September 12th

Musical birthdays today include Maria Muldaur (75), Rush drummer Neil Peart (66), former XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews (62), ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson (62), Mylène Farmer (57), singer-songwriter & producer Ben Folds (52), Primus guitarist Larry LaLonde (50), rapper Bizzy Bone [né Bryon McCane] (42), James McCartney (41), Jennifer Hudson (37), and Emmy Rossum (32). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for George Jones, who would have been 87 today... for Barry White, who would have been 73... for French composer François Couperin, who died on this date in 1733... for Johnny Cash, who passed away in 2003... and for Nashville session drummer Kenny Buttrey [noted for his work with Bob Dylan and Neil Young, among many others] who left us today in 2004.

Also on September 12th: Mahler's 8th symphony ~ his last to premiere in his lifetime ~ is performed for the first time, in Munich, with 1,028 instrumentalists and singers (1910)... Frank Sinatra has his first № 1 song in the UK with 'Three Coins in a Fountain' (1954)... NBC airs the premiere of 'The Monkees' TV show. The series will run for a total of 58 episodes (1966)... Filming continues for the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour. The bus heads for Widecombe on the Moor, in Devon, where a local fair is being held, but driver Alf Manders takes a shortcut to bypass heavy traffic and gets stuck on a bridge. The coach ends up having to drive in reverse for half a mile before it can turn around. It then heads for Plymouth, followed by a 20-car convoy of photographers and journalists (1967)... The № 1 song in the UK is Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' 'Tears of a Clown' (1970)... Public Image Ltd guitarist John McGeoch will need 40 stitches after being struck in the face by a 2-litre wine bottle hurled from the crowd during a show in Vienna (1986)... The soundtrack album to the Richie Valens biopic 'La Bamba' by Los Lobos is at № 1 on the Billboard chart (1987)... Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie announce that they are leaving Fleetwood Mac at the end of the band's current tour (1990)... In Modena, Italy, Luciano Pavarotti is joined by Brian Eno along with U2 members Bono and the Edge for a benefit concert for the children of war-ravaged Bosnia (1995)... The soundtrack album to Cameron Crowe's film 'Almost Famous' is released containing a first: the authorised use of vintage Led Zeppelin songs. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were so taken with the rough cut of the movie that they allowed Crowe to include four of their tracks... Christina Aguilera releases her first Spanish-language album, 'Mi Reflejo' (2000)... The surviving members of Led Zeppelin announce that they will reform for a one-off concert with the late John Bonham's son Jason in the drummer's chair. The show, the first for the group in 18 years, is to honour Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, who died last year. All profits from the concert, which will take place at London's O2 arena on the 26th of November and cost £125 per ticket, will go to establishing scholarships in Ertegun's name in the UK, the USA, and his native Turkey (2007).