| 102 | years ago | 1924 | Gordon Stoker of The Jordanaires, the back-up group for Elvis Presley, is born |
| 100 | years ago | 1926 | Tony Bennett is born in Queens, New York. I Left My Heart in San Francisco will be his signature song, and he'll perform it for the first time in 1962. |
| 97 | years ago | 1929 | Arthur Wood, keyboardist for The Climax Blues Band, is born. |
| 90 | years ago | 1936 | Kenny Hodges of Spanky and Our Gang is born. |
| 85 | years ago | 1941 | The Shirelles’ Beverly Lee is born. |
| 80 | years ago | 1946 | John York of The Byrds is born. |
| 77 | years ago | 1949 | B.B. Dickerson of War is born. |
| 75 | years ago | 1951 | Earth, Wind & Fire guitarist Johnny Graham is born. |
| 73 | years ago | 1953 | Ian Brainson, guitarist with Pilot, is born. Their hit, Magic, happens in 1975. |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | Bill Haley files suit against Dave Miller of Essex Records. Haley asks the court to ban Miller from issuing recordings Haley made while under an Essex contract. The suit describes the recording as “of inferior quality to said plaintiffs current releases.” |
| 67 | years ago | 1959 | Folk group The Kingston Trio makes the cover of Life magazine. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Mickey & Sylvia reunite and return to the studio thanks to the pleading of RCA A&R executives Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Their last big hit, Love is Strange, was in 1958 when the two decided to try the solo circuit. |
| 65 | years ago | 1961 | Lee Rocker of The Stray Cats is born. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Metallica’s James Hetfield is born, as is Ed Roland of Collective Soul |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | The Beatles play their last gig at the Cavern, the club where Brian Epstein first saw them. On the same day, The Beatles make their first appearance on an American chart with From Me to You as #125 on Billboards Top 200. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Releases on this date include The Beach Boys' Surfer Girl and Allan Sherman's Hello Muddah, Hello Fadda. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | The Tymes' So Much In Love hits #1. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | While in Los Angeles to do a concert, the Rolling Stones record Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby. The song is released on September 23 and controversy ensues. The sleeve picture shows the group dressed in drag, walking around on New York City's Park Avenue. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | Dean Sams of Lonestar is born. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | The first Newport Pop Festival opens in Costa Mesa to over 100,000 people. Performers include Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane, and The Grateful Dead. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | The Doors' Hello I Love You hits #1. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys is indicted for failure to report for civilian duty in lieu of serving two years in the army. Wilson did report to the L.A. County Hospital on his appointed date. However, he conducted music classes for handicapped patients rather than act as an institutional helper. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | Ringo Starr receives a gold record for It Don't Come Easy. He wrote the tune himself. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | Paul McCartney announces the formation of his new band Wings. It's his first group since The Beatles. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and drummer Jim Hodder leave Steely Dan. Jeff Porcaro replaces Hodder on drums, while keyboardist Michael McDonald joins the group as well. Both had been part of the group's touring band previously. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band open for Anne Murray in New York. It's the last gig for E Street drummer Ernie “Boom Boom” Carter and keyboardist David Sancious. They are replaced by Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan, respectively. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Bad Company's Bad Company LP hits #1. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | The Knack hits the top of both the album and singles charts, with its LP, Get The Knack and the single, My Sharona. |
| 41 | years ago | 1985 | Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days peaks at #5 on the chart, while Sting's If You Love Somebody Set Them Free peaks at #3. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | Def Leppard releases their Hysteria LP. |
| 38 | years ago | 1988 | Steve Winwood's Roll With It hits #1 on the chart. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | The Rolling Stones shoot the video for Mixed Emotions. |
| 35 | years ago | 1991 | Pearl Jam plays the club RKCNDY in Seattle. The show is filmed and used to create their first video - for the song Alive. The audio from the show was used in the video, as the band hated the idea of lip-syncing. |
| 34 | years ago | 1992 | INXS hits #1 on the U. K. album chart with Welcome To Whoever You Are, their first U. K. #1 album. |
| 33 | years ago | 1993 | Boston Ventures, the group to whom Berry Gordy had sold Motown in 1988 for $61 million, sells the label and its holdings to Dutch conglomerate Polygram for #325 million. |
| 27 | years ago | 1999 | Country legend Patsy Cline is awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Arthur Lee of Love dies. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Six-time Grammy winner Toni Braxton replaces Wayne Newton as headliner at The Flamingo hotel-casino on the Las Vegas strip. She’ll perform six nights a week in a full-scale musical production called, “Toni Braxton: Revealed.” |
| 19 | years ago | 2007 | A wardrobe and costume designer sues Toni Braxton, claiming she wrote him a bad check and still owes him $15,000 for work on a Las Vegas show. |
| 19 | years ago | 2007 | A long-time advisor to the “Godfather of Soul,” James Brown, says DNA test results confirm that at least two of the dozen-or-so people claimng to have had children by the late singer are telling the truth. |
| 14 | years ago | 2012 | Stevie Wonder announces that he will be divorcing Kai Millard Morris, his second wife of eleven years. The couple reveal that they've been living separately for two years and cite the usual “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split. |