October 24

Births

1911: Sonny Terry (Blues Musician)

1930: The Big Bopper  (J.P. Richardson) (Singer)

1936: Bill Wyman (Bass for The Rolling Stones)

1962: Debbie Googe (Bass for My Bloody Valentine)

1980: Monica (R&B Singer)

Events

1959: On his 23rd birthday, and still a year away from even buying his first bass guitar, the Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman marries his first wife, 18-year-old bank clerk Diane Corey.

1967: Pink Floyd are forced to cancel an important upcoming US tour, their first, after leader Syd Barrett refuses to lip-sync to "Arnold Layne" on ABC-TV's popular American Bandstand show.

1970: Santana scored their first US No.1 album with 'Abraxas'.

1970: Picking up on an earlier speech by his Vice-President, US President Richard Nixon delivers a White House address to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging radio stations to ban any and all songs with drug-related lyrics.

1973: The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards is fined $500 for possession of heroin, quaaludes, and illegal firearms at his home in London.

1973: John Lennon sues the US Government for wiretapping his phone during its investigation of "radical" antiwar elements in society.

1978: The film version of The Wiz, an African-American remake of The Wizard Of Oz starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, premieres in New York City.

1978: The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards pleads guilty to heroin possession in Toronto, Canada and is given a one-year suspended sentence. The Stones are also ordered to play a gig for charity.

1980: The Guinness Book of World Records presents Paul McCartney with a special rhodium album for being the best-selling songwriter in the history of recorded music, having written 43 platinum songs and sold over 100 million records.

1989: One of the most bizarre music copyright cases ever begins in Los Angeles as former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty is sued by his former label head, Saul Zaentz, for allegedly plagiarizing himself! Fogerty was accused of re-writing his CCR song "Run Through The Jungle" for his 1985 comeback hit "The Old Man Down The Road." Fogerty would eventually win the suit after taking the stand with his guitar and demonstrating his songwriting process.

1989: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces its 4th annual inductees: The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, The Kinks, The Platters, Hank Ballard, Bobby Darin, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, Carole King, and Gerry Goffin.

1993: Duran Duran cancelled the remainder of their tour after Simon LeBon tore a vocal chord.

1995: The Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, declares today "Tony Bennett Day" in honor of the native singer. Later that night, Bennett celebrates with a gig at Radio City Music Hall.

1998: Former Stone Roses lead singer Ian Brown was jailed for 4 months after being found guilty of disorderly behaviour during a flight from Paris to Manchester. Brown had threatened to chop the hands off an air stewardess during a heated exchange.

2000: Linkin Park released their debut alumb "Hybrid Theory."

2000: Neal McCoy and his wife, Melinda, renew their wedding vows on their 20th anniversary at the Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas with an Elvis Presley impersonator officiating.

2006: Forbes.com revealed that Kurt Cobain had overtaken Elvis Presley as the highest earning dead celebrity. Cobain's work earned $50m in the 12 months to October 2006, compared with Presley's $42m. Former Beatle John Lennon earned $35m.

2006: Rapper Foxy Brown was sentenced to three years probation for assaulting two New York nail salon workers in 2004. Brown had kicked and punched employees during a dispute over payment for a pedicure and manicure in August 2004. She had been threatened with jail after failing to turn up to court.

2006: Big Machine releases Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album.

October 21

Births

1917: Dizzy Gillespie (Jazz Trumpeter)

1940: Manfred Mann (Keyboardist)

1941: Steve Cropper (Guitar for Booker T. and the MGs)

1946: Lux Interior (Erick Lee Purkhiser) (Singer for The Cramps)

1952: Brent Mydland (Keyboards for Grateful Dead)

1953: Charlotte Caffey (Guitar for The Go- Go's)

1957: Steve Lukather (Guitar & Vocals for Toto)

Events

1908: The first two-sided vinyl record was offered for sale by the Columbia label in an ad running in this week's Saturday Evening Post.

1956: Elvis Presley visits his favorite local movie theater, the Memphian, and is attacked by an adoring crowd who scratch his new Cadillac. This begins Elvis' new habit of renting the entire theater whenever he wants to watch a movie.

1958: Buddy Holly recorded his last studio session including “True Love ways”.

1961: Bob Dylan recorded "Bob Dylan," his first album. He was 20 years old when he did the recording for Columbia Records. The cost to produce the session was $400.

