This Day in Music History — December 11

1957 : In what remains one of the most shocking celebrity scandals, Jerry Lee Lewis marries 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, who was the daughter of his cousin (and bass player), J.W. Brown. The marriage lasts 14 years but seriously damages Lewis’ career.

1964 : Sam Cooke is killed at age 33 when the manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles (where rooms cost $3 a night) shoots him three times. The manager claims that Cooke assaulted her and that he tried to rape his companion. The incident was ruled a justifiable homicide.

2012 : It is announced that Public Enemy is the fourth hip-hop act overall to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (the others that preceded PE into the Hall were Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Run-DMC, and the Beastie Boys). Other 2013 inductees were Rush, Heart, Albert King, Donna Summer, and Randy Newman.

2012 : Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar dies during surgery for a heart valve replacement in San Diego, California, at age 92. He was survived by two daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar. His son, musician Shubhendra Shankar, died in 1992.

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