16 AUGUST
Featured Events
1986 At a soggy Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington, England, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen gets a huge ovation when he takes the stage with the band. Twenty months earlier, Allen's left arm was severed in a car accident, and after extensive rehab and some warm-up gigs, he makes a triumphant return at the festival, playing barefoot behind a drum kit modified with electronic pedals. Scorpions and Motörhead are also on the bill, which is headlined by Ozzy Osbourne.
1977 The King is dead. Elvis Presley dies at his home in Graceland as a result of an overdose from prescription drugs.More
1969 It's Day 2 of Woodstock, featuring performances by the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Santana. One memorable moment comes during The Who's set, when the activist Abbie Hoffman interrupts their set and grabs the microphone. After saying a few words about fellow activist John Sinclair, Pete Townshend hits him with his guitar.
1969 Eric Clapton's supergroup Blind Faith release their self-titled album. On the cover is a photo of a naked 11-year-old girl holding a model spacecraft.More
1967 After playing a midnight show at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Louis Armstrong heads to United Recording Studios, where he records "What a Wonderful World" in a session that ends around 6 a.m.
1962 Stevie Wonder's first single is released: "I Call It Pretty Music (But Old People Call It The Blues)." Motown newbie Marvin Gaye plays drums on the track.
1962 Pete Best is fired as drummer for The Beatles, replaced by Ringo Starr. The group's manager Brian Epstein does the firing by calling Best into his record shop and giving him the bad news.
1958 Madonna Louise Ciccone is born in Bay City, Michigan. Shortening her name to a mononym, she becomes the best-selling female singer of all time.More
16 AUGUST
In Music History
2023 Britney Spears' third husband, Sam Asghari, files for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. They started dating in 2017 after he played her love interest in the "Slumber Party" video, and got married in June 2022.
2014 To announce Syro, his first Aphex Twin album in 13 years, Richard James arranges for a blimp to fly over London with his iconic logo on one side and the year on the other. The same logo is also spraypainted on New York sidewalks.
2008 Noah and the Whale make a splash when their debut single "5 Years Time" peaks at #7 on the UK Singles Chart. It proves to be the biggest hit for the British group.
2005 Country/Bluegrass fiddler Vassar Clements (of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys) dies of lung cancer in Jamestown, New York, at age 77.
2003 The USPS unveils a new commemorative postage stamp of recently deceased composer Henry Mancini, famous for the Pink Panther theme and several other film works.
2002 Twenty-five years after the death of Elvis Presley, an album containing 30 of his #1 hits is released with "A Little Less Conversation" as a bonus track - a remix of that one went to #1 UK in June.
2000 Guitarist Alan Caddy (of The Tornados) dies at age 60 after a lifelong battle with alcoholism.
1997 A tribute concert is held in Memphis, Tennessee, remembering Elvis Presley on the 20th anniversary of his death. Daughter Lisa Marie unveils the music video "Don't Cry Daddy," a virtual duet with her father that features his original vocals from the 1969 tune along with her own.
1997 The seventh annual Lollapalooza tour comes to a close at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, with Korn, Snoop Dogg and Tool headlining. With alternative music on the wane, it's the last Lollapalooza until 2003, when a more limited version of the tour is launched.
1997 Greyson Chance is born in Wichita Falls, Texas. After finding success on YouTube, he releases his first album at age 13.
1996 With the help of Broadway star Chita Rivera, over 50,000 baseball fans at Yankee Stadium break the record for the largest group dance when they bust a move to the "Macarena," the decade's latest dance craze.
1995 Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs live for the first time with his daughters Carnie and Wendy, recently famous for their stint in the trio Wilson Phillips.
1994 Barenaked Ladies release their second studio album, Maybe You Should Drive.
1994 Neil Young releases Sleeps with Angels, the title of which is inspired by the death of Kurt Cobain. Young's 20th studio album, its dark, brooding sound contrasts sharply with his previous album, Harvest Moon.
1991 Wilfrid Thomas, broadcaster and radio commentator, dies in London, England, at age 87. Wrote the English lyrics to "Rose, Rose, I Love You," recorded by Frankie Laine in 1951.
Aretha Franklin Dies
2018Aretha Franklin dies after a long battle with pancreatic cancer at age 76.
They didn't call her the Queen of Soul for nothing. Franklin's death also marks the end of a career that spanned more than six decades with a catalog of 112 charted singles, including 77 entries on the Hot 100 and 20 #1 R&B hits, along with 18 Grammy Awards to her credit. Born in Memphis but raised in Detroit, Franklin found her voice at the New Bethel Baptist Church, where her father was the minister. After years of belting out bluesy gospel numbers, the 18-year-old singer signed with Columbia Records but the label's efforts to shape her into a jazz-pop chanteuse fell flat. A fortuitous move to Atlantic in the mid-'60s forged her reputation as the Queen of Soul. Producer Jerry Wexler augmented her powerhouse vocals with Alabama's famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and Franklin set the charts on fire with hit singles like "Respect," "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman," "Chain Of Fools," and "I Say a Little Prayer." Her hot streak continued in the early '70s with Young, Gifted & Black, named for Nina Simone's Civil Rights anthem, and the acclaimed gospel album Amazing Grace, until a mid-decade chart slump made her reexamine her career. Franklin came back strong in the '80s with a rejuvenated sound at Clive Davis' Arista Records through a string of hit albums, including her first platinum seller, Who's Zoomin' Who?, which surpassed the threshold with more than a million sales. Her appearance as a feisty waitress in The Blues Brothers also furthered her popularity with a new generation of fans. In 1987, she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In the latter part of her career, some of Franklin's most iconic performances occurred outside of the studio, singing "My Country, 'Tis Of Thee" at President Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural ceremony and performing "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman" at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors for honoree Carole King, who co-wrote the tune. She never seriously considered hanging up her microphone for good because, as she told NPR, "I love what I do and I wouldn't be doing anything else."
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