What happened in Music on this day !?

October 1st

1945 was born Donny Hathaway

American soul singer, keyboardist and songwriter Donny Hathaway. He had the 1972 UK No.29 single with Roberta Flack, 'Where Is The Love', and the 1978 US No.2 single 'The Closer I Get'. Hathaway's most influential recording is his 1972 album, Live, which has been termed "one of the best live albums ever recorded". Hathaway committed suicide on 13th January 1979. He was found dead on the pavement below the window of his 15th-floor room in New York City's Essex House hotel. It was reported that he had jumped from his balcony.

October 2nd

1971 was born Tiffany

American pop singer Tiffany. Her 1987 cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells song 'I Think We're Alone Now' spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Outside of music, Tiffany posed nude in Playboy and has guest-starred on several reality television shows.

October 3rd

1969 was born Gwen Stefani

American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani. With No Doubt she had the 1997 UK No.1 single 'Don't Speak', which also set a record when it spent 16 weeks at the No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. The group's 1997 US No.1 album Tragic Kingdom, has sold over 16 million copies worldwide. As a solo artist she had the 2005 US No.1 single 'Hollaback Girl’ taken from the 2004 worldwide 2004 Top 5 album Love, Angel, Music, Baby. Stefani was married to Bush lead singer and guitarist Gavin Rossdale and later married country music artist Blake Shelton.

October 4th

1961 was born Jon Secada

Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer Jon Secada. In 1991, Secada co-wrote and was a backup singer for 'Coming Out of the Dark', a No.1 hit song inspired by a tour-bus accident involving Gloria Estefan in 1990, in which her back was broken. In 1992, he released his self-titled debut album, which sold 7 million copies.

October 5th

1951 was born Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof, Irish singer, songwriter, actor and political activist. With The Boomtown Rats, he had the 1979 UK No.1 single 'I Don't Like Mondays' plus 10 other UK Top 40 singles. Geldof was the driving force behind the Band Aid - Live Aid relief project after seeing a BBC news report on the famine in Ethiopia. He called Midge Ure from Ultravox, and together they co-wrote the song, Do They Know It's Christmas?

October 6th

1959

Jerry Keller was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Here Comes Summer'. A One Hit Wonder, Keller went on to be a vocalist for television jingles throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

October 7th

2022 

Slipknot were at No.1 in the UK with their seventh studio album The End, So Far. The album which peaked at No.2 on the US chart is dedicated to co-founder and former drummer Joey Jordison, who died in his sleep in July 2021.

October 8th

2006 

The Killers started a three week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Sam's Town the US band's second album. Sam's Town debuted at No.2 on the US Billboard 200.

October 9th

1940 was born John Lennon

English musician and activist John Lennon. In 1956, he formed the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960 and gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of The Beatles. Lennon's songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. Lennon later cited 'Strawberry Fields Forever' as his finest work with the band. As a performer, writer or co-writer, Lennon had 25 No.1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Double Fantasy, his second-best-selling non-Beatles album, won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In New York, on 8 December 1980, returning from a recording session, Mark Chapman shot Lennon twice in the back and twice in the shoulder at close range. Lennon was rushed to the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:15 p.m. He was 40 years old.

October 10th

1991 was born Gabriella Cilmi

Australian pop singer and songwriter Gabriella Cilmi. Her 2008 debut album peaked at No.2 on the Australian chart and No.8 in the UK. Her 2010 single 'Sweet About Me' peaked at No.1 on the Australian chart and became a hit in Europe, reaching No.1 in the Netherlands and Norway and becoming a top-five hit in eight other countries. In the UK, the song reached No.6 and was the most-played track of 2009 according to PRS for Music.

October 11th

1992 was born Cardi B

American rapper, songwriter, and actress Cardi B. Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy (2018), debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 and broke several streaming records. She is the first solo female artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and the female rapper with the most No.1 singles (five) on the Billboard Hot 100, and is the highest-certified female rapper of all time in US digital single sales (69 million).

October 12th

1948  was born Rick Parfitt

English musician, Rick Parfitt, best known as a rhythm guitarist, singer and songwriter with rock band Status Quo. The group have had over 60 chart hits in the UK, more than any other rock band, including 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' in 1967, 'Whatever You Want' in 1979 and 'In the Army Now' in 2010. Twenty-two of these reached the Top 10 in the UK. In July 1985, the band opened Live Aid at Wembley Stadium with 'Rockin' All Over the World'. Status Quo have sold over 120 million records worldwide. Parfitt died on 24th Dec 2016 in a hospital in Marbella, Spain, aged 68.

October 13th

1947 was born Sammy Hagar

American rock vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Sammy Hagar. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose before launching a successful solo career, scoring a hit in 1984 with 'I Can't Drive 55'. He later replaced David Lee Roth in Van Halen in 1985 and left the band in 1996. A lifelong entrepreneur, Hagar has founded four spirits brands and 13 restaurants. In 2008, with his wife, Kari Hagar, he founded a private non-profit focused on children's causes and hunger relief, the Hagar Family Foundation.

