October 14th: The Biggest Music Headlines

Scroll down the page to see all the music headlines, stories and events for October 14 throughout music history

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Legendary Conductor Leinard Bernstein Dies At 72

In 1990, legendary conductor, composer, and pianist Leonard Bernstein died at the age of 72. The Kennedy Center Honoree and multiple Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winner was considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century music and was the first American conductor to find success internationally. In addition to serving as the long-running music director of the New York Philharmonic, Bernstein composed a multitude of works, including operas and symphonies, and scored some of the era’s biggest Broadway musicals and films, including West Side Story, Candide, On the Waterfront, and On the Town. He also brought classical music to children around the world as the host of the highly-influential TV show, Young People’s Concerts.

In 1988, Def Leppard became the first band in chart history to sell seven million copies of two consecutive albums (1983’s Pyromania and 1987’s Hysteria). The latter title, which includes six hit singles, remains their best-selling album to date, with more than 20 million sales worldwide.

In 1972, Michael Jackson (then a member of The Jackson 5 with his brothers) topped the Billboard Hot 100 with his first solo single, “Ben.”

In 1977, David Bowie released Heroes, his 12th studio album and the second chapter in his experimental “Berlin Trilogy” with Brian Eno. Produced by Bowie’s longtime collaborator, Tony Visconti, the album also featured contributions from King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.

In 1957, the Everly Brothers scored their first No.1 on the Billboard pop chart with “Wake Up Little Susie.” The song, which peaked at No.2 in the UK, was banned by some American radio stations for its suggestive lyrics.

In 1968, the Jackson 5 made their national TV debut in the US on The Hollywood Palace.

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BORN ON OCTOBER 14:

1940: Cliff Richard
1945: Colin Hodgkinson (Whitesnake)
1946: Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues)
1948: Marcia Barrett (Boney M)
1974: Natalie Maines (The Chicks)
1975: Shaznay Lewis (All Saints)
1978: Usher

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Keep scrolling for all of our October 14 birthdays.

