Today in Music History ~ 10/2

• 1875 ~ Henri Févier, French composer

• 1877 ~ Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi, French music writer

• 1928 ~ This was a busy day at Victor Records Studios in Nashville, TN. DeFord Bailey cut eight masters. Three songs were issued, marking the first studio recording sessions in the place now known as Music City, USA.

• 1935 ~ Peter Frankl, Hungarian-born British pianist

• 1939 ~ Flying Home was recorded by Benny Goodman and his six-man-band for Columbia Records. A chap named Fletcher Henderson tickled the ivories on this classic. It later became a big hit and a signature song for Lionel Hampton, who also played on this original version of the tune.

• 1945 ~ Don McLean, Songwriter, singer

• 1949 ~ Richard Hell (Myers), Musician, bass

• 1950 ~ Michael Rutherford, Guitarist with Mike & The Mechanics

• 1950 ~ Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts Gang

• 1951 ~ Sting (Gordon Sumner), Singer with The Police

• 1955 ~ Philip Oakey, Singer with The Human League

• 1955 ~ “Good Eeeeeeevening.” The master of mystery movies, Alfred Hitchcock, presented his brand of suspense to millions of viewers on CBS. The man who put the thrill in thriller would visit viewers each week for ten years with Alfred Hitchcock Presents. And who could forget that theme song (The Funeral March of a Marionette)?

• 1956 ~ Freddie Jackson, Singer, songwriter

• ~ Singer Connie Francis recorded her hit song "Who's Sorry Now." After a few unsuccessful singles, and just as she was about to give up, her big break finally came in 1958. Her song, "Who's Sorry Now," climbed to #4 in the US and #1 in the UK in April 1958. The song debuted in Dick Clark's show American Bandstand.

• 1971 ~ Tiffany (Tiffany Darwisch), Singer

• 1998 ~ Gene Autry passed away

• 2002 ~ Ruth "Mundy" Schoenfeld Blethen Clayburgh, an arts philanthropist who helped establish the Joffrey Ballet, died at age 92. Clayburgh was one of three benefactors who founded the local arts foundation Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural and Charitable Organizations, widely known as PONCHO. She also was instrumental in starting a chapter of Achievement Rewards for College Scientists, a scholarship fund. She was born in Chicago, moved to Seattle in 1930 when she married L. Kenneth Schoenfeld, scion of a furniture store family, and outlived him and two other husbands - William K. Blethen, publisher of The Seattle Times, and John Clayburgh of Los Angeles. She began her arts patronage after marrying Blethen in 1956. That year she helped launch the Joffrey Ballet, which became one of the nation's leading dance companies and is now based in Chicago. In the company's early years, she solicited donations of fabric from local shops to be sewn into costumes. On her 90th birthday, Joffrey co-founder Gerald Arpino created a ballet in her honor.

• 2002 ~ Three-time state fiddling champion Tex Grimsley died at the age of 85. Grimsley began playing the fiddle when he was 7 and built his first fiddle at age 14. Despite his later acclaim, Grimsley kept a day job as a safety and claims officer until he retired. Grimsley - whose first name was Marcel - was recognized as the Louisiana State Fiddling Champion in 1977, 1980 and 1982, and was also inducted into the Hall of Master Folk Artists at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. He continued to perform and teach technique with his wife, also a master fiddler, into the early 1990s. In 1949, Grimsley co-wrote the tune I'm Walking the Dog with his brother Cliff Grimsley, a guitarist. The tune became a hit for country music great Webb Pierce.