October 10

Births

1914: Ivory Joe Hunter (R&B Singer)

1917: Thelonious Monk (Jazz Pianist)

1945: Alan Cartwright (Bass for Procol Harum)

1946: John Prine (Country / Folk Singer-Songwriter)

1948: Greg Lake (Vocals & Bass for King Crimson & Emerson, Lake & Palmer)

1955: David Lee Roth (Vocals for Van Halen & Solo)

1955: Midge Ure (Guitarist & Singer / Songwriter)

1958: Tanya Tucker (Country Singer)

1960: Eric Martin (Vocals for Mr Big)

1964: Neneh Cherry (R&B / Hip-Hop Singer)

1979: Mya (Marie Harrison) (R&B Singer)

Events

1902: Kalamazoo, MI, mandolin maker Orville Gibson founds the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. In 1936 it would create the first commercially successful electric guitar.

1959, Barry Gordy's first release on the newly established Motown Records, "Bad Girls" by The Miracles, entered the Billboard Pop chart.

1965: The Supremes made their first appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show."

1970: Neil Diamond went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Cracklin' Rosie', his first No.1 as an artist. Diamond wrote the 1966 No.1 hit 'I'm A Believer' for The Monkees.

1970: The US' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head, Nicholas Johnson, responds to recent comments made by Vice President Spiro Agnew that attacked radio stations for playing songs that contained "drug culture propaganda... (in) too many of the lyrics the message of the drug culture is purveyed," saying, "If we really want to do something about drugs, let's do something about life... The song writers are trying to help us understand our plight and deal with it. It's about the only leadership we're getting. They're not really urging you to adopt a heroin distribution program, Mr. Vice President."

1978: At tonight's Aerosmith show in Philadelphia, PA, an audience member tosses a "cherry bomb" firecracker onto the stage, injuring singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. Thereafter, the band performs behind a chain-link fence.

1979: Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley declares today "Fleetwood Mac Day" and unveils a star for the band on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6608 Hollywood Blvd.

1979: The film The Rose, a thinly-veiled biopic of Janis Joplin starring Bette Midler, premieres in Hollywood.

1987: Wanda Nicholls made an official complaint that David Bowie raped her and bit her on the legs and back. Bowie dismissed the alleged incident, claiming Nicholls was 'publicity seeking.'

1992: Slash (Guitar for Guns N' Roses) and Renee Suran were married.

1999: Las Vegas' Grand Hotel holds an auction of several hundred thousand dollars' worth of Elvis memorabilia, including the King's wristwatch, cigar box, and his 1956 Lincoln Continental.

2000: Britney Spears made her UK live debut when she played the first of three sold out nights at London's Wembley Arena.

2001: Dennis DeYoung sues Styx, his former band, for touring and singing his songs without him. He'd left the band in 1999 due to chronic fatigue syndrome.

2002: Twelve protesters dressed as monkeys picketed outside the north Wales holiday home of former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown. The demonstrators argued Brown, was selling the five-bedroom house, in the small village of Llithfaen on the Llyn Peninsula for an inflated price - $300,000- which local people could not afford. The monkey costumes worn by the anonymous protesters, referred to the name of Brown's recent solo album 'Unfinished Monkey Business.' 

October 9

Births

1940: John Lennon (Singer / Songwriter, Piano & Guitar)

1944: John Entwistle (Bass for The Who)

1948: Jackson Browne (Singer / Songwriter)

1952: Sharon Osbourne

1957: Ini Kamoze (Cecil Campbell) (Reggae Artist)

1967: Mat Osman (Bass for Suede)

1970: PJ Harvey (Polly Harvey) (Singer / Songwriter & Guitarist)

1993: Scotty McCreery (Country Singer)

Events

1959: At 22 years of age, Bobby Darin becomes the youngest performer to headline the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas' famed Copa Room.

1962: The BBC bans Bobby "Boris" Pickett's hit "Monster Mash," feeling the subject matter -- comical as it is -- may be deemed grotesque or otherwise tasteless to some listeners.

1967: Legendary New York DJ Murray The K is fired from station WOR-FM, where he had moved to take advantage of the new free-form format of FM radio, when the station's new owners decided to move to a set playlist.

1967: Doc Severinsen, already a member of the house band on NBC-TV's Tonight Show, replaces Skitch Henderson as its leader.