1965: Bill Black, Elvis Presley's bass player, (1954-57), died four months after receiving surgery to remove a brain tumour, aged 39.

1971: In Paris, Mick Jagger and girlfriend Bianca become the proud parents of Mick's first child, Jade.

1975: The city of Los Angeles declares this "Elton John Week" and awards the musician his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6915 Hollywood Blvd.

1976: Keith Moon played his last show with The Who at the end of a North American tour at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto. On September 7, 1978, Moon died of an overdose of a sedative Heminevrin, that had been prescribed to prevent seizures induced by alcohol withdrawal.

1992: Elvis' first grandson, Benjamin Storm, is born to Lisa Marie Presley and Danny Keough.

1992: Elton John sues the syndicated US television show Hard Copy for alleging that the singer moved to the Atlanta suburbs to be near an AIDS treatment facility.

1994: Neil Diamond publicly announces his divorce from his second wife, Marcia Murphey, whom he has been with since 1969.

1995: Green Day singer Billie Joe was arrested and fined $141 after mooning at the audience during a gig in Milwaukee.

1995: Shannon Hoon, (Singer for Blind Melon), dies of a cocaine overdose at 28.

2003: Elton John signs the deal for the first of his famous "Red Piano" concerts at Las Vegas' Ceasar's Palace.

2004: Bo Diddley postpones a concert in California to have a toe amputated due to complications from diabetes.

2006: Sandy West (Drummer for The Runaways) was diagnosed with lung cancer, which later spread to her brain.  She died on this day at age 47.

2007: Kid Rock and five members of his entourage were arrested after an argument with a man escalated into a fight in a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. Kid Rock’s tour bus was pulled over by police after it left the scene; Rock was released after posting $1,000 bail.

October 20

Births

1885: Jelly Roll Morton (Ragtime Pianist)

1937: Wanda Jackson (Rockabilly Singer)

1945: Ric Lee (Drummer for Ten Years After)

1953: Tom Petty (Guitar & Vocals)

1964: Jim (Soni) Sonefeld (Drums for Hootie & The Blowfish)

1971: Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus) (Rapper)

Events

1964: A riot predictably breaks out during the Rolling Stones first-ever Paris gig, leading to the arrest of 150 concertgoers at the Olympia Theatre.

1966: The Yardbirds (featuring Jimmy Page) record a version of their hit "Over Under Sideways Down" as a jingle for General Foods' Great Shakes beverages.

1968: The Yardbirds end their stage career with a gig at Liverpool University.

1969: The Who begin a six-night run at the Fillmore East in New York, performing their new rock opera "Tommy" in its entirety.

1974: Former Animals lead singer Eric Burdon and his wife Rose celebrate the birth of their first daughter, which they name Mirage. (They will later think better of it and rename her Alexandria.)

1976: Waiting for lead singer Robert Plant to recover from a car accident, Led Zeppelin release the concert documentary The Song Remains The Same, a document of three 1973 shows at Madison Square Garden interspersed with several slightly ridiculous "fantasy" sequences. Though critical reaction is not kind, it goes on to be a success, as does the obligatory soundtrack album.

1977: Guitarist Steve Gaines, lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt, and backup singer Cassie Gaines of Lynyrd Skynyrd are all killed when the band's small Convair plane runs out of fuel and does down en route from Greenville, SC, to their next gig in Baton Rouge, LA. Crash landing in a forest near Gillsburg, MS, the accident also takes the lives of the band's assistant road manager as well as the two pilots, not to mention severely injuring the rest of the band and most of the other two dozen passengers. The remaining members would not reunite for another decade.

1977, Siouxsie Sioux and Kenny Morris from The Banshees were arrested and held overnight at Holloway police station, London for causing an obstruction after a London gig, they were both fined $40.

1978: The Police made their US debut at C.B.G.B.S, New York. The trio had flown on low cost tickets with Laker Airtrain from the UK, carrying their instruments as hand luggage.

1979: Bob Dylan appears on tonight's episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live to perform three new religious songs from his upcoming album Slow Train Coming, shocking listeners with his new fundamentalist Christian direction.

1980: U2's first album, "Boy", was released.

1991: Clint Black and Lisa Hartman were married near Houston, TX.

1994: In a surprise appearance, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young take the stage during Bob Dylan's concert at New York's Roseland Ballroom and perform "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and "Highway 61 Revisited" with the legend himself.

1996: Carly Simon cancels a planned show aboard the famous cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II, docked in New York, after she comes down with a bad case of stage fright.

