October 21st

 Musical birthdays today include operatic soprano Virginia Zeani (95), Manfred Mann (80), Steve Cropper (79), Elvin Bishop (78), Chicago trumpeter Lee Loughnane (74), Go-Go's guitarist Charlotte Caffey (67), Bay City Rollers guitarist Eric Faulkner (67), Julian Cope (63), Pink Floyd keyboardist & songwriter Jon Carin (56), ex-Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri (49), Fiery Furnaces guitarist Matthew Friedberger (48), and singer-songwriter Josh Ritter (44). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazzman Don Byas, born on this date in 1912... for Dizzy Gillespie, born in 1917... for salsa singer Celia Cruz, born in 1924... for Cramps lead singer Lux Interior [né Erick Purkheiser], who would have been 73... for ex-Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, who would have been 68... for Maxene Andrews [of the Andrews Sisters], who died on this date in 1995, and for Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon, who left us on the same day as the result of a drug overdose at the age of 28. 

Also on October 21: Beethoven's first printed work ~ 3 Trios, op. 1 ~ is issued by Artaria Publishers of Vienna (1795)... Buddy Holly goes into Pythian Temple Studios in NYC for what will prove to be his final recording session. Among the tracks he completes is 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore', which will be a posthumous № 1 hit for him (1958)... At Atlantic Studios in NYC, the John Coltrane quartet record 'My Favorite Things' (1960)... The Beatles record 'Norwegian Wood' in three takes and begin work on 'Nowhere Man' (1965)... Lulu hits № 1 on the US charts with 'To Sir, with Love' (1967)... Bob Dylan releases the album New Morning (1970)... Mick Jagger becomes a father for the first time when Bianca gives birth to their daughter Jade (1971)... Chuck Berry has his first and only simultaneous US and UK № 1 with 'My Ding-a-Ling' (1972)... Scott Joplin's ragtime opera Treemonisha has its NYC premiere at the Uris Theater (1975)... Keith Moon plays his final show with the Who, the closing date of their North American tour at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto (1976)... Elton John's 'Candle In The Wind 97' is declared by the Guinness Book Of Records to be the biggest selling single record of all time, with sales of 31.8 million in less than 40 days and raising more than £20 million for charity (1997)... Liza Minelli's ex-husband David Gest sues her for $10 million, alleging that she beat him during drunken rages (2003)... Bobby 'Boris' Pickett, the singer and co-author of the 1960 novelty hit 'Monster Mash', releases a re-written version of the song entitled 'Monster Slash' to protest the environmental policies of the Bush administration (2004).