1971: The Who played a small, low-key show at the University of Surrey, Guildford, with guest John Sebastian joining in on harmonica on ‘Magic Bus’ – the only outside musician to jam with The Who on stage. Backstage, the group celebrated John Entwistle’s 27th birthday.

1973: Priscilla Presley finalizes her divorce from Elvis with a second, revised settlement giving her $14,200 a year in support, $725,000 in cash now, half of the sale of the couple's Palm Springs home, and five percent of all new recordings. The ex-couple leave the courthouse holding hands.

1975: On father John Lennon's 35th birthday, Yoko Ono gives birth to Sean Ono Taro Lennon.

1978: The Faces' Ian McLagan marries his longtime girlfriend, former model (and first wife of Keith Moon) Kim Kerrigan.

1978: Dolly Parton's dress splits as she walks off with the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year award during the 12th annual ceremony at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House.

1980: Despite years of hits in the UK, Gary Glitter declares bankruptcy.

1981: During a North American tour The Rolling Stones played the first of two nights at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. Support act was Prince, who dressed in his controversial bikini briefs and trench coat ran off stage after 15 minutes due to the crowd booing and throwing beer cans at him.

1984: The extraordinarily popular children's show Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends begins its run on BBC-TV, featuring a narrator by the name of Ringo Starr.

2000: Barry White gives a speech to the debate squad at Oxford University.

2001: A man wrecked a $300,000 sports car owned by hip-hop star Missy Elliott after losing control of the 550-horsepower vehicle and crashed into a traffic sign and a tree. Joseph Johnson had taken the Lamborghini Diablo away from the garage where it was stored without permission for a late night spin. He was later sentenced to three years in jail and ordered to pay $170,000 for the car and $1,975 for curb repairs at the site of the accident.

2003: Ambrose Kappos, 37, of New York, was charged with three counts of stalking and harassing singer Sheryl Crow. He was arrested after being accused of sneaking into New York's Hammerstein Ballroom then trying to get into Crow's limousine when she left the venue. Mr Kappos' brother said he was harmless but "infatuated" with the singer.

2006: During tonight's show at Madison Square Garden, Barbra Streisand loses control and yells at a heckler to "Shut the ---- up."

October 8

Births

1940: Fred Cash (Singer in The Impressions)

1948: Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) (Guitar for The Ramones)

1950: Robert "Kool" Bell (Vocals & Bass for Kool and the Gang)

1967: Teddy Riley (Producer & Singer for Blackstreet & Solo)

1980: Nick Cannon (Singer)

Events

1935: Bandleader Ozzie Nelson marries his lead vocalist, Harriet Hilliard.

1957: Jerry Lee Lewis recorded the song "Great Balls Of Fire."

1966: Cream drummer Ginger Baker collapses while on stage at a Sussex University gig in England, just after completing his epic 20-minute solo on "Toad."

1968: "Mama" Cass Elliot's initial solo engagement at Caesars' Palace is a disaster, with Elliot collapsing from exhaustion and her backup band ill-rehearsed. While hospitalized, she contracts tonsillitis, forcing the cancellation of the entire two-week engagement.

1971: "Imagine" was recorded by John Lennon.

1977: NBC airs The Paul Simon Special, which again reunites the singer with old friend Art Garfunkel.

1985: Little Richard passes out behind the wheel while driving his sports car in West Hollywood and runs into a telephone pole, seriously injuring him and forcing him to miss his induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After he recovers, he returns to spiritual music.

1987: The acclaimed Chuck Berry documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll premieres in US theaters on the same day that Berry himself is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 1777 N. Vine.

1987: Promoting their space-themed Afterburner record, ZZ Top book passage on what is announced as the first passenger flight to the moon.

1988: The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards performs his first solo single, "Take It So Hard," on tonight's episode of Saturday Night Live.

1988: Pink Floyd's ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ finally left Billboard's Hot 200 Album Chart after a record breaking 741 weeks.

1989: After Rolling Stone Ron Wood suggested the Who were reforming for the money alone, Who guitarist Pete Townshend publicly answered: "Mick needs a lot more than I do. His last album was a flop," referring to the Stones' legendary miscue Dirty Work.

1992: The US Postal Service issues a booklet of commemorative rock and roll stamps featuring Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Bill Haley, Ritchie Valens, Clyde McPhatter, and Dinah Washington.

