This Date In Music History- October 12

Birthdays:

Sam Moore of Sam & Dave ("Soul Man") is 73.

Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt was born in Woking, England in 1948. The English rock act scored more than 20 top 10 hits in the U.K., but is known in the U.S. only for the 1968 psychedelic classic "Pictures of Matchstick Men."

The Smithereens Pat DiNizio was born in 1955.

History:

In 1955, the Chrysler Corporation introduces high fidelity record players for their 1956 line-up of cars. The unit measured about four inches high and less than a foot wide and mounted under the instrument panel. The seven inch discs spun at 16 2/3 rpm and required almost three times the number of grooves per inch as an LP. A set of 35 classical recordings were available that provided between 45 and 60 minutes of uninterrupted music. The players would be discontinued in 1961.

In 1957, Little Richard announced to an audience at a concert in Sydney that he's giving up rock 'n' roll. He tells the audience, "If you want to live for the Lord, you can't take rock 'n' roll, too. God doesn't like it." Later in the day, he throws four of his diamond rings into Hunter River to prove his faith. Richard later says he decided to turn to God after an engine on his plane caught fire.

Having decided rock 'n' roll isn't so bad after all, Little Richard played Brighton Town, England in 1962. He's supported by the Beatles.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience were formed in 1966, with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell joining Hendrix in the studio.

B-52's guitarist Ricky Wilson, 32, died of complications from AIDS in 1985.

A motion picture called "Don't Knock The Rock," featuring Little Richard and Bill Haley And His Comets, opened in US theatre in 1956. The movie tells the story of a disc jockey, Alan Freed, who tries to prove to teenagers' parents that Rock 'n' Roll is harmless and won't turn their kids into juvenile delinquents.

The "Paul is Dead" craze began in 1969 when a radio DJ played "Revolution #9" backwards.

The LP "Cheap Thrills" by Big Brother and the Holding Company hit #1 on the Billboard album chart in 1968.

John Denver was killed when the handmade, experimental airplane he was flying ran out of gas and crashed off the coast of Monterey Bay, CA in 1997. The 53 year old star of the 1977 film Oh God, had placed 15 songs on Billboard's Top 40 Pop chart, ten of which reached number one on either Billboard's Adult Contemporary or Country chart.

Gene Vincent ("Be Bop-A-Lula") died in 1971.

The "Columbus Day Riot" occurred outside New York's Paramount Theatre in 1944 when 25,000 Frank Sinatra fans scuffled with police.

Twenty-five years after his death, an album of Elvis Presley's best selling songs entitled "Elvis - 30 #1 hits,” topped the Billboard album chart in 2002.

The Sex Pistols` Sid Vicious was arrested in New York in 1978 for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. He dies from a heroin overdose while out on bail.

1965-The Beatles recorded "This Bird Has Flown," which later was re-titled "Norwegian Wood." George Harrison uses a sitar on a Beatles recording for the first time.

1991- Mariah Carey breaks the Jackson 5's record of four straight number one hits when "Emotions" becomes the fifth of her first five singles to reach the top of the Billboard chart in 1991. In April, 2008, she would pass Elvis Presley's record when she achieved her 18th Billboard chart topper, second only to The Beatles 20.