September 20

Births

1948: Chuck and John Panozzo (Bass and Drums for Styx)

1957: Alannah Currie (Vocals & Sax for The Thompson Twins)

1960: Dave Hemmingway (Lead Vocals for The Housemartins)

1960: Robert Wiggins (Cowboy Rapper in Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five)

1966: Nuno Bettencourt (Guitar & Singer / Songwriter for Extreme)

1967: Gunnar & Matthew Nelson (Vocalists for Nelson)

1968: Ben Shepherd (Bass for Soundgarden)

1979: Rick Woolstenhulme (Guitar for Lifehouse)

Events

1955: Tennessee Ernie Ford records the Merle Travis-written "Sixteen Tons" at the Capitol Recording Studio on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.

1966: George Harrison went to India for his first visit to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

1969: During a meeting in London between John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Lennon announced he was leaving The Beatles.

1969: Blind Faith started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK chart with their self-titled debut album. The only release from the Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker & Rick Grech line-up also reached No.1 in the US. The only UK gig was in Hyde Park, London on 7th Jun 1969.

1970: Jim Morrison of The Doors was acquitted on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, but was found guilty of exposing himself during a concert at The Dinner Key Auditorium in Coconut Grove a year and a half earlier. At his trial at the Dade County Courthouse in Miami, Judge Goodman sentenced Morrison to six months hard labor and a $500 fine for public exposure and sixty days hard labor for profanity. The sentence was appealed, but Morrison was never brought to trial, as he would die in Paris France on July 3, 1971.

1971: Peter Frampton quit Humble Pie to follow a solo career.

1972: Paul and Linda McCartney were arrested for the second time in four weeks for possession of cannabis this time at their Scottish farmhouse in Campbeltown.

1973: On his way to perform his second concert of the day, US singer / songwriter Jim Croce was killed with five others when his chartered aircraft hit a tree on take off in Louisiana.  He was 30 years old.

1973: A day after Gram Parsons died, his body is stolen during transfer at the Los Angeles International Airport, then taken to Joshua Tree, where it is burned, in accordance with his request. Road manager Phil Kaufman is among two charged with the crime.

1973: The Sunset Strip's legendary Roxy club opens in Los Angeles with a performance by Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse. The opening acts were Elton John, Carole King and Jackson Browne.

1975: 'Fame' gave David Bowie his first No.1 in the US, the song was co-written with John Lennon.

1975: The Bay City Rollers made their US TV debut when they appeared on the 'Saturday Night Variety Show' with host Howard Cosell.

1976: The Captain and Tennille musical variety show premiered on ABC TV in the US.

1980: Kate Bush scored her first UK No.1 album with 'Never For Ever.' It was the first ever album by a British female solo artist to top the UK album chart as well as being the first album by any female solo artist to enter the chart at No.1.

1980: Queen started a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'The Game', the group's only US No.1 album.

1982: A seriously ill Karen Carpenter, now weighing only 77 pounds due to her anorexia, is admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and fed intravenously in order to get her weight back to normal.

1993: Just back from a tour of Japan, keyboard player with The Charlatans Rob Collins was out with an old friend. They stopped at a liquor store and his friend went in, half-jokingly saying he could rob the place. When he came out with a loud bang, Collins stupidly picked him up. The police arrested the pair the next day and charged them both with attempted robbery and possession of a firearm (it was a replica gun).

1994: The Dave Matthews Band released ‘Under the Table and Dreaming’, the album featured their first commercial hits ‘What Would You Say,’ ‘Satellite,’ and ‘Ants Marching.’ The album was dedicated to Matthews' older sister Anne, who was killed by her husband in 1994 in a murder-suicide.

1994: The Temptations are awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Blvd.

2002: Lynchburg, Virginia, names a street after hometown boy Phil Vassar when he performs in the city. Lynchburg also proclaims Phil Vassar Day, and presents him with a key to the city.

2003: Nelly Furtado gave birth to a daughter, Nevis, at a hospital in Toronto, Canada.

2005: Canadian JD Fortune, beat two other finalists to become the new lead singer with INXS after a worldwide search to replace the late Michael Hutchence. INXS held auditions in six continents as part of a reality TV series.

2007: Stereophonics singer Kelly Jones was admitted to hospital when he was injured during an altercation with a member of a club's security team. The band had gone to a west London club after appearing at the Vodafone Live Music Awards.