1996: Jimmy Chamberlin, formerly of the Smashing Pumpkins, pled guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with the heroin related death of Jonathan Melvin.

2002: Trace Adkins suffers a hairline sternum fracture and bruises when he's pinned under a tractor in a freak accident, while building a gravel road on his property in Rutherford County, Tennessee. He's immediately hospitalized, and cancels two Texas concerts.

2003: Coldplay singer Chris Martin asked Australian police to drop a charge of malicious damage after allegedly attacking a photographer's car. Martin was charged in July after breaking a windscreen with a rock after being photographed surfing. Martin did not appear in court at Byron Bay, New South Wales, when his lawyer, Megan Cusack, asked for the charge to be dropped.

2004: Rapper Beanie Sigel was sentenced to a year in federal prison on a gun-possession charge that stemmed from a traffic stop in 2002. 

October 7

Births

1927: Al Martino (Pop Singer)

1949: David Hope (Bass for Kansas)

1951: John Cougar Mellencamp (Singer / Songwriter)

1953: Tico Torres (Drums for Bon Jovi)

1955: Yo Yo Ma (Classical Cellist)

1957: Michael W. Smith (Pop & Christian Singer)

1967: Toni Braxton (R&B Singer)

1968: Thom York (Vocals & Guitar for Radiohead & Solo)

Events

1950: CBS debuts The Frank Sinatra Show, a variety program and the first TV show for the crooner. Though he has a five-year contract, the show only lasts two seasons.

1952: The Philadelphia dance show Bandstand, hosted by Bob Horn and, later, by Dick Clark as American Bandstand, debuts on WFIL-TV.

1964: The Beatles appear (on tape) during a special British Invasion-themed episode of the popular ABC-TV variety show Shindig!, performing "Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!," "I'm A Loser," and "Boys."

1967: After a London hotel accuses the Mamas and the Papas' Cass Elliot of running out on her bill, the singer is jailed overnight and strip-searched, forcing the cancellation of both an upcoming gig and television appearance.

1967: Promoter Sid Bernstein, who had promoted the Beatles at their first two Shea Stadium concerts, offers one million dollars to the group, who is retired from the road, to perform a third concert there. They refuse.

1975: The US Court of Appeals overturns the longstanding deportation order for John Lennon, ruling that Lennon, in being held accountable for violating a foreign law (a 1968 rap for possession of marijuana in England), had been denied due process.

1976: Dennis Edwards announces he is leaving the Temptations. Four years later, he would rejoin for the group's successful Power album.

1977: Guitarist Steve Hackett quits Genesis.

1978: The Rolling Stones perform their new single, "Beast Of Burden," on tonight's episode of NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live.

1978: Merle Haggard marries third wife Leona Williams, a bass player and singer with Loretta Lynn. The marriage lasts six years.

1978: Billboard magazine reveals that Marvin Gaye has declared bankruptcy twice in the past year claiming debts of over seven million dollars.

1981: Morris Day & The Time made their live debut.

1982: Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is given a one year suspended sentence for cocaine possession.

1995: Alanis Morissette went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Jagged Little Pill'. The album went on to become the biggest selling album ever by a female artist with sales over 30m.

1995: Rapper Tone Loc was arrested in Los Angeles, CA, for taking $80 from a pizza parlor. He later pled no contest.

2001: Peter Criss played his final show with Kiss in Charleston, SC. He was replaced by Eric Singer. Singer had been a member of Kiss prior to the reunion tour in 1995.

2004: 53 year old Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars had a hip replacement operation in a LA hospital.

2005: Boy George was arrested in New York after Police found traces of drugs in his apartment. George had called the police after he thought somebody was breaking into his apartment. When police arrived and made a search they found traces of cocaine on a computer table.

2007: 25 year-old Hip-hop artist Lil' Wayne was arrested during a US tour after a concert in Idaho on a warrant stemming from a drug possession charge. Because of the nature of the charges, the rapper - real name Dwayne Michael Carter Jr - was not eligible for bail.

October 6

Births

1951: Kevin Cronin (Lead Vocals & Rhythm Guitar for REO Speedwagon)

1964: Matthew Sweet (Singer & Guitarist)

1966: Tommy Stinson (Bass for The Replacements)

1982: William Pierce Butler (Synthesiser, Bass, Guitar & Percussion for Arcade Fire)

Events

1964: The Beatles spent the afternoon recording 'Eight Days A Week' at Abbey Road studios in London. Late evening was spent at The Ad Lib Club, London, partying with The Ronettes and Mick Jagger.

