand studio located at 4548 Market Street in Philadelphia, PA is entered into the US National Register of Historic Places.

1987: Rick Astley's debut hit 'Never Gonna Give You Up', started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart. It became the biggest selling single of 1987 and the song won Best British Single at the 1988 Brit Awards.

1990: Elton John enters rehab in Chicago to combat his bulimia and his various drug and alcohol addictions.

1992: U2 became only the second act ever (Billy Joel was the first) to play at The Yankee Stadium in New York City, during their sold out Zoo TV tour.

1995: The US Internal Revenue Service places a lien on Aretha Franklin's home for $600,000 in back taxes.

1995: K.T. Oslin undergoes quadruple-bypass heart surgery at Nashville's St. Thomas Hospital.

2002: Alan Jackson collects a whopping 10 nominations for the 36th annual Country Music Association awards, breaking a 32-year-old record held by Merle Haggard.

1996: Isaac Hayes, who co-wrote the Stax classic "Soul Man," sent a protest letter to presidential candidate Bob Dole requesting Dole to stop using his song, which his supporters had changed to "I'm A Dole Man."

2005: Fats Domino, now 77, is rescued from his Ninth Ward home in New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

2008: US rapper DMX pleaded guilty to trying to buy cocaine and cannabis in Miami. The 37-year-old singer, real name Earl Simmons, entered the plea in a Florida court and was sentenced to time served. Simmons was still in custody awaiting extradition to the state of Arizona on outstanding drug and animal cruelty charges.