This Date In Music History- May 11

In 2003, rock musician Noel Redding, best known for his stint as the bassist of the "Jimi Hendrix Experience," was found dead at his home in Ireland of unknown causes. He is 57.

In 1995, Jimmie Vaughan, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Robert Cray played a tribute concert to Stevie Ray Vaughan in his hometown of Austin, Texas. All five had played with Vaughan at his last show on August 26, 1990, before he was killed in a helicopter crash.

Bob Marley, the uncontested King of Reggae, died of a brain tumor on May 11, 1981 at the age of 36. Seven months earlier, he had collapsed on stage during a concert in the US. He was given a state funeral and buried near his birthplace in St. Ann's Parish, Jamaica.

Eric Burdon ("Spill The Wine" and leader of the Animals) turns 67. Burdon is one of the most recognizable voices from the British Invasion.

In 1974, Led Zeppelin met with Elvis Presley after the King's concert at the Los Angeles Forum (Robert Plant and Elvis launch into an impromptu rendition of "Love Me").

In 1959, Dave "Baby" Cortez reached the top spot on the Billboard chart with "The Happy Organ.” The song was originally recorded under the name "The Dog and the Cat,” with a vocal track that didn't work out. Cortez then added an organ solo and changed the title.

The Everly Brothers performed for the first time at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry in 1957.

Also in 1957, Buddy Holly & the Crickets auditioned for "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" TV program, but were rejected.

In 1988, Irving Berlin was serenaded by a crowd singing his songs outside his apartment as he turned 100. New York's Carnegie Hall also paid the composer a gala tribute.

John Lennon appeared on the "Dick Cavett" TV show in 1972 and said that the FBI was tapping his phone as part of a plan to have him deported from the U.S. Imagine, twenty years later, when it’s discovered that was exactly what the government was doing. The Nixon Administration felt Lennon was a dangerous subversive that had to go.

The Byrds made their TV debut in 1965, singing "Mr. Tambourine Man" on NBC's "Hullabaloo.”

In 1968, the Monkees entered the albums chart with “The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees.” Although the album debuts at a disappointing # 80, the next week it would leap to #3.

The soundtrack for the movie "Woodstock" was released in 1970. The album would go gold within two weeks.

Bluegrass great Lester Flatt died in Nashville in 1979. With Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, the guitarist turned bluegrass music into a worldwide phenomenon.

The Beatles cut "Baby You're a Rich Man" at Olympia Studios in 1967. It marked the first time they've ever recorded outside of Abbey Road.

In 1964, the Rolling Stones were refused lunch at a hotel in Bristol, England, because they were not wearing jackets and ties. Bad boys!

In 1963, the Beatles' debut album, “Please Please Me,” topped the English albums chart. Eight of the 12 tracks were written by Lennon and McCartney, setting a new precedent in rock music for artists writing their own material.