31
Featured Events
2015On his 70th birthday, Van Morrison plays two shows on Cyprus Avenue in Belfast, inspiration for his song "Cyprus Avenue."More
2004Green Day release the title track of their new album American Idiot as a single three weeks before the album is issued. Both the song and the album are wildly successful and highly acclaimed, with each nominated for multiple Grammy Awards (winning for Best Rock Album). American Idiot later becomes a successful stage musical.
1999Led by the hit single "Ready To Run," the Dixie Chicks release their second major-label album, Fly. More
1994R. Kelly, 27, marries 15-year-old Aaliyah at the Sheraton hotel in Rosemont, Illinois (her age on the marriage certificate is listed as 18). The marriage is annulled when Aaliyah's family finds out, and few details emerge as neither party will talk about it publicly. Kelly, who produced Aaliyah's debut album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, which was released before their wedding, tells GQ in 2016: "I can tell you I loved her, I can tell you she loved me, we was very close."
1987MTV debuts Club MTV, their contemporary and far more lascivious version of American Bandstand.More
1971John Lennon leaves England to start a new life with his wife, Yoko, in New York City. He never returns to England.
31
In Music History
2019Ellie Goulding marries the art dealer Caspar Jopling at York Minster Cathedral in a wedding attended by Katy Perry, James Blunt, Princess Eugenie, and Sarah, Duchess of York.
2014Survivor lead singer Jimi Jamison dies from a heart attack aged 63.
2014The Raskins, who have paid $1 million to join Mötley Crüe on tour, are accosted by members of the headliner's road crew who come on stage and spray them with urine during their set at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, according to a lawsuit filed by the band.
2012Eddie Van Halen, of Van Halen lead-guitar fame, is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery on his digestive system to correct a severe bout of diverticulitis. Tour dates with Van Halen are rescheduled as he recovers.
2012Entertainer Max Bygraves dies after a battle with Alzheimer's disease in Hope Island, Queensland, Australia, at age 89.
2010Papa Roach release their first live album, Time for Annihilation. Alongside nine live tracks, the record contains five new studio tracks.
2001Aaliyah's funeral is held at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan, New York, six days after her death in a plane crash in The Bahamas. Hundreds of weeping fans march alongside the singer's casket, which is carried by a horse-drawn carriage to a private service with Gladys Knight, Lil' Kim, Sean Combs, Timbaland, and Missy Elliott in attendance. After the service, 22 doves are released in her memory, representing each year of her life.
1992Prince extends his contract with Warner Bros. in a deal reported as being worth $100 million, but worth far less in reality.More
1985The serial killer Richard Ramirez is captured in Los Angeles and later convicted for 13 murders. At one of the crime scenes, he left behind an AC/DC hat. The media dubbed him the "Night Stalker," and speculated that the band's song "Night Prowler" compelled him to kill, an assertion that is never substantiated, but unfairly links the killer to AC/DC, which is horrified by the association.
1980Karen Carpenter (of the Carpenters) marries her first and only husband, a California real estate developer named Thomas Burris. She files for divorce the following year.
1978The Grateful Dead perform "Shakedown Street" live for the first time ever at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.
1974The final Partridge Family episode airs on ABC, starring the musical family.
1973The Rolling Stones release Goat's Head Soup.
1971Seeking payment of back royalties, The Rolling Stones sue both their former manager Andrew Loog Oldham and their ex-publisher, Allen Klein.
1970Singer/songwriter Debbie Gibson is born in Brooklyn, New York.
George Harrison Guilty Of "Subconscious Plagiarism"
1976George Harrison is found guilty of "subconscious plagiarism" in a bizarre lawsuit that leaves songwriters baffled.
A judge rules that Harrison's 1970 song "My Sweet Lord" is musically similar to "He's So Fine," a 1963 hit for the girl group The Chiffons, and orders him to pay nearly $1.6 million in damages. The lawsuit was filed by Bright Tunes Music on February 10, 1971 as "My Sweet Lord" was falling down the charts. Bright Tunes is controlled by The Tokens, who set it up as part of their production company, which produced "He's So Fine" and owns the publishing rights. The song's writer, Ronnie Mack, died of cancer shortly after the song was released. Harrison tried to settle the case, but Bright Tunes rejected the offer and the case was tried over three days in February 1976. After hearing all about musical motifs and chord progressions, the judge declares the songs "virtually identical," but admits Harrison didn't do it on purpose. Still, this "subconscious plagiarism" doesn't exonerate him, and he's on the hook. Harrison mocks the case on "This Song," a track from his November 1976 album Thirty Three & 1/3. "This song... Don't infringe on anyone's copyright," he sings. Frustrated and depleted from the case, Harrison doesn't release another album until 1979.
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