October 22nd

 Musical birthdays today include Mountain lead guitarist Leslie West (81), Rascals vocalist Eddie Brigati (80), Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer (66), country singer Shelby Lynne (58), Tim Kinsella (52), Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman (50), and Zac Hanson (41). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Franz Liszt, born on this date in 1811... for French film score composer Joseph Kosma, born in 1905... for chansonnier George Brassens, born in 1921... for Bobby Fuller, who would have been 84 today... for punk rocker Stiv Bators, who would have been 77... for cellist Pablo Casals, who died on this date in 1973... for British folk singer & activist Ewan McColl who passed away today in 1989.... and for Elliot Smith, who took his own life today in 2008 at the age of 34. 

Also on October 22: The original Metropolitan Opera House in NYC opens with a performance of Charles Gounoud's Faust (1883)... EMI reject a group from Leeds auditioning as The High Numbers. They will go on to greater success the following year after renaming themselves The Who (1964)... The Supremes become the first female group to have a № 1 album on the US chart, with The Supremes a Go Go knocking Revolver from the top spot...  The Beach Boys ‘Good Vibrations’ makes its debut in the US Top 40. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, the track was recorded over 6 weeks in four different Los Angeles studios at a cost of over $16,000. The recording engineer would later say that the last take sounded exactly like the first, six months earlier. The record will reach № 1 on the chart in December (1966)... Paul McCartney once again publicly denies rumors that he is dead. The most recent of many 'clues' to the hoax was the fact that he was the only barefoot Beatle on  'Abbey Road' LP cover. The story was actually started as a prank by Fred La Bour, a sports and arts writer for the University of Michigan student newspaper The Michigan Daily (1969)... Led Zeppelin II is released on Atlantic Records in the UK (1969)... In Louisville, KY, Earth, Wind & Fire kick off a sold-out 75-date US tour (1976)... Van Halen add a date in Worcester, MA to their current tour after a petition signed by 25,000 locals asking them to play is delivered to the band (1982)...  Pearl Jam play their first live gig, at the Off Ramp in Seattle (1990)... A Bob Dylan concert in Rochester, NY is interrupted by a stage invasion that will turn out to have been orchestrated by the makers of documentary about the singer (1994)... Dylan plays his first show in his birthplace of Duluth, MN since the beginning of the 'Never-Ending Tour' ten years earlier (1998)... George Michael pays £1.45 million for the Steinway piano on which John Lennon wrote 'Imagine.' George says, "I know that when my fingers touch the keys of that Steinway, I will feel truly blessed. And parting with my money has never been much of a problem, just ask my accountant." The singer outbid Robbie Williams and The Oasis brothers... R.E.M. give a three-song performance on the steps of the Clarke Co. courthouse in Athens, GA as part of Land Aid, a local festival that strives to improve the economic environment of Athens and its surrounding area (2005).

October 21st

 Musical birthdays today include Manfred Mann (86), Steve Cropper (85), Elvin Bishop (84), Chicago trumpeter Lee Loughnane (80), Go-Go's guitarist Charlotte Caffey (73), Bay City Rollers guitarist Eric Faulkner (73), Julian Cope (69), Pink Floyd keyboardist & songwriter Jon Carin (62), ex-Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri (55), Fiery Furnaces guitarist Matthew Friedberger (54), singer-songwriter Josh Ritter (50), and Doja Cat (31).  

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazzman Don Byas, born on this date in 1912... for Dizzy Gillespie, born in 1917... for salsa singer Celia Cruz, born in 1924... for operatic sopran0 Virginia Zeani, born in 1925... for Cramps lead singer Lux Interior [né Erick Purkheiser], who would have been 79/span>... for ex-Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, who would have been 74... for Maxene Andrews [of the Andrews Sisters], who died on this date in 1995, and for Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon, who left us on the same day at the age of 28. 

