This Day in Music: October 11, 2026

• 2024: Brantley Gilbert stops a concert when his wife goes into labor on the tour bus.
  The country singer left the stage in Tupelo, Mississippi, while his wife, Amber, delivered their baby on the bus with a midwife's help. He then went back out and finished the show.
• 2024: The Pharrell Williams film Piece by Piece opens in theaters.
  The story of the “Happy” singer and producer was told entirely in LEGO animation, with collaborators such as Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake appearing as LEGO figures.
• 2016: Rod Stewart is knighted at Buckingham Palace.
  Prince William conferred the honor on the 71-year-old “Maggie May” singer for his services to music and charity.
• 2011: Blues harmonica player George “Mojo” Buford dies in Minneapolis at 81.
  Minnesota connection: the Mississippi-born musician played in Muddy Waters' band in several stints and spent decades as a mainstay of the Twin Cities blues scene.
• 2003: Justin Timberlake makes his first appearance on Saturday Night Live.
  He pulled double duty as host and musical guest less than a year after his solo debut album, Justified. He became one of the show's most frequent and popular returning hosts.
• 1997: Elton John's “Candle in the Wind 1997” enters the Hot 100 at number one.
  Rewritten as a tribute to Princess Diana and performed at her funeral, it was his eighth American chart-topper. It stayed at number one for 14 weeks and became one of the best-selling singles of all time.
• 1986: Janet Jackson scores her first number-one hit with “When I Think of You.”
  The single from Control made Janet and Michael the first siblings to each top the Hot 100 as solo artists. Minnesota connection: it was also the first number one for producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who made the album at their studio in Minneapolis.
• 1983: Lionel Richie releases Can't Slow Down.
  His second solo album sold more than 10 million copies in the United States, produced the hits “All Night Long (All Night)” and “Hello,” and won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
• 1981: Prince is booed while opening for The Rolling Stones in Los Angeles.
  Minnesota connection: the 23-year-old from Minneapolis left the stage early after a hostile reception from the Stones crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. A year later his album 1999 made him a headliner in his own right.
• 1978: Billy Joel releases 52nd Street.
  The follow-up to The Stranger spent eight weeks at number one, included “My Life,” “Big Shot” and “Honesty,” and won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
• 1975: Saturday Night Live debuts on NBC with Janis Ian and Billy Preston as its first musical guests.
  The show was simply called Saturday Night at the time, and George Carlin hosted. Ian sang “At Seventeen” and Preston played his number-one hit “Nothing from Nothing.”
• 1971: John Lennon's “Imagine” is released as a single in the United States.
  The title song from his second solo album climbed to number three on the Hot 100 and became the best-known song of his solo career.
• 1960: Aretha Franklin gives her first non-gospel performance at the Village Vanguard in New York.
  The 18-year-old had sung only gospel in public before that night, when she performed a set of standards. Seven years later “Respect” made her the Queen of Soul.
• 1957: Johnny Cash's first album comes out on Sun Records.
  Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! was the first long-playing album the Memphis label issued. It included “I Walk the Line” and “Folsom Prison Blues.”
• 1955: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins open a tour together in Abilene, Texas.
  The three Sun Records artists started an 11-date swing through the South at Fair Park Auditorium. Elvis was 20 and only weeks away from signing with RCA.

Born on This Day

• 1992: Cardi B, American rapper
  Turns 34. Topped the Hot 100 with “Bodak Yellow” in 2017 and followed it with “I Like It” and “WAP.”
• 1973: Brendan B. Brown, American singer and guitarist (Wheatus)
  Turns 53. Wrote and sang the band's 2000 hit “Teenage Dirtbag.”
• 1970: MC Lyte, American rapper
  Turns 56. A pioneering woman in hip-hop, known for “Paper Thin,” “Ruffneck” and “Cold Rock a Party.”
• 1966: Todd Snider, American singer-songwriter
  Known for wry story songs such as “Beer Run” and “Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues.” He died in 2025 at 59.
• 1962: Scott Johnson, American guitarist (Gin Blossoms)
  Guitarist with the Arizona band behind “Hey Jealousy” and “Follow You Down.”
• 1952: Paulette Carlson, American country singer (Highway 101)
  Turns 74. The Northfield, Minnesota, native fronted the band on late-1980s country chart-toppers such as “Somewhere Tonight” and “Cry, Cry, Cry.”
• 1950: Andrew Woolfolk, American saxophonist (Earth, Wind & Fire)
  Played sax and flute through the band's 1970s hit run, including “Shining Star” and “September.”
• 1946: Daryl Hall, American singer (Hall & Oates)
  Turns 80. Lead voice on “Rich Girl,” “Kiss on My List” and “Maneater.”
• 1946: George McCorkle, American guitarist (The Marshall Tucker Band)
  Founding member who wrote the band's 1975 hit “Fire on the Mountain.”
• 1943: Gene Watson, American country singer
  Turns 83. The Texas native's hits include “Love in the Hot Afternoon,” “Farewell Party” and “Fourteen Carat Mind.”
• 1932: Dottie West, American country singer-songwriter
  Sang “Country Sunshine” and a string of duets with Kenny Rogers, including “Every Time Two Fools Collide.”
• 1919: Art Blakey, American jazz drummer and bandleader
  Led the Jazz Messengers for more than three decades and launched the careers of many jazz stars.