April 10th

Musical birthdays today include composer Claude Bolling (88), Bunny Wailer (71), 10,000 Maniacs bassist Steve Gustafson (61), R&B songwriter and producer Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds (59), Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer (59), former Katrina and the Waves lead singer Katrina Leskanich (58), Ratt lead guitarist Warren DeMartini (55), Primus drummer Tim Alexander (53), Kamaal Ibn John Fareed AKA Q-Tip (48), ex-Arab Strap lead singer Aidan Moffat (45), Dashboard Confessional frontman Chris Carraba (43), former Theaudience lead singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor (39), Lifehouse bassist Bryce Soderberg (37), Atomic Kitten vocalist Liz McLarnon (37), Fun. multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost (35), Mandy Moore (34), and New Age singer Hayley Westenra (31). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Spinners lead singer Bobbie Smith, who would have been 81 today... for former Parliament-Funkadelic lead guitarist Eddie Hazel, who would have been 68... for cornet player and bandleader Joe 'King' Oliver, who died on this date in 1938... for Stuart Sutcliffe, who died in 1962... for film score composer Nino Rota, who passed away in 1979... for producer Martin Hannett, who died in 1991... for Eva Boyd AKA Little Eva, who died in 2003... and for bluesman Jimmy Dawkins, who left us four years ago today. 

Also on April 10th: Brahms conducts the first performance of his own Deutsches Requiem at a Good Friday concert in Bremen (1868)... Nat King Cole is attacked on stage in Birmingham, AL by five members of a local White Citizens Council. After the assailants are removed by police, the singer continues the show unfazed (1956)... A school in Wrexham, North Wales sends letters to parents asking to them to please send their children to class in school uniform, and not in the 'corduroy trousers' worn by the Rolling Stones... British acts start a run of eight weeks at the top of the US charts when Freddie and the Dreamers go to № 1 with 'I'm Telling You Now'. Over the next two months, they will be followed by Wayne Fontana's 'Game Of Love', Herman's Hermits 'Mr's Brown' and The Beatles' 'Ticket To Ride (1965)... Marvin Gaye records his version of 'I Heard It through the Grapevine' (1967)... Jim Morrison is wrestled off stage by Ray Manzarek during a Doors concert in Boston, after Morrison asks the audience, "Would you like to see my genitals?" Theater management quickly switched off the power. Morrison was arrested in Miami the previous year for 'lewd and lascivious behavior' during a performance... Paul McCartney issues a press statement, announcing that The Beatles have split. McCartney says, "I have no future plans to record or appear with The Beatles again, or to write any music with John". John Lennon, who kept his much-earlier decision to leave The Beatles quiet for the sake of the others, is furious. When a reporter calls Lennon to comment upon McCartney's resignation, John says, "Paul hasn't left. I sacked him"... A Miles Davis performance in San Francisco is recorded by Columbia Records for release as Black Beauty: Live at the Fillmore West (1970)... Peter Frampton is at № 1 on the US album chart with Frampton Comes Alive!... Melody Maker publishes a scathing review of a Sex Pistols gig that concludes with the line 'I hope we shall hear no more of them' (1976)... With the Beastie Boys as her opening act, Madonna kicks off her first US tour with a show at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, WA (1985)... Fleetwood Mac release Behind the Mask, their first album since the departure of Lindsay Buckingham (1990)... Depeche Mode have the № 1 album in the USA with Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)... Nearly 10,000 fans attend a public memorial service for Kurt Cobain at the Seattle Flag Pavilion (1994)... Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland marries longtime girlfriend Heather McMillan at Disneyworld. The couple announce that they will be honeymooning in theme parks all across America, concluding at Disneyland (1998)... A charity tribute concert for the late Linda McCartney is held at the Royal Albert Hall. Among the performers are Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, George Michael, Elvis Costello and Sinead O'Connor (1999)... The final episode of The Osbournes is aired on MTV in the UK. The show reached a peak audience of eight million at its height during a three year run, Ozzy is at a loss to explain its popularity, saying, "I suppose Americans get a kick out of watching a crazy Brit family like us make complete fools of ourselves every week" (2005)... Kate Bush receives her CBE for services to music from the Queen at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle. The singer-songwriter, who was catapulted to fame in 1978 when 'Wuthering Heights' topped the charts, says that she is "incredibly thrilled". The 54-year-old dedicates the award to her family and jokes that it will have pride of place at the top of her Christmas tree (2013).