September 19

Births

1928: Adam West (Batman)

1931: Brook Benton (R&B Singer)

1940: Bill Medley (Singer in The Righteous Brothers & Solo)

1941: Mama Cass Elliott (Ellen Naomi Cohen) (Singer in Mamas and the Papas)

1949: Twiggy (Lesley Hornby) (60's model & Singer)

1951: Daniel Lanois (Producer, Guitarist & Singer)

1952: Nile Rodgers (Guitar for Chic & Producer)

1955: Rex Smith (Singer)

1958: Lita Ford (Guitar & Vocals for The Runaways & Solo)

1963: Jarvis Cocker (Singer for Pulp & Solo)

1964: Trisha Yearwood (Country Singer)

1969: Candy Dulfer (Jazz Saxophonist)

1969: Nine (Derrick Keyes) (Rapper)

1976: Jim Ward (Lead Singer & Rhythm Guitar for At The Drive-In & Sparta)

1977: Ryan Dusick (Drums for Maroon 5)

1980: Tegan & Sara Quin (Singer / Songwriters in Tegan & Sara)

Events

1960: Former chicken plucker Chubby Checker went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Twist'.

1960: Hank Ballard and The Midnighters had the honour of being the first group to have three songs in the US Top 100 at the same time. ‘Finger Poppin’ Time,’ ‘Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go’ and ‘The Twist’ all made the Top 30. Ballard refused to perform ‘The Twist’ on a highly rated US TV show, so Chubby Checker picked it up at the insistence of Dick Clark, and Checker’s version of the song was number 1 this week in 1960.

1968: Steppenwolf won its first gold record for "Born to be Wild."

1969: Creedence Clearwater Revival scored their only UK No.1 single with 'Bad Moon Rising' a US No.2 hit. Also on this day the group started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Green River.'

1970: Diana Ross started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough'. The singers first solo No.1 since leaving The Supremes.

1973: Country rock singer / songwriter 26-year-old Gram Parsons, formerly of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, died under mysterious conditions in Joshua Tree, California. His death was attributed to heart failure but later was officially announced as a drug overdose. His coffin was stolen by two of his associates, manager Phil Kaufman and Michael Martin, a former roadie for The Byrds, and was taken to Cap Rock in the California desert, where it was set alight, in accordance to Parson's wishes. The two were later arrested by police.

1974: Max Weinberg made his debut as the drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

1979: The No Nukes concert was held at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Performers included Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, The Doobie Brothers, Poco, Tom Petty, Carly Simon, James Taylor and Bruce Springsteen.

1981: Simon and Garfunkel reunited for a concert in New York's Central Park. Over 400,000 fans attend the show. The performance was recorded for a record and video release.

1986: "Captain EO" with Michael Jackson premieres.

1987: "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" was released by Pink Floyd. It was the first release after Roger Waters departure.

1993: Ex-Mamas and Papas' vocalist Michelle Phillips is robbed by an unknown gunman outside a West Hollywood restaurant.

1995: P.M. Dawn's DJ JC Eternal was arrested on charges of sexual assault and child abuse after an alleged affair with his 14 year-old cousin. He was released on $10,000 bail.

1997: VH1 aired "Storytellers" live for the first time. The show was a 90 minute special featuring Elton John from the House of Blues in New Orleans, LA.

1998: Robbie Williams scored his first solo UK No.1 single with 'Millennium', taken from his from his second album, I've Been Expecting You.

1999: Christina Aguilera was at No.1 on the US album chart with her self-titled debut album.

2002: James Brown was being sued by his own daughters for more than $1M of song royalties they said they were owed. Deanna Brown Thomas and Dr Yamma Brown Lumar, a Texas physician, said Brown had withheld royalties on 25 co-written songs because of a family grudge. The lawsuit claimed that Brown had held a grudge against his daughters since 1998, when Ms Thomas had her father committed to a psychiatric hospital to be treated for addiction to painkillers.

2004: Canadian singer Celine Dion extended her Las Vegas show for another year. Dion was reportedly being paid $100m for the original three-year run of five 90-minute concerts a week.

2010: In Baltimore, MD, a bronze bust of Frank Zappa was dedicated outside an east Baltimore library.

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.