... and more October 12 birthdays – Guitar Gabriel (aka Robert Jones, 1925) – Blues musician (“Welfare Blues”). Nappy Brown (aka Napoleon Culp, 1929) – R&B singer (“Don’t Be Angry”). Luciano Pavarotti (1935) – Opera singer. Melvin Franklin (1942) – The Temptations. Pat DiNizio (1955) – vocalist/guitarist for The Smithereens. Dave Vanian (1956) – singer for The Damned. Brian Kennedy (1966) – Irish singer/songwriter. Martie Maguire (aka Martha Erwin, 1969) – The Dixie Chicks.
October 12 R.I.P. – Ricky Wilson (1985) – AIDS. Age 32. The B-52s. Carmen Cavallaro (1989) – Age 73. American pianist, “The Poet of the Piano.” John Denver (1997) – plane crash. Age 53. Frank Frost (1999) – cardiac arrest. Age 63. Delta blues harmonica player (“Hey Boss Man”). Ray Conniff (2002) – fell in his bathtub. Age 85. Bandleader/arranger, The Ray Conniff Singers. Baker Knight (2005) – natural causes. Age 72. Songwriter (“Lonesome Town”). Dickie Peterson (2009) – liver and prostate cancer. Age 63. Bassist/ vocalist for Blue Cheer. Paul Leka (2011) – Age 68. Pianist/songwriter (“Green Tambourine”). Joel "Taz" DiGregorio (2011) – car crash. Age 67. Keyboardist for The Charlie Daniels Band. October 12 album releases – Aretha Franklin – Aretha In Paris (1968) Genesis – Selling England By The Pound (1973) Fleetwood Mac – Tusk (1979) U2 – October (1981) Matthew Sweet – In Reverse (1999) October 12 events – 1944 – 30,000 screaming teen-age girls converge on the Paramount Theatre in New York City to see Frank Sinatra perform two shows. The scene is pandemonium. Bobbysoxers refuse to leave between shows, many passing out from hunger and many urinating in their chairs to not lose their places. 200 police and 400 reserves are called in to control the wild crowd. The event will come to be known as the Columbus Day Riot. 1955 – Chrysler introduces the world's first in-car sound systems - vinyl record players, complete with an assortment of classical records, mounted under the dashboard. 1956 – DJ Alan Freed’s second movie, Don’t Knock The Rock, featuring Bill Haley and His Comets, Little Richard, and The Treniers premieres in New York. 1957 – Little Richard flies to Australia for a tour. During the flight, one of the plane’s engines catches fire. At the evening’s concert, a badly shaken Richard denounces rock and roll from the stage, saying, “If you want to live for the Lord, you can't take rock 'n' roll, too. God doesn't like it." 1957 – Alan Freed's Biggest Show Of Stars For 57 tour stops at San Diego's Mission Beach Ballroom, featuring performances by Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, The Crickets, The Everly Brothers, Clyde McPhatter, Eddie Cochran, The Drifters and others. 1962 – The Beatles meet and open for Little Richard at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, Wallasey. 1966 – The first incarnation of The Moody Blues ends when Denny Laine quits the band and the rest of the guys split, too. 1966 – Sammy Davis, Jr. appears as himself in “The Clock King's Crazy Crimes” episode of Batman. 1966 – The Beatles begin recording their sixth album, recording two John Lennon songs, “Run For Your Life” and “This Bird Has Flown.” 1966 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience play their first headlining gig at Paris' Olympia Theatre. 1967 – The Doors perform at the Surf Club in Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts. 1969 – Tom Zarski, a student at Eastern Michigan University, calls radio station WKNR in Detroit and informs DJ Russ Gibb about the existing rumors and clues that Paul McCartney died in a car crash, perhaps as long ago as 1966. Zarski tells Gibb that by playing a section of the band's "Revolution 9" backwards, a clue emerges: the phrase "Turn me on, dead man." Gibb proceeds to do just that. Listeners are stunned. The rumor gains momentum. 1970 – Jesus Christ Superstar opens on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. 1972 – The Billie Holiday bio-pic, Lady Sings The Blues, premieres in New York, and launches Diana Ross’ acting career. 1975 – Rod Stewart plays his final show with The Faces at the Nassau Coliseum in New York. 1978 – Sex Pistol Sid Vicious calls the police to the Chelsea Hotel in New York claiming that someone stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. He is arrested and charged with murder and placed in the detox unit of a New York prison. 1979 – At a Jethro Tull concert at Madison Square Garden, a fan throws a rose at the stage and hits Ian Anderson in the eye. A thorn on the rose punctures his eyeball, forcing the cancellation of the rest of the show and two other concerts. 1980 – Seven concert-goers are stabbed at a Blood, Sweat & Tears show in L.A. 1982 – The Who play at Shea Stadium, with opening act The Clash. 1983 – The Carpenters receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1987 – George Harrison releases his single, “Got My Mind Set On You” b/ w “Lay His Head.” 1994 – Pink Floyd plays the first night of a 14-night run at London’s Earls Court. One minute into their song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” a section of scaffold seating holding 1,200 people collapses, sending hundreds of concert-goers into the air. The show is immediately stopped and cancelled. 96 are injured, with 36 needing hospitalization. 1994 – MTV airs the reunion concert special of Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Unledded. 1996 – 28 years after the event, The Rolling Stones’ Rock And Roll Circus is finally released on video. 1997 – City officials in Madrid, Spain cancel a Backstreet Boys concert when an influx of teeny-bopper girl fans flood the streets. 1999 – The Isle Of Man issues six stamps honoring The Bee Gees. The boys were born there and their mother ran the post office. 2002 – Elvis Presley’s 30 #1 Hits album hits #1 on the Billboard chart: the first Presley album ever to do so. 2003 – For the first time since his disastrous performance on October 7, 1968, Jose Feliciano sings the National Anthem at a baseball game, this time with no surprises. 2005 – Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee suffers minor burns at a concert in Casper, Wyoming during a pyrotechnics explosion. Lee is treated at a local hospital for the injuries to his arm and face. 2005 – Singer and Live Aid co-founder Midge Ure receives an honorary Doctorate of Arts degree from Dundee's University.
