10 APRIL
In Music History
1990 Public Enemy release their highly anticipated third album, Fear Of A Black Planet, with the incendiary lead single "Fight The Power." The album becomes the first in hip-hop history to sell a million copies its first week of release.
1990 A Tribe Called Quest release their debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, drawing comparisons to the mellow grooves of De La Soul. It doesn't do much damage on the charts but ages well, with the songs "Can I Kick It?" and "Bonita Applebum" earning a place as hip-hop classics.
1989 The Cult release their fourth album, Sonic Temple, which peaks at #10 on the US chart. The album features some of The Cult's biggest hits, including "Fire Woman," "Sun King," "Edie (Ciao Baby)" and "Sweet Soul Sister."
1988 George Michael and Madonna are "honored" at the 8th Golden Raspberry Awards, where the former Wham! singer takes Worst Original Song for "I Want Your Sex," the #2 hit featured in Beverly Hills Cop II, and Madonna is named Worst Actress for her role as Nikki Finn in Who's That Girl. It's Madge's second consecutive win in the category, having landed the prize the year before for her role in Shanghai Surprise.
1986 Linda Creed, the "Lyric Queen of Philadelphia" who wrote hits for The Spinners, The Stylistics, and Whitney Houston, dies of cancer at 37. In 1992, she's inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
1984 Singer and actress Mandy Moore is born Amanda Leigh Moore in Nashua, New Hampshire.
1980 Bass guitarist Bryce Soderberg (of Lifehouse) is born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
1979 Italian composer Nino Rota, who won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Godfather Part II, dies at age 67 of heart failure.
1979 Pop singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor is born in Hounslow, London, England.
1976 Stevie Wonder is featured in an ad in Down Beat magazine, endorsing the Mu-Tron III effects pedal, which uses synthesizer envelopes to create a wah effect for guitar. Wonder had used the pedal on his 1973 smash "Higher Ground."
1975 Alt rock singer-songwriter Chris "Ender" Carrabba (of Dashboard Confessional) is born in West Hartford, Connecticut.
1973 Led Zeppelin's album Houses Of The Holy is certified Gold.
1970 Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest is born Jonathan Davis in New York City.
1970 Elton John releases Elton John, his first album in America and second in the UK. It includes "Your Song" and "Take Me To The Pilot."
1970 R&B singer Kenny Lattimore ("Never Too Busy," "For You") is born in Washington, DC.
Paul McCartney Quits The Beatles - Sort Of
1970In publicity materials released to promote his first solo album, Paul McCartney indicates that he's done with The Beatles.
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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 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.
1969 Serge 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.More
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.
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