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October 14th

On this day in music

14 Oct 2023 After a delay, while she battled a bacterial infection which led to a multiple-day stay in intensive care, Madonna began her Celebration Tour at the O2 Arena in London. Three of her children joined her onstage, with daughter Ester doing some vogueing and son David playing guitar. Billboard reported Celebration to have grossed over $225.4 million from an audience of 1.1 million. The free concert in Rio de Janeiro drew a crowd of over 1.6 million people, which became Madonna's largest crowd of her career and set records for the largest audience ever for a stand-alone concert and the largest all-time crowd for a female artist.
14 Oct 2020 Post Malone won nine awards including top artist at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. While many artists performed in person, there was no live audience. Due to the delay, the show mostly celebrated hits from last year, with Lil Nas X taking home four prizes for his hit single ‘Old Town Road’. There were also victories for the likes of Billie Eilish and Cardi B.
14 Oct 2014 Isaiah "Ikey" Owens the American keyboardist known for his work with The Mars Volta, Jack White and an array of bands from the Long Beach music scene died aged 39. Owens was found dead due to a heart attack in his hotel room in Puebla, Mexico.
14 Oct 2011 American rock drummer Chuck Ruff, well known for his work with Edgar Winter died age 60. He appeared on the 1973 US No. 1 instrumental 'Frankenstein' and the hit single 'Free Ride'. He also played in the rock group Sawbuck with Ronnie Montrose and in 1977 joined Sammy Hagar's band.
14 Oct 2009 Paul McCartney was named Songwriter of The Year at the 29th Annual ASCAP Awards in London, England. The awards presentation honored songwriters and publishers of the most performed works in the US during 2008.
14 Oct 2008 Illustrator and rock cartoonist Ray Lowry died. He contributed illustrations for NME, Punch, Private Eye and The Guardian and designed the artwork for The Clash album London Calling.
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14 Oct 2007 US rapper TI was arrested and charged with weapons offences just hours before he was due to perform and collect two awards at the BET Hip-Hop gala in Atlanta. The 27-year-old was arrested in a car park on suspicion of collecting machine guns and silencers bought for him by his bodyguard. His award for CD of the Year was accepted by rapper Common, who jointly won the prize with TI.
14 Oct 2007 The Tom Petty documentary film, Running Down A Dream, made it's debut at the New York Film Festival. The 4-hour documentary chronicled the history of the band, from its inception as Mudcrutch, right up to the 30th-anniversary concert in Petty's home town of Gainesville, Florida, on September 21, 2006.
14 Oct 2006 Freddy Fender, the Tex-Mex singer died of complications from lung cancer at the age of 69. Known for standards as ‘Before the Next Teardrop Falls’ (US No.1 in 1975) and ‘Wasted Days and Wasted Nights’.
14 Oct 2004 Eric Clapton was suspended from driving in France after being caught speeding at 134mph in his Porsche 911 Turbo near Merceuil. He was given a 750 euro (£515) fine and his UK licence was confiscated. After paying his fine Clapton posed for photographs with French police and then left the scene in his Porsche - with his secretary behind the wheel.
14 Oct 2003 Ozzy Osbourne started treatment for Parkinson's Disease-like tremors and postponed his forthcoming European tour. The veteran singer said in a statement, "I have been in Boston for the last three weeks, having medical tests for a tremor which has become markedly worse over the last two years."
14 Oct 1990 Multi-Emmy and Grammy award-winning American composer, pianist and conductor, Leonard Bernstein died of pneumonia. Composed music for the 1957 musical 'West Side Story', and 'On The Waterfront'. Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic aged 25 and wrote three symphonies, two operas, five musicals, and numerous other pieces.
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14 Oct 1988 Def Leppard became first act in chart history to sell seven million copies of two consecutive LPs, with Pyromania (their third studio album released in 1983) and Hysteria, (which became the band's best-selling album to date, selling over 20 million copies worldwide, and spawning six hit singles).
14 Oct 1977 David Bowie released his twelfth studio album Heroes, the second installment of his Berlin Trilogy with Brian Eno (the other releases being Low and Lodger). Heroes continued the ambient experiments of Bowie's previous album Low (released earlier that year) and featured the contributions of guitarist Robert Fripp. The album was later named NME Album of the Year.
14 Oct 1972 Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Ben', his first solo No.1. which was also a a No.7 hit in the UK.
14 Oct 1972 Joe Cocker and six members of his touring band were arrested after a concert in Adelaide, Australia, when police allegedly discovered marijuana and heroin in their hotel rooms. The group were not charged but instead given four hours to leave the country.
14 Oct 1971 Music publishing firm, Arco Industries filed a $500,000 dollar lawsuit against Creedence Clearwater Revival singer John Fogerty, claiming that Fogerty's song Travelin' Band "contained substantial material copied from Little Richard's Good Golly, Miss Molly". The suit was eventually dropped.
14 Oct 1969 The Supremes released 'Someday, We'll Be Together,' their last single with Diana Ross. It became the last of twelve American No.1 pop singles for Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label. Although it was released as the final Supremes song featuring Diana Ross, it was recorded as Ross' first solo single and Supremes members Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong didn't sing on the recording.
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14 Oct 1969 Police in New Jersey issued a warrant for the arrest of Frank Sinatra in relation to his connections with the Mafia.
14 Oct 1968 The Jackson Five make their national TV debut on 'ABC TV's Hollywood Palace.
14 Oct 1967 The second series of The Monkees TV show started on BBC TV in the UK. Plans for the shows to be screened in colour were dropped, so it was aired in black & white.
14 Oct 1966 Pink Floyd played their first ever "underground" set when they appeared at All Saints Hall, Notting Hill, London, UK.
14 Oct 1965 The Rolling Stones, The Spencer Davis Group, Unit 4 Plus 2, The Checkmates, The Habit, The End and Charlie Dickins all appeared at The Odeon, Birmingham during a UK tour.
14 Oct 1959 Bobby Darin was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Mack The Knife'. From Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, the song won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960.
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14 Oct 1957 Although it was banned by some US radio stations for its suggestive lyrics, The Everly Brothers had their first No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Wake Up Little Susie', (a No.2 hit in the UK).

