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 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: This Ole House by Rosemary Clooney

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.

1960 : Elvis Presley’s LP G.I. Blues enters the charts

1962 : Monster Mash: It was 1962 when what is still the most famous Halloween song of all time was introduced. Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s vocals were his impression of Boris Karloff, known for his role as Frankenstein’s monster.

1963 : Gerry And The Pacemakers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ The group’s third and final No.1. (This one’s for you Mike Currie) 😉

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 group’s second of five consecutive US No.1’s. 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.

1964 : For the first time since January 1964, The Beatles do not have a song currently on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. No less than 14 singles hit the charts in the previous ten months.

1965 : The Who appeared at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, (the bands only appearance at the club).

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.

1967 : Iggy and the Stooges made their live debut when they played at a Halloween party in Michigan.

1970 : Michelle Gilliam from The Mamas and the Papas married actor Dennis Hopper, the marriage lasted eight days.

1970 : James Taylor’s LP Fire and Rain is certified gold.

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.

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.

1972 : Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead” is certified gold.

1974 : Led Zeppelin held the UK launch for their new record label Swan Song at Chislehurst Caves, Surrey England on Halloween night. Drinks were served by nuns in suspenders, a naked woman lay in a coffin covered in jelly and naked male wrestlers cavorted in recesses of the caves. Label mates Bad Company, The Pretty Things and Maggie Bell also attended. The launch also tied in with the releases of The Pretty Things new album Silk Torpedo. The label was named after an unreleased Zeppelin instrumental track.

1975 : Released on this day, Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”

1975 : Southern rockers The Marshall Tucker Band headline a fundraising concert for Presidential nominee Jimmy Carter.

1985 : Stevie Wonder’s Part Time Lover, one of the first songs recorded using digital equipment, hits #1 in the US.

1986 : A new series of TV’s Channel 4’s ‘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. Read the full story

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 More’s dressing room. They responded by walking on stage, naked during Idol’s set.

1993 : Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea was at the scene of actor’s River Phoenix fatal collapse in Los Angeles.

1995 : James Brown was arrested in Aiken, South Carolina for assaulting his 47 year old wife, Adrienne, who said that her husband hit her with a mirror. Adrienne died in January, 1996 and the assault charges against James were dropped.

1995 : Alice in Chains release a special vinyl edition of their album, Alice in Chains.

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 : Kiss lauches their Psycho Circus tour with a Halloween show in Los Angeles. The aptly named Smashing Pumpkins are the opening act.

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.

2000 : Napster announces a deal with entertainment giant BMG to make its illegal file-sharing software into a paid subscription service.

2000 : Winners at this years Q Awards included, David Gray, best single for ‘Babylon’, Oasis won best live act, Coldplay won best album for ‘Parachutes’, best act in the world went to Travis, Badly Drawn Boy won best new act and former Clash member Joe Strummer won the Q Inspiration award.

2005 : The white suit worn by John Lennon on the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album sold for $118,000 at an auction in Las Vegas. And an Austin Princess hearse driven by the late star in the documentary Imagine sold for $150,000. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the items went to Amnesty International.

2005 : Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers is convicted of tax evasion. The IRS claimed that he demanded cash payment for performances from 1997-2002 and hid assets under the name of his ex-wife. He was eventually ordered to pay $3.1 million in back taxes and serve 3 years in jail. He was released in April, 2010.

2007 : 22-year-old X Factor winner singer Leona Lewis helped boost UK online music downloads to a record 1.7 million in one week making it the biggest week ever for download sales. Lewis sold more than 106,000 downloads of her track ‘Bleeding Love.’

2008 : A couple who admitted supplying drugs including cocaine and ecstasy to singer Amy Winehouse were warned they faced a jail term as they appeared in Snaresbrook Crown Court, England. The charges related to video footage which appeared to show Winehouse smoking a crack pipe. The singer was arrested and questioned over the images but she was not charged.

2011 : 17-year-old Justin Bieber is hit with a paternity suit from 20-year-old Mariah Yeater, who claims the singer knocked her up in a Staples Center bathroom. The suit is later dropped, but Bieber takes a paternity test anyway to prove he is not the father. (how could he be the father when he has NO BALLS…lol)