Births
1941 Malcolm Hale, Spanky And Our Gang, (1967 US No.9 single 'Sunday Will Never Be The Same Again'). Hale died on 31st October 1968 of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty heater.
1942 Blues & roots performer Taj Mahal is born in New York City.
1944 Guitarist Jesse Winchester born in Shreveport, LA.
1948 Bill Bruford, drummer, King Crimson, Yes, U.K.
1953 George Johnson, Brothers Johnson, (1980 US No.4 & UK No.6 single 'Stomp').
1958 Alan Rankine, The Associates, (1982 UK No.9 single 'Party Fears Two').
1959 Paul Dianno, vocals, Iron Maiden, (1991 UK No.1 single 'Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter').
1960 Simon Fuller, record and television producer, manager of the Spice Girls and S Club 7 and the creator of the Idol series. First seen as Pop Idol and over 50 other versions including American Idol, Canadian Idol, and World Idol.
1961 Enya Ni Bhraonain, Clannad, (1982 UK No.5 single 'Harry's Game'), solo, (1988 UK No.1 single 'Orinoco Flow', plus eight other UK Top 40 singles, 2001 US No.2 album 'A Day Without Rain').
1962 Tracy Bryn, Voice Of The Beehive, (1988 UK No.15 single 'Don't Call Me Baby').
1963 Page Samuel McConnell, pianist, organist, keyboardist, Phish.
1965 Trent Reznor, singer, songwriter, Nine Inch Nails, (1999 UK No. 10 album 'The Fragile' 2005 US No.1 album ‘White Teeth’).
1966 Jan Kincaid, The Brand New Heavies, (1994 UK No.13 single 'Midnight At The Oasis').
1967 Simon Friend, guitar, The Levellers, (1995 UK No.12 single 'Just The One').
1968 Dave Abbruzzese drummer with Pearl Jam from 1991 to 1994.
1970 Jordan Knight, singer, New Kids On The Block, (1989 UK No.1 single 'You Got It, The Right Stuff' 1990 US No.1 single 'Step By Step', solo, 1999 UK No.5 single 'Give It To You').
1971 Vernie Bennett, Eternal, (1997 UK No.1 single 'I Wanna Be The Only One', 1993 UK No.2 album 'Always & Forever').
1974 Andrea Corr, vocals, tin whistle, The Corrs, (1998 UK No.3 single 'What Can I Do'. 'Talk On Corners' was the best selling UK album of 1998 spending 142 weeks on the UK chart).
Deaths
1996 R&B vocalist and guitarist Johnny 'Guitar' Watson (61), the 'Gangster of Love', dies of a heart attack on stage in Yokohama, Japan.
1996 Kevin Gilbert, multi instrumentalist and songwriter, died of accidental asphyxiation. Member of Giraffe, worked with Sheryl Crow, co-wrote 1994 UK No.4 hit 'All I Want To Do.'
2002 Sharon Sheeley, US songwriter, died aged 62. Hits include 'Poor Little Fool' US No.1 for Ricky Nelson in 1958 and 1959 hit for Eddie Cochran 'Somethin' Else'. Sheeley survived the car crash that killed Cochran in 1960.
Events
1962 During a UK tour Jerry Lee Lewis played at The Tower Ballroom, tickets cost 5 shillings in advance.
1963 The first Monterey Folk Festival was held and featured Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary.
1964 Bob Dylan made his UK live debut when he appeared at the Royal Festival Hall, London.
1967 "Don't Look Back", a documentary on Bob Dylan's 1965 British tour, premiered in San Francisco, CA.
1967 The Tremeloes were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Silence Is Golden', the groups only UK No.1.
1967 Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles began recording a new John Lennon song ‘You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)’. The song was not finished until November 1969, and was not released until March 1970 (as the B-side of the ‘Let it Be’ single).
1969 It was reported that for the first time ever album sales had overtaken single sales in the UK. 49,184,000 albums were produced during 1968 compared with 49,161,000 singles.
1969 Joni Mitchell was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for 35 Cents, (2/6).
1971 The musical "Godspell" opened in New York City and ran for 2,124 performances.
1971 Dawn were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Knock Three Times', the groups first of two UK No.1's.
1975 Elton John’s "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" album was released. It was the first album to be certified a million-seller on its first day of release.
1975 Alan Longmuir announced he was leaving The Bay City Rollers Rollers.
1975 'Stand By Your Man' by Tammy Wynette was at No.1 on the UK singles chart.
1975 Earth Wind and Fire started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with the soundtrack to 'That's The Way Of The World.'
1975 Mick Jagger badly cuts his hand after putting it through a window in a Long Island restaurant.
1976 Patti Smith debuts in the UK at the Roundhouse in London. She is supported by the Stranglers, who were making their first major venue appearance.
1978 The movie "Thank God It's Friday" premiered in Los Angeles.
1980 This years Eurovision song contest winner Johnny Logan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'What's Another Year.'
1980 Boney M scored their 3rd UK No.1 album with 'The Magic Of Boney M'.
1980 Drummer Peter Criss left Kiss and was replaced by Eric Carr.
1981 Appearing at Bingley Hall, Stafford, England, Whitesnake.
1986 Spitting Image started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Chicken Song.' Spitting Image had become the 'must see' Sunday night TV show, which mocked politicians and public figures.
1986 Spitting Image started a 3 week run at No.1 on the UK chart with 'The Chicken Song'.
1986 Whitney Houston started a 3 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Greatest Love Of All', the singers third US No.1, a No.8 hit in the UK.
1987 A fire destroyed Tom Petty's house in Los Angeles, the cost was estimated at $800,000.
1989 Bill Wyman's first Sticky Fingers restaurant opened in London.
1989 The first night of a 12-date UK tour for R.E.M. starting at Leicester De Montfort Hall. (Promoting the new single 'Orange Crush').
1990 Nirvana played the last date of a North American tour at the Zoo in Boise, Idaho. This was Chad Channing’s final gig with the band, drummer Dave Grohl replaced him in Sept of this year after his band Scream had split-up.
1993 Barry Manilow appeared on the CBS-TV's "Murphy Brown."
1995 Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Fats Domino appeared together for the first time in Sheffield, London.
1997 Olive started a 2 week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'You're Not Alone'.
1998 Garth Brooks was at No.1 on the US album charts with 'The Limited Series.'
1999 No Doubt sued the clothing manufacturer No Fear with the claim that the companies clothing items that had the "No Doubt" name on them infringe on the bands copyrighted service mark.
2000 The Eagles filed suit against the "Hotel California" restaurant in Dallas, TX, alleging trademark violations.
2002 Lance Bass of boy-band *NSYNC underwent hospital treatment to correct an irregular heartbeat. Bass was hoping to qualify for a seat onboard a Russian rocket flight to the International Space Station.
2003 Singer with Stone Temple Pilots Scott Weiland, was arrested on suspicion of drug possession after being stopped during a routine traffic search in Los Angeles, He was released on $10,000 (?6,125) bail.
2005 Akon was at No.1 on the UK singles with ‘Lonely’, Gwen Stefani held the US No.1 spot with ‘Hollaback Girl’ and Snoop Dogg and Justin Timberlake were at No.1 on the Australian chart with ‘Signs.’
