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Featured Events
1993Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie dies of pancreatic cancer in Englewood, New Jersey, at age 75.
1993Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman leaves the group after 30 years of service. "I left because I didn't see anything new happening in the future," he says. "I realized if we played for another 10 years I'd still be playing 'Jumpin' Jack Flash,' 'Honky Tonk Women,' 'Street Fighting Man' until we packed up."
1976Peter Frampton's live double album, Frampton Comes Alive!, is released. Powered by his trusty talkbox sound, it becomes one of the best-selling live albums in history.More
1973Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" hits #1 on the Hot 100. Listeners wonder just who the mystery man with the apricot jacket (high fashion!) is.
1957Elvis Presley makes his third and final appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, where he performs seven songs in three segments, including "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel" and "Heartbreak Hotel." He is only seen from the waist up, leaving viewers to speculate as to what the screams in the audience are about.
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In Music History
2019Kanye West debuts his weekly Sunday Service series at his home in Calabasas, California. The event, teased on social media by wife Kim Kardashian, features gospel-soul takes of Kanye's hits with the rapper's celebrity pals rounding out the congregation.More
2017Netflix launches a reboot of the '70s TV series One Day At A Time, this time with a theme song by Gloria Estefan and centered on a Cuban family. Estefan later appears on the show, playing Rita Moreno's sister.
2012Wiz Khalifa is sued for $2.3 million over his hit song "Black and Yellow." Max Warren, who raps under the name "Maxamillion," claims Khalifa, his producers, and his label stole the song from him. In the lawsuit, Warren states that the idea for the song was taken from his copyrighted 2007 song "Pink and Yellow." Khalifa claims he's never heard of Warren or his music.
2012NRBQ drummer Tom Ardolino dies of complications from diabetes at age 56.
2009Ron Asheton (guitarist for The Stooges) is found dead of an apparent heart attack in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at age 60.
2007"Sneaky Pete" Kleinow (pedal steel guitarist for The Flying Burrito Brothers), suffering from Alzheimer's, dies in Petaluma, California, at age 72.
1999Jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani dies at age 36. Born with a debilitating genetic condition, he became a top performer in his native France.
1999Photographed by Annie Liebowitz, the Backstreet Boys appear in a print campaign with milk mustaches to promote the beverage.
1996Eazy-E's posthumous single "Just Tah Let U Know" hits #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
1993Lucky Thirteen, a Neil Young compilation album with four previously unreleased tracks, hits stores. It's his second compilation album, with the first being the Decade triple album released in 1977.
1992Steve Gilpin (vocalist for MI-sex) dies after a severe car accident leaves him in a coma in Southport, Queensland, Australia, at age 42.
1987In Australia, Elton John has throat surgery to remove a lesion on his vocal chords, forcing him to cancel his upcoming US tour. It's good news: the lesion isn't cancerous and he makes a full recovery.
1980Georgeanna Tillman (of The Marvelettes) dies of lupus and sickle cell anemia a month shy of her 36th birthday.
1979The Bee Gees' "Too Much Heaven" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.
1979Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits, Volume 2 album hits #1 in America.
American Bandstand Audience Teaches Village People YMCA Dance
1979The Village People appear on American Bandstand, where the crowd does the soon-to-be famous arm movements spelling out "Y.M.C.A." Host Dick Clark makes sure they learn those moves, and they do.
For their Bandstand appearance, the group has choreography for the song that includes throwing their hands in the air during the climactic chorus. But this audience is filled with cheerleaders, who interpret it as "give me a Y!" They also do the M, C and A, creating the iconic dance. When The Village People released their first album in 1977, it was with lead singer Victor Willis, a group of studio musicians, and Felipe Rose, who plays the Indian. They filled in their cast of characters by placing an ad in trade magazines that read: Macho Types Wanted. Must Have Moustache. Willis became the cop, and four others were chosen to portray other male avatars: construction worker, cowboy, soldier, leatherman. It's campy fun targeted to the gay community but accessible to anyone who can still tollerate disco. Their second album, Macho Man, gave them a modest hit with the title track, but it was "Y.M.C.A.," a cut from their third album, Cruisin', that got the attention of Dick Clark. The entire show is dedicated to the Village People, who perform four songs, starting with "Y.M.C.A." They incorporate the gestures into their routine, which audiences quickly pick up on. The song peaks at #2 in America on February 3, but it lives on at weddings, bar mitzvahs, dances and sporting events for years to come, with crowds spelling out the chorus. In the UK, it's an even bigger sensation: on the same day their Bandstand episode airs, it hits #1 in Britain, where it stays for three weeks. In April, they become the first disco group to tour arenas, including a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. As disco fades, so does the band. Victor Willis leaves in 1980, and later that year, the group stars in the film Can't Stop the Music (alongside Bruce Jenner), which flops. They release their last album in 1985, but continue as a live act for hire, playing lots of bar mitzvahs. In 2017, Willis gains control of the name and begins performing with a new version of the group. The previous iteration, which includes original members Rose and Alex Briley (the soldier), carries on under the name "The Kings of Disco."
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