This Date in Rock Music History: October 18

1957:  Paul McCartney performed with the Quarrymen for the first time at the New Clubmoor Hall in Liverpool, England.  McCartney, who played lead guitar, didn't perform well in his solo, which eventually led to George Harrison being invited into the group and Paul switching to bass.

1957:  Peggy Sue Gerron first heard the song that was named for her when she went to see Buddy Holly & the Crickets in concert in Sacramento, California.  Gerron later married Crickets drummer Jerry Allison.
1963:  Chuck Berry was released from federal prison in Springfield, Missouri after serving 19 months for transporting a minor across state lines for an immoral purpose.

1964:  The Beatles recorded "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days A Week", "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey", "I'll Follow The Sun", "Mr. Moonlight", "Rock And Roll Music", "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" and "Words Of Love" in a marathon nine-hour recording session at the EMI Studios on Abbey Road in London.  The group was working to complete the songs on their upcoming Beatles for Sale album.  
1964:  The Animals set out on their first tour of the United Kingdom at the ABC in Manchester, England.  Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent and the Nashville Teens opened. 
1967:  The movie How I Won the War starring John Lennon premiered in theatres in London.





1967:  The Bee Gees topped the U.K. chart with "Massachusetts".
1968:  John Lennon and Yoko Ono were arrested for possession of marijuana when police raided Ringo Starr's apartment.
1969:  Rod Stewart joined the group Faces as its lead singer.
1969:  The Jackson 5 made their television debut on the show Hollywood Palace on ABC-TV.
1969:  The Temptations had the top song on the R&B chart for the third week with "I Can't Get Next To You".

 African-American artists have gone into an abyss lately but in 1969 the Temptations were amazing!

1969:  The Temptations rose to #1 with "I Can't Get Next To You".  Sly & the Family Stone had the #2 song with "Hot Fun In The Summertime" and after four weeks at #1, the Archies slipped with "Sugar, Sugar".  Oliver's "Jean" was #4 followed by "Little Woman" from Bobby Sherman.  The rest of the Top 10: The 111th hit for Elvis Presley--"Suspicious Minds", "That's The Way Love Is" by Marvin Gaye entered the Top 10, "Wedding Bell Blues" shot up from 25 to 8 for the 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night's big hit "Easy To Be Hard" was now #9 and "Tracy" by the Cuff Links came in #10.

1971:  Bread released their single "Baby I'm-a-Want You".  (Note:  one naive website claims the song was released October 23.  "Baby I'm-a-Want You" debuted on the Singles chart on October 23.  It is physically impossible for a record company to mail a 45, be received by radio stations, listened to and added to radio station playlists, reported to the trade papers, and printed and published by the trade papers, all in one day.)
1972:  The Diana Ross movie Lady Sings the Blues opened in theaters.  (Note:  some websites report the opening as October 8 or October 12, but according to the book 'If You Can't be Free, be a Mystery:  In Search of Billie Holliday', the film premiered at the Lowes State Theater in Manhattan New York on October 18.)
1974:  Mary Woodson threw a pot of boiling grits on her boyfriend, Al Green, when he was getting out of the bathtub, then shot herself.
1974:  Sweet Sensation owned the #1 song in the U.K.--"Sad Sweet Dreamer".
1975:  The Eagles performed at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the One of These Nights tour.




1975:  Simon and Garfunkel reunited on the second episode of Saturday Night Live on NBC-TV.
 1975:  Olivia Newton-John scored her fourth consecutive #1 and sixth straight Top 3 song on the Easy Listening chart with "Something Better To Do".







       
                            More soul than 1,000 rappers combined...

1975:  The Spinners reached #1 on the R&B chart with "Games People Play".
1975:  Silver Convention rose from 87 to 48 with "Fly, Robin, Fly".








                              The amazing 4 Seasons story wasn't over yet...

1975:  Neil Sedaka and Elton John remained at #1 with "Bad Blood" in an excellent Top 10.  John Denver held steady with "Calypso"/"I'm Sorry" and "Miracles" by Jefferson Starship moved up to #3.  The Eagles had their third Top 10 in a row with "Lyin' Eyes" which jumped up from 10 to 4 and Sweet climbed into the #5 spot with "Ballroom Blitz".  The rest of the Top 10:  Orleans and "Dance With Me", Morris Albert's "Feelings", Hellen Reddy couldn't budge with "Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady", the Spinners entered the Top 10 with "Games People Play" and, in an amazing Rock Era story, the 4 Seasons reached the Top 10 for the first time in eight years with the 43rd hit of their career--"Who Loves You".





