9 AUGUST
Featured Events
1995 The original members of Kiss play together for the first time since 1980 when Peter Criss and Ace Frehley join the current band to record their MTV Unplugged special, which is later released as the album Kiss Unplugged. Not counting Ace Frehley's 1976 wedding, it also marks the only time the original members have performed without makeup. The appearance goes over so well that Criss and Frehley rejoin the band in 1996, replacing Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer. The subsequent outing becomes the top-grossing tour that year.
1986 At the Knebworth Park Festival in England, Queen play their last concert with Freddie Mercury, who dies five years later. An audience of 120,000 hears them close out with "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions" and "God Save The Queen."
1975 "Jive Talkin'" by the Bee Gees goes to #1 in the US, becoming their first disco chart-topper. It holds the position for two weeks.
1963 Whitney Houston is born in Newark, New Jersey.
1961 The movie Come September, starring first-time actor Bobby Darin and his wife Sandra Dee, opens in theaters. The pair met on set and married after a whirlwind romance.
1949 In New York, Louis Jordan records "Saturday Night Fish Fry," a #1 R&B hit for 12 weeks.
9 AUGUST
In Music History
2023 Robbie Robertson of The Band dies at 80.
2021 Jason Isbell becomes the first major artist to require proof of COVID vaccination or a current negative test to attend his shows. "I'm all for freedom, but I think if you're dead, you don't have any freedoms at all," he says.
2010 Blues bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones dies of complications from lung cancer and a heart attack at age 84 in Southaven, Mississippi.
2008 In an interview with the Calgary Herald, Full House actor Dave Coulier claims he's the subject of his ex-girlfriend Alanis Morissette's hit 1995 song "You Oughta Know." Morissette won't confirm or deny the mystery man's identity, but tells Entertainment Weekly: "Fifty-five people can take credit for that song, and I'm always curious about why they're doing it. But Dave is the most public about it."
2007 Mark Marush, saxophonist for the Fabulous Wailers, dies.
2005 Nickelback release "Photograph," the first single from their album All The Right Reasons. Inspired by a drunken snapshot, the song is about Chad Kroeger's memories of growing up in a small town in Alberta.More
2003 Daron Malakian of System Of A Down plays in the annual Hollywood Stars Night celebrity baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Vexed by his teammates, he writes "Old School Hollywood," which appears on their next album, Mezmerize. One actor gets a specific mention: "Tony Danza cuts in line."
2002 Lisa Marie Presley marries actor Nicolas Cage, a union that lasts less than four months.
1997 In Sheffield, England, The Verve play their first show since their breakup two years earlier. The following month, they release their album Urban Hymns, which becomes one of the most successful in UK history.
1994 Lynyrd Skynyrd release Endangered Species, their eight album.
1993 Lionel Richie finally divorces his first wife Brenda Harvey, who was his college sweetheart. After carrying on a secret relationship with Diane Alexander since 1986, it was only a matter of time. Richie married Alexander on December 21, 1995 and fathered two children, Miles Brockman and Sophia, before the pair split in 2004.
1991 The 5th Dimension are awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
1988 Edie Brickell & New Bohemians release their debut album, Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars, the title a reference to their longshot chances of making it big. The first single is the easygoing, introspective "What I Am," which stands out from the dance music and hair metal on the charts and becomes a surprise hit.
1985 Looking to capitalize on the success of the Motown 25 special, NBC debuts a variety series called Motown Revue, which is cancelled after a five-week run.
1983 22-year-old Thomas Reilly is shot and killed by a British soldier in Belfast. He was a friend of the band Spandau Ballet, and sold merch on their True tour. His death would inspire the band's song "Through The Barricades" and the Bananarama song "King Of The Jungle."
Jerry Garcia Dies
1995Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead dies from a heart attack at age 53. His voice fills the airwaves as millions of Deadheads mourn.
Shortly before 5 a.m., Jerry Garcia is found dead in his bed in the Serenity Knolls drug rehab facility in Forest Knolls, California, having passed in the night from a heart attack. Nine years earlier, Garcia had nearly died in a diabetic coma. He'd been using drugs and smoking heavily for decades, but still, his death comes as a shock. Garcia's funeral is held three days later at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere, California. At the service, Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter reads an elegy for his collaborator and friend. On August 13, a public memorial is held at the Polo Fields of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where 25,000 people attend and a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" is performed. On April 4, 1996, fellow Dead founder Bob Weir, Garcia's wife Deborah Koons, and music composer Sanjay Mishra spread half of Garcia's ashes over the Ganges River in Rishikesh, India. The remaining ashes are poured into San Francisco Bay, in the city where Garcia was born. The subculture that grew up around the Grateful Dead has lost the hesitant captain that never really desired to lead anybody anywhere. The music continues in various forms, as does the subculture, but nearly all involved feel that something of the magic is irrevocably lost with Garcia's passing. Garcia leaves behind a legacy of songs that, with the exception of "Touch Of Grey," never broke into the top of the charts, yet went on to become staples of classic rock. He has a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Dead.
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