October 12th

 Musical birthdays today include Sam Moore [of Sam & Dave] (87), Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt (74), The Damned frontman David Lett (66), jazz trumpeter Chris Botti (60), Dixie Chicks fiddle player Martie McGuire (53), and New Found Glory lead singer Jordan Pundik (43).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Ralph Vaughn Williams, born on this date in 1872... for James 'Sugar Boy' Crawford, New Orleans R&B pianist and songwriter, who would have been 88 today... for Luciano Pavarotti, who would have been 87... for longtime Temptations vocalist Melvin Franklin, who would have been 80... for Gene Vincent, who died today in 1971 at the age of 46... for original B-52's guitarist Ricky Wilson, who passed away today in 1985 at 32... for John Denver, who died in an airplane crash today in 1997... for bandleader Ray Coniff, who died in 2002... and for Blue Cheer frontman Dickie Peterson, who left us in 2009. 

Also on October 12: G.F. Handel completes his oratorio Samson (1742)... The Chrysler Corporation launches high fidelity record players for their 1956 line of cars. The unit measures 4 inches wide and just under a foot high and is mounted under the instrument panel. The 7-inch discs spin at 16 2/3 RPM and require 3 times as many grooves per inch as an LP. The players will be discontinued as an option in 1961 (1955)... During a tour Down Under, Little Richard gives a press conference in Sydney to announce that he has renounced rock 'n' roll and embraced God, telling the assembled journalists a story of dreaming of his own damnation after praying when one of the engines of a plane he was on caught fire. The singer will perform nothing but gospel for the next 5 years, but then returns to rock (1957)... Working on what will be the Rubber Soul album at Abbey Road, the Beatles lay down 'Run for Your Life' [John Lennon will later admit to lifting two lines from Elvis' 'Come on Baby, Let's Play House'] and 'Norwegian Wood', with the sitar making its debut on a western pop song in the hands of George Harrison (1965)... Big Brother and the Holding Company have the № 1 album in the US with Cheap Thrills (1968)... Jesus Christ Superstar premieres on Broadway (1971)... The Who release Odds & Sods (1974)... Rod Stewart makes his final appearance as frontman for The Faces in a show at Nassau Coliseum, NY (1975)... Sid Vicious stabs his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death at the Chelsea Hotel (1978)... U2 release October, their second studio album (1981)... Jennifer Rush becomes the first to hit № 1 with the diva standard 'The Power of Love', topping the UK charts (1985)... Nirvana are the musical guests on Saturday Night Live (1991)... Pink Floyd play the first of a scheduled 15-night run at Earl's Court, London. A minute into 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond', a scaffolding stand holding 1,200 spectators collapses, hurling them 20 feet to the ground. It takes over an hour to free everyone from the wreckage ~ 36 will have to be hospitalised. The band send a free t-shirt and a handwritten note of apology to all those seated in the faulty bleachers, and the show is rescheduled (1994)... The Backstreet Boys are forced to cancel a show in Madrid after 7,000 fans show up for a 5,000 seat performance and a riot breaks out (1997)... Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young appear at Madison Square Garden to announce a forthcoming album and their 'CSNY2K' tour (1999)... Oasis go to № 1 on the UK album chart with Dig Out Your Soul, the group's final studio LP (2008).