Events in Music
- Oct 2 "Michael Feinstein in Concert" opens at Golden NYC for 30 performances
- Oct 3 Florida record store owner Charles Freeman is found guilty of obscenity, for selling 2 Live Crew rap records
- Oct 4 "Stand Up Tragedy" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 13 performances
Album Release
Oct 5 Columbia Records releases "Interiors", the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash. produced by Cash herself
Country Music Association Awards
Oct 8 24th Country Music Association Award: George Strait wins
Radio History
Oct 9 Radio stations around world play "Imagine" honoring John Lennon on what would have been his 50th birthday
Album Release
Oct 16 Warner Bros, Records releases "The Rhythm of the Saints", the eighth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon
Music History
Oct 17 "Jackie Mason - Brand New" opens at Neil Simon Theater, NYC; runs for 216 performances
- Oct 17 "Les Miserables" opens at Imperial Theatre, NY & His Majesty's Theatre, Perth
Music History
Oct 17 Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong drops out of school to pursue a career in music
Music Premiere
Oct 18 Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens' musical "Once on This Island", based on Rosa Guy's novel "My Love, My Love" (a Caribbean-set retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid"), opens at Booth Theater, NYC; runs for 469 performances
Birthdays in Music
- Oct 23 Stevie Brock, American pop singer, born in Dayton, Ohio
- Oct 31 Johanna Söderberg, Swedish pop-country-folk singer-songwriter (First Aid Kit - "Emmylou"), born in Enskede, Sweden
- Oct 31 Lil JJ [James Charles Lewis], American actor (Just Jordan) and singer ("Party Boi"), born in Little Rock, Arkansas
Divorces in Music
Jeff Goldblum
Oct 14 American actors Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis file for divorce after nearly 2 years of marriage
Deaths in Music
- Oct 1 Andrzej Krzanowski, Polish classical composer and accordionist (The Wind Carries the Echo Across a Wood Clearing), dies at 49
- Oct 1 Phil Napoleon [Filippo Napoli] American early jazz trumpeter and bandleader (Original Memphis Five; Napoleon and HIs Emperors), dies at 89
- Oct 3 Eleanor Steber, American soprano (Metropolitan Opera, 1940-66), dies following unsuccessful heart surgery at 76
- Oct 8 B.J. Wilson, British session and touring rock drummer (Procol Harum, 1967-77; Joe Cocker), dies of a drug overdose complications and pneumonia at 43
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Oct 14 American Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning conductor (New York Philharmonic, 1958-69; Israel Philharmonic; London Symphony), and composer (West Side Story; Chichester Psalms), dies of a heart attack at 72
- Oct 16 Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (Jazz Messengers), dies of cancer at 71
- Oct 16 Jorge Bolet, Cuban-born American pianist known for his performances of the work of Franz Liszt, dies at 75
- Oct 27 Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American bandleader, dies at 90
- Oct 28 Frankie Masters [Masterman], American banjo player, guitarist, vocalist, and big band bandleader ("Scatter-Brain"), dies at 86
- Oct 29 Anthony Donato, America violinist, composer (The Hidden Fortress), pedagogue, and music writer (Preparing Music Manuscript), dies at 81
Composers
Drummers
Guitarists
Pianists
Singers
Songwriters