March 20: On This Day

In 1991 – Conor Clapton, the 4-year-old son of rock guitarist Eric Clapton, dies when he falls out the window of a 53rd-floor apartment in New York. The tragedy was the second for Clapton in less than a year. His agent, tour manager and bodyguard died the previous summer in the same plane crash that killed blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.

In 1984 – Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats marries actress Britt Ekland. They later divorced in 1992.

In 1980 – A 28-year-old truck driver takes the office manager of Elektra/Asylum Records’ New York branch hostage. Joseph Riviera, the kidnapper, demands that either Jackson Browne or the Eagles give him money in order to start his own business. Neither responds, and he eventually surrenders to New York police.

In 1976 – Alice Cooper married 19-year-old Sheryl Goddard, a ballerina instructor/choreographer whom performed in the Alice Cooper show from 1975 to 1982. In November 1983, at the height of Cooper’s alcoholism, Sheryl filed for divorce, but by mid-1984, she and Cooper had reconciled. The couple has remained together since. They have three children.

In 1971 – Yes release The Yes Album in the UK.