Pick a Day

Music History Events: Natural Disasters

March 15, 2006 Remnants of Fats Domino's two pianos are discovered and saved by the Louisiana State Museum after attempting to salvage his Ninth Ward home after Hurricane Katrina.More

October 17, 2005 Fats Domino returns to his Ninth Ward home for the first time since Hurricane Katrina to find it utterly destroyed, with his piano and several of his gold records among the ruined items.

August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina pounds New Orleans. One of the victims is Barry Cowsill of The Cowsills, who dies by drowning at age 50. Fats Domino, 77, survives after he is rescued from his home in the Ninth Ward.

December 28, 2005 Barry Cowsill (of The Cowsills) is found under a wharf in the Mississippi River. Cowsill, living in New Orleans, survived Hurricane Katrina but drowned in the flooding following the storm.

November 2, 2005 Depeche Mode is forced to cancel their tour opener in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after Hurricane Wilma devastates the area.

January 15, 2005 Sheryl Crow, Christina Aguilera and Tim McGraw participate in a benefit for victims of the tsunami in Southern Asia.

October 10, 1998 The deadly force of Hurricane Georges not only knocks out telephone, water, and electricity services in Puerto Rico, it also bumps the Hot Latin Tracks chart from Billboard Magazine. For the first time in its 10-year history, the chart is not published because of damage to Broadcast Data Systems monitors caused by the storm, which hit the island late in September.

December 28, 1972 Mick Jagger visits Managua, Nicaragua, with his wife Bianca, searching for her mother after a devastating recent earthquake that claimed thousands of lives. Fortunately, Bianca's mother is fine.

July 28, 2018 Neil Diamond stops by the command post near his home in Basalt, Colorado, to play for firefighters and rescue personnel who have been battling wildfires in the area.

September 12, 2017 Stevie Wonder, Demi Lovato and Dave Matthews are among the performers at the "Hand in Hand" telethon, which benefits victims of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.More

May 2, 2010 A flood in Nashville damages the Grand Ole Opry House and Country Music Hall of Fame. John Fogerty, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill and Keith Urban are among those who lose guitars and other equipment that is held in a storage facility. Also destroyed are the bass used on the Hank Williams song "Your Cheatin' Heart," and a Stratocaster owned by Jimi Hendrix.

June 1, 2008 A fire at Universal Studios Hollywood destroys thousands of master tapes controlled by Universal Music Group, including recordings by Joni Mitchell, Elton John, B.B. King, Neil Diamond, Nirvana and Eminem. The extent of the loss is not revealed until years later.

October 3, 1995 The Youngbloods frontman Jesse Colin Young's house in Port Reyes, California burns to the ground in the Mount Vision wildfires. His song "Ridgetop" is about the house.

December 6, 1989 The Grateful Dead play the Earthquake Relief Fund Benefit at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to help raise funds for victims of the Loma Prieta earthquake. They open their act, fittingly, with "Shakedown Street."

October 17, 1989 The first practice by the San Francisco band 4 Non Blondes is postponed because of an earthquake, which also disrupts the World Series. The band later has a hit with "What's Up."