April 29th

Musical birthdays today include Willie Nelson (87), bluesman Otis Rush (86), conductor Zubin Mehta (84), April Stevens (84), Klaus Voormann (82), Oak Ridge Boys vocalist Duane Allen (77), Tommy James (73), Great White frontman Mark Kendall (63), rapper Percy 'Master P' Miller (53), Carnie Wilson (52), Pink Martini lead singer China Forbes (50), Franco-Indonesian singer Anggun Sasmi (46), S Club vocalist Jo O'Meara (41), Editors frontman Tom Smith (39), and ex-Trivium drummer Travis Smith (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for conductor & impresario Thomas Beecham, born on this day in 1879... for Duke Ellington, born in 1899... for tabla player and Ravi Shankar sideman Alla Rakha, born in 1919... for harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans, born in 1922... for Coasters vocalist Carl Gardner, born in 1928... for Lonnie Donnegan, who would have been 89 today... for American roots musician Hasil Adkins, who would have been 83... for Tami Terrell, who would have been 75... for Can vocalist Michael Karoli, who would have been 72... for blues singer & pianist Leroy Carr, who died on this date in 1935... for Cisco Houston, who died in 1961... for bluesman J.B. Lenoir, who passed away in 1967... and for Mick Ronson, who left us today in 1993. 

Also on April 29th: In Vienna, Mozart's Sonata for violin & piano in Bb K. 454 is performed for the first time in the presence of Emperor Josef II, with the composer himself at the keyboard (1784)... 'La Marseillaise' is played in public for the first time by a French National Guard band in Strasbourg (1792)... Publicist Andrew Oldham and agent Eric Easton sign a management deal with The Rolling Stones after buying the rights to the bands first recordings for £90. They also persuade keyboard player Ian Stewart to drop out of the line up and become the band's road manager, while still playing piano at the back of the stage (1963)... Jimmy Nicol, the drummer who sat in for an ailing Ringo Starr on The Beatles' tour of Australia last year, is in a London tax court facing bankruptcy debts of £4,000 (1965)... The 14 hour Technicolour Dream benefit party for The International Times is held at Alexandra Palace in London. Seeing the event mentioned on TV, John Lennon calls his driver and goes to the show. Coincidentally, Yoko Ono is one of the performers. Other acts on the bill include The Flies, Pink Floyd, Arthur Brown, The Move and Suzie Creamcheese (1967)... Ringo adds his vocal to 'Octopus's Garden' (1969)... Elektra records release L.A. Woman, The Doors' final studio album with Jim Morrison (1971)... After a gig in Memphis, Bruce Springsteen takes a cab to Graceland and proceeds to climb over a wall leading to the mansion. A guard takes him to be another obsessive Elvis fan and apprehends him (1976)...  Polydor Records UK release The Jam's first single 'In the City'... The Grateful Dead open a 5-night run at the Palladium in NYC (1977)... In Paris, Black Sabbath kick off their first tour without Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio having now assumed lead singer duties (1980)... Paula Abdul marries Emilio Estevez in Santa Monica, CA. The couple file for divorce 2 years later (1992)... Tupac Shakur marries Keisha Morris inside the Clinton Correctional Facility, where he is serving a four-year jail term for sex abuse (1995)... 
Steven Tyler shatters his kneecap when he falls off the stage at a concert in Anchorage, AK, delaying Aerosmith's 'Nine Lives' tour and necessitating camera angle adjustments for the filming of the video for 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' (1998)... In London, a blue plaque is unveiled at 38 Aubrey Walk, Kensington to honour the musical heritage of the address where British singer Dusty Springfield lived from 1968 until 1972 (2001)... Avril Lavigne has the № 1 album in both the US and the UK with The Best Damn Thing (2007)... An anonymous Queen fan wins a two-hour one-to-one guitar lesson with Brian May, after bidding £7,600 at a private charity auction. The auction, in support of the Action for Brazil's Children Trust, of which May is a patron, was held at London's exclusive Cuckoo Club (2009).