Today in Music History – John Lennon Murdered and more

Today marks the anniversary of several important dates in musical history. From births to deaths, recordings to happenings, some you may be aware of, some you may not.

The most obvious and most known of these events is the 31st anniversary of John Lennon's death. At 40 years old, Lennon was killed outside of his apartment by one of his fans, Mark Chapman. George Harrison later wrote All Those Years Ago as a tribute to his late friend.

On this day in 1968, David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Stephen Stills announced they would form a trio called Crosby, Stills, & Nash. Neil Young would later join the trio and add his last name to the list as well. Today, 1995, the Grateful Dead officially parted ways a few months after the death of their front-man, Jerry Garcia.

Today is also the birthday of several well known musicians including Sammy Davis Jr.in 1925, Jim Morrison in 1943, Gregg Allman in 1947, and Phil Collen of Def Leppard in 1957.

In concert news, December 8th 1975 was the last date of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour, which took place at Madison Square Garden. This particular night was named "A Night of the Hurricane," as the concert raised of $100,000 for boxer "Hurricane" Carter who was wrongly imprisoned. This tour actually made stops in both Niagara Falls and Rochester in November of the same year.

[www.songfacts.com]