1996: UK R&B singer Mark Morrison was arrested accused of conspiracy to rob a West London shop, he was later released on bail.

2001: The Concert For New York City, a benefit show for victims of the recent 9/11 terrorist attacks, is staged at Madison Square Garden, featuring (among others) The Who, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, James Taylor, and David Bowie.

2003: Jimmy Cliff is awarded Jamaica's prestigious Order of Merit for his contributions to the world of music and movies.

2006: George Jones breaks his right wrist when he falls at the front door of producer Keith Stegall's Nashville studio, requiring the cancellation of three weekend concerts.

2007: Paul Raven, bassist with post-punk band Killing Joke, died of a suspected heart attack aged 46 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was recording.

October 19

Births

1944: Peter Tosh (Reggae Legend)

1945: Patrick Simmons (Guitar & Vocals for The Doobie Brothers)

1960: Jennifer Holliday (R&B Singer)

1972: Pras (Pras Michel) (Rapper in The Fugees)

Events

1958: Brenda Lee records "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" at the Bradley Film & Recording Studio in Nashville.

1964: The incredibly influential English concert called the "American Negro Blues Festival" kicks off, featuring Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Sonny Boy Williamson, among others. It is the first glimpse of these bluesmen for many upcoming British R&B and rock legends.

1966: The Yardbirds, now featuring Jeff Beck on lead guitar and Jimmy Page on rhythm guitar, arrive in New York City to start their first American tour.

1970: Working from a design sketched out by his wife and himself, Elvis Presley orders a dozen 14-karat gold pendants from a Beverly Hills jeweler featuring the letters "TCB" set around a lightning bolt. Designed as totems for the Memphis Mafia (and also for security issues), the symbol stands, in Elvis' words, for "Taking Care of Business in a Flash." They would eventually come to symbolize the '70s era for Presley.

1981: At the Holiday Star Theater in Merriville, IN, Bob Dylan calls up longtime friend Larry Kegan, wheelchair-bound since the age of 15, and lets his perform Chuck Berry's "No Money Down" as tonight's encore.

1985: A-Ha went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Take On Me', making them the first Norwegian group to score a US No.1.

1989: Alan Murphy guitarist with Level 42 died of pneumonia related to aids. He also worked with Kate Bush, Go West and Mike & the Mechanics.

1991: Oasis played The Boardwalk in their hometown Manchester, the group's first gig with Noel Gallagher in the group.

1999: Capitol releases Keith Urban's self-titled debut album as a solo artist.

2006: Keith Urban checks into the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, to cope with a recurrence of substance abuse.

October 18

Births

1926: Chuck Berry (Guitarist & Singer)

1947: Laura Nyro (Singer / Songwriter)

1949: Gary Richrath (Guitar for REO Speedwagon)

1961: Wynton Marsalis (Jazz Trumpeter)

1977: Simon Rix (Bass for the Kaiser Chiefs)

1982: Ne-Yo ( Shaffer Chimere Smith) (R&B Singer)

1984: Esperanza Spalding (Jazz Bassist)

1987: Zachary Efron (Singer / Actor)

Events

1952: Hank Williams marries Billie Jean Jones Eshliman in Minden, Louisiana. On the way back to Shreveport, their car runs out of gas.

1957: For the Quarrymen's gig at the New Clubmoor Hall, Norris Green, Liverpool, Paul McCartney joins the group on stage for the first time, as a guitar player. Having made a few mistakes on his solo for Arthur Smith's "Guitar Boogie," a distressed and nervous McCartney attempts to repair his image by showing Quarrymen leader John Lennon some of the songs he's composed. John responds in kind, leading to the beginning of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership.

1957: ABC-TV debuts The Frank Sinatra Show.

1959: 75 teens are arrested outside of the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, KS after a riot breaks out, further making civic leaders to decry the rock and roll "menace."

1963: Chuck Berry is released from prison after serving 19 months for a Mann Act violation (transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes).

1968: John Lennon and Yoko Ono are busted for marijuana possession in their apartment in London's Montague Square, a flat leased to them by Ringo and previously lived in by Jimi Hendrix. Having gotten wind of the bust ahead of time (and also having begun experimenting with heroin), John, Yoko, and John's friend Pete Shotton clean the place to within an inch of its life, but the police nevertheless claim to find approximately 230 grains of cannabis resin, enough to arrest the two. They were fined $250.

