20 OCTOBER
In Music History
1937 Wanda Jackson, the "Queen of Rockabilly," is born in Maud, Oklahoma. Known for her fiery, high-volume rasp, she influences Elvis, Adele, and many other singers. Jackson is inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2009.
1925 Tom Dowd is born in New York City. After giving up a career in nuclear physics, he becomes a top producer, able to coax sounds out of many famous artists with his technical expertise and agreeable personality. His production credits include Idlewild South by The Allman Brothers and 461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton.
1901 Film composer Frank Churchill is born in Rumford, Maine. Known for his work on Disney films, including memorable songs for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, like "Heigh-Ho."
Lynyrd Skynyrd Singer And Guitarist Killed In Plane Crash
1977Lynyrd Skynyrd members Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines die in a plane crash in Mississippi. Gaines' sister Cassie, a backup singer with the group, is also killed along with two pilots and the band's manager. Other members of the group are badly injured.
Read more20 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2000 Ice-T, who in 1992 released the incendiary song "Cop Killer," makes his debut on the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit playing a cop: Detective Fin Tutuola.
1992 Madonna releases Erotica, a concept album about the pleasures and pitfalls of sex and romance, a day before her controversial Sex book hits the market.More
1979 The instrumental "Rise" by Herb Alpert goes to #1 in America, thanks to its use on the soap opera General Hospital.
1977 In town for a gig with The Police, Sting kills some time by walking through the red light district of Paris. Watching the ladies of the night ply their trade gives him the inspiration for what becomes the band's first hit: "Roxanne."
1973 The Rolling Stones ballad "Angie" hits #1 in America.
1971 Snoop Dogg is born Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr. in Long Beach, California. His parents call him "Snoopy" because of his resemblance to Charlie Brown's pet beagle.
1962 "Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers hits #1 on its way to becoming the most famous Halloween song of all time. Pickett's vocals are his impression of Boris Karloff, who was known for his role as Frankenstein's monster.
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