24 APRIL
In Music History
1992 Problems for Wilson Pickett, who hits 86-year-old Pepe Ruiz with his car, which has open beer and vodka bottles in it.
1992 David Bowie marries his second wife, the Somalian-born supermodel and entrepreneur Iman, in a private ceremony in Switzerland. The couple relocate to New York City soon after, and in 2000, Iman gives birth to Alexandria Jones - Bowie's second child (his son, the film director Duncan Jones, was born to his first wife, Angela Barnett, in 1971).
1989 Initially rejected by his label, the Tom Petty album Full Moon Fever is finally released, the first credited to him as a solo artist.More
1988 Mick Fleetwood marries the singer Sara Recor (who partly inspired the song "Sara") at their Malibu home. His Fleetwood Mac bandmate John McVie is best man; attendees include Bob Dylan, Dick Clark, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Mac members Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham. The couple divorce a few years later.
1984 Jerry Lee Lewis gets married again, this time to the 22-year-old president of his fan club, Kerrie McCarver. The marriage lasts 21 years.
1984 Tyson Ritter (frontman of The All-American Rejects) is born in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
1983 With Los Angeles punk rock running afoul of authorities, the Minutemen play a guerilla concert in the Mojave desert, where fans are bussed in. It's the first of a series of "Desolation Center" concerts that are the precursor to Burning Man and other desert music festivals.More
1977 At the Volkshaus in Zurich, Talking Heads begin their first European tour, supporting their Sire labelmates The Ramones.
1976 Wings' LP At The Speed Of Sound hits #1.
1974 David Bowie releases Diamond Dogs. The cover is a painting of Bowie as a half-dog, half-man creature created by the Dutch artist Guy Peellaert.
1972 John Lennon releases "Woman Is The Ni--er Of The World."
1971 The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album 4 Way Street, recorded at various stops on their 1970 tour, hits #1 in America.
1970 Ringo Starr's debut solo album, a collection of standards called Sentimental Journey, is released in the US.
1970 Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, invited to a White House tea party by Tricia Nixon because they both attended Finch College, shows up with Abbie Hoffman and a plan to slip LSD into Richard Nixon's tea. They never get past security.
1970 Chicago blues pianist Otis Spann dies at age 40 of liver cancer. His grave will go unmarked for nearly 30 years until blues enthusiasts unite to raise money for a headstone. Unveiled in 1999, it reads: "Otis played the deepest blues we ever heard – He'll play forever in our hearts."
24 APRIL
Featured Events
2007 US President George W. Bush is denied a luxury suite at the Imperial Hotel in Vienna when Mick Jagger, in town with The Rolling Stones on a tour, books it first.
1982 Kelly Clarkson is born in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2002 she becomes the first winner of American Idol, and she lives up to the hype, becoming one of the top pop stars of the next two decades.
1979 Ray Charles sings "Georgia On My Mind" at a ceremony where it is named the official state song of Georgia.
1976 With rumors of a Beatles reunion swirling, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels goes on camera to offer the guys $3,000 (union scale) to reunite on the show. Paul McCartney and John Lennon are watching at Lennon's New York City apartment and consider showing up on a lark, but pass up the opportunity.
1975 Pete Ham of Badfinger hangs himself in his London home. 27-year-old Ham, who was the group's lead singer and primary songwriter, was despondent over the business dealings that saw the band's album Wish You Were Here pulled from stores and his income cut off. He leaves behind a pregnant girlfriend who gives birth to a daughter the following month.
1961 Bob Dylan makes his professional recording debut when he plays harmonica on the Harry Belafonte recording of "Midnight Special." Dylan makes $50 for the session.
©2024 Songfacts®, LLC