September 27th

 Musical birthdays today include Austrian balladeer Freddy Quinn (95), Stax session player Don Nix (85), Randy Bachman (83), classical guitarist David Starobin (75), session bassist Robbie Shakespeare (73), Shaun Cassidy (68), Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins (62), Wild Flag guitarist & singer Carrie Brownstein (52), rapper Lil Wayne [né Dwayne Carter, Jr.] (44), Avril Lavigne (42), and Of Mice & Men lead singer Austin Carlile (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz pianist Bud Powell, born on this day in 1924... for bop trumpeter Red Rodney, born in 1929... for Soul Train host and producer Don Cornelius, who would have been 89... for Meat Loaf [né Marvin Lee Aday], who would have been 79... for Men at Work multi-instrumentalist Greg Ham, who would have been 73... for Wings guitarist Jimmy McCullough, who died of a drug overdose on this date in 1979 at the age of 26... for Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed in an accident involving the band's tour bus in 1986... and for Johnny Mathis, who left us today in 2011. 

Also on September 27: Dvořák arrives in NYC to take up the position of director of the National Conservatory (1892)... The Beach Boys make their debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing 'I Get around' and 'Wendy'... Bob Dylan is among the guests at a party at Miles Davis' home in Manhattan given for Robert Kennedy, candidate for the US Senate from NY (1964)... The Beatles complete work on 'Fool on the Hill' and begin recording 'I Am the Walrus' (1967)... Pink Floyd appear at Queen's Hall on the Isle of Dunoon in Scotland. All regularly scheduled ferry services to the island having been cancelled because of bad weather, the group hire a small boat on their own and risk the rough seas to make the crossing. They eventually appear in front of 400 fans (1968)... Creedence Clearwater Revival are among the guests on Johnny Cash's ABC-TV weekly variety show (1969)... Carlos Santana announces that he has become a disciple of Sri Chinmoy and that he has legally added the middle name 'Devadip' [meaning 'the Light of the Lamp Supreme'] to his own (1973)... Blondie release the album Eat to the Beat, while Regatta de Blanc by The Police also appears in shops (1979)...  The № 1 album in Britain today is David Bowie's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)... R.E.M. release Monster (1994)... Bob Dylan performs before Pope John Paul II at the World Eucharistic Conference in Bologna, Italy. The two chat briefly after the singer's concluding number, 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' (1997)... In NYC, Placido Domingo breaks Enrico Caruso's record when he headlines his 18th season opening performance at the Met (1999)... U2 play a show from the rooftop of Dublin's Clarence Hotel [which they own] to more than 4,000 listeners in the streets below (2000)... Phil Spector is formally charged with murder in the February 3, 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson (2004)... Metallica have the № 1 album in the US with Death Magnetic, the group's ninth studio release (2008)... At the age of 85, Tony Bennett becomes the oldest living person to top the US album chart, with Duets II. Featuring collaborations with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, among others, it is also the singer's first US № 1 (2011).

September 26th

 

Musical birthdays today include R&B singer and keyboardist Georgie Fame (83), Brian Ferry (81),cex-10cc drummer Stuart Tosh (75), ex-Jefferson Starship guitarist Craig Chaquico (72), Carlene Carter (71), former Everything But the Girl lead singer Tracey Thorn (64), heavy metal guitarist Al Pitrelli (64), Boyz II Men vocalist Shawn Stockman (54), Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth (49), and British composer & clarinet virtuoso Mark Simpson (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for George Gershwin, born on this day in 1898... for country singer Marty Robbins, born in 1925... for cabaret singer Julie London, born in 1926... for country singer Lynn Anderson, who would have been 79 today... for Olivia Newton-John, who would have been 78... for punk rocker Darby Crash [né Jan Beahm], who would have been 67... for former Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon, who would have been 58... for Bessie Smith, who died in an road accident on this date in 1937 at the age of 43... and for Robert Palmer, who left us today in 2003. 