1967: Jimi Hendrix performs on the new BBC 1 radio show Top Gear, with Stevie Wonder, who was visiting the studios, sitting in on drums for a jam called (appropriately enough) "Jammin'" and a version of Stevie's "I Was Made To Love Her."

1967: Pink Floyd appeared at the Miss Teenage Brighton Contest, Top Rank Suite, Brighton, England, playing the musical interlude during the contest.

1974: Country artist Marty Robbins hits a wall at 160 mph to avoid hitting other drivers in the National 500 stock car race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Robbins sustains two broken ribs and a broken tailbone, and requires 37 facial stitches.

1977: Rod Stewart is named in a $15 million "palimony" suit by actress Britt Eklund.

1978: ABBA songwriter / musician Benny Anderson marries fellow band vocalist Anni-Frid Lyngstad in Sweden. The marriage lasts three years. (The group's other male-female pair had been married in 1971.)

1978: The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger apologizes to activist Jesse Jackson, who raised a public outcry over the lyrics of the Stones' recent song "Some Girls," specifically the line "black girls just want to get ------ all night." Jagger refuses calls to change the lyrics.

1980: With the disco craze officially over, The Bee Gees file a $200 million mismanagement lawsuit against longtime manager Robert Stigwood and his label RSO Records, one that would within the year be settled out of court.

1980: John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of The sex Pistols) was arrested by Irish police for assault after a pub brawl in Dublin.

1991: The Fox TV network airs the special Ray Charles: 50 Years Of Music, featuring guests Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney, Randy Travis, Michael Bolton, and more.

1991: Michael Jackson gives Elizabeth Taylor away to Larry Fortensky during her eighth wedding, held at Jackson's California ranch, Neverland.

1994: Glenn Frey (Guitar for Fleetwood Mac) underwent colon surgery.

1996: Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were married in Rayville, Louisiana, the day of his Swampstock benefit concert. In attendance: Mark Collie, Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chesnutt and Jeff Carson.

2000: Manhattan Supreme Court sentenced rapper Busta Rhymes to five years probation after pleading guilty to a gun possession charge.

2002: Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones donates $200,000 to the school he once attended in Dartford, England, for musical instruments and a band director. The resultant musical center is named after the singer.

2006: Before Game Three of baseball's AL Divisional Playoff in Detroit, MI, the Four Tops sing the US national anthem.

2007” Bruce Springsteen was being sued for $850,000 by a man who claimed he backed out of a contract to buy a horse. Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa were both named in legal documents filed in Florida by Todd Minikus. He claimed the couple pulled out of a deal to pay $650,000 for a horse, named Pavarotti. 

October 5

Births

1907: Mrs. Miller (Singer)

1942: Richard Street (Singer in The Temptations)

1943: Steve Miller (Guitar & Vocals)

1947: Brian Johnson (Singer for AC/DC)

1948: Lucius Ross (Rhythm Guitar for Funkadelic)

1949: Brian Connolly (Lead Singer for Sweet)

1950: Eddie Clarke (Guitar for Motorhead & Fastway)

1951: Bob Geldof (Singer for The Boomtown Rats)

1953: Sandra "Puma" Jones (Singer for Black Uhuru)

1957: Lee Thompson (Sax for Madness)

1959: Troy Luccketta (Drummer for Tesla)

1961: David Bryson (Guitar for Counting Crows)

1978: James Valentine (Guitarist for Maroon 5)

1980: Paul Thomas (Bass for Good Charlotte)

Events

1962: The Beatles release their first single, "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I Love You," in the UK. That night, it is played on Radio Luxembourg, owned by EMI, representing the first time a Beatles song is ever heard on the airwaves.  It spend 26 weeks on the charts and peaked at #4 in UK.

1965: Johnny Cash was arrested crossing the Mexican border into El Paso, Texas after customs officials found 100’s of pills in his guitar case. He received a suspended jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.

1966, In London, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding played together for the first time, The Jimi Hendrix Experience were formed.

1968: The single "Magic Carpet Ride" was released by Steppenwolf. It is considered as the first modern rock video.

1970: George Jones & Tammy Wynette's only child, Tamala Georgette, born in Lakeland, Florida.

