| 77 | years ago | 1949 | Gene Simmons, bassist for KISS, is born. |
| 75 | years ago | 1951 | Rob Halford, vocalist for Judas Priest, enters the world. |
| 72 | years ago | 1954 | Elvis Costello is born. |
| 64 | years ago | 1962 | The Four Seasons' Sherry enters the Hot 100 at #91. The song will make it to the top spot on the pop chart within a month. |
| 64 | years ago | 1962 | Little Eva's The Locomotion hits #1 on the pop chart. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Paul McCartney is fined 31 pounds and given a one-year license suspension for speeding. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | The Beatles receive a gold record for their hit single, A Hard Day's Night. It is the third gold record for The Beatles. They would collect 18 more through to 1970. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Elton John makes his first appearance in the U.S. at Los Angeles' Troubadour, kicking off a 17-day tour. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Emerson, Lake and Palmer make their world debut at Plymouth Guild Hall in Plymouth, England. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | The Faces play what they claim is their last U.K. date. Faces bassist Tetsu Yamaychi has been denied a work permit by the Musicians Union, which has Rod Stewart calling the decision, “a disgrace.” However, the group stays together and Stewart claims he’s devoting all his time to the group and his next solo LP will be his last. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | The Allman Brothers' Ramblin' Man is released, and the album Brothers and Sisters enters the album charts. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | Stevie Wonder's Innervisions enters the album charts. It would go on to win the Grammy for Album Of The Year. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | Elton John plays two sets on the first of three night at L. A.'s Troubadour to raise money for UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. Over $150,000 is raised for the clinic. John's dates at the Troubadour are special to him because five years ago on this date, he began a weeklong stint thee that helped establish his superstar status in the U.S. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | Boston releases its self-titled album, which becomes the best-selling debut album ever. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | Jackson Browne's Running on Empty turns platinum. His fifth album is a cleverly constructed diary on the road that includes performances recorded on stage and even in hotel rooms. He garners two Top 20 hits, the title track and Stay/The Load Out. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | The Knack's My Sharona hits #1 on the chart while Dire Straits' Lady Writer peaks at #45. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Gary Numan releases Cars. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Jazz leader, composer, and arranger Stan Kenton dies following a long illness at Hollywood's Midway. He did influence rock and roll music and it can be heard in the horn charts used by the band Chicago. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | Fleetwood Mac chalks up another platinum record for the album Mirage. It contains the hit singles Hold Me and Gypsy. |
| 42 | years ago | 1984 | Billy Joel's Leave A Tender Moment Alone hits #27 on the pop singles chart, Glenn Frey's The Allnighter enters the album chart, and Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr. starts week No.3 at the top of the pop music charts. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Paul Simon's Graceland is released. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | John Mellencamp becomes a grandfather at age 38 when his daughter Michelle gives birth to daughter Elexis Suzanne Peach. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | Duran Duran lead singer Simon LeBon and wife Yasmin become parents to daughter Amber Rose. |
| 32 | years ago | 1994 | A New York judge formally dissolves the marriage between Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley. |
| 32 | years ago | 1994 | Jimmy Buffett's seaplane flips after taking off near Nantucket, Mass. He swims to safety. |
| 32 | years ago | 1994 | Robert Plant and Jimmy Page reunite in a London studio to record their MTV Unplugged show, which they call, Unledded. |
| 29 | years ago | 1997 | A deranged man who had escaped from a mental institution near Helsinki, Finland and had planned to set fire to the stage on which Michael Jackson is performing is arrested before he is able to light the gasoline he had put on the stage. |
| 25 | years ago | 2001 | Singer Aaliyah is killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas at age 22. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | The London Daily Mirror reports that a charity backed by Paul McCartney and his estranged wife Heather Mills has cancelled a fund-raising gala set for October 11 in Los Angeles after the former Beatle said he would not attend. Adopt-A-Minefield says McCartney would be making a donation to compenaste it for the cancellation. |