Also on September 26: Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor premieres at La Scala (1835)... West Side Story premieres on Broadway (1957)... The Greenbriar Boys begin  2 week residency at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village. Their opening act, Bob Dylan, receives a rave review from New York Times music critic Robert Shelton ~ the piece will be instrumental in bringing the virtually unknown Dylan to prominence on the Village scene (1961)... Buckingham palace announces that The Beatles are to receive the OBE (1965)... Pink Floyd play their first live show in the US, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco (1967)... The Beatles release Abbey Road (1969)... John Lennon begins the recording sessions for what will become the Plastic Ono Band album (1970)... Paul McCartney, wife Linda and Denny Laine return to London from Nigeria, where they recorded Band on the Run (1973)...  The Clash release their first American single, their version of 'I Fought the Law' ~ it fails to chart (1979)... The Go-Gos have the № 1 album in the US today with Beauty and the Beat (1981)... Michael Jackson's Bad tops the American album chart. It will eventually yield five Stateside № 1 singles, the first album ever to do so (1987)... Paul McCartney kicks off his first major tour in 10 years in Drammen, Norway. The world tour that follows will also include the former Beatle's first US dates since 1976 (1989)... The initial 300,000 unit shipment of Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind 1997' single to Japan sells out within 90 minutes of its delivery to shops throughout the country (1997)... MTV Russia launches at midnight with a broadcast of 'Prodigy Live in Moscow', which was taped the previous year (1998)... Green Day's American Idiot is the № 1 album on both sides of the Atlantic (2004).

September 25th

 

Musical birthdays today include ex-Iron Butterfly bassist Jerry Penrod (80), Siouxie and the Banshees bassist Steven Severin (71), heavy metal guitarist Chris Impellitteri (62), Commitments singer Maria Doyle Kennedy (62), Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal (57), singer-songwriter Douglas September (53), Interpol guitarist Daniel Kessler (53) and Dolour founder Shane Tutmarc (45).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Jean-Philippe Rameau, born on this day in 1683... for Dmitri Shostakovich, born in 1906... for classical pianist Glenn Gould, born in 1932... for folksinger Ian Tyson, born in 1933... for Cecil Womack, who would have been 79... for Johann Strauss the Elder [composer of 'The Radetzky March'], who died today in 1809... for Bela Bartok, who died in 1945... for John 'Bonzo' Bonham, who passed away in 1980... and for Andy Williams, who left us today in 2015. 

Also on September 25: Elvis releases his second single on Sun Records, 'Good Rockin' Tonight' (1954)... The Temptations go into the studio to record 'My Girl' (1964)... The Beatles cartoon series premieres on the ABC Network. The first adventure is entitled 'I Want to Hold Your Hands', and has the group in a diving bell exploring the ocean floor, where they meet a lovesick octopus (1965)... The Beatles begin recording Paul's new song 'Fool on the Hill' (1967)... Welsh singer Mary Hopkin is at № 1 on the UK charts with 'Those Were the Days'. Hopkin was one of the first acts signed by The Beatles to their new Apple label (1968)... John Lennon records 'Cold Turkey' with Yoko, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Ringo. Paul vetoed the tune as a potential Beatles track, and John's name alone will be listed as writer on the single, the first time that either of the duo takes sole credit for authorship of a song (1969)... The Partridge Family premieres on ABC (1970)... Larry Mullen Jr., a 14-year-old student at Mount Temple Comprehensive in Dublin, posts a note on the school's notice board announcing that he is searching for musicians to form a new band. Three of the six students who turn up for the audition ~ Paul Hewson, David Evans, and Adam Clayton ~ will become long-term members of the group, who initially call themselves Feedback. It will not be until March 1978 that they settle on the name U2 (1976)... Queen perform 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' and 'Under Pressure' on Saturday night Live (1982)... Dave Grohl auditions for Nirvana and is offered the drummer's chair on the spot (1990)... Courtney Love is sentenced to a year in prison with two years suspended and ordered to take an anger management course as  result of her assault on Bikini Kill lead singer Kathleen Hanna (1995)... Former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman is the first major artist to release an album on his own personalised digital MP3 player. The matchbox-sized device with no moving parts is one of the smallest of its kind in the world, and has encryption software designed to prevent piracy (1999)... Ozzy Osbourne formally requests that Black Sabbath be removed from the nomination list for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, calling the inclusion "meaningless" (2000)... The New York Post reports that Sly Stone is living in a van parked in the notorious South Central L.A. district of Crenshaw. "I like my small camper. I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving", the singer is quoted as saying (2011).  

