Music Almanac: December 10

Meg White

Birthdays

• 1926 - Guitar Slim (born Eddie Jones) (d. 1959)
• 1941 - Chad Stuart (Chad & Jeremy) (71)
• 1941 - Ralph Tavares (Tavares) (71)
• 1941 - Kyu Sakamoto (d. 1985)
• 1946 - Ace Kefford (Move) (66)
• 1946 - Gloria Loring (66)
• 1946 - Walter Orange (Commodores) (66)
• 1948 - Jessica Cleaves (Friends of Distinction) (64)
• 1948 - Brendan Harkin (Starz) (64)
• 1951 - Johnny Rodriguez (61)
• 1954 - Geoff Deane (Modern Romance) (58)
• 1954 - Jack Hues (Wang Chung) (58)
• 1954 - DJ Hollywood (58)
• 1957 - Paul Hardcastle (55)
• 1965 - J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) (47)
• 1966 - Timothy Christian Riley (Tony! Toni! Toné!) (46)
• 1970 - Kevin Sharp (42)
• 1971 - Scott Alexander (Dishwalla) (41)
• 1972 - Brian Molko (Placebo) (40)
• 1974 - Meg White (White Stripes) (38)
• 1976 - Kuniva (D12) (36)

Deaths

• 1967 - Otis Redding - Plane crash (26)
• 1967 - Jimmy King (Bar-Kays) - Plane crash (28)
• 1967 - Ronnie Caldwell (Bar-Kays) - Plane crash (29)
• 1967 - Phalon Jones (Bar-Kays) - Plane crash (28)
• 1967 - Carl Cunningham (Bar-Kays) - Plane crash (28)
• 1982 - Jimmie Riddle (Smokey Mountain Boys) (64)
• 1986 - Kate Wolf - Leukemia (44)
• 1988 - Bill Harris (Clovers) - Cancer (63)
• 1995 - Darren Robinson (Fat Boys) - Heart attack (28)
• 1996 - Faron Young - Suicide (64)
• 1996 - John Duffey (Country Gentlemen, Seldon Scene) (62)
• 1999 - Rick Danko (Band) - Drug-related heart failure (56)
• 2005 - Richard Pryor - Heart attack (65)

On This Day

• 1927 - The WSM Bard Dance was renamed The Grand Ole Opry, which had its first broadcast under the new name. The show continues today.
• 1959 - The members of the Platters were acquitted of prostitution and lewdness charges going back to an August 10, 1959 incident in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, there career would not fully recover.
• 1961 - The Cliff Richard film The Young Ones premiered in London.
• 1963 - Donny Osmond made his debut with the Osmonds on the Andy Williams Show.
• 1965 - The Warlocks become the Grateful Dead. The newly named version of the band played their first show at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
• 1967 - Steve Miller signed with Capitol Records for $750,000, an unheard of amount at the time for an untested talent.
• 1971 - Frank Zappa received a broken leg and fractured skull when he was pushed off of a London stage by a jealous boyfriend.
• 1972 - Roberta Flack was injured in a car accident and forced to cancel a European tour.
• 1973 - CBGB opened in New York.
• 1976 - Generation X, with member Billy Idol, played their first live show in London.
• 1980 - John Lennon's body was cremated in New York.
• 1991 - Alan Freed received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 1998 - Bruce Springsteen won a court decision banning a former manager from releasing an album of early music.
• 1998 - An Amnesty International benefit in Paris included performances by Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, Alanis Morissette, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Shania Twain and others.
• 1999 - The battle was on between Cliff Richard and George Michael when Michael called Richard's hit Millennium Prayer “vile.”
• 2002 - The Oakwood Postal Office in Los Angeles was named after Nat King Cole.
• 2003 - Bobby Brown was charged with three counts of batter over an incident three days earlier with his wife, Whitney Houston.
• 2004 - James Brown announced that he had prostate cancer.
• 2005 - Stevie Wonder is honored at the “Grammy Jam” in Los Angeles. Appearing are India.Arie, Eric Benet, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, Slash, Chris Brown, Angie Stone, Tamia, Aaron Neville and others.
• 2007 - Led Zeppelin played a full show for the first time in 19 years at the London O2 Arena.
• 2008 - DMX was arrested and sent to jail for missing a court appearance in Phoenix, AZ.
• 2010 - Lady Gaga was named Billboard's Artist of the Year.
• 2010 - Jim Morrison was pardoned in the state of Florida by Governor Charlie Christ for his arrest and conviction of public lewdness during a 1969 concert in Miami.

Marriages

• 1983 - Keith Richards and Patty Hansen
• 2003 - Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow
• 2005 - Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood

Recorded

• 1949 - The Fat Man - Fats Domino (first recording session for Imperial Records)

Released

• 1966 - I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night - Electric Prunes (single)
• 1976 - Wings Over America - Wings