30 SEPTEMBER
In Music History
1940 Dewey Martin (drummer for Buffalo Springfield) is born Walter Milton Dwayne Midkiff in Chesterville, Ontario, Canada.
1935 The Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess opens at Boston's Colonial Theatre. While not commercially successful, a revival in 1942 will turn it into one of the longest-running musicals in history.
1935 Johnny Mathis is born John Royce Mathis in Gilmer, Texas. He is raised in San Francisco.More
1933 Gospel/soul singer Cissy Houston is born Emily Drinkard in Newark, New Jersey. She gives birth to future superstar Whitney Houston in 1963.
1933 WLS radio in Chicago's popular program The National Barn Dance, one of the first country music radio programs, goes national with a move to NBC radio.
1922 Oscar Pettiford, jazz double bassist and cellist, is born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.
James Dean Dies While Rock Is Born
1955James Dean is killed in a car accident at age 24. Dean dies around the same time rock and roll comes alive (the #1 song the day he dies: Pat Boone's cover of "Ain't That A Shame" - clearly America is at a crossroads).
Read more30 SEPTEMBER
Featured Events
2016 Mary J. Blige debuts her Apple Music talk show, The 411, and welcomes Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton as her first guest. Halfway through the intimate conversation, Blige bursts into a rendition of Bruce Springsteen's protest anthem "American Skin (41 Shots)" in a bid to address the rash of police brutality against African Americans. The attempt falls flat with viewers, who heckle the singer on social media.More
1998 On The Drew Carey Show episode "In Ramada Da Vida," Slash, Lisa Loeb, Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, Dave Mustaine, Jonny Lang, Joey Ramone, Joe Walsh and Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen audition for Drew's band, which has a gig at the Ramada Inn. Walsh gets the job.
1995 Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" becomes just the second single to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the first was Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone"). It stays at the top spot for eight weeks.
1993 George Harrison and David Crosby play their animated selves on the Season 5 premiere of The Simpsons, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet."
1989 Bette Midler is awarded $400,000 in her lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company, which had her former backing singer Ula Hedwig sing Midler's hit "Do You Want To Dance" in a 1985 commercial for the Mercury Sable. The verdict means that companies can't purposely imitate the vocals of a famous singer in advertisements without consent.
1987 Roy Orbison's comeback picks up speed at a Los Angeles concert filmed for the Cinemax special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, and J.D. Souther all perform at the show, which is fittingly filmed in black and white.
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