September 20, 1976 – AC/DC release their third studio album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. The album is later certified 6x Platinum and in addition to the title track, includes the songs “Big Balls” and “Problem Child.”
Classic Rock Birthdays
September 20, 1966 – Nuno Bettencourt, guitar (Extreme, Rihanna)
September 20, 1967 – Matthew Nelson (vocals, bass) and Gunnar Nelson (vocals, guitar) twin sons of 60’s singer Ricky Nelson (Nelson)
September 20, 1948 – Chuck Panozzo (bass, vocals) and John Panozzo (drums), twin brothers (Styx). John Panozzo died in 1996.
September 20, 1957 – Alannah Currie, vocals (Thompson Twins)
September 20, 1946 – Mick Rogers (born Michael Oldroyd), guitar, vocals (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band)
September 20, 1968 – Ben Shepherd (born Hunter Benedict Shepherd), bass (Soundgarden)
September 20, 1953 – Jeff Jones, bass, vocals (Red Rider)
Original Names of Famous Classic Rock Bands
Rock Remembrances
September 20, 1973 – Jim Croce dies in a chartered plane crash outside of Natchitoches, Louisiana. He was 30. Others killed in the crash were pilot Robert N. Elliott, musician Maury Muehleisen, comedian George Stevens, manager and booking agent Kenneth D. Cortose, and road manager Dennis Rast. Croce’s biggest hits include “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” “Time in a Bottle,” “I Got a Name,” “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song” and “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim.”
September 20, 2010 – Leonard Skinner (born Forby Leonard Skinner), the gym teacher who inspired the name Lynyrd Skynyrd, dies of Alzheimer’s disease at a nursing home in Jacksonville, FL. He was 77. Lynyrd Skynyrd members Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Bob Burns were students at Robert E. Lee high school in the 1960s where Skinner was the basketball coach. Several times, Skinner sent them to the school office for wearing their hair too long, which was against school policy. Skinner later became friends with some members of the band, and they even played at a bar he owned in Jacksonville called “The Still.” Skinner said, “They were good, talented, hard-working boys. They worked hard, lived hard and boozed hard.”
