October 3rd

Musical birthdays today include composer Steve Reich (82), Chubby Checker (77), Lindsey Buckingham (69), bluesman Keb' Mo' (67), Tommy Lee (56), Gwen Stefani (49), Backstreet Boys vocalist Kevin Richardson (47), Scissor Sisters lead singer Jake Shears (40), Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer (39), and Ashlee Simpson (34). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Eddie Cochran, who would have been 80 today... for Alan O'Day [of 'Undercover Angel' fame], who would have been 78... for Stevie Ray Vaughn, who would have been 64... for former Allman Brothers sideman Allen Woody, who would have been 62... for Woody Guthrie, who lost his long battle with Huntington's Disease today in 1967... for blues singer Victoria Spivey, who died on this date in 1976... for Benjamin Orr, lead singer of the Cars, who passed away in 2000... and for bluesman Skip James, who left us in 2002. 

Also on October 3: Beethoven finishes his final string quartet, op. 135 in F Major (1826)... Gilbert and Sullivan's Yeoman of the Guard premieres at London's Savoy Theatre (1888)... The New York City Opera is founded (1943)... A 10-year-old Elvis Presley makes his first recorded public appearance as a singer, performing 'Old Shep' at the talent contest of the Mississippi-Alabama Dairy Show. The future King comes in second (1945)... In Los Angeles, Frank Sinatra finishes recording his first album with the Count Basie Orchestra, An Historical Musical First (1962)... Working at London's Trident Studios, the Beatles lay down the basic tracks for George's 'Savoy Truffle'. The song was inspired by Eric Clapton's love of sweets, especially Mackintosh's Good News chocolates (1968)... Janis Joplin goes into a recording studio for the last time to listen to a playback of the instrumental track for 'Buried Alive in the Blues', which will be included on Pearl, the album on which she is currently working (1970)... George Harrison releases his final album on the Apple label, Extra Texture (Read All about It) (1975)... Aerosmith pay the bail for thirty of their fans who were busted for smoking marijuana at their concert in Fort Wayne, IN (1978)... Bruce Springsteen's tour in support of the album The River gets off to an inauspicious start in Ann Arbor, MI when the Boss forgets the words to 'Born to Run'. His memory is jogged when the audience sing the lyrics to him en masse (1980)... The documentary John Lennon: Imagine, compiled from more than 240 hours of unreleased footage, has its world premiere in Los Angeles (1988)... Texas governor Anne Richards proclaims this day 'Stevie Ray Vaughn Day', in honour of the Lone Star State native's 37th birthday (1991)... Sinead O'Connor rips up a picture of Pope John Paul II during her appearance on Saturday Night Live as a protest over sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. The incident, which stuns the studio audience to silence and prompts the NBC network to go immediately to commercial, results in a $2.5 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission (1992)... Tom Jones is at № 1 on the UK album chart with Reload, making him at 59 the oldest artist to top the British chart with new material (1999)... Mark David Chapman is denied parole after having served 20 years of his life sentence for murdering John Lennon (2001)... Scientific researchers declare 'We Are the Champions' by Queen the catchiest song ever written. Musicologist Dr. Alison Pawley of the University of London and her staff conducted research into what makes a song memorable, and compiled a list of the ten 'catchiest' songs of all time. They obtained the results by observing thousands of volunteers singing a list of selected tracks. They discovered that popular sing-along tunes contained four elements: long and detailed musical phrases, multiple pitch modulations in a  song's 'hook', male vocalists, and upper range male voices making a noticeable effort. Also on the list are 'YMCA' by the Village People, Sum 41's 'Fat Lip', and Europe's 'The Final Countdown' (2011).