1894 ~ Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer and pianist, died at the age of 64
More information about Rubinstein

•  1925 ~ June Christy (Shirley Luster), Singer, sang with Stan Kenton band

•  1929 ~ Leo Reisman and his orchestra recorded Happy Days are Here Again for Victor Records. The classic was recorded just three weeks after the stock market crash that plunged the nation into the Great Depression.

• 1937 ~ Ruth Laredo, American pianist

• 1940 ~ Tony Butala, Singer with The Lettermen

•  1942 ~ Norman Greenbaum, Singer

• 1943 ~ Meredith Monk, American composer, dancer, choreographer and singer

• 1946 ~ Duane Allman, Guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band

• 1946 ~ Ray Stiles, Bass, singer with Mud

• 1947 ~ George Grantham, Drummer, singer with Poco

• 1947 ~ Joe Walsh, Guitarist, singer with the Eagles; James Gang

• 1948 ~ Barbara Hendricks, American soprano

• 1957 ~ Jimmy Brown, Drummer with UB40

• 1959 ~ One of America’s great rock jocks was fired from WABC radio in New York. The ‘Moondoggy’ himself, Alan Freed, was axed in the midst of the payola music scandal.

• 1966 ~ Cabaret opened on Broadway for the first of 1,166 stellar performances. Joel Gray starred in the hugely successful musical that is an adaptation of both the play, “I Am a Camera”, and the novel, “Goodbye to Berlin”.

• 1971 ~ Isaac Hayes of Memphis, TN got his first #1 hit as the Theme from Shaft began a two-week stay at the top of the charts.

• 1973 ~ Allan Sherman, American parody singer and songwriter (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah), died from emphysema at the age of 48

• 1984 ~ The largest crowd to see the unveiling of a Hollywood Walk-of-Fame star turned out as Michael Jackson got his piece of the sidewalk right in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. ‘The Gloved One’ became star number 1,793 on the famed walk.

• 2003 ~ Katherine Bidwell, who supported performing arts programs and held positions at the Metropolitan Opera Guild and Lincoln Center, died. She was 66. A musician herself, Bidwell joined the St. Louis Municipal Opera when she was 18. She became a trustee at Sarah Lawrence College, her alma mater, and sponsored performing arts programs there. In 1966, Bidwell joined the board of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She was its president and chief executive from 1979 to 1986, and for the next 10 years, she was director of special projects for Lincoln Center. Bidwell founded the Katherine Bidwell Foundation for Young Singers and the patrons’ program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She was a trustee of several other organizations, including Westminster Choir College and the London School of Music and Dramatic Arts.