October 14th

1940 was born Cliff Richard

British singer and actor Cliff Richard, (Harry Webb). Richard was originally marketed as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Elvis Presley and Little Richard. With his backing group, the Shadows, he dominated the British pop scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s to early 1960s. His first hit was the UK No.2 single 'Move It', (1958). More than 130 of his singles, albums, and EPs have reached the UK Top 20. He also had four UK Christmas No. 1 singles, two of which were as a solo artist; 'Mistletoe and Wine' and 'Saviour's Day'.

October 15th

2021 

Elton John achieved his first UK No.1 single in sixteen years when his collaboration with Dua Lipa, 'Cold Heart (Pnau remix)', rose to the top of the UK Singles Chart during its fifth week in the top-ten.

October 16th

2023 

Morgan Wallen was at No.1 on the US chart with his third album One Thing at a Time. With 19 weeks at the top of the US Country charts, it is the longest-running No.1 country album ever. The album was named the No.1 album for 2023 in Billboard's year-end album chart, making Wallen the first country artist to capture both the year-end No.1 positions for album and single in the same year.

October 17th

1958  was born  Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson, country music singer, who has recorded over a dozen studio albums. More than 50 of his singles have appeared on Billboard's list of the Top 30 Country Songs, for which of Jackson's entries, 35 were No.1 hits. He is the recipient of two Grammys, 16 CMA Awards, 17 ACM Awards and is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

October 18th

1982 was born Ne-Yo

American singer and songwriter Ne-Yo, (born Shaffer Chimere Smith), who had the 2006 US No.1 & UK No.4 album In My Own Words, and the 2006 US & UK No.1 single ‘So Sick’. Ne-Yo has yielded five No.1 singles on the UK Singles Chart, and spent 315 weeks within the chart's Top 75.

October 19th

1944 was born Peter Tosh

Jamaican reggae musician Peter Tosh. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963–1976), after which he established himself as a successful solo artist and a promoter of Rastafari. 'Legalize It', the title track from his debut solo album, became popular among endorsers of cannabis legalisation, reggae music lovers and Rastafari all over the world. He was murdered on 11 September 1987 during a home invasion after a three-man gang came to his house demanding money. They remained at his residence for several hours and tortured Tosh in an attempt to extort money from him.

October 20th

2023 

The Rolling Stones released Hackney Diamonds their twenty-fourth studio album and the first album of original material by the Rolling Stones since 2005's A Bigger Bang. The album featured guest contributions from Elton John, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney , Stevie Wonder, and former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. Hackney Diamonds reached No.1 in 20 countries, including the UK, Austria, Australia, Greece, Argentina, the Netherlands and Germany. It was the 14th Rolling Stones album to top the UK Albums Chart.

October 21st

2016 

Leonard Cohen released his last album, You Want It Darker, 17 days before his death. Cohen was in poor health while the album was being made, and never went to the recording studio, relying on his son Adam to handle the sessions and integrate his tracks. The title track was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance in January 2018.

October 22nd

1942  was born Bobby Fuller

American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bobby Fuller singer, with The Bobby Fuller Four. They had the 1966 US No.9 single 'I Fought The Law' (written by Sonny Curtis of Buddy Holly's Crickets). Fuller died on 18th July 1966 mysteriously from gasoline asphyxiation, while parked in a car outside his apartment. Despite the official cause of death, some commentators believe Fuller was murdered.

October 23rd

1959 was born Weird Al Yankovic

American comedy musician, writer, and actor Weird Al Yankovic. He has had minor US hits parodying songs such as 'Eat It', Michael Jackson's 'Beat it' and 'Like A Surgeon', ( Madonna's 'Like A Virgin'). Since having one of his comedy songs aired on The Dr Demento Radio Show in 1976 at age 16, Yankovic has sold more than 12 million albums, recorded more than 150 parodies and original songs and performed more than 2,000 live shows. Dave Grohl of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded 'Smells Like Nirvana', a parody of the grunge band's hit, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

October 24th

1986 was born Drake

Canadian rapper, songwriter, and actor Aubrey Drake Graham who records under the mononym Drake. He first gained recognition by starring as Jimmy Brooks in the CTV Television Network teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–2008). Drake's debut album, Thank Me Later (2010), debuted atop the Billboard 200, and all of his subsequent studio albums reached No.1 in the US. Among the world's best-selling music artists, with over 170 million units sold, Drake is ranked as the highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States. In 2018, he was reportedly responsible for 5% (CAD$440 million) of Toronto's CAD$8.8 billion annual tourism income. Drake has been the subject of widespread media coverage due to his popularity, lifestyle, relationships, and feuds, including with Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar.

October 25th

1950 was born Chris Norman

Chris Norman, from English rock band Smokie who had the 1975 UK No.3 single 'If You Think You Know How To Love Me'. Their most popular hit single was 'Living Next Door to Alice'.