This Day In Music - October 12

 This Day In Music – 12 October - The details only...

1927 - Guitarist Joe Olivier (of Bill Haley And His Comets) is born in Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands - https://youtu.be/1Hb66FH9AzI .

1935 - Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti (of The Three Tenors) is born near Modena in Northern Italy - https://youtu.be/7MVEBSFDKX0 .

1944 - Frank Sinatra returned to the Paramount Theatre to a huge crowd known as the "Columbus Day Riot."

1935 - R&B singer Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) is born Samuel David Hicks in Miami, Florida - https://youtu.be/Fowldx4hRtI .

1942 - Melvin Franklin (bass singer for The Temptations) is born David Melvin English in Montgomery, Alabama - https://youtu.be/eepLY8J4E6c .

1948 - Rick Parfitt (vocalist/guitarist for Status Quo) is born in Woking, Surrey, England. The group have had over 60 chart hits in the UK, more than any other rock band, including 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' in 1967, 'Whatever You Want' in 1979 and 'In the Army Now' in 2010. Twenty-two of these reached the Top 10 in the UK. In July 1985 the band opened Live Aid at Wembley Stadium with 'Rockin' All Over the World'. Parfitt died on 24th Dec 2016 in hospital in Marbella, Spain aged 68 - https://youtu.be/eEO6v-YiS00

1955 - The Chrysler Corporation launched high fidelity record players for their 1956 line-up of cars. The unit measured about four inches high and less than a foot wide and was mounted under the instrument panel. The seven-inch discs spun at 16 2/3 rpm and required almost three times the number of grooves per inch as an LP. The players were discontinued in 1961.

1956 - Massively influential DJ Alan Freed's second film, Don't Knock The Rock, starring Little Richard, Bill Haley, and the Treniers, opens in New York - https://youtu.be/8V0jjP3tQWM .

1957 - During an Australian tour, Little Richard publicly renounced rock 'n' roll and embraced God, telling a story of dreaming of his own damnation after praying to God when one of the engines on a plane he was on caught fire. The singer threw four diamond rings, valued at $8,000, into Sydney's Hunter River and soon after launched a Gospel career. Five years later, he would switch back to Rock - https://youtu.be/u0Ujb6lJ_mM .

1962 - Little Richard headlined a concert in New Brighton. One of the opening acts was the Beatles.

1963 - "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs hits #1 in America, where it stays for five weeks, longer than any other song in 1963 - https://youtu.be/iHzjfGF6MiU .

1966 - The Moody Blues split up, with Denny Laine signing a solo deal with their label, Deram. The group re-forms a month later with new members Justin Hayward and John Lodge - https://youtu.be/V2L3UzM_FfE .

1968 - John Sebastian left the band Lovin' Spoonful to start his solo career - https://youtu.be/M7u5SdjDSQQ .

1968 - Big Brother And The Holding Company (Janis Joplin) went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Cheap Thrills'. The cover, drawn by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, replaced the band's original idea, a picture of the group naked in bed together. Crumb had originally intended his art to be the LP's back cover, but Joplin demanded that Columbia Records use it for the front cover - https://youtu.be/SCngPse1iiI .

1969 - Russ Gibb, a DJ at WKNR in Detroit, takes a call from a listener who tells him that if you play The Beatles song "Revolution 9" backwards, a voice says, "Turn me on, dead man." Gibb plays the record in reverse on the air, and the phone lines light up with astonished listeners offering more clues as to why Paul McCartney might be dead. For about a week, Gibb entertains a stream of rumours on the show, as ratings explode and the story goes national. Other clues include a voice at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" that says, "I Buried Paul" (actually John Lennon saying "Cranberry Sauce") and the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album, where Paul is wearing an armband that says "OPD" - "Officially Pronounced Dead." - https://youtu.be/5n4XXtyldIw .

1969 - Martie Maguire (of Dixie Chicks) is born Martha Elenor Erwin in York, Pennsylvania. With sales of 27.2 million albums in the US alone, they have become the top selling all-female band and biggest selling country group in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era - https://youtu.be/PKx3coz3G7c .

1971 - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar opens on Broadway, telling the story of the last seven days in the life of Jesus (some references suggest it was 1970) - https://youtu.be/YOn1ILgE4Qw .

1971 - Gene Vincent (Vincent Eugene Craddock), died from a perforated ulcer, aged 36. Had the 1956 single 'Be Bop A Lula'. He also appeared in the film, The Girl Can't Help It with Jayne Mansfield. In 1960, while on tour in the UK, Vincent and songwriter Sharon Sheeley were seriously injured the car crash that killed Eddie Cochran - https://youtu.be/O4_5593-skQ .

