Today In Music: A look back at pop music

(Oct. 11)

Today's birthdays include the late country singer Dottie West, who was born in 1932; Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates in 1949 (age 52); and Andrew Woolfolk of Earth Wind and Fire in 1950 (age 51).

Today's musical milestones:

In 1960, Aretha Franklin made her New York debut as a pop singer -- appearing at the Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village.

In 1962, the Beatles debuted on the British music charts with "Love Me Do."

In 1975, "Saturday Night Live" premiered on NBC-TV.

In 1978, Nancy Spungen was found dead of multiple stab wounds in the bathroom of the Greenwich Village apartment she shared with boyfriend Sid Vicious, ex-bassist of the Sex Pistols. He was charged the next day with killing her.

In 1983, John Mellencamp -- then known as John Cougar Mellencamp -- released his "Uh-Huh" album.

In 1986, "When I Think of You" became Janet Jackson's first No. 1 single.

In 1993, the North American leg of Madonna's "Girlie Show" tour began in Toronto.

Also in 1993, Amy Grant gave birth to her third child -- a girl she and then-husband, Gary Chapman, named Sarah Cannon Chapman after country legend Minnie Pearl, whose real name was Sarah Cannon.

In 1994, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Branford Marsalis, the Pointer Sisters, and George Thorogood were among the artists who performed at a tribute to the late blues musician Willie Dixon in Los Angeles.

In 1998, Brian Wilson made a rare live appearance -- joining Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band on-stage in Irvine, Calif. They sang the Beach Boys hits "Surfin' USA" and "California Girls."

In 2000, Hootie and the Blowfish and rapper Rah Digga headlined a free concert at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., as part of Rock the Vote's Election 2000 bus tour.

Also in 2000, rapper Flesh-N-Bone (a.k.a. Stanley Howse), one of the founding members of the rap group Bone Thugs N Harmony, released a new album -- "5th Dog Let Loose" (on Koch Records).

Today's musical quiz:

How did Hall and Oates meet? Answer: Daryl Hall and John Oates met in a freight elevator while fleeing a gang fight that had broken out at the Adelphi Ballroom in Philadelphia.