October 31st: On this Day 1952, Pianist Johnnie Johnson hired 26 year old Chuck Berry as a guitarist in his band. While playing evening gigs in the St. Louis area, Berry kept his day job as a hairdresser for the next three years. 1954, Vera Lynn was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with My Son, My Son. The singers only No.1 hit. Lynn who had three songs in the first ever Top 12 in 1952 was known as the Forces Sweetheart during World War II. 1959, The Quarry Men decided to change their name to Johnny and the Moondogs. The band were in Liverpool auditioning for the Carrol Levis show. The Quarry Men featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. 1963, Gerry And The Pacemakers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with Youll Never Walk Alone. The groups third and final No.1. 1963, The Beatles returned to London from Sweden and were greeted by hundreds of screaming fans and a mob of photographers and journalists. American television host Ed Sullivan was at Heathrow as The Beatles arrived, and was struck by the sight of Beatlemania in full swing; he decided to look into getting this group to appear on his US television program. 1964, The Supremes started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with Baby Love, the groups second of five consecutive US No.1s. The group were formally known as the five piece group The Primettes. 1964, Ray Charles was arrested by Logan Airport customs officials in Boston and charged with possession of heroin. This was his third drug charge, following incidents in 1958 and 1961. Charles avoided prison after kicking the habit in a clinic in Los Angeles, but spent a year on parole in 1966. 1967, Rolling Stone Brian Jones was released from Wormwood Scrubs prison on £750 bail pending appeal. Jones had been found guilty of possession of cannabis. Seven Stones fans were arrested and charged with obstructing the police after demonstrating outside the prison gates. 1970, Michelle Gilliam from The Mamas and the Papas married actor Dennis Hopper, the marriage lasted eight days. 1970, Led Zeppelin started a four week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Led Zeppelin III, the bands second US chart topper. Read the full story 1970, Motown Chartbusters Vol 4 went to No.1 on the UK album chart. The album featured tracks from The Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, The Four Tops, The Supremes, The Temptations and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. 1980, Bow Wow Wow appeared at Londons Rainbow Theatre. The group had a backing singer by the name of Lieutenant Lush, a.k.a. Boy George. 1986, A new series of TVs Channel 4s The Tube, started with Jermaine Stewart, Troublefunk, Bob Geldof and Frankie Goes To Hollywood plus Spandau Ballet who played live in the studio at Newcastle upon Tyne. 1986, Roger Waters went to the high court to try and stop David Gilmour and Nick Mason from using the name Pink Floyd, for future touring and recording. 1987, Forbes Magazine listed the Top 40 American entertainment earners from 86-87, 8th was Whitney Houston $44 million, 7th Madonna $47 million and third place Bruce Springsteen $56 million. 1989, The very first MTV unplugged show was recorded in New York, featuring UK band Squeeze, the program was aired on 26th Nov 1989. 1990, UK DJ Roger Scott died of cancer aged 46. Scott was one of the most respected broadcasters in the UK, working on Capital Radio for 15 years and then BBC Radio 1. Working as a presenter at the Montreal station 1470 CFOX, Scott sang on ‘Give Peace a Chance’, recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono during their Bed-in for peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. 1990, During a gig in Seattle, Washington, Billy Idol dumped 600 dead fish in Faith No Mores dressing room. They responded by walking on stage, naked during Idols set. 1992, Boyz II Men were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with End Of The Road, taken from the film Boomerang. The quartet from Philadelphia were Motowns biggest selling act of the 1990s, with 5 US No.1,s. 1993, Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea was at the scene of actors River Phoenix fatal collapse in Los Angeles. 1996, Slash announced he was no longer in Guns N Roses. The guitarist said that Axl Rose and he had only been civil to each other on two occasions since 1994. 1998, Chart history was made when the UK Top 5 singles chart was made up entirely of new entries. Alanis Morissette went in at No.5, Culture Club at No.4, U2 at No.3, George Michael at No.2 and Cher with Believe at No.1. 1998, Cher started a seven week run at No.1 with her third UK No.1 single Believe, taken from her twenty-third studio album. It made Cher (who was 52) the first female artist to have a No.1 single over the age of 50. The song was a No.1 in 23 countries. 2002, The mother of pop star Bjork ended a hunger strike she had staged to protest against plans for a by a US company to build a aluminum smelter and hydroelectric plant power plant in the Icelandic wilderness. Hildur Runa Hauksdottir began eating again after four weeks of fasting. 2005, The white suit worn by John Lennon on the cover of the Beatles Abbey Road album sold for $118,000 (£66,385) at an auction in Las Vegas. And an Austin Princess hearse driven by the late star in the documentary Imagine sold for $150,000 (£84,388). A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the items went to Amnesty International.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 03:24:05 +0000
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