Births
1907 Gene Autry, America's singing cowboy. During his career Autry scored 25 successive Top 10 Country hits. He died on 2nd October 1998 aged 91.
1935 Jerry Lee Lewis, US singer, keyboards, (1958 UK No.1 & US No.1 single 'Great Balls Of Fire', 1957 multi million seller 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On').
1937 Joe 'Guitar' Hughes, US blues guitarist, died May 20th 2003 aged 65. Worked with T-Bone Walker, BB King, Big Joe Turner.
1939 Tommy Boyce, singer, songwriter. 1968 US No 8 single with Bobby Hart, 'I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite'. Wrote 'Last Train To Clarksville', 'I'm Not Your Stepping Stone' and 'Scooby-Doo Where Are You.' Sold over 40m records. Boyce committed suicide on 23rd November 1994.
1943 Manuel Fernandez, Los Bravos, (1966 UK No.2 & US No.4 single 'Black Is Black'). First Spanish rock band to have a UK & US hit single.
1948 Mark Farner, Grand Funk Railroad, (1974 US No.1 single 'The Locomotion'). Most successful US Heavy Metal band of the 70's selling over 20m albums.
1948 Mike Pinera, Blues Image, (1970 US No.4 single, 'Ride Captain Ride').
1957 Mari Wilson, UK singer, (1982 UK No.8 single 'Just What I Always Wanted').
1958 Mick Harvey, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, (1996 UK No.36 single with PJ Harvey 'Henry Lee').
1965 Ian Baker Keyboards, Jesus Jones, (1991 UK No.7 single 'International Bright Young Thing').
1966 Tony Foster, guitarist, worked with Julian Cope and Olive, (1997 UK No.1 single 'You're Not Alone).
1968 Matt & Luke Goss, Bros, 1988 UK No.1 single 'I Owe You Nothing' plus 10 other UK Top 40 singles).
1969 Donald DeGrate, (DeVante Swing), Jodeci, vocals, (1995 UK No.17 single 'Freak 'N' You').
1981 Suzanne Shaw, vocals, Hear'Say, (2001 UK No.1 single, 'Pure and Simple).
Deaths
1992 Singer, songwriter Paul Jabara died. He wrote major hits for both Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand.
Events
1930 Bing Crosby married Dixie Lee.
1947 Dizzy Gillespie gave his first Carnegie Hall concert.
1954 The movie musical "A Star Is Born" made its world premiere in Hollywood.
1956 RCA Victor, by this day, had received 856,327 advance orders for "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley.
1956 Bill Haley had five songs in the UK Top 30; 'Rockin Through The Rye', 'Saints Rock n' Roll', 'Rock Around The Clock', 'Razzle Dazzle', and 'See You Later Alligator'.
1960 Ricky Valance was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Tell Laura I Love Her', making him the first Welsh singer to top the charts.
1962 "My Fair Lady" closed after a 6,5 year run on Broadway. The show, at the time, held the record for the longest-running musical.
1963 The Rolling Stones opened their first English tour in London at the New Victoria. Also on the bill were Bo Diddley and the Everly Brothers.
1967 "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" was released by Gladys Knight & the Pips.
1967 Mickey Hart joined the Grateful Dead.
1967 The Small Faces appeared at the Royal in Tottenham, London, admission was 7/6.
1971 Gilbert O'Sullivan made his live debut at London's Royal Albert Hall. Also on the bill, Sweet, Dave Edmunds Rockpile and Ashton Gardner & Dyke.
1973 Grand Funk Railroad went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'We're An American Band', the groups first of two US chart toppers.
1974 John Lennon appeared on WNEW-FM in New York as a guest DJ.
1975 Jackie Wilson fell into a coma. He never recovered.
1976 Jerry Lee Lewis was charged with shooting a firearm within the city limits. He hit his bass player, Norman Owens, twice in the chest while attempting to shoot a soda bottle.
1977 James Brown's band walked out on him Hallandale, FL. They were complaining about being underpaid and overworked.
1979 Boney M scored their second UK No.1 album with 'Oceans Of Fantasy'.
1979 The Police had their first UK No.1 single with 'Message In A Bottle.'
1980 Appearing at the Rainbow, London, Elvis Costello supported by The Stray Cats.
1984 Prince's single "Let's Go Crazy" hit No. 1. He then held the No. 1 single, album and film simultaneously. Only the Beatles had accomplished the feat previously.
1989 Bruce Springsteen stopped in a small salon in Prescott, AZ, and played a few songs with the band. He overheard a woman talking about financial problems concerning her medical bills. A week later she received a check for $100,000 from Springsteen.
1989 Tony LeMans' self-titled debut was released.
1989 While travelling on his motorbike from Los Angeles, Bruce Springsteen called in at Matt's Saloon in Prescott, Arizona and jammed with the house band for an hour. He also donated $100000 to a barmaid's hospital bill.
1990 Maria McKee was at No.1 in the UK with 'Show Me Heaven' a song featured in the film 'Days Of Thunder'.
1990 Nelson went to No.1 on the US singles chart with '(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection' the duo being the twin sons of 50's singer Ricky Nelson.
1994 The Pointer Sisters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1996 Alanis Morissette finished her first U.S. tour in Houston, TX.
1996 New Edition were at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Home Again' their only US No.1 album.
1997 Bobby Sheehan (Blues Traveler) was arrested for cocaine possession in Winnipeg. He was later released on $5,000 bond.
1998 The family of Frank Sinatra filed suit against Ross Stores Inc. for copyright infringement. The suit alleged that an album of 75 songs, "The Sinatra Collection," was unauthorized.
1999 Receivers were called in to concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith's empire after suffering losses on a series of shows. Goldsmith was awarded the MBE after his work on Live Aid.
1999 The Manic Street Preachers were given a bill for L28.000 after smashing up equipment during their show at Scotland's T In The Park festival.
2001 Jennifer Lopez married dancer Cris Judd in Calabasa California. The couple separated nine months later.
2002 US TV Pop Idol winner Kelly Clarkson started a two-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'A Moment Like This.'
2002 UK Pop Idol winners Will Young & Gareth Gates started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of The Beatles 'The Long And Winding Road.'
2002 'Elvis Presley 30 #1 Hits' started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart.
2002 Disturbed were at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Believe.'
2004 Keith Moon's five-piece drum kit, custom-made for The Who drummer in 1968, sold for 120,000 pounds ($215,772) in London to an American collector, setting a world auction record for a set of drums.
2004 The Sun reported that Michael Jackson had a secret fourth child who was now 19. The story claimed that Norwegian Omar Bhatti was born after a one night stand and had stayed with Jackson at his Neverland home in California.
2007 US rapper 50 Cent was beaten by rival rap star Kanye West in the stand-off to claim the best-selling album in the US. West's Graduation shifted 957,000 copies in its first week of sales while 50 Cent's album, Curtis, only sold 691,000. Before the albums went on sale 50 Cent vowed he would retire from making solo albums if he was outsold by West. 50 Cent axed his forthcoming European tour and a performance at London Mobo Awards the Vodafone Live Music Awards in London, as well as at an MTV show in Germany.
