10 MAY
In Music History
1957 Sid Vicious (bassist for The Sex Pistols) is born John Simon Ritchie in Lewisham, London, England.
1955 Danny Kustow, guitarist in the Tom Robinson Band, is born in London.
1952 Reggae drummer Sly Dunbar (of Sly & Robbie) is born Lowell Fillmore Dunbar in Kingston, Jamaica.
1947 Rocker Jay Ferguson (Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne) is born John Arden Ferguson in Burbank, California. As a composer, he will create the theme to NBC-TV's The Office.
1946 Rock guitarist Dave Mason (of Traffic) is born in Worcester, England.
1946 '60s psychedelic rocker Donovan is born Donovan Philips Leitch in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland.
1946 Graham Gouldman (bassist for 10cc) is born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, England.
1940 Arthur Alexander, country and soul singer-songwriter, is born in Sheffield, Alabama.
1938 Henry Fambrough, a founding member of The Spinners, is born in Detroit. He keeps the group going into the 2020s with various lineups.
1935 Larry Williams, '50s rock and roll singer known for hits like "Bony Moronie" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1909 Maybelle Carter, matriarch of The Carter Family clan and mother to June Carter Cash, is born Maybelle Addington in Nickelsville, Virginia.
1894 Composer Dimitri Tiomkin is born Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin in the Ukraine.
Bono Is Born
1960Paul Hewson is born in Dublin. He shortens his nickname from Bono Vox (Latin for "good voice") to simply Bono and fronts the band U2.
Read more10 MAY
Featured Events
2006 Chris Daughtry gets voted off Season 5 of American Idol in a shocker, as he is favored to win. He finishes fourth, with Taylor Hicks claiming the victory.
1999 Shel Silverstein, the prolific author of beloved children's books who was also a top songwriter, dies of a massive heart attack at age 68. He wrote "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash.More
1994 Weezer release their self-titled debut (aka The Blue Album).
1991 Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys gets a signature look when he loses his right eye after being shot by his girlfriend.
1986 Paul Simon plays three songs from his upcoming Graceland album on Saturday Night Live. He's backed by South African musicians, including the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who perform with him on "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes." With South Africa under a cultural boycott in an attempt to stop Apartheid, its music is sequestered. Simon's appearance with musicians from the country and the subsequent album introduce the sound to a global audience, but also cause problems for Simon when he faces criticism for violating the boycott.
1981 Kraftwerk release their eighth studio album, Computer World, featuring prescient songs about the influence of computers on society.More
1975 Stevie Wonder headlines the fourth annual "Human Kindness Day" festival in Washington, DC. Belying the name of the festival, many in the estimated crowd of 125,000 turn violent, and hundreds of robberies and assaults are reported.
1899 Fred Astaire is born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska. After appearing with his sister Adele on the Broadway stage, he becomes a Hollywood star.
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