November 3rd

 

Musical birthdays today include Lulu [née Marie Lawrie] (76), Chrome frontman Helios Creed (71), Adam Ant [né Stuart Goddard] (70), Porcupine Tree multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson (57), Onyx rapper Sticky Fingaz [né Kirk Jones] (53), Slipknot guitarist Mick Thomson (51), and Rise Again lead singer Tim McIlrath (46). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for film score composer John Barry, who would have been 90 today... for singer-songwriter Bert Jansch, who would have been 80... for R&B singer Chris Bender, shot to death in Brooklyn at the age of 19 today in 1991... for Leon Theremin, inventor of the instrument that bears his name, who died in 1993... for Lonnie Donegan MBE, the 'King of Skiffle', who passed away in 2002... and for former April Wine bassist Jim Clench, who left us today in 2010.

Also on November 3: Mozart completes his 'Linz Symphony' [№ 36 in C Major] less than 24 hours before its first performance in the Austrian city (1783)... The Chicago Grand Opera gives its inaugural performance, a production of Aida (1910)... Sun Records releases 'Great Balls of Fire' by Jerry Lee Lewis (1957)... Elvis Presley goes on field maneuvers for the first time with the US Army's 32nd Armored Regiment, near the German-Czech border (1958)... Elvis tops the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with 'It's Now or Never', his first post-army № 1 (1960)... During the Rolling Stones' North American tour, a 17 year-old fan falls from the balcony during a gig in Cleveland, Ohio. Mayor Ralph S. Locher bans all future pop concerts, saying: "Such groups do not add to the community's culture or entertainment" (1964)... The Beatles record 'Michelle' (1965)... Filming for The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour is completed, ending with a sequence at Ringo's country house in Weybridge, Surrey. BBC television buy the rights to broadcast the film twice; the first broadcast, in black-and-white, is scheduled for December 26, 1967. The second showing, on the colour channel BBC2 [which is not yet available to all Britons] is scheduled for January 5, 1968 (1967)... James Taylor and Carly Simon are married in a civil ceremony at the latter's Manhattan apartment (1972)... David Bowie's Pinups is the № 1 album in the UK (1973)... Following a concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley, Elton John announces his retirement from live performance... A Santa Monica, CA Superior Court judge orders Bob Dylan to return his children to his estranged wife Sara. He was granted temporary custody while his soon to be ex set up housekeeping in Hawaii (1977)... The Jam release All Mod Cons (1978)... One-hit wonder M tops the Billboard singles chart with 'Pop Music' (1979)... Devo open their latest tour by bringing their video-synchronized concert experience to Minneapolis. The show involves the band performing in front of a giant screen on which are projected films and lyrics. The robotic band also interact with the clips (1982)... 'Ice Ice Baby', by Vanilla Ice became the first rap record to top the US singles chart, [and later also a UK No. 1 as well] (1990)... Rage against the Machine release their eponymous debut album (1992)... Metallica reach an out of court settlement with a fan who claims he lost his sense of smell after being dropped on his head by fans at one of their shows four years earlier (1997)... EMI Records announce that they have dropped Simple Minds. The Scottish band sold over 30 million albums during the 1980's (2000)... P Diddy runs in the New York City Marathon, finishing the race in 4 hours and 18 minutes and raising $2,000,000 for the public education system of New York (2003)... A man who had been stalking Hilary Duff is arrested for threatening to kill her. According to the court papers, Maksim Miakovsky of St. Petersburg, Russia went to the U.S. 'for the sole purpose of meeting and becoming romantically involved with Ms. Duff'. He will later be sentenced to 4 months in jail and 5 years probation after pleading no contest to the charges (2006).