23 October

Pick a Day

23 OCTOBER

In Music History

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2020 Country music star Jerry Jeff Walker dies from throat cancer at 78. He leaves behind a proud artistic legacy headed by his oft-covered song "Mr. Bojangles."

2019 Coldplay reveal the tracklist for their upcoming album Everyday Life with a small classified ad on page 31 of the North Wales Daily Post.

2016 Dead Or Alive lead singer Pete Burns dies of a heart attack at age 57. Known for the 1985 hit "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)," Burns estimated that he had 300 plastic surgeries in his lifetime.

2015 Following the release of her acclaimed Greatest Hits: Decade #1 album, Carrie Underwood issues her fifth studio album, Storyteller. A chart-topping hit, it makes her the first artist in history to have six consecutive #1 albums on the Country chart.

2014 Jeanne Black, known for the 1960 hit "He'll Have To Stay," dies two days before her 77th birthday.

2014 English rocker Alvin Stardust dies at age 72 after a battle with prostate cancer.

2010 Buffalo Springfield reunite after a 43-year stage absence for Neil Young's annual Bridge School benefit concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. Other acts on the roster include Jackson Browne, Elton John, Lucinda Williams, Kris Kristofferson (subbing for an ailing Merle Haggard), and Bridge veterans Pearl Jam.

2010 Katy Perry and Russell Brand get married in Rajasthan, India.More

2007 Carrie Underwood releases her second studio album, Carnival Ride, which debuts at #1 in the US. The single "Last Name" earns her a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

2007 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's Raising Sand debuts at #2 in America. Plant, 59, turned down a Led Zeppelin reunion tour to focus on the project.

2007 Exodus release their eighth studio album, The Atrocity Exhibition...Exhibit A.

2005 Rapper Cam'ron is shot during an early morning carjacking attempt in Washington, D.C. Two men pull alongside Cam'ron's 2006 Lamborghini and open fire while the artist is stopped at a traffic light at New York and New Jersey avenues. He is hit by one bullet, which travels through one of his arms and into the other. He drives himself to Howard University Hospital for treatment.

2003 Mexican rap-rock band Molotov tops the second annual MTV Video Music Awards Latin America with four wins, including Video of the Year and Best Group.

2002 Lyricist Adolph Green dies in New York City age 87.

2002 Johnnie Johnson, who is the "Johnny" in "Johnny B. Goode" and Chuck Berry's longtime pianist, loses his lawsuit against Berry in which he claims he co-wrote many of the rock pioneer's hits.

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"Weird Al" Yankovic Is Born

1959

"Weird Al" Yankovic is born Alfred Matthew Yankovic in Downey, California, and raised in Lynwood.


Young Alfred seals his fate when, just before his seventh birthday, the budding musician chooses the accordion over the guitar. He learns to play classical and polka music through formal training but teaches himself how to recreate his favorite pop tunes by ear, which comes in handy when he starts skewering the genre's biggest hits. He's one of a few artists to land a Top 40 hit on the Hot 100 each decade since the '80s, with comedic jabs at Michael Jackson (1984: "Eat It," #12), Nirvana (1992: "Smells Like Nirvana," #35), Chamillionaire (2006: "White And Nerdy," #9), and Robin Thicke (2014: "Word Crimes," #39). Aside from Coolio, who takes offense to Al's Amish treatment of "Gangsta's Paradise," most artists are cool with his good-natured parodies. Greg Kihn took Al's interest in his 1983 hit "Jeopardy," lampooned as "I Lost On Jeopardy," as a vote of confidence. He explained: "If you're not well-enough known to be parodied, well, you're just not well-enough known."

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