Pick a Day

2 AUGUST

In Music History

2019 Skillet release their 10th album, Victorious, featuring the songs "Legendary" and "Save Me." The album is produced by the band's frontman, John Cooper, and his wife/bandmate, Korey Cooper.

2019 With a show in Hannover, Germany on the 246th date of his ÷ (Divide) tour, Ed Sheeran breaks the record for highest-grossing tour, surpassing the $735.3 million U2 earned on their 2009-2011 360 tour (they did it in just 110 shows). Sheeran finishes the tour August 26 with a final tally of $775.6 million.

2010 Arcade Fire release The Suburbs, their third studio album. It's almost universally lauded by fans and critics alike, with the latter feeling that the album fully realizes the great artistic potential hinted at by Funeral and Neon Bible, the band's first two albums.More

2009 Rockabilly musician Billy Lee Riley dies of colon cancer at age 75. Known for the 1957 hit "Red Hot."

2007 Elvis Presley Enterprises announces plans to revamp Graceland, the singer's home, with a visitor's center, convention hotel, and high-tech multimedia displays.

2004 Eric Clapton bails out Cordings clothing store in London, a favorite of his since his teenage years, by purchasing a 50 percent share in the retailer.

2001 Ron Townson (of The 5th Dimension) dies of renal failure as a result of kidney disease at age 68.

1997 Fela Kuti, a multi-instrumentalist and pioneer of Afrobeat, dies of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma, at age 58.

1987 David Martin (bass player for Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs and co-writer of "Wooly Bully") dies of a heart attack at age 50.

1983 Motown bass player James Jamerson dies at age 47 from a host of ailments, including cirrhosis of the liver and heart failure. Unheralded during his lifetime (he had to buy a ticket to see the Motown 25 special, Jamerson is later recognized as an integral part of the Motown sound; in 2000 he is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1982 José Feliciano marries Susan Omillian in California.

1980 Olivia Newton-John's "Magic," from the Xanadu soundtrack, hits #1 in America.

1978 Boston release their second album, Don't Look Back, which like its predecessor was recorded mostly in group leader Tom Scholz' basement studio.

1973 "Papa" John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas files suit against his former label, Dunhill, alleging $60 million in unpaid royalties.

1972 Brian Cole (bass guitarist for The Association) dies of a heroin overdose at age 29.