Pick a Day

Music History Events: Tributes

October 19, 1997 Vince Gill honors John Denver with a performance of "Take Me Home Country Roads" at the Grand Ole Opry. Denver died a week earlier in a plane crash.

October 11, 1997 Gregg Allman, Bo Diddley, Keb'Mo', Buddy Guy and John Hiatt are among the musicians who perform at a tribute to Muddy Waters at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

February 16, 1997 Michael Jackson sings "Elizabeth I Love You," which he wrote for the actress Elizabeth Taylor, at her 65th birthday celebration. The event airs on ABC on February 25th.

December 14, 1995 Little Richard, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are among the performers honoring Frank Sinatra on the TV special Sinatra: 80 Years My Way.

November 19, 1995 Frank Sinatra's all-star 80th birthday tribute is held in the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, featuring Bob Dylan performing "Restless Farewell" (at the request of Sinatra; Dylan wanted to perform Sinatra's "That's Life") and Paula Abdul singing "Luck Be A Lady." Afterwards, Dylan and fellow performer Bruce Springsteen, along with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, are invited back to the crooner's home. (Sinatra's actual birthday isn't until December 12th.)

May 11, 1995 Jimmie Vaughan, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray play a tribute concert for Stevie Ray Vaughan in Austin, Texas. They had all played with Stevie Ray at his last concert on August 26, 1990.

May 8, 1995 Rick Nelson receives a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

April 16, 1994 Pearl Jam pay tribute to Kurt Cobain, who was found dead a week earlier, on Saturday Night Live with a performance of "Daughter" that ends with lead singer Eddie Vedder opening up his jacket to reveal a "K" on his T-shirt.

June 16, 1993 The US Postal Service issues a booklet of commemorative rock and roll stamps featuring Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Bill Haley, Ritchie Valens, Clyde McPhatter, and Dinah Washington.

November 3, 1991 A crowd estimated at 300,000 turns out for a concert honoring promoter Bill Graham, a San Francisco legend who died a week earlier.More

October 6, 1991 Ray Charles is honored on the Fox TV special Ray Charles: 50 Years Of Music. Highlights of the show include Charles performing "Living For The City" with Stevie Wonder and "Busted" with Willie Nelson.

May 4, 1991 Governor Ann Richards declares "ZZ Top Day" in Texas, honoring the group for "bringing the powerful beat of Texas boogie to enthusiastic audiences across the globe."

November 4, 1990 The musical tribute Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story opens on Broadway.

May 11, 1990 The late Ritchie Valens is finally awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6733 Hollywood Blvd.

April 11, 1990 Elton John plays at the funeral for Ryan White, an 18-year-old who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. Michael Jackson also attends the funeral and later dedicates the song "Gone Too Soon" to White.

May 11, 1989 The late Roy Orbison is posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York, with Eric Clapton presenting the award to Orbison's widow. Orbison enjoyed a career resurgence in the '80s, but died on December 6, 1988.

December 11, 1988 Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre plays host to a Roy Orbison tribute concert, featuring Don Henley, Tom Petty, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt.

April 23, 1988 Enjoying a comeback as interest in his music surges, Roy Orbison celebrates his 52nd birthday at a Bruce Springsteen concert in Los Angeles, where Bruce brings him onstage so the crowd can sing him "Happy Birthday." Orbison dies that December of a heart attack.

December 7, 1987 Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Judy Collins (among others) appear onstage at Carnegie Hall to pay tribute to Harry Chapin, who would have been celebrating his 45th birthday.

October 1, 1983 The first ever David Bowie convention is held in London's Cunard Hotel. Speakers at the convention include Bowie's former dance teacher, Lindsay Kemp; Bowie's former manager, Ken Pitt; guitar player John Hutchinson; Bowie archivist, Kev Cann; and photographer Ray Stevenson.

September 18, 1980 The 10th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix' untimely death is marked by a multimedia event, featuring Experience members Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, held at the Paradise Club in Amsterdam.

April 27, 1979 Stevie Wonder makes a surprise appearance at a Duke Ellington tribute concert held at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. Wonder performs his Ellington encomium "Sir Duke" along with Ellington's "C-Jam Blues."

March 28, 1979 The day after they are married, Eric Clapton sings "Wonderful Tonight" to his new wife Pattie at his concert in Tucson, Arizona. He wrote the song about her while waiting for her to get ready to go out.

February 3, 1979 20 years after the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Del Shannon and The Drifters perform a tribute show in Clear Lake, Iowa, where Holly's last concert took place.

September 24, 1977 Barely a month after his untimely death, the first national Elvis Presley convention takes place in Memphis.

May 26, 1977 Beatlemania!, a Broadway tribute to the music of The Beatles, starring sound- and look-alikes, opens at the Winter Garden Theater to rave reviews.

February 4, 1977 American Bandstand gets a primetime special in honor of the show's 25th anniversary. The show features one of the first "all-star jams," as Chuck Berry is joined by Greg Allman, Junior Walker, The Pointer Sisters, Charlie Daniels and several others on a performance of "Roll Over Beethoven."

May 1, 1973 Washington, DC, mayor Walter Washington officially declares today Marvin Gaye day in the singer's hometown.

September 12, 1970 The Woody Guthrie tribute concert takes place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Performers include Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Richie Havens and Joan Baez.

April 24, 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."