1969: In Hawaii, Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane is arrested for possession of marijuana.

1969: Rod Stewart joins the Faces, formerly known as the Small Faces.

1969: A clearly ill Bill Haley plays the First Annual Rock and Roll Revival show at New York's Madison Square Garden and, at the end of his set, receives an eight-minute standing ovation.

1969: The Jackson 5 make their television debut when they appear on tonight's episode of ABC's variety show Hollywood Palace.

1974: Al Green's ex, Mary Woodson, still jealous over his infidelities, breaks into his home in Memphis, TN, and dumps a pot of boiling grits on the singer's naked body while he is in the bathtub, burning Green very badly. A distraught Woodson then goes into the next room and takes her life with a handgun. Green will later point to this incident as one of the major catalysts for his decision to leave secular music behind.

1975: Paul Simon reunites with former partner Art Garfunkel on tonight's second-ever episode of Saturday Night Live, performing "Scarborough Fair," "The Boxer," and their new single, "My Little Town."

1979: Police break up a 15-man robbery ring set up in the parking lot of Madison Square Garden during an Earth, Wind and Fire concert there.

1986: Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie marries her second husband, Portugese music composer Eduardo Quintela.

1989: During a gig at The Los Angeles Coliseum, California, Guns N' Roses front man Axl Rose announced to the crowd that he was quitting the band.

1990: The city of Los Angeles declares today "Rocky Horror Picture Show Day" in honor of the 1975 cult classic musical.

1992: Lynn Anderson was released from jail after serving two days in jail in Nashville, TN for a contempt of court sentence for swearing in front of her children.

1998: Metallica performed at the Playboy Mansion.

2002: Citing a contract all group members signed in 1963, the New York Court of Appeals overturns an earlier ruling that awarded three million dollars in unpaid royalties from Phil Spector to the Ronettes, ending a 15-year court battle for the group.

2005: Madonna admitted that she wrote a grovelling letter to Abba asking if she could sample their music on her latest single ‘Hung Up.’ The singer had to seek permission to sample ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ and became only the second act that Abba has allowed to sample their work. The Fugees used part of ‘The Name Of The Game’ on their 1996 track ‘Rumble In The Jungle.’

2007: South African reggae star, Lucky Dube was shot dead by car thieves when he was dropping his teenage son and daughter off in a Johannesburg suburb. Police said Dube's son and daughter were already out of the car when three shots were fired through the car window, witnesses said the wounded singer tried to drive away, but lost control of his car and hit a tree.

2007: Amy Winehouse and her husband Blake Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway and held overnight for possession of cannabis. The singer was released the following morning after paying a fine of $714.

2008: Adele appeared on Saturday Night Live along with then US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The show earned its highest ratings in 14 years with a total of 17 million viewers.

2009: Toby Keith is named Songwriter/Artist of the Decade and "Live Like You Were Dying" author Craig Wiseman is honored as Songwriter of the Decade by the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

October 17

Births

1941: Jim Seals (Singer in Seals and Crofts)

1942: Gary Puckett (Guitar & Vocals in Gary Puckett & The Union Gap)

1958: Alan Jackson (Country Singer)

1967: Allen West (Guitarist for Obituary & Cause of Death)

1968: Ziggy Marley (Singer in Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers)

1969: Wyclef Jean (Rapper in The Fugees & Solo)

1977: Chris Kirkpatrick (Singer in *NSYNC)

1972: Eminem (Marshall Mathers) (Rapper)

Events

1945: Ava Gardner marries her second husband, bandleader Artie Shaw.

1957: Elvis' third film, Jailhouse Rock, has its world premiere at the Loews State Theatre in Memphis, TN -- the same moviehouse where Elvis had his first job as an usher just five years earlier.

1960: Dion and the Belmonts' breakup becomes official when it is reported in Billboard magazine. Lead singer Dion DiMucci claims the group's not bluesy enough; the band claims Dion just wants a taste of solo fame.

1962: The Beatles make their very first television appearance anywhere when part of their afternoon show at the Cavern in Liverpool is broadcast live on Granada television's People And Places. The band performs two songs: "Some Other Guy" and "Love Me Do."

1967: Phil Spector, Tommy Boyce, and Bobby Hart all guest star on tonight's "Jeannie, The Hip Hippie" episode of NBC-TV's I Dream of Jeannie.

1969: Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane was busted for marijuana possession in Honolulu and was fined $350.

