11 JANUARY
In Music History
2013 Jimmy O'Neill, a DJ who hosted the TV show Shindig!, dies at age 73.
2013 Re/Create, a charity event to aid victims of 2012's Hurricane Sandy, holds a celebrity clothing auction. Among the items auctioned off are duds donated by music celebrities, including an autographed pair of Yeezy II sunglasses from Kanye West, a WeSC jacket Skrillex wore to the 2012 Grammys, a Mugler bag donated by Lady Gaga, and a Sue Wong evening gown from Kelly Osbourne.
2005 Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden dies of cancer at age 66.
2003 Mickey Finn, who helped supply the beat of glam rock as the drummer for T. Rex, dies at age 55.
2000 After serving half of his four-month sentence for possession of child pornography, Gary Glitter is released from a British jail.
1999 Peter Tork of The Monkees guest stars as a bandleader on the "Best Man" episode of The King of Queens.
1999 Pop singer Miss Toni Fisher, known for the 1959 song "The Big Hurt," dies of a heart attack at age 68.
1996 Kenny G's Breathless becomes the first album of mostly instrumental tracks certified Diamond for sales of 10 million in America.
1995 Sean McDonnell (lead singer, guitarist for Surgery) dies at age 30, four days after suffering a severe asthma attack.
1994 Diana Ross makes Mr. Blackwell's Worst-Dressed List. Blackwell refers to her as "a Martian meter maid."
1971 Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers is born in Kingston upon Thames, England.
1967 Jimi Hendrix records "Purple Haze" at De Lane Lea Studios in London.
1964 The Whisky-a-Go-Go opens at Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, and quickly becomes a vital music venue. Some of the early acts to play the Whiskey include The Animals, The Doors and Otis Redding.
1964 Billboard publishes its first Country and Western Albums chart. Johnny Cash gets the first #1 with Ring of Fire.
1963 Despite warnings that a marriage would shatter his image as a teen idol, Frankie Avalon marries former beauty queen Kay Diebel. The union is successful and welcomes eight children, starting with Frankie Jr. in September.
Queen And Iron Maiden Perform At The First Rock In Rio
1985Queen, Iron Maiden and Whitesnake play on Day 1 of the first Rock In Rio festival.
Read more11 JANUARY
Featured Events
2016 In the day after David Bowie's passing, his music videos on VEVO are viewed 51 million times, shattering the previous record of 36 million held by Adele after she released "Hello." Most of the views are for Bowie's last two videos, "Lazarus" and "Blackstar," which portend his death.
2009 Bruce Springsteen wins Best Song from a Motion Picture for "The Wrestler" at the Golden Globe Awards. Mickey Rourke wins for Best Actor in a Drama for his work on the film.
1998 Nike debuts its "I Can" commercial, introducing the British band The Verve to a wide American audience with the song "Bitter Sweet Symphony." The song becomes the band's only hit in the States, which is bittersweet because they had to sign away royalties to the song to get the publishing rights to the string sample.
1992 Paul Simon becomes the first international artist to perform in Johannesburg, South Africa, since the lifting of the UN boycott. Simon had violated the UN ban by traveling to South Africa years earlier to find musicians for his Graceland album.
1992 Nirvana's Nevermind album hits #1 in America, unseating Michael Jackson's Dangerous.
1992 Nirvana make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live. They leave a mark: after performing their hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit," they play "Territorial Pissings" for their second song, then trash their instruments and anything else they can find on stage.
1971 Mary J. Blige is born in New York City. The "J." stands for Jane.
1942 Clarence Clemons, of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, is born in Virginia. More
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