September 24th

 

Musical birthdays today include choral composer John Rutter (81), ex-Fairport Convention guitarist Jerry Donahue (80), jazz guitarist Bill Connors (77), Dokken bassist Sean McNabb (61), former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss (61), Slipknot percussionist Shawn 'Clown' Crahan (57), Verve drummer Peter Salisbury (55), singer-songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Liam Finn (43), and Foxy Shazam drummer Joseph Allen Halberstadt (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Blind Lemon Jefferson, born on this date in 1893... for songwriter and film score composer Ben Oakland, born in 1907... for jazz singer Herb Jeffries, born in 1913... for jazz percussionist Jack Costanzo, born in 1919... for jazz trumpeter Fats Navarro, born in 1923... for Ventures drummer Mel Taylor, born in 1933... for L.A. session saxophonist Steve Douglas [played on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and Bob Dylan's Street Legal, among many other albums], who would have been 88... for Crusaders trombonist Wayne Henderson, who would have been 87... for Linda McCartney, who would have been 85...  for Gerry & the Pacemakers frontman Gerry Marsden, who would have been 83... and for singer-songwriter Matthew Jay [a collaborator with The Doves, The Stereophonics and Dido] who fell to his death from a 7th storey window in London at the age of 24 today in 2003. 

Also on September 24: Elvis Presley releases 'Jailhouse Rock' (1957)... Elvis receives an invitation to appear at the Royal Variety Command Performance in London, but Colonel Tom Parker graciously declines, citing motion picture commitments. The real reason for his refusal, however, is that the Colonel is a Dutch immigrant residing in the US illegally, and fears that he might not be allowed to return if he leaves the country (1962)... Jimi Hendrix arrives in England for the first time with manager Chas Chandler. The guitarist has with him only the clothes he is wearing, having sold all of his other belongings to pay his hotel bill in New York. One of the first things he does in London is to legally change his name from James to Jimi... The № 1 single in the US is 'Cherish' by The Association (1966)... Traffic make their live debut at the Saville Theatre in London... Filming of the Magical Mystery Tour continues, in a hangar at the RAF West Malling Air Station in Maidstone, Kent. The cavernous indoor space is needed to shoot the 'Your Mother Should Know' ballroom finale. With the Beatles dressed in white suits and shoes, they glide down a glittery staircase as 160 members of the Peggy Spencer Dance Company swirl round about (1967)... John and Yoko move the mixing of the Double Fantasy album from the Hit Factory in NYC to the Record Plant. After the session, Lennon gives one of his final recorded interviews, to Lisa Robinson of 97-FM in Buffalo, NY (1980)... Culture Club score their second UK chart-topping hit with 'Karma Chameleon', the biggest selling single of the year (1983)... Bobby McFerrin's 'Don't Worry' Be Happy' becomes the first a capella song to reach № 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (1988)... Nirvana's album Nevermind is released in the US, entering the chart at № 144 (1991)... Eric Clapton is the musical guest on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live (1994)... Hank Williams is the subject of the first ever country music symposium at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC (1999)... The Dave Matthews Band play a free concert for over 100,000 in NYC's Central park (2003)

September 23rd

 

Musical birthdays today include jazz singer Norma Winstone (85), Julio Iglesias (83), Iron Butterfly drummer Ron Bushy (81), original Alice Cooper drummer Neal Smith (79), Bruce Springsteen (77), former Lemon Kitten and experimental musician Danielle Dax (68), session bassist and songwriter Martin Page (66), industrial metal rocker Lucia Cifarelli (56) Ani DiFranco (56), rapper Layzie Bone (51), and Cascada lead singer Natalie Horler (45).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for folk song collector and ethnomusicologist John Lomax, born on this day in 1870... for early R&B singer Tiny Bradshaw, born on this day in 1907... for John Coltrane, born in 1926... for bluesman Mighty Joe Young, born in 1927... for choreographer Bob Fosse, who died on this date in 1987... and for blueswoman Etta Baker, who left us today in 2006. 

