October 27, 1958

Can you believe that we are almost at the end of October?  What, did this month just disappear into nothingness or what? 

With just four days left to go until Halloween, and less than sixty days left until Christmas, it seems as though we are in the middle of 2015's last hurrah.  As it stands, we have exactly ten Tuesday Timelines left in the year!

Now, as for the subject of today's timeline...let's just say that he is the frontman of one of the most successful bands to come out of the New Wave era, and almost three and a half decades since the band's first album was released, this group is still just as relevant today.

But that's all I can say for now.  First, we need to have a look at what happened on this date in history.

1682 - The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded

1795 - Spain and the United States sign the Treaty of Madrid

1810 - The United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida

1838 - Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which forces Mormons within the state to make a choice - leave or be exterminated

1872 - Author and etiquette expert Emily Post (d. 1960) is born in Baltimore, Maryland

1904 - The first New York City Subway line opens

1914 - British super-dreadnought HMS Audacious is sunk off the coast of Tory Island

1922 - Actress Ruby Dee (d. 2014) is born in Cleveland, Ohio

1954 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force

1961 - NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket

1964 - Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on presidential candidate Barry Goldwater's behalf, which kicks off Reagan's political career

1971 - The Democratic Republic of Congo is given a new name - Zaire

1973 - A chondrite-type meteorite weighing almost one and a half kilograms strikes in Canon City, California

1986 - The British government deregulates financial markets in an event known country wide as "The Big Bang"

1988 - Ronald Reagan orders the new American embassy based in Moscow, Russia to be knocked down due to Soviet listening devices being planted within

1992 - Terry M. Helvey murders United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler Jr. for being gay which ultimately leads to the military policy "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

2003 - Game show announcer Rod Roddy passes away of cancer at age 66

2005 - Following the deaths of two Muslim teenagers, citizens in France, particularly within the city of Paris, begin to riot

2013 - Singer/songwriter Lou Reed passes away, aged 71

And celebrating a birthday this October 27 are the following celebrities; Paul Fox, Monica Sims, Lara Parker, John Cleese, Lee Greenwood, Carmen Argenziano, Ivan Reitman, K.K. Downing, Jayne Kennedy, Roberto Benigni, Peter Firth, Jeff East, Peter Marc Jacobson, David Hazeltine, Marla Maples, Matt Drudge, Scott Weiland, Peter O'Meara, Evan Coyne Maloney, Brad Radke, Jason Johnson, Elias Toufexis, Sheeri Rappaport, Stephanie Abrams, Vanessa-Mae, Patrick Fugit, Kelly Osbourne, Sebastian Gacki, and Eddie Alderson.

Okay, so what date will we be flashing back to this week?

Ah, October 27, 1958.  Wow, was 1958 really fifty-seven years ago?  Many of my classmates in school had parents that were born around that time!  It's wild how time passes by, huh?

I will say this.  Today's Tuesday Timeline subject was born on the date above.  And I'll say this.  He does NOT look 57 at all!

Seriously.  Have a look at the latest music video from the band that he has been a part of since the late 1970s.  He's the guy singing lead.

ARTIST:  Duran Duran f. Janelle Monet and Nile Rodgers
SONG:  Pressure Off

ALBUM:  Paper Gods
DATE RELEASED:  June 19, 2015
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  N/A

The first single from the band's fourteenth studio album (which was released on September 11, 2015) definitely shows that this band is in no danger of slowing down.  These wild boys continue to get everybody's reflexes going and continue to make their fans hungry like wolves for more.

Yes, the band's lineup - which consists of Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Roger Taylor, and Simon Le Bon - still perform and release music long after their 1981 debut album.  And one of these members is turning 57 today!

Happy birthday, Simon Le Bon!

Remember last week when I was saying that 1977 was the year that musicians died?  Well, I think 1958 was the year in which the music was born.  I can't believe how many singers were born during the year 1958!  Let's see, you have Prince, you have Madonna, there's Belinda Carlisle, and of course, the late Michael Jackson.  That's quite a lot of talent and frankly all of those artists were a huge part of my childhood soundtrack.

And certainly Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran were a huge part of my childhood soundtrack as well - albeit through osmosis, as my sister was a huge fan of the band and had a huge crush on one of the Taylors...I think it was John.

Anyway, Simon Le Bon's childhood was quite ordinary, although he did get his first taste of the entertainment industry at the ripe old age of six by appearing in a commercial for laundry detergent.

But as we well know, it wasn't until the 1980s that people really took notice of Duran Duran and Simon Le Bon.  The group was formed in 1978 by Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, and Stephen Duffy, but by 1979, Duffy was gone.  Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor joined the group not long afterwards, but the group still needed a lead singer, one that could get everybody's attention and really deliver the songs with style and finesse.

It was at the Rum Runner nightclub in Birmingham one night in May 1980 that Duran Duran found its lead singer.  Interestingly enough, it was Le Bon's ex-girlfriend who recommended him for the gig.  And rumour had it that Le Bon first met the band carrying a book of poetry wearing hot pink leopard pants!  How very 1980s!  But when Simon took his poems and put it to the backing music of the band and found that the combination worked, Le Bon officially joined the band in mid-1980, thinking that it would be a gig that would last six months to a year.

I bet he never thought he would still be with the band thirty-five years later!  Seriously, Le Bon and Nick Rhodes are the only two band members to stick with Duran Duran since the band released their first single, which happens to be this one.

ARTIST:  Duran Duran
SONG:  Planet Earth

ALBUM:  Duran Duran

DATE RELEASED:  February 2, 1981

PEAK POSITION ON THE UK CHARTS:  #12

It did take a little longer for the band to make it big in North America, but by 1984, the group had released several hit singles and had gone on tours all over the world.  By the middle of 1984 though, the band was exhausted and there were rumours of in-fighting within the band, so the group temporarily called it quits right around that time.

That's not to say that the members of Duran Duran did nothing in between.  John Taylor and Andy Taylor formed The Power Station with Robert Palmer, while Le Bon, Roger Taylor, and Nick Rhodes went on to put together this band in 1985.

ARTIST:  Arcadia

SONG:  Election Day

ALBUM:  So Red The Rose

DATE RELEASED:  October 1985

PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #6

Of course, by 1986, the band Duran Duran re-formed - minus Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor - and went on to release several more albums.  The original line-up briefly reunited in 2004, where they had a hit single with "Reach Up For The Sunrise", but Andy Taylor left the group for good, making Duran Duran the quartet it is today.

Now, since this post is about the lead singer of Duran Duran, I should mention that Simon Le Bon has had a fantastic run as lead singer.  How many other people can boast that they've been the lead singer of a band for thirty-five years other than say Mick Jagger?  Not many, I bet.

He's also done thousands of concerts and still has the energy to perform as if he were forever twenty-three...though he was sidelined for a couple of months in 1993 to recover from a torn vocal cord.  A similar instance occurred in 2011 where he had to cancel the rest of a summer tour.

He also survived a yachting accident when his maxi yacht capsized during a race, trapping him and his crew underwater for nearly three-quarters of an hour!  Despite this, he went on to compete in the Whitbread Round The World Race where he placed third!

Gotta admire his perseverance!