10 APRIL
Featured Events
2007 The Hendersonville, Tennessee, house once owned by Johnny Cash burns to the ground. It had been purchased after Cash's death by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees, who planned to renovate it.
1998 Three days after being arrested in a Los Angeles park for lewd conduct, George Michael comes out as gay in an interview with CNN. "I have no problem with people knowing that I'm in a relationship with a man right now," he says.
1993 Depeche Mode's eighth album, Songs of Faith and Devotion, reaches #1 in America, knocking Whitney Houston's soundtrack from The Bodyguard off the top spot, and holding off challengers Eric Clapton, Kenny G and Sting. Inspired by the grunge scene, the band adds distorted guitars and live drums to their signature synth sound.More
1985 Madonna begins her first tour, the Virgin Tour, in Seattle. Her opening act is a petulant, little-known white rap trio called the Beastie Boys, which gets booed throughout their set.
1976 Peter Frampton's album Frampton Comes Alive! hits #1 in the US, where it stays for 10 non-consecutive weeks, more than any other album in 1976.
1970 In publicity materials released to promote his first solo album, Paul McCartney indicates that he's done with The Beatles.More
1970 At one of the band's last concerts, in Boston, Doors frontman Jim Morrison asks the audience if they'd like to see something of his "that rhymes with 'sock,'" and then, more bluntly, screams "Would you like to see my genitals?" The power in the stadium is switched off, and keyboardist Ray Manzarek pulls the singer, already facing similar charges from a Miami gig, off the stage.
1962 Stu Sutcliffe, original bass guitarist for The Beatles, dies at age 21 of a brain aneurysm.
1956 Performing to an all-white audience at a segregated show in Birmingham, Alabama, Nat King Cole is attacked by four members of the Ku Klux Klan who rush the stage to assault him. Cole suffers a back injury and is treated at the hospital, but returns that night to play his second show, this time to an all-black audience. The attackers receive the maximum sentence of 180 days in jail.
10 APRIL
In Music History
2012 Robin Gibb's orchestral production Titanic Requiem (released to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of The Titanic) premieres in London.
2009 Blues musician Rocky Hill dies at age 62 of undisclosed medical complications.
2007 Fantasia Barrino becomes the first American Idol winner to star in a Broadway musical when she takes on the role of Celie in The Color Purple. In 2023, she plays the same role in the film adaptation.
2007 Jazz singer Dakota Staton, known for the 1957 hit "The Late, Late Show," dies at age 76.
2004 Two months after her "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl, Janet Jackson hosts Saturday Night Live and is also the musical guest.
2003 Pop singer Little Eva dies at age 59, 18 months after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.
2003 Country singer Noel Fox (of The Oak Ridge Boys) dies at age 63, days after suffering a massive stroke.
2002 South Carolina Governor James Hodges declares James Brown the state's "Godfather Of Soul."
1999 The all-star tribute concert Here There and Everywhere: A Concert For Linda is held at London's Royal Albert Hall, where Paul McCartney, George Michael, Chrissie Hynde (of The Pretenders), Elvis Costello and Sinead O'Connor raise money for animal charities while remembering Paul's wife Linda, who has recently succumbed to breast cancer.
1998 Cleveland radio disc jockey Eddie O'Jay, a pioneer of R&B radio who inspired The O'Jays' moniker and became their manager, dies at age 73.
1998 The romantic drama City of Angels premieres in theaters, starring Nicolas Cage as an angel who gives up eternal life to be with a mortal woman (Meg Ryan). The soundtrack features Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited" and the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris." Both songs were written specifically for the film.
1995 Lee Greenwood and wife, Kim, welcome a baby boy, Dalton Lee, in Nashville.
1992 Brash stand-up comedian Sam Kinison, who also appeared in several music videos ("Bad Medicine," "Kickstart My Heart," "Wild Thing"), dies at age 38 when his car is hit by a teenage drunk driver.
1991 Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits guest stars as a rock star on the "Glitter Rock - April 12, 1974" episode of Quantum Leap.
1990 Maren Morris is born in Arlington, Texas. She moves to Nashville and launches a successful career in country music, but her biggest hit comes when she lends vocals to the "The Middle," a techno-dance track by the producer Zedd.
Banned Gainsbourg/Birkin Duet Hits #1 In UK
1969Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's steamy duet "Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus" hits #1 in the UK, where it's banned by the BBC.
In "Je T'aime… Moi Non Plus" ("I Love You… Me Neither"), we're thrown into the sack with Gainsbourg and Birkin, who are in the midst of making love and murmuring erotic musings to each other. The lyrics are punctuated by Birkin's moaning, which hits a crescendo at the climax of the song. She's so convincing, people actually think the pair – who are real-life lovers – recorded themselves in bed. It's an old rumor that started with Gainsbourg's original duet partner, Brigitte Bardot. Gainsbourg, a French filmmaker, songwriter, and poet, initially recorded the controversial song in 1967 with Bardot, a married actress with whom he was having an affair. When news of the supposedly tawdry session hit the tabloids, Bardot's husband demanded she abandon the project. The following year, Gainsbourg met English actress Jane Birkin on the set of the film Slogan and pitched the duet to her. Despite reports to the contrary, they cut the tune during a run-of-the-mill session at a London recording studio. The response, however, was anything but ordinary. Critics called it soft-core porn set to music, and its "obscene" content stunted its traction in the US, where radio stations were too afraid to play it. The Vatican immediately denounced it and, allegedly, the Pope was so furious at the record executive who brought it to Italy that he had him ex-communicated. To top it off, it was banned by the BBC. But there's no better promotional tool than controversy, and the song peaked at #1 in the UK. Decades later, Birkin is still confused by the hubbub surrounding the tune. "It wasn't a rude song at all," she told MOJO in 2004. "I don't know what all the fuss was about. The English just didn't understand it. I'm still not sure they know what it means."
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