9 OCTOBER
In Music History
1990 West Side Story composer Leonard Bernstein, 72, retires from conducting due to emphysema. He dies five days later.
1988 Electric guitarist Cliff Gallup (of Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps) dies of a heart attack at age 58.
1986 Little-known Kenny G makes his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, but instead of playing his cover of Junior Walker's "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" as agreed, he goes off script and plays his own composition, "Songbird." Impressed by the reaction, Arista Records issues the song as a single and it becomes a hit, setting the stage for more instrumental sax songs from Kenny G and the emergence of the Smooth Jazz format.
1985 With Steve Barron as their director, a-ha begin filming their music video for "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." at Saint Alban the Martyr Church and Udney Hall Gardens in Teddington, Middlesex, England.
1980 Despite years of hits in the UK, Gary Glitter declares bankruptcy.
1978 Faces' Ian McLagan marries his longtime girlfriend, former model (and first wife of Who drummer Keith Moon) Kim Kerrigan.
1978 Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel dies of a pulmonary embolism in a hospital near Paris, France, at age 49.
1976 #1 on the Hot 100 is a disco version of a classical favorite: "A Fifth Of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band.
1975 On father John Lennon's 35th birthday, Yoko Ono gives birth to Sean Ono Taro Lennon (Sean Lennon), who becomes a musician, playing a number of instruments and also producing tracks for Lana Del Rey and Soulfly.
1973 Paul Simon's "Loves Me Like A Rock" is certified Gold.
1972 The Cream compilation Heavy Cream is released in the UK.
1971 Van Morrison releases "Wild Night."
1969 BBC's Top Of The Pops refuses to play the #1 hit in the country for the first time. The song, Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus," is considered one of the first "orgasm records," that is, one of the first to feature heavy female breathing and moaning.
1969 The Carpenters release Offering, later released as Ticket to Ride, featuring a ballad version of the Beatles' tune.
1969 PJ Harvey is born Polly Jean Harvey in Bridport, Dorset, England.
Strawberry Fields Dedicated In Central Park
1985On what would have been John Lennon's 45th birthday, a section of Central Park in New York City is christened "Strawberry Fields" in his memory.
Read more9 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2007 Josh Groban releases his Christmas album Noël. It becomes the top-selling album of 2007 and one of the best-selling Christmas albums of all time.
2006 During a concert at Madison Square Garden, Barbra Streisand makes some disparaging remarks about President Bush. An audience member yells, "What is this, a fund raiser?" and Streisand stuns the crowd with her retort: "Why don't you shut the f--k up."
2001 U2 frontman Bono, R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, and electronica maven Moby make unannounced appearances in New York at the second of two anti-violence benefit concerts organized by the Beastie Boys.
1984 The extraordinarily popular children's show Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends begins its run on BBC-TV, featuring a narrator by the name of Ringo Starr.
1940 John Winston Lennon is born in Liverpool, England. The "Winston" comes from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill - John would later add "Ono" to his middle name in honor of Yoko.
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