23 OCTOBER
In Music History
1954 Elvis Presley's second Sun single, "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," breaks out in Nashville and New Orleans, becoming his first chart hit outside of his native Memphis.
1950 Al Jolson, one of the most popular entertainers of the 1920s, dies at 64 after having a heart attack during a card game in San Francisco, California.
1949 R&B singer Tiny Tavares (of Tavares) is born Perry Lee Tavares in Providence, Rhode Island.
1947 Rock bassist Greg Ridley (of Humble Pie) is born Alfred Gregory Ridley in Aspatria, Cumberland, England.
1943 Barbara Ann Hawkins of The Dixie-Cups is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1939 Soul singer/guitarist Charlie Foxx is born in Greensboro, North Carolina.
1927 Jazz alto saxophonist William "Sonny" Criss is born in Memphis, Tennessee. He would go on to play with the likes of Charlie Parker, Johnny Otis, and Billy Eckstine.
"Weird Al" Yankovic Is Born
1959"Weird Al" Yankovic is born Alfred Matthew Yankovic in Downey, California, and raised in Lynwood.
Read more23 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2006 My Chemical Romance release their wildly popular third album, The Black Parade, which was recorded during the band's stay at the notoriously haunted Paramour Mansion in Los Angeles.More
2002 Kanye West, recently signed to Roc-a-Fella Records, falls asleep at the wheel and crashes his car into an oncoming vehicle. His jaw is shattered, inspiring his song "Through The Wire," which he records with his jaw wired shut. The song appears on his debut album, The College Dropout, in 2004.
1991 Rage Against the Machine play live for the first time with a show at California State University, Northridge, opening with "Killing In The Name," which is still an instrumental.
1976 Led Zeppelin, who avoid TV appearances because of sound problems, appear on American television for the first time when they play Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.
1961 Dion's "Runaround Sue" hits #1 for the first of two weeks. Dion pulled the name Sue out of thin air, but when he later marries a woman named Sue, she tells everyone the song is about her - even though she knows it isn't.
1940 Ellie Greenwich is born Eleanor Louise Greenwich in Brooklyn, New York. One of the most successful songwriters of the '60, her co-writes include "Leader of the Pack" and "Be My Baby."
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