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Featured Events
2005After reuniting to play four shows in London at Royal Albert Hall in May, Cream play the first of three sell-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1992"End Of The Road" by Boyz II Men ties Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel"/"Hound Dog" as the longest-running #1 single when it reaches its 11th week at the top. It spends two more weeks at #1, but loses the record three months later when Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" stays for 14 weeks.More
1989The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces its fifth class of inductees: The Who, Simon & Garfunkel, The Kinks, The Platters, Hank Ballard, Bobby Darin, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, Carole King, and Gerry Goffin.
1988John Fogerty's trial begins. He is accused of plagiarizing himself by using elements of his Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Run Through The Jungle" for his 1985 solo hit "The Old Man Down The Road." The suit is brought by his nemesis and former label boss Saul Zaentz, who owns the publishing on "Jungle." Fogerty wins the case.
1987The title track of Michael Jackson's Bad album hits #1 in America for the first of two weeks.
1986Aubrey Drake Graham is born in Toronto. After a stint on the TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation, he becomes a superstar rapper under the name Drake.
1978The movie version of The Wiz, which debuted as a Broadway stage production in 1975, hits theaters. The all-black cast includes Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. The film marks Jackson's acting debut.
1970"Lola" peaks at #9 in the US, giving The Kinks their first American Top 10 since "Tired of Waiting for You" in 1965. After their US tour in 1965, they were denied visas for the next three years, killing their momentum in that country. Following their return in 1969, "Lola" gets them back on the airwaves.
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In Music History
2017Marilyn Manson boots longtime bassist Twiggy Ramirez from his band in response to allegations from Jack Off Jill singer Jessicka Adams that he raped and abused her.
2017Fats Domino passes away at age 89 in his home in Harvey, Louisiana.
2016Photographer, artist, and lyricist Jeremy Ayers passes away after having a seizure and falling into a short coma. He had been a pivotal part of the Athens, Georgia, art scene and penned the lyrics for "52 Girls" by the B-52s, and "Windout" and "Old Man Kensey" by R.E.M.
2016Bobby Vee dies at age 73 after a long battle with Alzheimer's. In 1961, he had a #1 hit with "Take Good Care Of My Baby."
2013Tina Turner, who has obtained citizenship in Switzerland, where she has lived since 1995, relinquishes her United States citizenship.
2012R&B singer Bobby Brown is arrested in Los Angeles, California, for a DUI ticket - after a similar incident in March of the same year in which he'd pleaded no contest and agreed to attend rehab. This time he is released on bail.
2008Pianist/keyboardist Merl Saunders dies of infections caused by a stroke in San Francisco, California, at age 74.
2008In Chicago, Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother are shot and killed in their home by her sister's estranged husband, William Balfour. The body of her 7-year-old nephew is found three days later.
2007Backstreet Boys release Unbreakable, their first album without Kevin Richardson.More
2006To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its best-selling album, Def Leppard reissues Hysteria as a two-CD package. Beyond a remastered edition of the original album, the new edition includes a bonus disc with a host of non-album tracks first issued during the period.
2006Taylor Swift releases her self-titled debut album, a collection of country-pop tunes the singer wrote during her freshman year of high school. Led by the Top 20 single "Tim McGraw," it peaks at #5 on the Albums chart and becomes the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the US, logging 157 weeks by 2009.
2001Kim Gardner (bass guitarist for Ashton, Gardner & Dyke) dies of cancer in Los Angeles, California, at age 53.
2000Past Country Music Association entertainer of the year and ex-Hee Haw host Roy Clark joins the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
2000Lenny Kravitz releases his Greatest Hits album. Peaking at #2, the release marks his highest entry on the US albums chart. It also features the track "Again," which earns him his third consecutive Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
2000Shelley Fabares is admitted to a hospital for a liver transplant after being diagnosed with hepatitis.
James Brown Records Landmark Live Album
1962In the thick of the Cuban Missile Crisis, James Brown records his electrifying stage show for the album Live at the Apollo.
Brown has been wowing fans for years, but you wouldn't know it from his album sales, which typically sell about 10,000 copies. No studio can reproduce his energy, so he books a series of shows at the Apollo Theater in Harlem to record his first live album, paying for it himself because his label boss, Syd Nathan, has no interest. The Apollo is classy but raucous, the perfect place to put on the show he has honed on the Chitlin Circuit, complete with a bit where he falls to the ground during "Please Please Please" until an assistant places a cape over his shoulders and he finds the strength to continue. The whole show lasts just 30 minutes, but it packs a wallop. Live albums are typically the province of jazz musicians, and are usually stately affairs. Brown has other ideas. Microphones are placed just above the crowd, with the most enthusiastic fans well within earshot. His hype man, Fats Gonder, fires them up with a stirring introduction: It's indeed a great pleasure to present to you at this particular time, the performer nationally and internationally known as the Hardest Working Man In Show Business, Mr. Dynamite, the amazing Mr. Please Please himself, the star of the show, James Brown and the Famous Flames! Syd Nathan reluctantly issues the album, which contrary to convention, has no singles. But instead of ignoring it, R&B radio stations play the whole thing, running commercials after Side 1 while they flip the record. It's a big seller, reaching #2 on the US Albums chart behind Days Of Wine And Roses by Andy Williams. Brown gets a huge bump and becomes one of the biggest stars of the '60s and '70s, dominating the R&B chart while consistently landing on the mainstream charts as well, proof that he has found many white fans. Brown also proves the viability of the live album. As recording technology improves, live sets become some of the biggest sellers, with Live at Leeds (The Who), Frampton Comes Alive! (Peter Frampton) and Live at Budokan (Cheap Trick) among the biggest. Brown does three more albums at the Apollo and several others elsewhere, but his first is his most famous. In 2004, it becomes one of his few early recordings to get remastered.
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