3 JULY
Featured Events
2011 Unable to walk since a botched operation two years earlier, Little Richard is wheeled in with a piano to perform at the "A Capitol Fourth" concert at the National Mall in Washington, DC. It's his first performance since the operation.
1995 The members of R&B group TLC file for bankruptcy despite continued success.More
1995 Jewel lands her first television gig, appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where she is spotted by actor Sean Penn. The two begin dating shortly after.
1973 At the Hammersmith Odeon in London, David Bowie appears as Ziggy Stardust for the last time, explaining: "Not only is this the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do." Many take this to mean Bowie was retiring from music altogether, though Bowie just means he is retiring Stardust. This show is later made into a movie directed by D.A. Pennebaker called Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars.
1971 Jim Morrison of The Doors is found dead in a bathtub at age 27. No autopsy is performed, and while drugs are suspected, the official cause is listed as "heart attack induced by respiratory problems."More
1969 Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones is found dead in his swimming pool in England. The death is ruled accidental, although Jones, 27, has high levels of alcohol in his blood.
3 JULY
In Music History
2021 Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton get married at Shelton's ranch in Oklahoma. They met in 2014 when they were judges on the TV show The Voice and started dating a year later.
2020 Ryan Adams publicly apologizes for mistreating women he has worked with, claiming he is now sober and chastened. Sixteen months earlier, several female musicians he worked with, including his ex-wife Mandy Moore, accused him of controlling and sometimes abusive behavior.
2016 Maren Morris releases her first major-label album, Hero. It goes to #1 on the Country chart and includes one of her most enduring songs, "My Church."
2012 Frank Ocean posts a letter on his Tumblr detailing an unrequited love for a man when he was 19, inspiration for his song "Bad Religion." It's an early example of a high-profile hip-hop artist addressing a same-sex relationship.
2009 Algerian music star Cheb Mami (real name Ahmed Khelifati Mohammed) is sentenced by a French court to five years in prison for abducting his former girlfriend and trying to force her to have an abortion. Mami is best known in America for his collaboration with Sting on the song "Desert Rose."
2008 Colin Cooper (leader of Climax Blues Band) dies of cancer at age 69.
2007 Boots Randolph, known for the 1968 hit "Yakety Sax," dies of a brain hemorrhage a month after his 80th birthday.
2004 Glenn Danzig gets in a fight backstage after a Danzig show when a member of support band North Side Kings confronts him because they were bumped from the bill and didn't play that night. Danzig pushes the guy but gets punched in the face in retaliation.
2001 Sum 41 release their debut single, "Fat Lip." The song goes on to top the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
2001 Delia Derbyshire, who helped create the electronic sounds on the Doctor Who theme, dies aged 64.
1996 Cliff Richard leads the Wimbledon Centre Court crowd in singing during a rain delay. His backing singers are former tennis stars Virginia Wade, Martina Navratilova, Hana Mandlíková, Pam Shriver, Liz Smylie, Gigi Fernández and Conchita Martinez.
1996 At the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Alice in Chains play their last show with lead singer Layne Staley, who dies in 2002.
1995 D'Angelo releases his debut album, Brown Sugar.
1990 Police pursue Slick Rick through the streets of New York after the rapper attempts to shoot his cousin and former bodyguard, Mark Plummer, and wounds an innocent bystander instead. Plummer had been extorting money from Rick and threatening the rapper's family, so Rick took matters - and weapons - into his own hands. He's charged with a host of crimes, including two counts of attempted murder, and serves five years at Rikers Island.
1986 Bono's 26-year-old personal assistant Greg Carroll is killed in a motorcycle act while running an errand in Dublin. U2's next album, The Joshua Tree, is dedicated to Carroll, who inspired the song "One Tree Hill."
Marty McFly Introduces Rock And Roll From The Future
1985Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox as a time-traveling teenager, opens in theaters. When he plays "Johnny B. Goode" in 1955 at the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance, he gives birth to rock and roll. In the real-life present, a new generation gets a lesson in Chuck Berry from the scene.
Marvin Berry and the Midnighters are playing the dance, but when Marvin injures his hand, Marty takes his place. Telling the band, "It's a blues riff in B, watch me for the changes," he blasts into the song and the crowd goes wild. Marvin makes a phone call: "Chuck? This is Marvin! Marvin Berry! Your cousin! Now, listen - I think this is the sound you've been looking for." Marty goes too far with his guitar histrionics, and when he looks up, the crowd has stopped moving, as they don't know what to make of it. "Sorry, you guys aren't ready for that yet," Marty tells them. "But your kids are gonna love it." Music from the future comes in handy in another scene when Marty dons a space suit, straps a Walkman onto the ears of his dad and plays a tape labeled "Edward Van Halen." Out comes a barrage of guitar that is clearly from a planet (recorded by Mr. Van Halen specifically for the film), and Marty - in spaceman mode - orders him to take his mom to the dance so he can be born. The movie's theme song is "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News, which becomes a #1 hit. Lewis also appears in the film, playing a teacher who crushes Marty's dreams at an audition for the school dance. The music supervisor on the film is Bones Howe, who has a good grasp on the project since he was already working in the music industry in 1955. He had the good sense to know that "The Power of Love" was the hit, not the other song Lewis delivered for the film with lyrics specific to the plot: "Back in Time."
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