1975:  The fine album Windsong by John Denver took over from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here as the top album.  Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run was third with Jefferson Airplane cruising in with Red Octopus.  The rest of the Top 10:  Win, Lose or Draw from the Allman Brothers Band, the Eagles' great album One of These Nights was at #6, Linda Ronstadt moved to 7 with Prisoner in Disguise, the Spinners and Pick of the Litter, Jethro Tull moved up with Minstrel in the Gallery and George Harrison's Extra Texture moved from 34-10.






1976:  Leo Sayer released the single "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing".
1979:  Elton John performed for the first of nine nights at the Palladium in New York City.









1979:  The Buggles rose to #1 in the U.K. with "Video Killed The Radio Star".
1980:  The Game by Queen was #1 on the Album chart for the fifth week but Guilty from Barbra Streisand moved from 15 to 2.  Diana by Diana Ross came in third while the excellent "Xanadu" Soundtrack was #4.  The rest of the Top 10:  One Step Closer from the Doobie Brothers, Crimes of Passion by Pat Benatar remained at #6, Give Me the Night by George Benson, the Cars slipped with Panorama, Emotional Rescue by the Rolling Stones was #9 and AC/DC logged a third straight week at #10 with Back in Black.






1980:  Queen had the biggest hit of their career with "Another One Bites The Dust" which remained #1 for a third week.  Barbra Streisand was poised at #2 with "Woman In Love" while Diana Ross was at #3 with her 24th solo hit and 57th overall (counting the Supremes)--"Upside Down".  Air Supply was officially #4 with "All Out Of Love" even though it was a #1 song in most markets.  The rest of the Top 10:  The Pointer Sisters were up big (12-5) with "He's So Shy", the Doobie Brothers edged up with "Real Love", Kenny Loggins remained at #7 with "I'm Alright", Olivia Newton-John and ELO combined for "Xanadu", Eddie Rabbitt with "Drivin' My Life Away" and Paul Simon fell to 10 with "Late In The Evening".










1982:  Don Henley released one of The Most Important Songs of the Rock Era*--"Dirty Laundry", a seething satire on the media and specifically, television news.
1986:  Christine McVie married Eduardo Quintela.
1986:  Cameo owned the top song on the R&B chart for the third week with "Word Up".
1986:  Genesis had the top Adult Contemporary song again with "Throwing It All Away".






1986:  The great album Fore!  from Huey Lewis & the News was #1 but Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi was a strong second.  The "Top Gun" Soundtrack fell to 3, Lionel Richie's Dancing on the Ceiling was in the #4 position and Raising Hell from Run-D.M.C. was 5.  The rest of the Top 10:  Back in the High Life from Steve Winwood, Madonna dropped with True Blue, Billy Joel's The Bridge, Invisible Touch from Genesis remained at #9 and Janet Jackson held on to #10 with Control.
1987:  The Smiths starred in a documentary shown on television in the U.K. filmed during the recording of Strangeways.





1988:  The Traveling Wilburys released the amazing album Volume One.
1989:  Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses, announced to the crowd at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, California that he was quitting the group.







1994:  In 1980, the members of the supergroup the Eagles vowed they would get back together "when hell freezes over."  Here it was 14 years later and that is what happened, and the band jokingly called their album Hell Freezes Over.  It contained live tracks from an immensely successful tour and four new songs.  On this date, they released their first single in 14 years--"Get Over It".
1994:  Lee Allen, great saxophone player who played on such songs as "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard, and "I'm Walking" by Fats Domino, who worked with the Rolling Stones, the Stray Cats, Etta James, and numerous others, died at the age of 67.
1997:  Hanson sang the U.S. national anthem at the opening game of the World Series in Florida.
1997:  "Candle In The Wind 1997" by Elton John, which had debuted at #1 the week before, remained in that spot. 
2000:  The New York State Supreme Court overturned a Court of Appeals ruling and ruled that the Ronettes did not have the right to share in money earned by producer Phil Spector from movies, television and advertising in using the group's songs.  The Court cited a 1963 contract in reaching their decision and ended a 15-year dispute.

