30 OCTOBER
In Music History
2025 Win Butler and Régine Chassagne of Arcade Fire announce their separation after 22 years of marriage but push forward as bandmates, joining the ranks of Fleetwood Mac, Abba and The White Stripes as bands with divorced couples as members.
2021 Harry Styles, known to wear a dress on occasion, plays his Madison Square Garden show in costume as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, with his band dressed like characters from the movie. He calls it "Harryween"; the next night he takes the stage as a Pierrot clown.
2021 Carole King, Tina Turner, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Todd Rundgren, the Go-Go's and Foo Fighters are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
2013 Peter Haycock (frontman for Climax Blues Band) dies of a heart attack in Frankfurt, Germany, at age 62.
2008 The makers of Rock Band secure the rights to produce the first-ever Beatles music video game.
2007 Singer/actor Robert Goulet dies while awaiting a lung transplant in Los Angeles, California, at age 73. He had been diagnosed with the rare, progressive disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
2007 The Eagles release their first album since 1979, Long Road Out of Eden, and Britney Spears issues her fifth album, Blackout. Thanks to a fanbase more comfortable with buying CDs than downloading, the Eagles easily outsell her, moving 7 million copies in America to Spears' 1 million.
2006 Keane becomes the first major act to release a song on a USB memory stick. For £3.99, fans can purchase the 512MB drive at HMV stores, plug it into a computer, and transfer the track "Nothing In My Way" along with various videos and screensavers. The "single on a stick" format would fail to catch on.
2003 Pink Floyd manager Steve O'Rourke dies after suffering a stroke at age 63.
2002 Jason Mizell aka Jam Master Jay (of Run-DMC), age 37, is shot and killed at a recording studio in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York. Although authorities suspect convicted drug dealer Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a friend of Murder Inc. founders Irv and Chris Gotti, of the crime along with accomplice Randy "Stretch" Walker, they are not convicted and the murder remains unsolved.
2002 The entire episode of The Late Show with David Letterman is dedicated to Warren Zevon, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He plays three songs (his last performances), chats candidly with the host, and offers this sage advice: "enjoy every sandwich."
2001 Barbra Streisand releases Christmas Memories.
2001 Tim Booth announces that James' forthcoming UK tour is to be his last with the band. With 11 albums and 20 Top-40 UK singles under its belt with Booth at the helm, the Manchester-based group's remaining members plan to continue making music together following the singer's departure.
2001 Lenny Kravitz releases his sixth studio album, Lenny, featuring his fourth Grammy Award-winning hit, "Dig In."
2000 TV personality Steve Allen, also a composer and writer, dies of a heart attack after a minor car accident in Encino, California, at age 78. Allen was a frequent panelist on the long-running game show What's My Line?, the host of the game show I've Got a Secret, and the first host of The Tonight Show.
