June 11th

Musical birthdays today include session drummer Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie (80), former King Crimson lyricist Richard Palmer-James (72), ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard (70), Air Supply guitarist Graham Russell (69), ex-.38 Special frontman Donnie Van Zant (67), Nashville session keyboardist & harmonica player Johnny Neel (65), free jazz bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma [né Rudy McDaniel] (63), Flaming Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd (50), Marianas Trench frontman Josh Ramsay (36), and Sublime with Rome lead guitarist Rome Ramirez (31). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Richard Strauss, born on this day in 1864... for film score composer Carmine Coppola, born in 1910... for operatic soprano Risë Stevens, born in 1913... for jazz drummer Shelly Manne, born in 1920... for jazz singer & songwriter Al Rinker, who died on this date in 1982... for trumpeter and Down Beat magazine co-founder Clyde McCoy, who passed away in 1990... and for jazz guitarist Johnny Smith, who left us today in 2013. 

Also on June 11th: Bedřich Smetana's opera Libuše premieres at the National Theatre in Prague (1881)... Hank Williams makes his debut at the Grand Ole Opry and receives an unprecedented six encores (1949)... Drummer Tommy Moore makes the fateful decision to quit The Beatles and return to his job of driving a forklift at the Garston Bottle Works in Liverpool. He is briefly replaced by Norman Chapman, who is called into National Service after just three gigs. After going drummerless and mostly jobless for a few weeks, the band hire Pete Best on August 12th, only one day before they are to go to Hamburg to play a string of club dates... In Cologne, Karlheinz Stockhausen's Kontakte suite for electronic instruments, piano and percussion is performed for the first time (1960)... The Beatles tape a BBC radio program, 'Here We Go', at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester, in front of a studio audience composed largely of loyal Cavern fans. This is the band's last known recording on which Pete Best plays drums (1962)... Decca Records release The Angry Young Them, the debut album from Them featuring lead singer Van Morrison (1965)... Radio stations throughout Europe mistakenly report that Roger Daltrey has been killed in a car crash. Pete Townshend was in fact injured in a road accident a few days ago, but both he and Daltrey very much alive (1966)... Printed in the classified ads section of this week's Melody Maker: 'Freaky lead guitarist, bass and drummer wanted for Marc Bolan's new group. Also any other astral flyers with car amplification and that which never grows in window boxes, phone Wimbledon 0697.' The band which forms as Tyrannosaurus Rex go on to release four underground folk albums before becoming known as T Rex (1967)... John works on 'Revolution 9' in Studio 3 at Abbey Road, while Paul is next door in Studio 2 adding overdubs to 'Blackbird' (1968)... AC/DC kick off their 'Lock up Your Daughters' UK tour with a show at Glasgow City Hall (1976)... Nelson Mandela' s 70th birthday tribute takes place at Wembley Stadium, London, featuring Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Dire Straits, Stevie Wonder, Tracy Chapman, George Michael, Eric Clapton, UB40, The Eurythmics and Simple Minds. The event is broadcast live on BBC 2 to 40 different countries with an estimated audience of 1 billion (1988)... Sir Paul McCartney marries Heather Mills at St Salvator Church, Ireland. Guests include Ringo Starr, David Gilmour, Jools Holland and Chrissie Hynde. Heather walks down the aisle clutching a bouquet of 11 'McCartney' roses. Mills first met McCartney at the Pride of Britain Awards event in London in April 1999, which McCartney was attending to present an award to an animal rights activist (2001)... Jimmy Page is awarded an OBE in the Queen of England's Birthday Honours list, while Queen guitarist and founding member Brian May is awarded a CBE (2005)... Dark Side of the Moon re-enters the Billboard Album chart at № 47, and reaches the milestone of 1,000 weeks on the magazine's charts (2011).