2000:  Julie London ("Cry Me A River" from 1955), who had suffered a severe stroke in 1995, died in Encino, California at age 74.
2005:  Midge Ure of Ultravox and co-founder of Live Aid, earned an Order of the British Empire medal from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in London.
2008:  Adele appeared on Saturday Night Live on NBC-TV.
2008:  T.I. had the #1 album with Paper Trail.


Born This Day:

1926:  Chuck Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

1937:  Cynthia Weil, lyricist for Don Kirshner's Aldon Music, who wrote such hits as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and "On Broadway", was born in New York City.
1938:  Ronnie Bright of the Coasters was born in New York City.
1943:  Russ Gugiere, guitarist and vocalist for the Association, was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.






1947:  Singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, whose songs "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Stoned Soul Picnic" were big hits for the 5th Dimension, and also wrote "Eli's Comin'" for Three Dog Night, "And When I Die" for Blood, Sweat & Tears, and "Stoney End" for Barbra Streisand, was born in The Bronx, New York; died of ovarian cancer in Danbury, Connecticut on April 8, 1997.
1949:  Gary Richrath, guitarist for REO Speedwagon, was born in Peoria, Illinois; died September 13, 2015.
1949:  Joe Egan, singer/songwriter and co-founder of Stealer's Wheel ("Stuck in the Middle With You" from 1973) was born in Paisley, Scotland.
1974:  Peter Svenson, main songwriter and guitarist of the Cardigans ("Lovefool"), was born in Jönköping, Sweden.
1975:  Baby Bash was born in Vallejo, California.
1982:  Ne-Yo was born in Camden, Arkansas.
1987:  Zachary Efron, singer from High School Musical and famous actor, was born in San Luis Obispo, California.

This Date in Rock Music History: October 17

This Date in Rock Music History: October 16

1951:  Little Richard recorded for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia, recording "Every Hour", "Goin' To Get Rich Quick", "Taxi Blues", and "Why Did You Leave Me".
1954:  Elvis Presley made his famous first radio appearance on the Louisiana Hayride.

1961:  "Hit The Road Jack" from Ray Charles was #1 on the R&B chart for the third week.
1961:  Ray Charles had the #1 Popular song for the second week with "Hit The Road, Jack" but Jimmy Dean was on the move (17-8) with "Big Bad John".
1962:  Motown put together a tour that included the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Miracles, Mary Wells, and Little Stevie Wonder with their debut show in Washington, D.C.
1963:  The Beatles recorded performances of "I Saw Her Standing There","Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "From Me to You", and  "She Loves You" for the BBC radio program Easy Beat, which was broadcast October 20.
1964:  The Beatles appeared on the British television show Ready Steady Go!

1965:  The Beatles received the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth.
1965:  The Beatles recorded "Day Tripper", based on a folk song that Lennon had written a month previous.









1965:  How about this for a signal of a hot song--The Rolling Stones moved up from 64 to 14 with "Get Off Of My Cloud".

1965:  The Beatles held on to #1 with "Yesterday" while Roy Head edged up with "Treat Her Right" and the former #1 from the McCoys ("Hang On Sloopy") was now at #3.  The Toys shot up from 19 to 4 with their great song "A Lover's Concerto" and the Gentrys had a nice 14-5 move with "Keep On Dancing".  The rest of the Top 10:  "The 'In' Crowd" from the Ramsey Lewis Trio, Herman's Hermits hit the Top 10 again with "Just A Little Bit Better", Sonny & Char at #8 with "Baby Don't Go", Lovin' Spoonful had song #9 with "Do You Believe In Magic" and "Eve Of Destruction" from Barry McGuire was #10.
1966:  Grace Slick performed for the first time as the new lead singer of Jefferson Airplane at the Fillmore in San Francisco, California.  Slick introduced fans to two new Airplane songs:  "White Rabbit" and "Somebody To Love".

1966:  Joan Baez and 118 other demonstrators who were protesting the military draft in the United States were arrested after they blocked the entrance of the Armed Forces Induction Center in Oakland, California.