Born on this day in music

14 Oct 1978 American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor Usher, singer. In 1994, Usher released his self-titled debut album at the age of 15. He rose to fame with the release of his second album, My Way (1997), which spawned his first US Billboard Hot 100 No.1 single, 'Nice & Slow'. His 2004 album Confessions sold over a million copies in the US in its first week of release, selling the greatest amount of records in one week for any R&B artist. To date, his worldwide sales stand at over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 2008, Usher co-founded the record label Raymond-Braun Media Group (RBMG) with Scooter Braun to manage the career of singer Justin Bieber.
14 Oct 1975 English singer and songwriter Shaznay Lewis from British girl group All Saints, who had the 1998 UK No.1 and US No.4 single 'Never Ever'. The group's debut album, All Saints (1997), went on to become the third best-selling girl group album of all time in the UK. Lewis won two Brit Awards and an Ivor Novello Award, and co-wrote three of the group's five UK No.1 singles. In 2002, Lewis starred in the film Bend It Like Beckham.
14 Oct 1974 American musician Natalie Maines, lead singer with The Chicks. With sales of 27.2 million albums in the US alone, they have become the top-selling all-female band and the biggest-selling country group in the US. Their 2006 album Taking the Long Way won five Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year). On March 10, 2003, nine days before the invasion of Iraq, the Dixie Chicks performed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, England, UK. Introducing their song 'Travelin' Soldier', Maines told the audience the band did not support the upcoming Allied invasion of Iraq and were "ashamed" that President George W. Bush was from Texas. This triggered a backlash in the US, resulting in the group being blacklisted by thousands of country radio stations, and the band members received death threats.
14 Oct 1972 English bassist Nick Fyffe, who has worked with Jamiroquai. He was in the process of applying to a Jamiroquai tribute band when he got the offer to join Jamiroquai. He has also worked with The Shapeshifters, Robert Plant, Deep Purple, Status Quo and Bruce Dickinson.
14 Oct 1968 Canadian musician Jay Ferguson from the rock band Sloan. In 1996, a reader poll by Canadian music magazine Chart! ranked Twice Removed by Sloan as the best Canadian album of all time, only two years after its release. The same poll in 2000 ranked the album third, behind Joni Mitchell's Blue and Neil Young's Harvest.
14 Oct 1965 American singer Karyn White, who had the 1991 US No.1 single 'Romantic', a No.23 hit in the UK. She became the first female artist to have the first three solo releases from their debut album hit No. 1 on the R&B charts.
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14 Oct 1962 American blues musician and actor Chris Thomas King. He has won awards, including Album of the Year for both Grammy Award and Country Music Awards. King has sold more than 10 million records in the United States. He is featured playing the part of Tommy Johnson in the Coen brothers' 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
14 Oct 1959 Anthony Jude Pero, drummer with American heavy metal band Twisted Sister formed in 1972. They scored the 1983 UK No.18 single 'I Am, I'm Me'. In 2013, Pero was announced as the new drummer of the band Adrenaline Mob. On March 20, 2015, Adrenaline Mob's band members and crew attempted but failed to wake Pero on their tour bus. The band was travelling from Baltimore to Poughkeepsie. Pero was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead from an apparent heart attack.
14 Oct 1958 English musician, record producer and composer, Thomas Dolby, who had the 1984 UK No.17 single 'Hyperactive'. As a producer, he has worked with Joni Mitchell, The Thompson Twins, Foreigner, Def Leppard and Prefab Sprout. In 1985, Dolby was a member of David Bowie's band for his performance at Live Aid. In 1987, Dolby played synthesiser on Belinda Carlisle's No.1 hit 'Heaven Is a Place on Earth'.
14 Oct 1952 Chris Amoo, from British soul group The Real Thing, who had the 1976 UK No.1 single 'You To Me Are Everything'. By number of sales, they were the most successful black rock/soul act in England during the 1970s.
14 Oct 1950 Kees Buenen from the Dutch pop group Pussycat. In 1975 they scored a big European hit with the song ‘Mississippi’. However they had to wait a further year for the single to make the British charts when it climbed to No.1 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1976. Penned by Werner Theunissen, who had been the sisters' guitar teacher, it is estimated that ‘Mississippi’ sold over five million copies worldwide.
14 Oct 1948 British singer Marcia Barrett. She was one of the original singers with the vocal group Boney M, who had the 1978 UK No.1 & US No.30 single 'Rivers Of Babylon'. With more than 150 million records sold, they are one of the best-selling artists of all time.
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14 Oct 1946 English musician Justin Hayward, songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist with English rock band The Moody Blues. They had the 1965 UK No.1 & US No.10 single 'Go Now' and the hit singles including 'Go Now', 'Nights in White Satin' and 'Question'. His first album outside the Moody Blues, Blue Jays, a collaboration with John Lodge, reached the UK top five in 1975. The single 'Blue Guitar', recorded with 10cc as the backing band, reached the UK top ten in 1975, and his 1978 recording of 'Forever Autumn' from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds reached the UK top five.
14 Oct 1946 Dan McCafferty, from Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, who had the 1973 UK No.9 single 'Broken Down Angel', and the 1976 US No.8 single, 'Love Hurts'. McCafferty suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and died on 8 November 2022, at the age of 76.
14 Oct 1945 Colin Hodgkinson, British rock, jazz and blues bassist. He has worked with Chris Rea, The Eric Delaney Band, Back Door (of which he was co-founder), Alexis Korner, Whitesnake, Jon Lord, Jan Hammer, Paul Butterfield, The Spencer Davis Group and others.
14 Oct 1945 Barbara "Sandi" Robison, also known as Sandi Peanut Butter, was an American singer who achieved the most success as the lead vocalist for the psychedelic rock band the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Robison was one of the earliest female vocalists of a rock band, and she was involved in other acts after the group's disbandment, including the musical Hair. Robison died on 22 April 1988.
14 Oct 1942 Billy Harrison, guitarist with the Northern Irish band Them who had the 1965 UK hits 'Baby, Please Don't Go' and 'Here Comes The Night' with Van Morrison on lead vocals. Morrison quit the band in 1966 and went on to a successful career as a solo artist.
14 Oct 1940 British singer and actor Cliff Richard, (Harry Webb). Richard was originally marketed as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Elvis Presley and Little Richard. With his backing group, the Shadows, he dominated the British pop scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s to early 1960s. His first hit was the UK No.2 single 'Move It', (1958). More than 130 of his singles, albums, and EPs have reached the UK Top 20. He also had four UK Christmas No. 1 singles, two of which were as a solo artist; 'Mistletoe and Wine' and 'Saviour's Day'.
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14 Oct 1930 American R&B singer and musician Robert Parker. He was best known for his 1966 hit, 'Barefootin'' He played with most of New Orleans' musicians, including Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, and Huey "Piano" Smith. Parker died on 19 Jan 2020 age 89.