Births
1896 Leon Theremin, Russian inventor. Most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments. He first performed the theremin with the New York Philharmonic in 1928. He died on 3rd November 1993.
1933 Bill Pinkney, The Drifters, (1960 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Save The Last Dance For Me').
1933 Floyd Ashman, The Tams, (1971 UK No.1 single 'Hey Girl Don't Bother Me'.)
1938 Stix Nesbert Hooper, The Crusaders, (1979 UK No.5 & US No.36 single 'Street Life').
1942 Pete York, Spencer Davis Group (1966 UK No.1 single 'Keep On Running').
1950 Tommy Aldridge, drums, Whitesnake, (1987 US No.1 & UK No.9 single 'Here I Go Again').
1961 Matt Johnson, singer, songwriter, The The, (1993 UK No.35 single 'Slow Emotion Replay').
1962 Marshall Schofield, The Fall, (1987 UK No.30 single 'There's A Ghost In My House').
1967 MCA (Adam Yauch) The Beastie Boys, (1987 US No.7 & UK No.11 single 'You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party', 1987 US No.1 and UK No.7 album 'Licence To Ill', plus 3 other US No.1 albums).
1972 Mike Graham, vocals, Boyzone, (1996 UK No.1 single 'Words' plus 15 other Top 5 singles and 4 UK No.1 albums).
1974 Simon Dawbarn, vocals, 911, (1998 UK No.2 single 'More Than A Woman').
Deaths
1971 US singer Thomas Wayne was killed in a car crash aged 29. Had the 1959 US No.5 single 'Tragedy.'
1992 Jamaican singer-song writer Jackie Edwards died. He wrote 'Keep On Running'.
Events
1939 "The Wizard of Oz" premiered in Hollywood, CA. Judy Garland became famous for the movie's song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
1941 "Au Revoir, Pleasant Dreams" was recorded by Ben Bernie and his orchestra.
1958 Buddy Holly and Maria Elena Santiago were married in a private ceremony at his parents home in Lubbock, TX.
1960 Elvis Presley started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'It's Now Or Never', also No.1 in the UK.
1964 Actor and singer Dean Martin went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Everybody Loves Somebody', it made No.11 on the UK chart.
1965 The Beatles set a record for having the largest single crowd at a concert at Shea Stadium in New York. Attendance was 56,000.
1966 During a US tour The Beatles appeared at the D.C. Stadium in Washington DC to over 32,000 fans. Tickets cost $3. Five members of the Ku Klux Klan, led by the Imperial Wizard of Maryland, picketed the concert.
1969 During a North American tour Led Zeppelin appeared at the Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio. Jethro Tull and Sweet Smoke were also on the bill. During the show Zeppelin received abuse from locals due to the length of their hair.
1969 The Woodstock Festival was held on Max Yasgur's 600 acre farm in Bethel outside New York. Attended by over 400,000 people, the free event featured, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Santana, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Canned Heat, Joan Baez, Santana, Melanie, Ten Years After, Sly and the Family Stone, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shanker, Country Joe and the Fish, Blood Sweat and Tears, Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Cocker. During the three days there were three deaths, two births and four miscarriages. Joni Mitchell was booked to appear but had to pull out due to being booked for a TV show, wrote the song 'Woodstock.'
1970 Appearing at Tofts Folkestone England, Derek and the Dominoes
1979 The futuristic satire film 'Americathon' premiered in Los Angeles featuring Meat Loaf. The soundtrack included songs by The Beach Boys, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello.
1980 George Harrison's book "I Me Mine" went on sale.
1981 The 'Official BBC album of the Royal Wedding Soundtrack' went to No.1 on the UK chart.
1982 During a North American tour Queen played at the Civic Centre, St. Paul, Minnesota.
1987 Madonna started a UK tour appearing at Roundhay Park in Leeds.
1987 On the tenth anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley thousands of people marched past his grave in Memphis, TN.
1987 Michael Jackson had his third UK No.1 with the single ' I Can't Stop Loving You', a duet with Siedah Garrett.
1991 Paul Simon played a free concert at New York's Central Park in front of an estimated 750,000 people.
1992 Boyz II Men started a 13 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'End Of The Road' the groups first US No.1. Taken from the Eddie Murphy film 'Boomerang', it broke the 36-year-old record held by Elvis for the longest run at No.1
1992 INXS went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Welcome To Whoever You Are', their first UK No.1 album.
1993 U2 played Cardiff Arms National Park in Wales on their 'Zooropa' tour 93.
1995 The Dublin hotel owned by U2 'The Clarence' was damaged by a fire which took over three hours to control. Also 'The Kitchen' nightclub in the same building was affected by the fire and was evacuated.
1997 Tony Nicole Tony Records filed suit against Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS for alleged intentional interference with KISS drummer Peter Criss' contract with the label. The suit maintained that Simmons and Stanley convinced Criss to break his contract with the label.
1998 Boyzone scored their fourth UK No.1 single with 'No Matter What', making them the first Irish group to have four No.1 singles. Also Boyzone became the first act in history to reach the Top 5 with their first 12 single releases.
1999 Westlife scored their second UK No.1 single with 'If I Let You Go'.
2000 David Bowie and his wife Iman celebrated the birth of their first child a baby girl named Alexandria Zahra Jones.
2002 A memorial to John Lennon was unveiled in the remote Scottish village of Durness where Lennon had spent his holidays from age seven to fifteen. The lyrics from 'In My Life' had been inscribed on three stones.
2004 Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was being treated for throat cancer after being diagnosed with the disease in June.
2004 3 Of A Kind went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Baby Cakes.'
2006 Deana Martin's album "Memories Are Made of This" was released. The album featured her versions of many of her father's hits and other hits by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr..
2007 Sixteen solo John Lennon albums were made available to download on iTunes for the first time. A deal was approved by the late Beatle's widow Yoko Ono following a lengthy legal battle between the band's label Apple Corps and Apple Inc, which owned Tunes.