1969:  The Supremes released the single "Someday We'll Be Together".  The record was actually Diana Ross with backing vocalists; the other members of the group did not sing on the song. Note: Many websites show the release as being in November, but according to 'soulfuldetroit.com', it was October 16.
1969:  Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records, died of a heart attack at the age of 52 in Chicago, Illinois.

 1971:  The Carpenters held on to #1 on the Easy Listening chart with "Superstar".









1971:  For the third week, Rod Stewart sat at #1 with "Maggie May".  The only new Top 10 song was Cher's "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", which moved up from 28 to 10.
1972:  A very sad day in the Rock Era--the members of one of the greatest groups in history--Creedence Clearwater Revival, announced they were breaking up.
1976:  The Eagles were in concert at the McKale Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.








1976:  ABBA reached #1 on the Easy Listening chart with "Fernando".
1976:  Stevie Wonder became the second solo artist of the Rock Era (Elton John was the first) to debut at #1 on the Album chart as Songs in the Key of Life entered at the top.  It did so ahead of some great albums:  Silk Degrees by Boz Scaggs, Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive! fell after 10 weeks at #1, Fly Like An Eagle from Steve Miller Band was #4, Hasten Down the Wind by Linda Ronstadt was fifth and the self-titled Fleetwood Mac was #6 after 64 weeks of release.
1982:  Hall & Oates released the album H2O.









1982:  John Cougar (Mellencamp) stayed on top with "Jack & Diane" for the third week. 
1986:  Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton, Keith Richard, Etta James and Robert Cray performed at an early birthday party for Chuck Berry (he was born on October 18) at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, Missouri.
1989:  Taylor Dayne released the single "With Every Beat Of My Heart".
1992:  Sinead O'Connor ("Nothing Compares to U (sic)") was booed off stage at Madison Square Garden in a show that was intended to honor Bob Dylan on his 30th anniversary in the music business.  O'Connor, who had torn up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live 13 days previous, dropped her scheduled Dylan song and reprised "War" by Bob Marley instead.  George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and Neil Young also performed.







 1993:  "Dreamlover" by Mariah Carey was #1 for the sixth consecutive week.  Ace of Base was making their move with "All That She Wants", up from 21 to 8.
2003:  Simon & Garfunkel kicked off their wildly successful reunion tour at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.







2003:  U2 donated money to the Irish branch of One in Four, a charity benefiting victims of sexual abuse that was facing closure due to a lack of funds.
2005:  The Sugababes not only had the #1 song in the U.K. with "Push the Button" but their album Taller in More Ways debuted at #1.


Born This Day:

1923:  Bert Kaempfert, prolific songwriter ("Strangers in the Night" for Frank Sinatra, "Spanish Eyes" by Al Martino, "Danke Schoen" for Wayne Newton, "L-O-V-E" by Nat King Cole, and many others), performer ("Wonderland By Night" from 1960) and the man who signed the Beatles to a recording contract, was born in Hamburg, Germany.
1938:  Nico (Christa Paffgen), singer-songwriter and vocalist of the Velvet Underground, was born in Cologne, Germany; died of a heart attack while on vacation in Ibiza July 18, 1988.

1943:  C.F. "Fred" Turner, bass guitarist of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
1947:  Bob Weir, guitarist of Grateful Dead, was born in San Francisco, California.
1953:  Tony Carey, guitarist for Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was born in Turlock, California.
1959:  Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet was born in Islington, London, England.
1962:  Flea (Michael Balzary), bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, was born in Melbourne, Australia.

1969:  Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips, and daughter of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, was born in Bel Air, California.

Top Track: "Like The Weather" from 10,000 Maniacs

Great to feature this song from the Maniacs:

This Date in Rock Music History: October 15

This Date in Rock Music History: October 14

1955:  Buddy Holly opened for Bill Haley & the Comets in Lubbock, Texas.  Eddie Crandell was in the audience and arranged for Holly to record his first demo.

1959:  Bobby Darin reached #1 in the U.K. with "Mack The Knife".
1964:  Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones and Shirley Ann Arnold were secretly married in Bradford, England.
1964:  The Beatles played two performances at the ABC Cinema in Ardwick, Manchester, England.

1966:  Grace Slick debuted as the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane.
1967:  The second series of The Monkees television show began in the U.K.







  
              Back when music artists had soul, man...(unlike today)...