Also on October 21: Beethoven's first printed work ~ 3 Trios, op. 1 ~ is issued by Artaria Publishers of Vienna (1795)... Buddy Holly goes into Pythian Temple Studios in NYC for what will prove to be his final recording session. Among the tracks he completes is 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore', which will be a posthumous № 1 hit for him (1958)... At Atlantic Studios in NYC, the John Coltrane quartet record 'My Favorite Things' (1960)... The Beatles record 'Norwegian Wood' in three takes and begin work on 'Nowhere Man' (1965)... Lulu hits № 1 on the US charts with 'To Sir, with Love' (1967)... Bob Dylan releases the album New Morning (1970)... Mick Jagger becomes a father for the first time when Bianca gives birth to their daughter Jade (1971)... Chuck Berry has his first and only simultaneous US and UK № 1 with 'My Ding-a-Ling' (1972)... Scott Joplin's ragtime opera Treemonisha has its NYC premiere at the Uris Theater (1975)... Keith Moon plays his final show with the Who, the closing date of their North American tour at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto (1976)... Elton John's 'Candle In The Wind 97' is declared by the Guinness Book Of Records to be the biggest selling single record of all time, with sales of 31.8 million in less than 40 days and raising more than £20 million for charity (1997)... Liza Minelli's ex-husband David Gest sues her for $10 million, alleging that she beat him during drunken rages (2003)... Bobby 'Boris' Pickett, the singer and co-author of the 1960 novelty hit 'Monster Mash', releases a re-written version of the song entitled 'Monster Slash' to protest the environmental policies of the Bush administration (2004).

October 20th

 Musical birthdays today include Wanda Jackson (89), original Foreigner keyboardist Al Greenwood (75), Level 42 lead singer Mark King (68), Teenage Fanclub guitarist Norman Blake (61), Calvin 'Snoop Dogg' Broadus (55), Dannii Minogue (55) and Snow Patrol bassist Paul Wilson (48). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Charles Ives, born on this date in 1874... for Jelly Roll Morton, born in 1890... for Grandpa Jones, born in 1913... for Tom Petty, who would have been 76 today... for Steve & Cassie Gaines and Ronnie van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd, who died on this day in 1977 in the plane crash that devastated the band... for jazz singer Shirley Horn, who passed away today in 2005... for Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven, who died in 2007 at the age of 46... for Slits lead singer Ari Up [née Ariane Forster], who died in 2010... and for photographer Barry Feinstein [best known for taking enduring pictures of musicians such as Bob Dylan, George Harrison, the Byrds and the Rolling Stones], who left us today in 2011.

Also on October 20: Symphony no. 2 in B Flat Major by the 18-year-old Franz Schubert premieres in Vienna (1815)... Richard Strauss completes his opera Die schweigsame Frau (1934)... Roy Orbison has his first UK № 1 with 'Only the Lonely'. The singer offered the composition to The Everly Brothers and Elvis ~ both of whom rejected it ~ before deciding to record it himself (1960)... London Symphony woodwinds players Jack Ellory and Richard Taylor add the flute parts to The Beatles' 'Fool on the Hill' (1967)... The Who begin a six-night residency at the Fillmore East in NYC, playing Tommy in its entirety each night (1969)... John and Yoko release The Wedding Album (1969)... The Rolling Stones have the № 1 single in the US with 'Angie' (1973)... The Led Zeppelin concert film The Song Remains the Same has its world premiere in NYC. The event raises $25,000 for the Save the Children fund (1976)... The Police make their US debut at CBGB. The trio flew on low cost tickets with Laker Airtrain from the UK, carrying their instruments as hand luggage (1978)... U2 release their debut album Boy (1980)... Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker presents this week's edition of the UK music show Top Of The Pops, introducing Michelle Gayle, Let Loose and INXS (1994)... Jimmy Cliff is ordered Jamaica's Order of Merit for his contributions to the nation's musical culture (2003)... Michael Jackson receives a jury duty summons at his Neverland ranch in California four months after being acquitted on child molestation charges. A spokesperson says it is likely that the King of Pop will be excused from serving due to the fact that he has lived in Bahrain since the trial (2005).