1975: Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees marries his second wife, Yvonne Spencely.

1977: "Street Survivors" was released by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Three days later vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines (Steve's sister) and road manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed when their plane crashed in Gillsburg, MS. The other four members of the band were seriously injured but survived the crash.

1981: One man is killed and another injured in an attempted burglary of Rolling Stones ticket offices in Maryland.

1995: Sting's former accountant Keith Moore was sentenced to six years in jail after being found guilty of embezzling $9.4 Million from the singer's 108 bank accounts.

1996: Drummer for Lush Chris Acland committed suicide by hanging himself in his parents' house in Burneside, Cumbria.

1999: Having been diagnosed with a severe case of pneumonia, Johnny Cash is admitted to Baptist Hospital in Nashville.

2000: At a charity auction organized by Mick Fleetwood in London, singer George Michael pays one and a half million pounds for the upright piano on which John Lennon wrote the 1971 hit "Imagine."

2001: Jay-Z was sentenced to three years probation after he pled guilty to misdemeanor assault charges for stabbing a record producer during a fight in a nightclub on December 1, 1999.

2005: Fats Domino returns to his Ninth Ward home for the first time since Hurricane Katrina to find it utterly destroyed, with his piano and several of his gold records among the ruined items.

2006: Tim McGraw receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His honor is located at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard, in front of the Virgin Records store.

2007: The section of West Grand Blvd. in Detroit, MI, that once housed the Motown studios is officially renamed "Berry Gordy Jr. Boulevard."

2007: California claims singer and resident Dionne Warwick owes $2.67 million in unpaid taxes.

2008: Madonna and Guy Ritchie announced that their seven-year marriage was over because they had drifted apart.

October 15

Births

1946: Richard Carpenter (Piano in The Carpenters)

1948: Chris DeBurgh (Pop Singer)

1953: Tito Jackson (Lead Guitar & Vocals in The Jacksons)

1975: Ginuwine (Elgin Lumpkin) (R&B Singer)

Events

1960: While in Hamburg, The Beatles back Wally Eymond, the guitarist for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, on his version of George Gershwin's "Summertime." As Beatles drummer Pete Best is absent from the session, the band plays with Rory Storm's drummer, Ringo Starr. This is the first known recording of the group together, though the master is lost to history; two years later, the group would hire Ringo permanently.

1964: Cole Porter died of kidney failure at the age of 73 in Santa Monica, California.

1965: Mike Love of the Beach Boys marries his second wife, Suzanne Celeste Belcher, in Las Vegas.

1965: Jimi Hendrix signs his first recording contract -- for one dollar plus one percent of his royalties.

1968: The former New Yardbirds, now known as Led Zeppelin, perform their first gig under that name at England's Surrey University.

1969: Famed blues singer Howlin' Wolf suffers his first non-fatal heart attack.

1971: Rick Nelson (formerly Ricky) is invited to perform at the Seventh Annual Rock 'n' Roll Revival Show, an oldies concert held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Debuting some of his newer, country-rock material with his Stone Canyon Band, Nelson is booed by the audience; the experience so unnerves the former teen idol that he goes home and pens a song about the experience, puckishly entitled "Garden Party." Ironically, in 1972 it will become his first US Top Ten hit since 1963's "For You."

1973: The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards is found guilty in Nice, France, of possessing and intending to distribute both marijuana and heroin. He receives a one-year suspended sentence, is fined 5,000 francs, and is forbidden from entering the country for two years.

1976: Ike and Tina Turner split their musical act.

1980: For the first time ever, London's legendary Abbey Road Studios auctions off thousands of dollars of equipment, including some used on Beatles recordings.

1991: Creedence Clearwater Revival leader John Fogerty is the proud father of son Shane Cody, his fourth child.

1995: Paul and Linda McCartney make a memorable appearance on tonight's "Lisa The Vegetarian" episode of FOX's The Simpsons, doing their voiceovers only on condition that the Lisa character stay a vegetarian forever after.

1997: Patricia Ann Richardson filed suit against Snoop Doggy Dogg, his former manager Sharita Knight, and Death Row Records for allegedly tricking her into transporting packages of marijuana to a venue where Snoop Doggy Dogg was performing.

2003: Dave Clark Five lead singer Mike Smith suffers a tragic fall from a ladder at his home in Spain, leaving him without any movement in three limbs. He would remain a near-quadriplegic until his death in 2008 from pneumonia, a complication of the original injury.