1967:  "Soul Man" by Sam & Dave was the new #1 song on the R&B chart.
1967:  Ode to Billie Joe was the new #1 album, displacing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band after 15 weeks.  







The Alarm woke up listeners in October with this great song...

1967:  Strawberry Alarm Clock made a strong move (59 to 34) with "Incense And Peppermints".








1967:  "The Letter" spent a fourth week at #1 for the Box Tops, but had strong competition from "Never My Love" by the Association and "To Sir With Love", which moved up from #11 to #3 for Lulu. 
1969:  Police in New Jersey issued a warrant for the arrest of Frank Sinatra based on alleged connections to the mafia.








1969:  B.J. Thomas released the single "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head".
1971:  John Lennon appeared on The Dick Cavett Show on ABC-TV.
1972:  Police in Adelaide, Australia arrested Joe Cocker and his band for possession of marijuana and heroin.






1972:  The Spinners had the new #1 R&B song--"I'll Be Around".
1972:  "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson took over as the top Easy Listening song.

 1972:  Fourteen year-old Michael Jackson reached #1 as a solo performer with "Ben".  Bill Withers was up with "Use Me" and the Main Ingredient had the right formula with "Everybody Plays The Fool".  Elvis Presley's last Top 10 song "Burning Love" was up to #4, jumping ahead of the Raspberries and "Go All the Way".  the Moody Blues had the only new Top 10 song with "Nights In White Satin".








1972:  Chicago V was the #1 album for the 10th week with Leon Russell's Carney #2 and Rod Stewart remaining at 3 with Never a Dull Moment.  Elton John was moving up with Honky Chateau.  The rest of the Top 10:  Big Bambu from Cheech & Chong, Superfly by Curtis Mayfield, the incredible album Days of Future Passed moved from 14 to 7 after 57 weeks on the chart, Seven Separate Fools by Three Dog Night, The London Chuck Berry Sessions sat at #9 and Moods from Neil Diamond was #10.





1974:  Chicago released the single "Wishing You Were Here".

1974:  Helen Reddy released the single "Angie Baby".
1975:  The Eagles were in concert at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1976:  Aerosmith began their first U.K. tour at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, England.
1977:  Linda Ronstadt sang the National Anthem at the third game of the World Series.




1977:  Bing Crosby, who ventured to Madrid Spain, for a golfing trip, died of a heart attack at the age of 76.









1978:  Firefall had a hot new song featuring that great flute solo--"Strange Way".
1978:  Funkadelic was set at #1 on the R&B chart for the third week with "One Nation Under A Groove".

                    Ronstadt skated up the album chart for her 5th consecutive Top 10 LP...

1978:  The "Grease" Soundtrack returned to #1 on the Album chart for the third time and 10th week total.  Boston's Don't Look Back was #2 with Foreigner's Double Vision and Who Are You by the Who trailing.  The rest of the Top 10:  Some Girls from the Rolling Stones, A Taste of Honey with their self-titled release, Nightwatch by Kenny Loggins, Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg moved from 10-8 with Twin Sons of Different Mothers, Donna Summer's Live and More entered the Top 10 and Linda Ronstadt moved from 30 to 10 in her second week with Living in the U.S.A.






1978:  Exile remained locked into the #1 position with their great song "Kiss You All Over".  Nick Gilder remained second with "Hot Child In The City" and A Taste of Honey's former #1 "Boogie Oogie Oogie" was still hanging around.  Little River Band was up with "Reminiscing" and Anne Murray edged up with "You Needed Me".  The rest an excellent Top 10:  "Whenever I Call You Friend" by Kenny Loggins, John Paul Young's "Love Is In The Air", Donna Summer had her 10th hit and fourth Top 10 with "MacArthur Park", Boston was on the way down with "Don't Look Back" and Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta had song #10--"Summer Nights".
1987:  Bryan Adams and T'Pau were at the Newcastle City Hall in England.
1988:  Def Leppard became the first artist of the Rock Era to sell seven million copies of consecutive albums as on this date, Hysteria joined Pyromania as a seven-million seller.
1989:  Tracy Chapman scored a #1 album in the U.K. with Crossroads.
1989:  Janet Jackson reached #1 on the R&B chart with "Miss You Much".  It was her fourth straight R&B #1 song, her seventh straight Top 3 R&B song, her ninth Top 10 of that genre, and her 12th R&B hit.

