10
Featured Events
1990Members of the rap group 2 Live Creware arrested on charges of public obscenity after performing songs from their album As Nasty As They Wanna Be in a Hollywood, Florida, nightclub. A few days earlier, a federal court ruled the album obscene, and therefore performing it is against the law. It gets even more ridiculous when a cover band performs the songs for the purpose of getting arrested, which they do. Eventually, the ruling is overturned and charges against the rappers (and cover band) are dropped.
1976Paul McCartney and Wings set a new indoor concert attendance record of 67,100 at the newly-opened Kingdome in Seattle.
1922Judy Garland is born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
10
In Music History
2016Rick Astley releases 50, his first album of original songs in 23 years, in the UK. It goes to #1 its first week.
2011Jack White and British model Karen Elson throw a "divorce party" to celebrate their amicable breakup. White was previously married to his White Stripes bandmate Meg White.
2010Appearing at Milan's PalaSharp Arena to promote his self-titled solo record, Slash, in the midst of performing the Guns N' Roses classic "Sweet Child o' Mine," is tackled by a concertgoer. The guitarist bravely keeps on rocking, eventually switching guitars and finishing the song. Afterward, Slash described the night as "a kick-ass rock show."
2009Barry Beckett, record producer and session musician of the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, dies in Hendersonville, Tennessee, at age 66.
2005Ottawa Governor General Adrienne Clarkson officially makes Paul Anka an Officer of the Order of Canada.
2003Following a four-year hiatus, Fountains of Wayne reunite in order to release Welcome Interstate Managers. The album spawns the hit single "Stacy's Mom."
2003The Luther Vandross album Dance With My Father is released two months after the singer suffered a debilitating stroke. The album goes to #1 in America and the title trackwins the Grammy Award for Song of the Year, but Vandross dies on July 1, 2005.
1992Model Kelly Emberg has her palimony suit against Rod Stewart thrown out.
1991In his first public appearance since being released from prison in February, James Brown stars in the Pay-Per-View concert special James Brown: Living in America. For $19.95, viewers can see Brown perform at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles along with MC Hammer, Bell Biv DeVoe, C+C Music Factory, Kool Moe Dee and En Vogue.
1991The Temptations' Eddie Kendricks is arrested at the funeral of fellow Temptations member David Ruffin for non-payment of child support.
1991Temptation David Ruffin's funeral is held in Detroit, with attendees including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and former bandmate Eddie Kendricks, who is arrested at the service for failure to pay child support.
1989De La Soul's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, debuts at #24 on the Billboard 200 chart. On the same day, "Me, Myself and I" hits #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
1988Steve Sanders (baritone singer, guitarist for The Oak Ridge Boys) dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 45.
1986Nitty Gritty Dirt Band celebrates its 20th anniversary with a concert in their hometown of Denver, Colorado.
Ray Charles Dies
2004
Ray Charles dies at age 73 of liver disease.
When times got tough, Ray Charles learned to lean into music. The Georgia-born soul singer was already learning how to play the piano by age 5, when his 4-year-old brother drowned in a laundry tub. Just two years later, he went completely blind after being stricken with glaucoma and begrudgingly enrolled in the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, where he trained in classical piano and learned to read music in Braille. By age 14, he was just beginning to cultivate his love for jazz and blues when his mother died.
By the time he landed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1952, Ray's baritone was so infused with passion and past heartaches that the blues couldn't contain it. Nor could gospel, jazz, or R&B. This voice had soul, and all the elements had to come together to support it. His first big hit, "I Got A Woman," is considered a prototype of the soul genre that would come full force in "What'd I Say," the 1959 smash that broke him through to mainstream pop. In addition to being an R&B star with Grammy Award-winning songs like "Georgia On My Mind" and "Hit The Road Jack," he let his fingers do the talking on a series of instrumental jazz albums and even ventured into country music.
But Ray continued to struggle in his personal life as his addictions to marijuana and heroin (a habit he kicked in 1966) led to many arrests throughout his career. He married twice and had 12 children to nine different women.
By 2004, Ray's catalog includes over 50 studio albums and 127 singles. He's won multiple Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There's even a biographical movie, Ray, in the works starring Jamie Foxx. But after a hip replacement surgery the year before, his health continues to decline and he dies at age 73 of acute liver disease.
By the time he landed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1952, Ray's baritone was so infused with passion and past heartaches that the blues couldn't contain it. Nor could gospel, jazz, or R&B. This voice had soul, and all the elements had to come together to support it. His first big hit, "I Got A Woman," is considered a prototype of the soul genre that would come full force in "What'd I Say," the 1959 smash that broke him through to mainstream pop. In addition to being an R&B star with Grammy Award-winning songs like "Georgia On My Mind" and "Hit The Road Jack," he let his fingers do the talking on a series of instrumental jazz albums and even ventured into country music.
But Ray continued to struggle in his personal life as his addictions to marijuana and heroin (a habit he kicked in 1966) led to many arrests throughout his career. He married twice and had 12 children to nine different women.
By 2004, Ray's catalog includes over 50 studio albums and 127 singles. He's won multiple Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There's even a biographical movie, Ray, in the works starring Jamie Foxx. But after a hip replacement surgery the year before, his health continues to decline and he dies at age 73 of acute liver disease.
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