October 19th

 

Musical birthdays today include soul singer George McRae (82), singer-songwriter Gloria Jones (81), country singer Jeannie Riley [of 'Harper Valley PTA' fame] (81), Delfonics vocalist Wilbert Hart (79), Doobie Brothers lead guitarist Patrick Simmons (78), rapper 'Kool Keith' Thornton (63), Sinitta (57), and Suburban Legends trombonist Brian Robertson (47).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Syrian oud virtuoso Farid Al-Atrash, born on this day in 1915... for Kingston Trio founding member Dave Guard, born today in 1935... for Peter Tosh, who would have been 81... for World Party frontman Karl Wallinger, who would have been 69... for cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who died today in 1987... for Son House, who passed away in 1988... and for original Alice Cooper guitarist Glen Buxton, who left us today in 1997. 

Also on October 19th... Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser premieres in Dresden (1845)... Simon & Garfunkel release their debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 AM (1964)... The Yardbirds arrive in New York for their first US tour, with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page as guitarists. After two shows, Beck comes down with tonsillitis, and decides to quit the tour and the band altogether (1966)... The soundtrack to The Sound of Music and Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band occupy the top two spots on the UK album chart... The Beatles record 'Hello Goodbye' (1967)... Cream play the L.A. Forum on their farewell tour of America; the performance of Robert Johnson's 'Crossroads' that appears on the band's Goodbye album is recorded during the show... 18-year-old Peter Frampton meets Steve Marriott at a Small Faces show in London. The two agree to play together in the future, leading to the formation of Humble Pie the following spring (1968)... David Bowie releases Pin Ups, and the Who release Quadrophenia (1973)... A Chorus Line premieres on Broadway (1975)... Prince releases his eponymous second album (1979)... At Colson Hall in Bristol, AC/DC kick off their European tour with their first live show since Brian Johnson replaced the late Bon Scott as lead singer (1980)... At a stop on the Shot of Love tour in Merriville, IN, Bob Dylan brings out boyhood friend Larry Kegan, now wheelchair-bound, for the encore. Kegan sings Chuck Berry's 'No Money Down' while Dylan plays tenor saxophone. The performance is so well received that the pair will repeat it tomorrow night in Boston (1981)... A-Ha become the first Norwegian group to score a US № 1 with 'Take on Me' (1985)... Oasis play their first show with Noel Gallagher, at the Boardwalk Club in their hometown of Manchester (1991)... A survey concludes that the average person spends around £21,000 ($42,000) on music during their lifetime; the figure includes the amount spent on Hi-Fi equipment, concerts and CDs. Music enthusiasts are likely to spend more than double that, parting with just over £44,000 ($89,000), in a lifetime, according to the survey conducted by the UK branch of the Prudential Insurance Company (2005)... Johnny Marr is made a visiting professor of music at the University of Salford in Manchester. The former Smiths guitarist will give a series of workshops and masterclasses to students reading for the Popular Music and Recording B.A. (2007).

October 18th

 Musical birthdays today include Stealer's Wheel founding member Joe Egan (77), former Pylon lead singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay (71), Les Rita Mitsouko lead singer Catherine Ringer (69), Wynton Marsalis (65), Curtis Stigers (61), and Cardigans lead guitarist Peter Svensson (51). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz pianist & songwriter Bobby Troup [best remembered for 'Get Your Kicks on Route 66'], born on this date in 1918... for jazz singer Anita O'Day, born in 1919... for blueswoman Jessie Mae Hemphill, born in 1923... for Canadian fiddler Buddy McMaster, born in 1924... for Chuck Berry, born in 1926... for Laura Nyro, who would have been 79... for REO Speedwagon lead guitarist Gary Richrath, who would have been 77... for Van Der Graaf Generator bassist Nic Potter, who would have been 75... for composer Charles Gounod, who died on this date in 1893... and for saxophonist David S. Ware, who left us today in 2013.