1975: The three original Wailers -- Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer -- perform together for the last time at Stevie Wonder's benefit concert, the Wonder Dream Concert, in Kingston, Jamaica.

1987: Ex Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr began rehearsals with The Pretenders in preparation for the band supporting U2 on their North America tour.

1992: Eddie Kendricks (Lead Singer for The Temptations) died of lung cancer at age 52.

1999: After breaking up "permanently" in 1983, the Who reform with an announcement by singer Roger Daltrey that the trio will re-form for a Las Vegas concert.

1999: Trisha Yearwood files for divorce from Mavericks bass player Robert Reynolds, citing the standard irreconcilable differences.

2000: The book The Beatles Anthology, some twenty years in the making, is published in the US. Price: $60.

2006: Jeffrey Borer, owner of the company that sold Michael Jackson his private Gulfstream jet, is sentenced to six months in prison for ordering employee Arvel Jett Reeves to install two videocameras in it in order to catch Jackson saying something for which he could be blackmailed.

2007: A federal jury finds a Minnesota woman guilty of online music file sharing through the public service KaZaa, fining her $220,000.

October 4

Births

1947: Jim Fielder (Bass for Buffalo Springfield, Mothers of Invention, Blood, Sweat and Tears)

1952: Jody Stephens (Drummer for Big Star)

1959: Chris Lowe (Keyboards for The Pet Shop Boys)

1962: Jon Secada (Singer)

Events

1961: Bob Dylan debuts at Carnegie Hall, playing for a grand total of 53 fans.

1961: Popular "recording" group Alvin and the Chipmunks get their own TV show when The Alvin Show debuts on CBS.

1963: A 17-year-old Eric Clapton, late of the Roosters and Casey Jones and the Engineers, joins the Yardbirds for tonight's gig at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, England, replacing original guitarist Anthony "Top" Topham.

1964: Dusty Springfield interviews the Beatles on this, their first appearance on England's ITV television program Ready Steady Go!

1968: Cream begins their announced farewell tour with a performance at Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, CA.

1969: Creedence Clearwater Revival started a four week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Green River', the group's first US chart topper.

1970: Singer Janis Joplin was found dead at the Landmark Hotel Hollywood after an accidental heroin overdose.

1974: Thin Lizzy debut their new twin-guitar attack with new additions Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson at tonight's concert in Wales.

1975: Willie Nelson picks up his first #1 single as an artist with "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain".

1978: Country singer Tammy Wynette is allegedly kidnapped at a Nashville shopping center by an unknown man in a ski mask, beaten, and forced at gunpoint to drive roughly 90 miles. Doubt still exists as to whether this incident took place, due to a puzzling lack of physical evidence.

1980: For their work on the recent Fleetwood Mac single "Tusk," the University of Southern California Country marching band is presented with a platinum version of the album of the same name by three members of the rock band.

1980: On stage during a concert in Pittburgh, PA, Carly Simon collapses from "nervous exhaustion."

1982: The Smiths made their live debut at the Ritz in Manchester England, supporting Blue Rondo A La Turk.

1982: The group Squeeze broke up.

1988: Determined to finally clean his system of the alcohol and drugs he's been abusing for years, Ringo Starr, along with wife Barbara Bach, flies to Tucson, AZ to enter the Sierra Tucson Rehabilitation Clinic. He will stay six weeks.

1994: Singer Glenn Frey's stomach surgery causes the Eagles to postpone their much-anticipated reunion tour, puckishly titled Hell Freezes Over.

1994: Guitarist Danny Gatton  locked himself in his garage in Newburg, Maryland and shot himself.

1996: Van Halen announced that Gary Cherone, formerly of Extreme, would be the singer that would replace Sammy Hagar.

1999: Jimi Hendrix's half-sister Janie announces her plans to exhume the body of her famous brother and move it to a mausoleum where curious onlookers can view it for a price. The public outcry forces her to shelve the idea.

2006: Former R Kelly employee (who claimed to have been a “mentor and guide” to Kelly since he was a teenager) Henry Vaughn filed a lawsuit against the singer accusing him of assault, false imprisonment, and a breach of contract that defrauded him of songwriting royalties. Vaughn also claimed that Kelly and his associates dragged him to the basement at Kelly’s Olympia Fields home and “repeatedly struck him about the face and body with his fists.

2008: Dierks and Cassidy Bentley have a daughter, Evalyn Day Bentley, at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.