April 3rd

Musical birthdays today include songwriter Jeff Barry (85), Wayne Newton (81), Tony Orlando (79), Richard Thompson (74), Rocket 88s pianist & leader Mitch Woods (72), New Orleans bluesman John Mooney (68), Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness (61), R&B singer Kelly Price (50), Switchfoot guitarist Drew Shirley (49), Outlawz rapper Bruce Washington AKA Hussein Fatal (46), Suburban Legends trumpeter Aaron Bertram (42), and Leona Lewis (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Dooley Wilson, born on this day in 1886... for Doris Day, born in 1922... for country singer-songwriter Don Gibson, born in 1928... for saxophonist & jazz flautist Harold Vick, who would have been 86... for Jan Berry and for former Spinners vocalist Phillipé Wynne, both of whom would have been 82... for Richard Manuel of The Band, who would have been 80... for Procol Harum bassist Dee Murray, who would have been 76... for Johannes Brahms, who died on this date in 1897... for Kurt Weill, who died in 1950... and for Sarah Vaughn, who left us today in 1990.

Also on April 3rd: Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt premieres at the King's Theatre in London. The work, the composer's first use of Biblical texts in a theatrical setting, is not well received, and the performance run closes three nights later (1739)... Smetana's The Moldau is performed for the first time in Prague. The composer, now totally deaf, hears neither the music nor the audience's reaction (1875)... Arturo Toscanini conducts his last concert of the NBC Orchestra at Carnegie Hall 10 days after his 87th birthday. He then announces his retirement, ending his 17-year association with the ensemble (1954)... Elvis appears on ABC's 'The Milton Berle Show', live from the flight deck of the  aircraft carrier USS Hancock in San Diego. It is estimated the next day that 1 in every 4 American households with a television watched the broadcast (1956)... The Marcels go to № 1 in both America and Britain with their version of the Rodgers & Hart standard 'Blue Moon' (1961)... Bob Dylan makes his first appearance on the UK singles chart as 'The Times They Are A-changin'' enters the top 100 ~ it will eventually rise as high as № 5 (1964)... At Abbey Road, George Harrison adds his lead vocal to 'Within You Without You', then sitar (1967)... Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends is released (1968)... Jim Morrison turns himself in at the FBI field office in Los Angeles. He was wanted on six charges of lewd behavior and public exposure at a Doors concert in Miami on March 2nd. He is later released on $2000 bail (1969)... The Temptations score their second US № 1 with 'Just My Imagination (Running away with Me)' (1971)... In Los Angeles, Steve Miller is charged with setting fire to the clothes of ex-girlfriend Benita Diorio. When police arrived at Miller's house, Diorio was putting out the flames; Miller then got into a scuffle with some of the policemen and was charged with resisting arrest (1975)... A hitherto unknown band called The Sex Pistols open for the 101ers ~ now remembered as the group Joe Strummer left to help form The Clash ~ at the Nashville Rooms in London (1976)... Kate Bush kicks off her 'Tree of Life' tour at Liverpool's Empire Theatre. Bush will play 28 dates, and then retire from touring for the next 35 years (1979)... Depeche Mode have their first UK № 1 album with Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)... Nirvana and Hole cancel their forthcoming tour amid mounting speculation about Kurt Cobain's drug problems (1994)... Michael Jackson's daughter Paris is born (1998)... Mariah Carey is admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital with food poisoning after eating raw oysters (2000)... Keith Richards denies that he snorted the ashes of his late father during a drugs binge. Jane Rose, Richards' manager, tells MTV News that the remarks were made ‘in jest’, and that she could not believe they were taken seriously. Richards had said in an interview with the NME: ‘He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow.’ But NME interviewer Mark Beaumont was convinced that Richards was not joking when speaking to him about the alleged incident. ‘He did seem to be quite honest about it. There were too many details for him to be making it up,’ he later told BBC News (2007).