Also on September 23: Wagner's opera Das Rheingold has its world premiere in Frankfurt (1869)... Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys make their first recordings in Dallas (1935)... Buddy Holly & the Crickets hit № 1 in the US with 'That'll Be the Day' (1957)... The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in NYC (1962)... The Beatles record 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' at Abbey Road. John Lennon took the title for the song from an advertisement in an American gun magazine that George Martin had showed him. Jim Morrison drops by the studio and watches the Fab Four at work for just over an hour (1968)... Mick Jagger meets Bianca Macias for the first time, backstage after a Stones concert at L'Olympia in Paris (1970)... Blondie release their commercial breakthrough album Parallel Lines (1978)... Against his doctors' advice, Bob Marley goes ahead with a scheduled concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh two days after collapsing in Central Park in NYC. The singer passes out in mid-performance and is rushed to the University of Pittsburgh Hospital. It is Marley's last public show before his death from cancer the following May... David Bowie makes his Broadway debut in the title role of 'The Elephant Man' (1980)... James Browne, Melba Moore, and Freddie Jackson headline an anti-crack benefit concert in the ballroom at the Plaza Hotel in NYC (1986)... The first Lilith Fair concert outside of North America takes place at the Royal Albert Hall (1998)... CBS is fined $550,000 by the FCC for airing Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction' during the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year (2004)... Neil Young is named artist of the year at the annual Americana Honors and Awards in Nashville (2006)... Grand Canyon State natives Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks and Buck Owens are inducted into the Arizona Music &am

September 22nd

 

Musical birthdays today include jazz singer Marlena Shaw (84), Lighthouse co-founder Paul Hoffert (83), King Sunny Adé (80), David Coverdale (75), Right Said Fred frontmen Fred & Richard Fairbrass (73), Debby Boone (70), Nick Cave (69), Joan Jett (68), ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp (57), Rilo Kiley lead guitarist Blake Sennett (50), violinist Emilie Autumn (47), Cribs drummer Ross Jarman (42), and Canadian singer-songwriter Coeur de Pirate [née Béatrice Martin] (37). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for American composer and bandleader Arthur Pryor, born on this date in 1870... for cabaret singer Joni Jame, born in 1930... for songwriter Harry Warren ['That's Amore', 'Chatanooga Choo Choo'], who died on this date in 1981... for Irving Berlin, who passed away in 1989 at the age of 101... and for violin virtuoso Isaac Stern, who left us today in 2001. 

Also on September 22: Webern's String Quartet, op. 28 is given its first performance at the Berkshire Chamber Music Festival in Pittsfield, MA. The work was commissioned by American philanthropist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (1938)... Elvis Presley gives a final press conference at the Military Ocean Terminal in Brooklyn, NY before shipping out to Germany with the US 3rd Armored Division on the USS General Randall (1958)... Bob Dylan is on the bill at Carnegie Hall as part of an all-star hootenanny. Dylan performs 'The Ballad of Hollis Brown' for the first time in public (1962)... Herman's Hermits have their first and only UK № 1 with 'I'm into Something Good'... Fiddler on the Roof opens on Broadway (1964)... San Francisco band The Great Society, with then husband and wife Jerry and Grace Slick on drums and lead vocals, respectively, make their live debut at The Coffee Gallery in North Beach... The Who kick off their first Scandinavian tour with a gig in Copenhagen. Roger Daltrey is nearly fired from the band for punching Keith Moon in the jaw just before they go on (1965)... The Doors perform 'Light My Fire' and 'People Are Strange' on The Murray the K Show on WPIX-TV in New York (1967)... The Band release their eponymous second album, which will yield the hit singles 'Up on on Cripple Creek', 'Rag Mama Rag' and 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' (1969)... David Bowie kicks off the North American leg of the Ziggy Stardust world tour at The Music Hall in Cleveland, OH (1972)... The Rolling Stones have the № 1 album in Britain today with Goats Head Soup (1973)... Def Leppard receive their first major press notice when Melody Maker reviews a gig the band recently played in Wolverhampton (1979)... David Geffen incorporates his latest musical venture, the Geffen Records label. His first act signed is John Lennon, who is looking for a home for his just completed album Double Fantasy (1980)... The re-formed King Crimson release Discipline, the band's first album of new material in 7 years (1981)... Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Joni Mitchell and Tom Petty headline the first Farm Aid concert at the stadium of the University of Illinois-Champaign  (1985)... Bob Dylan releases Oh Mercy (1989)... Nirvana play their largest gig to date, at Seattle's Motor Sports International Garage. Dave Grohl, who will audition for the band two days from now, is in the audience of 15,000 (1990)... Bryan Adams makes British chart history when '(Everything I Do) I Do It for You' comes in at № 1 for the 12th consecutive week (1991)... Bruce Springsteen's MTV Unplugged session loses the Un- after the Boss turns up with an electric ensemble for a rare live performance with musicians other than the E Street Band (1992)... Diana Ross is arrested on the Concorde after an incident at Heathrow Airport. The singer claims that a female security guard fondled her breasts when frisking her; Ross retaliated by grabbing the guard's genital area... Joe Strummer, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon are all seen in the same room at the same time for the first time in 15 years, as the former bandmates attend the London premiere of the Clash documentary Westway to the World (1999)... 'A Tribute to Heroes' is aired commercial-free on most of the major US TV networks. The live program was organized to raise money for 9/11 charities. Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, U2, Billy Joel, Pearl Jam and Limp Bizkit all perform (2001)... Jimmy Page is made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro for his work raising money to help the city's street children (2005)... Research conducted by UK car maker SEAT shows that 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is the song most likely to be found on British iPods, with 40% of owners of the device having the Queen hit on their playlists (2011)

