Today in Music History (December 3):

1961 - The Beatles meet Brian Epstein for the first time, at his Liverpool record store, NEMS. Later, that afternoon, they meet again to discuss Brian's management of the group.

1966 - The Monkees play their first concert in front of some 8,000 fans in Honolulu.

1971 - Deep Purple arrive in Montreux, Switzerland to record their 'Machine Head' album at the Montreux Casino. It doesn't go as planned: the casino burns down the next day and they end up recording in a hotel using the Rolling Stones' mobile unit. (They tell the tale in their classic song "Smoke On The Water".)

1976 - Bob Marley is shot in the upper arm when intruders storm his house in Kingston, Jamaica, attempting to assassinate him. Marley made a full recovery and never had the bullet removed, as he was told that the operation could cause him to lose movement in his fingers.

1978 - The Cure drummer Lol Tolhurst accidentally pees on Billy Idol backstage after a show in Bristol, England, where The Cure are opening for Idol's band Generation X. Idol is entertaining a young lady in a men's room stall when Tolhurst unloads his lager, missing the urinal and hitting Idol's leg. The Cure are kicked off the tour the next day.

1979 - Because a late soundcheck by The Who was mistakenly interpreted as the beginning of that evening’s concert, eleven people are trampled to death and dozens are injured in a rush to get into Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum. The show went on as planned with the band unaware of the tragedy until after the concert.
Due to the authorities' belief that "festival" (i.e., unreserved) seating contributed to the tragedy, the city of Cincinnati imposed an almost absolute ban on unassigned concert seating for the next 25 years.

1980 - Photographer Annie Leibovitz takes the last known photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono together at their apartment in New York's Dakota building.

1984 - "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is released in the UK with proceeds going to help famine victims in Ethiopia. It becomes the biggest-selling single in UK history, a record that stands until 1997 when it's overtaken by Elton John's updated version of "Candle In The Wind". The single is released in the US a week later.

1986 - Judas Priest are sued by two families, alleging that the band were responsible for their respective sons forming a suicide pact and shooting themselves after listening to Judas Priest records. The parents and their legal team allege that a subliminal message of 'do it' had been included in the Judas Priest song "Better By You, Better Than Me" (a Spooky Tooth cover), from the 'Stained Class' album and alleged the command in the song triggered the suicide attempt. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed.

1992 - Mick Jagger and Keith Richards confirm the rumours that after 30 years of service, Bill Wyman, their bass player since 1962, will be leaving The Rolling Stones.

1999 - Bono has his missing laptop returned after being stolen from his car. The young man who had subsequently bought it from whom he thought was a reputable source, contacted U2's management when he discovered it was Bono's. The computer contained lyrics for the forthcoming U2 album, 'All That You Can't Leave Behind'.

2007 - Brian Wilson and Diana Ross are among the recipients of the Kennedy Centre Honours in Washington, DC.

2014 - Ian McLagan, keyboardist for the Faces, dies of a stroke at age 69.

2015 - Scott Weiland dies at age 48 when he suffers cardiac arrest on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota, where his band The Wildabouts are scheduled to perform.

That same evening, Crosby, Stills & Nash implode at the White House National Christmas Tree Lighting concert when Stephen Stills throws a pick at David Crosby for talking over him. They get though a performance of "Silent Night", but have not played together since.

2016 - Thanks to a spike in sales following his death, Leonard Cohen's original version of "Hallelujah" enters the Hot 100 at #59, giving Cohen his first ever entry on the chart.

Today’s Birthdays include…Them drummer John Wilson (75); the Prince of Darkness himself, the one and only John Michael Osbourne (74); (Jefferson) Starship vocalist Mickey Thomas (73); Soft Boys and Katrina & the Waves guitarist Kimberley Rew (71); Don Barnes, founding member of 38 Special (70); Fugazi bassist Joe Lally (59); R&B singer Montell Jordan (54); Carcass guitarist Bill Steer (53); rapper Trina (48); fellow singers/songwriters Daniel Bedingfield (43); and Andy Grammer (39); jazz saxophonist Melissa Aldana (34).