1972 - The movie Lady Sings The Blues, a musical biopic of singer Billie Holiday that launches the movie career of star Diana Ross, opens in theatres.

1974 - "Rollermania" takes hold as the Bay City Rollers' debut album, Rollin', hits #1 in the UK - https://youtu.be/CGD27WgtKhI .

1974 – AU - Olivia Newton-John's LP If You Love Me, Let Me Know hits #1 - https://youtu.be/6qtrLr5T0-Y .

1975 - Rod Stewart and the Faces play their final show together. The group's breakup was due to Stewart wanting to further his success with his solo career.

1978 - Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who he found dead in the bathroom of their hotel room with a stab wound to her abdomen. Vicious dies of a heroin overdose before he can be tried for the murder.

1979 - Fleetwood Mac released their twelfth album Tusk, an experimental set of songs that cost the band over $1 million to record. The double album peaked at No.4 in the US and achieved sales of more than two million copies, spawning two Top Ten singles, 'Sara' and the title track. It reached No.1 in the UK and achieved Platinum status.1979 - Jethro Tull lead singer Ian Anderson has his right eye torn open by a thorn, situated on a rose an adoring fan threw on stage at the band's Madison Square Garden concert - https://youtu.be/KOVyBhVsOV0 .

1981 - U2 release their second album, October. Reflecting their Christian faith, it's filled with allusions to the Bible, notably on the song "Gloria."

1985 - Ricky Wilson (guitarist for B-52s) dies of AIDS in New York City, at age 32 - https://youtu.be/9SOryJvTAGs .

1985 - Jennifer Rush was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Power Of Love', followed by AU. The song stayed at No.1 for five weeks (3 weeks in AU) and became the biggest selling single of the year and the biggest single ever for a woman in the UK. Celine Dion enjoyed a No.1 US & AU hit with her version in 1993 & 1994 - https://youtu.be/b_zHQ6kFuQ0 .

1987 – AU - INXS release their breakthrough album Kick, with the hits "Need You Tonight," "Devil Inside" and "New Sensation" - https://youtu.be/hv_zJrO_ptk .

1991 - Nirvana's album, "Nevermind" was certified gold by the RIAA - https://youtu.be/hTWKbfoikeg .

1991 - Mariah Carey hits #1 in America with "Emotions," the title track to her second album. Her first four singles also hit the top spot, making Carey the first artist to hit #1 with their first five singles (overtaking The Jackson 5) - https://youtu.be/NrJEFrth27Q .

1994 - MTV airs the reunion concert special of Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, entitled Unledded - https://youtu.be/9vbeilE0UrQ .

1995 - Tupac Shakur is released from jail after Death Row Records boss Suge Knight posts a $1.4 million bond to release him. Knight puts the rapper to work, flying Tupac to LA, to record his fourth album, All Eyez on Me. Tupac had been serving time on sexual abuse charges stemming from a 1993 incident.

1996 - The documentary "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" was released. The work had been filmed in December 1968.

1997 - John Denver was killed when the plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay, CA. The 53 year old star had scored 15 songs on Billboard's Top 40 Pop chart, ten of which reached number one on either Billboard's Adult Contemporary or Country chart - https://youtu.be/zkYuQ4AI87o .

1997 - A Backstreet Boys concert in a central Madrid square was cancelled by city officials. 300 girls had to be treated after fainting in the heat. More than 7,000 fans came to the event that expected no more than 5,000.

1999 - Frank Frost, Delta blues harmonica player, dies of a cardiac arrest in Helena, Arkansas, at age 63.

2002 - Bandleader/arranger Ray Conniff dies after he slips in his bathtub in Escondido, California, at age 85.

2009 - Michael Jackson's from-the-vaults track "This Is It" is released as a promotional single to accompany the concert documentary of the same name. It's the first release since his death in June - https://youtu.be/W_SLU3m6uCA .

2011 - Joel 'Taz' DiGregorio, keyboard player in the Charlie Daniels Band, is killed in a car accident before the band's gig at the Cumming Country Fair in Tennessee. DiGregorio, who was 67 at the time of his death, co-wrote many songs with the group, including "The Devil Went Down To Georgia." - https://youtu.be/wBjPAqmnvGA .

2011 - Paul Leka, songwriter, pianist, arranger and orchestrator, dies of lung cancer in Sharon, Connecticut, at age 68. Co-wrote the '60s hits "Green Tambourine" and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." - https://youtu.be/jsaTElBljOE .

2013 - Lorde, 16, becomes the youngest solo artist to write and record a Hot 100 #1 hit when "Royals" claims the top spot - https://youtu.be/nlcIKh6sBtc .