This Day in Music

On October 9, 1985, Beatles fans gathered at New York’s Central Park for the dedication of the Strawberry Fields John Lennon memorial. The ceremony, which took place on what would have been the late artist’s 45th birthday, was presided over by Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono. In the years following Lennon’s 1980 murder, Ono worked with the Central Park Conservancy and landscape architect Bruce Kelly, to design the site, with the aim of making it a peaceful space. Located across from the Dakota building, where Lennon and Ono lived, the five-acre site is named for the Beatles song and includes a mosaic, which reads “Imagine,” after Lennon’s iconic hit.

In 1993, Nirvana’s third and final album, In Utero, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200. The broadly-acclaimed album, which also topped the charts in Australia and the UK, featured such enduring tracks as “Heart-Shaped Box,” “Pennyroyal Tea,” “Rape Me,” and “All Apologies.”

In 1971, Rod Stewart celebrated his first No.1 hit in the UK with “Maggie May.” The song, which was initially released as the B-side to “Reason to Believe,” held the top spot for five weeks.

In 1969, for the first time in the history of the show, producers at the UK’s Top of the Pops refused to play the country’s No.1 hit song. The tune in question was “Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus,” a sultry duet between real-life couple Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. The steamy track also marked the first French-language single to top the UK pop charts.

In 1961, Ray Charles topped the US pop chart with “Hit the Road Jack.” The song, which also features the vocal talents of The Raelettes’ Margie Hendrix, won a Grammy for Best R&B Recording and became one of the artist’s signature songs. Decades later, Rolling Stone included the track in their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” poll.

In 1978, influential Belgian singer, actor, and songwriter Jacques Brel died at 78. While the majority of his songs were in French, Brel’s work was frequently translated and covered by English-speaking artists, including David Bowie, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, and Judy Collins.

BORN ON OCTOBER 9

1940: John Lennon
1944: John Entwistle (The Who)
1948: Jackson Browne
1949: Rod Temperton (songwriter, musician, producer)
1967: Mat Osman (Suede)
1970: PJ Harvey
1973: Terry Balsamo (Evanescence)
1976: Sean Lennon