Also on October 18: Mahler conducts the first performance of his own 5th Symphony in Cologne (1904)... The BBC is formed to bring news, cultural programming, arts and music to homes in the UK (1922)... 21-year-old Elvis Presley pulls into a Memphis gas station, where he attracts a crowd of autograph seekers. After repeatedly asking Elvis to move on so that he can resume normal business, station manager Ed Hopper slaps the singer, who responds with a punch to the face that knocks Hopper to the ground. After police are called, the manager and one of his employees ~ who had also tried to take on the King ~ are arrested for assault (1956)... Taking a day off from their current British tour, the Beatles go into the studio and record six tracks to complete the Beatles for Sale LP (1964)... The Jimi Hendrix Experience play their first gig as a band, opening for French pop star Johnny Hallyday at L'Olympia in Paris (1966)... The Bee Gees have their first UK № 1 with 'Massachusetts' (1967)... John and Yoko are taken to Paddington Green police station after cannabis is discovered in the flat that they are staying in. Lennon will plead guilty next month and pay a fine of £150 ~ the seemingly minor conviction will assume much greater significance when the Beatle fights his battle to stay in the US in the '70s (1968)... The Rolling Stones release It's Only Rock 'N'Roll... Al Green's ex-girlfriend Mary Woodson pours a pot of boiling grits on the soul singer while he is in the shower in his Memphis home. Green suffers second-degree burns on his back, neck and arms and will undergo a religious conversion whilst recovering (1974)... The Buggles go to № 1 in Britain with 'Video Killed the Radio Star'. In two years' time, the video for the song will become the first ever played on MTV (1979)... Sonic Youth release Daydream Nation (1988)... After a 15-year court battle, the New York State Supreme Court rules that the Ronettes do not have the right to share the money earned by their producer Phil Spector through the use of the group's songs in movies, TV and advertising. Citing a 1963 contract signed by the group, the court also substantially reduces the amount they stand to gain from royalties on vinyl and CD sales (2002).

October 17th

 

Musical birthdays today include Gary Puckett (84), Defunkt trombonist Joseph Bowie (73), country singer Alan Jackson (68), Aqua vocalist René Dif (59), Ziggy Marley (58), Wyclef Jean (57), Eminem (54), and singer-songwriter Marcela Bovio (46). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Herbert Howells, born on this date in 1892... for jazz guitarist Barney Kessel, born in 1923... for Jeanine Deckers, AKA the Singing Nun, born in 1933...for ska and reggae trombonist Rico Rodriguez, born in 1934... for Frédéric Chopin, who died on this date in 1849... for blues legend Alberta Hunter, who passed away in 1984... and for pop singer Teresa Brewer, who left us in 2007. 

