Pick a Day

11 SEPTEMBER

In Music History

2014 Cosimo Matassa, who recorded Little Richard and Fats Domino at his New Orleans studio, dies at age 88.

2014 Songwriter Bob Crewe dies at age 83 in Scarborough, Maine, four years after suffering a brain injury from a fall. A prolific hit-maker, he was known for songs like "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

2012 Johnny Perez (drummer, songwriter for the Sir Douglas Quintet) dies at age 69 of complications from cirrhosis of the liver.

2009 Punk musician Jim Carroll dies of heart attack in Manhattan, New York City, at age 60.

2007 Singer/keyboardist Willie Tee dies of colon cancer at age 63.

2003 Jewel cancels her North American tour after Terome "T-Bone" Hannon, her bassist of three years, dies suddenly of a brain aneurysm at age 39.

2001 As Gerard Way watches in horror from the Manhattan ferry as the World Trade Center's Twin Towers collapse, he realizes life is too short to not follow his dream. Shortly after, he starts his own band: My Chemical Romance.

2001 On the afternoon of the terrorist attacks against the country, a group of US senators and congressmen gather on the Capitol steps to sing Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." The song is invoked many times in the following days.

2001 The Strokes' debut album, Is This It, drops on vinyl in the US. It contains the song "New York City Cops," an anthem against police brutality. The defiant track is removed from the forthcoming CD release in light of the terrorist attacks and the valiant response of the NYPD.

2001 Amid the chaos of terrorist attacks, PJ Harvey wins the Mercury Prize (an annual award given to the best album from the UK and Ireland) for Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. She recalls: "It was very strange, particularly since we were in Washington. I woke up to people hammering on the door, saying the Pentagon was on fire – which we could see from our hotel. Sadly I didn't I feel at all present in terms of winning the Mercury Prize. And it was an honor for me to receive it."

2000 Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow release a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'" as a duet. The single reaches #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for a week and also appears in the 2000 film Duets, which stars the pair.

1987 Reggae musician Peter Tosh is shot and killed at age 42 during a robbery in his home.

1987 Actor/musician Lorne Greene, known for his starring role on the western TV series Bonanza, dies of complications from pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, at age 72.

1977 Rapper Ludacris is born Christopher Brian Bridges in Champaign, Illinois. He would be raised in Atlanta, Georgia.

1977 Jon Buckland (lead guitarist for Coldplay) is born in Islington, London, but he would be raised in Pantymwyn, North Wales.