Music History for October 12


Today's:


1872 - Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was born.

1944 - Frank Sinatra returned to the Paramount Theatre to a huge crowd known as the "Columbus Day Riot."

1957 - Little Richard tossed four diamond rings into the Hunter River in Sydney, Australia, to prove that he was giving up rock-n-roll for his faith in God. He returned to music five years later.

1962 - Little Richard headlined a concert in New Brighton. One of the opening acts was the Beatles.

1968 - John Sebastian left the band Lovin' Spoonful to start his solo career.

1969 - The "Paul is Dead" craze began when a radio DJ played "Revolution #9" backwards.

1971 - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Jesus Christ Superstar" debuted on Broadway.

1970 - Bill Graham held a rock Memorabilia auction at New York's Fillmore East.

1975 - Rod Stewart and the Faces play their final show together. The group's breakup was due to Stewart wanting to further his success with his solo career.

1978 - Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols) was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Spungen had been found dead with several knife wounds to her abdominal area. Vicious died of a heroin overdose before his murder trial began.

1983 - Karen Carpenter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1985 - Ricky Wilson (B-52s) died of complication of AIDS at the age of 32.

1988 - The Poison single "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was released.

1991 - Nirvana's album, "Nevermind" was certified gold by the RIAA.

1995 - Tupac Shakur was released from prison on $1.4 million bail. He was released pending an appeal of his conviction for sexual assault.

1996 - The documentary "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" was released. The work had been filmed in December 1968.

1997 - John Denver was killed when the plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay, CA. He was 53 years old.

1997 - A Backstreet Boys concert in a central Madrid square was cancelled by city officials. 300 girls had to be treated after fainting in the heat. More than 7,000 fans came to the event that expected no more than 5,000.