Also on October 17: The opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by 15-year-old prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premieres in Milan (1771)... In between lunchtime and evening sets at the Cavern Club, the Beatles pop over to Manchester to make their British television debut, performing 'Some Other Guy' and 'Love Me Do' on the Granada TV local magazine program People and Places (1962)... Manfred Mann starts a two week run at № 1 on the Billboard singles chart with 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy'... The Rolling Stones release 12 x 5, their second American album (1964)... The Kinks play their first US concert in four years, opening for Spirit at the Fillmore East in NYC. The American Federation of Musicians banned the group from playing stateside after a disastrous 1965 tour marred by several onstage fistfights (1969)... The Rolling Stones play a show in Brussels as part of their current European tour; opening acts are Billy Preston and the American group Kracker [the first act signed to Rolling Stones Records after the band created the label]. Saxophonist Bobby Keys fails to show for the gig, provoking Mick Jagger to sack him from the backing musicians. The excuse given by Keys [who will be banned from Stones tours until the early '80s] is that he filled his hotel bathtub with Dom Perignon and attempted to drink his way out while sitting in it (1973)... Lynyrd Skynyrd release Street Survivors, their last album with original members Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins (1977)... Bruce Springsteen releases The River (1980)... The Bee Gees become the only act to have a UK № 1 single in the '60s, '70s and '80s when 'You Win Again' tops the British charts (1987)... During an interview with the Observer Magazine, Noel Gallagher of Oasis says "Nothing would make me happier than Damon Albarn and Alex Cox [of rival band Blur] dying of AIDS". He will later apologize for the statement (1995)... The British tabloid press reports that Michael Jackson recently played a secret gig at a martial arts convention in Barnstaple, N. Devon. In fact, the man who arrived in the white stretch limo was Navi, a notorious London impersonator of the superstar... Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band play the first rock concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles (1999)... The 2-storey, 2-bedroom Montague Square townhouse owned by Ringo Starr through much of the '60s [and where John, Yoko and Jimi Hendrix were frequent houseguests] goes on the market for £575,000 (2000)... Two security guards at the University of California-San Diego's RIMAC Arena are fired after refusing to allow Bob Dylan into his own concert. The singer, who recently asked that security be tightened up on his Love and Theft tour, arrived backstage without his ID badge (2001)... Madonna and Guy Ritchie announce that their marriage is over (2008). 

October 16th

Musical birthdays today include former BTO bassist Fred Turner (83), Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir (79), Greek pop singer Eleftheria Arvanitaki (68), Spandau Ballet guitarist Gary Kemp (67), Hüsker Dü leader Bob Mould (66), Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Michael 'Flea' Balzary (64), Wilson Phillips vocalist Wendy Wilson (57) and John Mayer (49). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Christa Päffgen, AKA Nico, who would have been 88 today... for former Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Cordell 'Boogie' Mosson, who would have been 84... for Leonard Chess, founder of the pioneering rock and R&B label of the same name, who died on this date in 1969... for swing drummer Gene Krupa, who passed  away in 1973... and for Art Blakey, who left us today in 1990. 

Also on October 16: Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire for speaking voices and chamber orchestra premieres in Berlin after six weeks of daily rehearsals (1912)... Concert pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in WW I, premieres Richard Strauss' Parergon to the Symphonia Domestica for left hand alone and orchestra in Dresden (1925)... 18-year-old Richard Penniman, who is already using the stage name Little Richard, makes his first recordings for the RCA Camden label in the studios of Atlanta radio station WGST (1951)... The Beatles record 'Day Tripper' (1965)... At San Francisco's Fillmore West, Grace Slick performs publicly as lead singer of Jefferson Airplane for the first time (1966)... Creedence Clearwater Revival announce that they have disbanded (1972)... The № 1 song in the US today is 'Disco Duck' by Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots (1976)... Culture Club perform 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?' on Top of the Pops, where they are a last-minute replacement for Shakin' Stevens, who had suddenly fallen ill on the day of the taping (1982)... Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Robert Cray join Chuck Berry on stage in St. Louis for the concert that will be filmed for the documentary 'Hail Hail! Rock & Roll' (1986)... A tribute concert to Bob Dylan on the 30th anniversary of the release of his first Columbia album takes place at Madison Square Garden. Guest performers include Neil Young, Roger McGuinn, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Ron Wood and Eric Clapton. Dylan himself appears for group renditions of 'My Back Pages' and 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' before closing the proceedings with a solo 'Girl from the North Country' (1992)... Simon & Garfunkel kick off their Old Friends reunion tour with a show in Wilkes-Barre, PA (2003)... Legendary NYC club CBGB closes with a performance by Patti Smith, one of many artists who first came to fame on its stage. The venue was opened in 1973 with the full name CBGB-OMFUG, standing for 'Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers' (2006).