September 21st

 

Musical birthdays today include rock guitarist Bobby Tench (82), Spinners lead singer G.C. Cameron (81), ex-Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder (79), former XTC lead guitarist Dave Gregory (74), former Motörhead drummer Phil 'Philthy Animal' Taylor (72), Swing Out Sister lead singer Corinne Drewery (67), Faith Hill (9), Barenaked Ladies drummer Tyler Stewart (59), De La Soul's David Jude Jolicoeur AKA Dave (58), Liam Gallagher (54), former Korn drummer David Silveria (54), Glasvegas frontman James Allan (47), and Horrors lead singer Faris Badwan (40). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Gustav Holst, born on this day in 1874... for classical pianist György Sándor, born in 1912... for jazz bassist Leroy 'Slam' Stewart, born in 1914... for jazz vocalist Ward Swingle and longtime Mingus sideman Shafi Hadi, both born in 1929... for Leonard Cohen, born today in 1934... free jazz drummer Sunny Murray, who would have been ..90. for  for Liverpool band leader Rory Storm, who would have been 85... for John Stafford Smith [composer of the tune 'To Anacreon in Heaven', which was later adopted for The Star Spangled Banner], who died on this date in 1836... for jazz bassist Jaco Pastorious, who was killed in an altercation outside a bar today in 1987 at the age of 36... and for ex-King Crimson singer and Bad Company founding member Boz Burrell, who left us today in 2006. 

Also on September 21: Bessie Smith records 'Jailhouse Blues', her first side for Columbia Records (1923)... The № 1 song in the US today is Bobby Vinton's 'Blue Velvet' (1963)... Madame Tussaud's Waxworks gives the Beatles their fifth image change of clothes and hair in 4 years... Stravinsky visits Moscow for the first time since 1920 (1968)... The BBC TV music show The Old Grey Whistle Test premieres. In addition to live acts, clips of Jimi Hendrix performing at Monterey and Bob Dylan singing 'Maggie's Farm' at Newport in 1965 are show on television for the first time. According to presenter Bob Harris, the program [which will run until 1987] derived its name from an old Tin Pan Alley expression ~ when a music publishing company received the first test pressing of a record, they would play it for the people they called 'the old greys', i.e. uniformed doormen. The songs they could remember and whistle after the first hearing were said to have 'passed the old grey whistle test' (1971)... Barry White has his only US № 1 with 'Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Baby' (1974)... Art Pepper goes into the studio to record the album to which he will give the same title as his recently published autobiography, Straight Life (1979)... During a North American tour, Bob Marley collapses while jogging in NYC's Central Park. Hospital tests will show that the singer is suffering from cancer in an advanced stage (1980)...  The National Enquirer runs a cover photo of Michael Jackson in an oxygen chamber for a story claiming that the singer has a 'bizarre plan' to live until he is 150 years old (1986)... Status Quo put themselves in the Guinness Book of World Record by playing 4 gigs in 4 cities [Sheffield, Glasgow, Birmingham and London] within a 12-hour period (1991)... Nirvana release their final studio album In Utero (1993)... The audience at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry witness an historic moment when Hank Williams III makes his debut at the venue. The third-generation country singer leads off his set with 'Lovesick Blues', which grandpa Hank also launched his first Opry performance with it 1949 (1996)... Yusuf Islam [the former Cat Stevens] is denied entry to the United States after his name turns up on an anti-terrorism watch list. The one-time folk singer denies all alleged ties to Hamas (2004)... A contract revealing that the Beatles refused to perform for a segregated audience at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on August 31, 1965 sells for $23,033 at an auction in L.A. (2011).