1989:  Don Henley had one of the fastest-rising songs (91 to 70) with "The Last Worthless Evening".
1990:  Dr. Feelgood by Motley Crue was #1 on the album chart with Paula Abdul falling to 2 after 65 weeks with her solid album Forever Your Girl.  Steel Wheels from the Rolling Stones was third.  Girl You Know It's True by Milli Vanilli was fourth followed by Hangin' Tough from New Kids on the Block.  I know, very questionable competition here.  The rest of the Top 10:  Pump from Aerosmith, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 moved from 28 to 7, Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty, Skid Row fell and Cher entered the list with Heart of Stone.

1991:  Paula Abdul released the great song "Blowing Kisses In The Wind".
1995:  "Fantasy" by Mariah Carey was #1 on the R&B chart for the third week.








1995:  Mariah Carey had the #1 song for the third straight week with "Fantasy".  Coolio's former #1 "Gangsta's Paradise" was still at #2 with Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" followed by his sister Janet's hit "Runaway".  "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal was #5 with TLC's former #1 "Waterfalls still hanging around.
1995:  Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette was the #1 album for the second week.  It was just getting started.
1997:  The symphonic poem of Paul McCartney "Standing Stone" debuted.
1998:  Janet Jackson and *N Sync kicked off a tour at the Baltimore Arena in Maryland.
2000:  The Beatles Anthology was the #1 book on the New York Times' bestseller list for non-fiction.
2003:  Scott Weiland, lead singer of the Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver filed for divorce from his wife.

2003:  ZZ Top released the boxed set  ZZChrome, Smoke & BBQ.
2004:  Eric Clapton thought he was on the Autobahn.  He was suspended from driving in France after caught driving 134 mph near Merceuil.  Clapton was fined 750 euro and his U.K. license was confiscated.
2006:  Freddy Fender ("Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" from 1975)  died of complications from lung cancer at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas at the age of 69.
2007:  In today's edition of Dangerous Inmates Run Rap Music, rapper T.I .was arrested in a parking lot for collecting machine guns and silencers.
2007:  Tom Petty's documentary Runnin' Down a Dream debuted at the New York Film Festival.
2007:  The Sugababes had the top U.K. album--Change.
2009:  Sir Paul McCartney was named Songwriter of the Year at the ASCAP Awards in London.

Born This Day:
1926:  Bill Justis, who gave us one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era* ("Raunchy"), was born in Birmingham, Alabama; died of cancer in Nashville, Tennessee on July 15, 1982 at the age of 55.
1930:  Robert Parker ("Barefootin'" in 1966) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1940:  Cliff Richard (real name Harry Webb) was born in Lucknow, India.
1942:  Billy Harrison of Them
1943:  Dennis D'Ell of the Honeycombs ("Have I the Right") was born in London; died July 6, 2005 of cancer.  (Note:  some websites report his birthday as October 10, but the official Honeycombs site shows it as October 14, a date given to them by his daughter.)
1945: Colin Hodgkinson of Whitesnake was born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England.

1946:  Justin Hayward, guitarist, songwriter and vocalist of the Moody Blues, and a solo artist, was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England.
1946:  Dan Cafferty, lead singer and a founding member of Nazareth, was born in Dunfermline, Scotland.
1947:  Norman Harris, songwriter, guitarist, arranger and producer who worked with the Delfonics, the Trammps and MFSB, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died of cardiovascular disease on March 20, 1987.  (Note:  some websites list his birth as October 2 and February 10, some list his birth year as 1938, 1939, or even 1958, and some show his death as March 21.  Unfortunately there are no credible sources on either his birthday or date of death, but our best research shows he was born on October 14, 1947 and died March 20, 1987.)
1948:  Marcia Barrett of Boney M ("Rivers Of Babylon" from 1978) was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica.
1958:  Thomas Dolby ("She Blinded Me With Science" from 1983) was born in London.
1959:  A.J. Pero, drummer of Twisted Sister, was born in Staten Island, New York.





1965:  Karyn White ("Romantic") was born in Los Angeles.

1974:  Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks was born in Lubbock, Texas.
1975:  Shaznay Lewis of All Saints was born in Islington, London.







1978:  Usher (Terry Raymond IV) was born in Dallas, Texas.